I tried to sew some in the beginning and had to do pretty much the same thing. Now I have much more control of my arm but not full range of motion.
I did a small baby quilt today with stitch in the ditch. Went pretty fast with my new walking foot. I went for the easy way out.
I will be practicing if I can get in there without too many distractions.

Well, after I had shoulder surgery 8 years ago, after I was able to move some, I foundation pieced a twin sized quilt and then machine quilted it! At first I had to pick up my right hand and place it on the machine bed, where it served as kind of an anchor. As the weeks went by, I really believe that the sewing practice was good therapy, making my recovery quicker and certainly more pleasurable.
kathy

Wow Rosemary, you are just popping with inspiration today!

Karen - how about 10 -15 minutes a day as part of your shoulder exercise regime?

Wow Rosmary.......I love the idea of using washable thread for practice.
Now if I can find the time for practice, practice, practice. I have been sidetracked by my shoulder injury but am now able to sew again. Yay!

Sound like it is time to make vast quanties of practice piece table mats, and then move onto practice piece AAQI mini quilts.

Just had another thought - how about using washable thread in the bobbin of your practice sandwich,then you could just have half a dozen of them that you could keep re-using, if you want to save on fabric &/or don't know what to do with all the practice pieces?

karen...I'm not so good either...but somebody said the only way to get better is P,P and P ! You can guess what that means !
That's what I do these days and I try really had not to be my own worst critic !

Rosemary, I love your inovative ideas. I will get some inexpensive hoops and try that. I am just not good at machine quilting and keep looking for that miracle that will make me good.
I don't want to spend that kind of money though. I think the reason there are not really any reviews is because everyone else thinks they are too much money too. I could see $50, but over $100? Wow!
Thank you Rosemary and Marilyn for the suggestions.

I also looked over the ad videos ....and am reminded of Nancy Prince's methods of thread painting. I see some
similarity and agree with Rosemary that you can try out these methods by being a bit inventive with tools
at hand....before spending quite a few $ on a "new" tool. I think I'll buy more fabric instead !

I've just been to have a look at some of the advertising videos for the octi-hoop. They certainly look like a nice piece of kit. As a suggestion how about trying out the same idea using an embroidery ring frame under your quilt sandwich and try working with that, (if you have a smaller ring frame that sits inside even better, but you don't want to be framing the fabric up 'properly') If this technique works well for you then I would think that you would find the octi-hoop system good for you.

If you don't have any embroidery ring frames, you could go scavaging through a local clearance/charity/1 dollar store(?) and find a light-weight framed picture of about 8" or so (ideally 2 that nest) take the picture & glass out and try with that. This way you can try a version of the technique without much outlay up front, to see if it suits you. (If the frame is wide enough you could even try drilling a hole(s) in it that you could slip a nail or split pin into, which would give you an even more realistic try out).

Personally speaking, I would think that it works best if you have a reasonable sized table level with the bed of your sewing machine for the frames to rest on.

Just wondering if anyone has tried the Octi Hoops, and if so, what they think of them. They make it look so easy. I need easy but not willing to spend that much money unless I know they work.