Tense shoulders
 

Will I ever get to the place where, while quilting, I don't have to remind myself every few minutes to relax my shoulders? Sometimes they're almost up around my ears!

Daffy

Wine helps. And chocolate.

My friend made the comment one time that I never look intense when I machine quilt that I don't hunch or jut, I just sit and sew. I don't feel like it's something to get stressed over. I think approaching it that way helps me keep a good posture.

I do the stick out the tongue thing like a kid along with the shoulders when I FMQ. Its not about stress, its about intensity.

I guess I don't have the intensity gene, just lousy reflexes. I never open my mouth when I put on mascara. I didn't know that was a wow thing until when I was young and the other girls noticed. LOL They kept trying but said it was automatic to have have the mouth open. It's an intense simple thing that most females do. Also I never squint. A bright light or sunlight when driving, I never squint. That amazes my DH. A bright light hits his eyes and he reacts like he's been body slammed.

My problem is that when the table/machine/chair are all at the correct height - i.e. I am quilting with my arms at 90deg - my head is too high. I have to crouch down a little in order to see the full quilting area. If I set it up so I can see everything, my shoulders hurt way too much and my quilting isn't smooth. I have a long body and my proportions are just off from the table/machine dimensions that I can't win.

When I find myself doing that it becomes time for a heating pad that relaxes me for the next time around.

I actually got into the habit a while back of making sure I stand up and stretch after every block sewn. When I'm drinking coffee or tea when I'm quilting, I don't fill up the cup completely, so it forces me to get up out of my chair more to get another fill-up. While I'm up, I take long, hard stretches, fingers to toes, bend over deep and hang my hands down to relax my spine and put it back in place and then when I sit down again, I always take a second to make sure my posture is correct, roll my shoulders back and start sewing again.

I've got a sciatica problem that likes to light up the left side of my back from my neck to my toes if I sit too long and then get up to move, so I do what I can to make sure I don't upset that nerve. I just don't like making that nerve mad and believe me, there are times where it's just downright angry at me and I've had moments where it takes my breath away, so I'm super careful.

Railroadersbrat, great advice, will share with my sister she too has a very angry sciatica!!!

I never got to that place when FMQ on my domestic. I never got very good at it either. My brain is wired to push the "pencil" not the "paper". Quilting on a rack set up is what made all the difference for me. You don't necessarily need a longarm to quilt on a rack but it does make things much easier and nicer. Grace has many racks that you can put a domestic machine on.

Feline, Yes! I too feel like I should be pushing the "pencil" instead of the "paper." Unfortunately, at 80 I don't think it makes sense for me to convert to a rack, so I'll just have to muddle along with what I've got.

Daffy

Because I get up to walk around my table to press my seams every few minutes, I don't have that problem. Sorry for you all!

I don't have tense shoulders when I am piecing either. The problem arises only when FMQ on the domestic for me. I don't have the problem when standing at the rack quilting. With me, it is all tension (and I'm not talking thread tension! LOL). I am tense when FMQ on the domestic, involuntarily so. Like Daffy Daphne, I would have to consciously think about keeping my shoulders relaxed and would constantly catch myself with my shoulders scrunched up around my ears. Even with frequent breaks it was an issue for me and still is when I decide to FMQ a small piece because I think it isn't worth the effort of loading on the rack. I don't find sitdown quilting fun and have resigned myself to that fact so don't do it. I got a longarm instead and prior to that I mostly hand quilted.

I think the OP was talking about quilting, not piecing. I will admit I sometimes find I'm wearing my shoulders as earrings as I piece, usually when I'm working on something troublesome where the seams just refuse to match!

I recently had my main machine in the shop for over a week...this machine sits in a cabinet....so I took my little portable machine and set it on top of the cabinet....yikes! wrecked my upper back and neck for about a week and a half....folks, I can not emphasize the benefit of getting yourwelf a good sewing table where you can set the machine down into the cabinet and adjust the height. I tell new quilters, that if they have to chose between getting a more expensive machine or a good sewing cabinet....go for the cabinet....you can always get a fancier machine later.....if I didn't have a cabinet....I don't think I would enjoy sewing nearly as much....and I keep my iron away from my sewing area...so I have to get up and walk and stand every so often while stitching...really helps....

I use to open my mouth when i used eye liner.
my neck gets sore so often i use my heating pad. i also hang by my fingers from the top of a door frame. well not hang really but stretch that way. helps.

Stick a note on your machine that says "Relax your shoulders.". Might sound silly, but I had to write "shoulders back and down" after months of PT due to a painful, almost frozen shoulder.

I write myself notes for so many things and put them where I have to see them.

lol, so that's how you got your name. I needed that laugh. I've been quilting all day, and I feel the same way.
My shoulders and back are killing me. I tried to get up from the chair and the muscles in my butt froze up. I went to bed 2 hours ago, and couldn't go to sleep. I kept thinking about how I'm going to quilt this big quilt. It's 2 am, eyes wide open, body aches all over. Maybe I need to just go look at the quilt again.....

This is my remedy as well. Cabernet goes very well with chocolate.

Be sure your chair is the correct height so you can sew with relaxed shoulders.

I was in a dressing room for a play last night and I actually noticed every woman opened her mouth to put on mascara! I did too. It's not that easy to have that control come naturally and not have to think about doing it.

I don't know if this will help, but when I want to relax I usually concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths, which tends to relax my whole body. Since you're breathing continuously it might just become a habit and you won't have to remind yourself.

When ever I feel myself tensing up, I stand up and do a backstroke with my arms. It seems to help to crunch and stretch those back muscles.

HollyAnne Knight with String and Story has suggestions about this very thing that I have found helpful..scroll down to Set Up - Chair Height and Taking Care of Your Body. Hope this helps you.

https://www.stringandstory.com/blog/...uiltondomestic

I will try the sticky note idea, but for me, it's not intensity but vision, and I don't see a way around it. I have moved to an extremely low chair (a sewing box) to get myself so low, I'm closer to the needle, but then the hunching is worse, as the table is much higher relative to me. It is, however, easier on the neck, so that's something.

hugs,
charlotte

i have the same problem. and, i have to say the same thing to myself. i feel your "pain"

Maybe you need "quilting glasses". I use readers at 1.50 strength for reading, computer work, checking my phone, etc. But when I do any handwork, I switch to readers at 2.50 strength.

Lisa Hagstotz (formerly Lisa Calle) was hunching to see her work and suffering terribly because of it. She invested in a pair of glasses, you can read about it here:

https://lisacalle.wordpress.com/2017...-is-overrated/

I am still in the process of learning free motion quilting and done all the above plus one more thing. I tend to hold my breath. The note on my machine says breathe.

I had a teacher in college tell me after a day of hunching over my work bench to go home and lay on my back on the bed and dangle my head over the edge for a few minutes to help stretch out the muscles. It helps, but I tend to forget to do it.

I am currently quilting at the wrong height....my quilt top is level with my heart. I can only manage about 10 minutes before the aching makes me quit. It doesn't bother me much to piece at that height, but quilting makes me ache.