It is time to take my hard working Bernina in for attention. I do this reluctantly, because it interrupts my daily spurts of sewing, but she deserves a cleaning. I have another machine, a Featherweight if that means anything to you. Those sturdy friends have been favored by quilters since they were introduced seventy years ago. While she does a lovely job with piecing, it does put a pause on the free motion quilting which is what transforms three layers into a unified quilt. 

The last time I relinquished my Bernina the back log from the pandemic meant that we were apart for half a year. Fortunately I still worked as a costumer and could finish my creations in the costume shop during off hours. That luxury is no longer mine, so I may be unable to do free motion quilting for awhile. As someone who spends more time behind the needle than behind the steering wheel of a car, it is a sacrifice. 

I have been thinking of what I still can do in her absence. I will make tops. I can reorganize the room. I might write songs. There are other ways to spend creativity. 

A friend mentioned that when her right wrist was experiencing pain she tried to do cross stitching with her left. It took awhile, but she mastered it. 

A woman who has to avoid gluten has had a learning curve to climb in baking with rice flour. But she is doing it. 

Sometimes life does not give us our first choice. Perhaps we aspired to motherhood, and no children came. Maybe we dreamed of marriage and it did not materialize. 

Sometimes I wonder if these detours arrive not because God is bent on thwarting us, but because it is the best way to foster resilience.