One of the quilts I've been thinking about while I've been trying to get past vertigo is this Everyday Patchwork. I was hand quilting it and had finished about a fourth to a third of it, then lost interest. I wondered why. I normally enjoy hand quilting but this quilt stalled—maybe for a year—so I've been hoping to get going on it again. Maybe not right away, though, because hand stitching and vertigo aren't exactly friends.
I had been marking each arc with pins before quilting and wondered if that was the problem. I decided to make templates so I could mark several fans at a time, or even a whole row.
I know I can buy ready-made plastic templates but I wanted one with the arcs 1 1/4" apart. I finally settled on using cardboard (maybe from a cereal or cracker box), using a protractor to make partial circles, each a 1 1/4" larger than the previous.
You can see the results here. They aren't evenly spaced! The outer and inner circles are just the right size but the middle one is a little small. I decided to either shift its template toward the larger arc or quilt on the outside of the line to even the distance between all three arcs. I used Prismacolor pencils to draw the lines on the fabric. It has washed out on other quilts so I think it will be fine. In fact, it may be too fine because part of several lines disappeared before I finished tracing several arcs. I also have some washable Crayola markers to try if the Prismacolors don't work.
Trying to do what I normally do while living with vertigo is no small challenge. I feel like my body is being held hostage, limiting me in so many ways. And the constant headache doesn't help, either. I went for an MRI yesterday and to a physical therapist today. After some tests, the PT confirmed that it's not positional vertigo and is likely vestibular neuritis just as the ENT doctor thought, though the PT also said that it could be caused by something else but wouldn't know until we see whether the exercises he prescribed help or not.
He suggested that if some particular actions (lying down, looking up) make me dizzy or feel like I'm spinning, I should repeat the movements at least several times, waiting for the dizziness/spinning to stop before repeating. The idea is that this will retrain my brain. Crazy!
This beautiful frozen kale greeted me on my way into physical therapy today. Flowers in the snow!
We had a beautiful snow, though it happened at night so I didn't get to see it falling. It was only about 4" but because it's so cold, it's lingering. I love it!
I hope you have a good weekend.
--Nancy.
I love how you're doing the Fans. The plastic templates never work for me. I hope you feel better and the vertigo subsides. I suppose it depends on cause/ treatment. As for retraining the brain, my doctors told me my severe double vision would resolve itself bec the brain retrains itself to see a single image. Three years later---4?---as bad as ever, worse when tired or stressed. My ex-husband did recover from his infection caused vertigo,b ut it took a long time, over a year and he also lost some hearing. Treated w prednisone.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried plastic templates that I can remember. These cardboard ones seem to work well.
DeleteThank you for sharing the experiences of both you and your husband. I'm so sorry your double vision hasn't resolved. What a difficult challenge to live with. It's good your ex-husband recovered but sad how long it took and for the hearing loss. I'm to the point of suspecting that the vertigo and headaches will be with me for quite some time, and I'm not looking forward to that. Still there is the MRI that may shed some light.
I hope you have a good weekend, Lizzy
I hope your PT will work for you, but I admit I am a bit skeptical about "retrain the brain" and keep on going while getting that spinning!! Well, what do I know really--just thinking out loud here...
ReplyDeleteI love that you made your own templates (quite an achievement with what you are going through, I think!); being moi, {haha and who else would I be?} I like that they are not even!! ;))))
Hang in there and I am sending good thoughts your way for your vertigo getting cleared up!! Hugs julierose
Thank you, Julierose. I'm feeling a little skeptical about physical therapy retraining my brain, too. But, like you, what do I know! At this point I'm grateful the spinning is not constant. I wish the headache wasn't constant, either.I'll use the templates as they are try to do a little evening of them, but I think they'll still be off. I suppose it won't be so bad because the quilt is on the primitive side.
DeleteI wish there was someway that I could help you with the vertigo. There are so many things that medical science can do and yet there doesn't seem to be much to rely on in this situation. I hope you start feeling better soon. I have a friend whose daughter was very ill (not the same situation as you) and went in for a weekly appointment to retrain her brain and she is doing great now. Your templates for the arcs looks like it's working out well. And the kale flower was a nice surprise. How is your knee healing?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robin. I wish there were something that would take care of the vertigo and headache, too. I'm hoping the MRI will shed some light so doctors can figure out the cause of the problem and what to do next. Maybe physical therapy will work for me!
DeleteI think the templates will work. I wonder if they'll wear down the more I use them. Maybe I'll eventually have to make new ones, or maybe I won't bother and the fans will keep getting smaller....
My knees are doing well. I have occasional pains but they're still healing and the doctor and PT said it will take at least a year to get back to normal. I'm just grateful I don't have the arthritis pain anymore.
I was surprised to see the kale. It looked so hardy, but then realized most of the plant had frozen. Even so, it was fun to see it in the snow.
Baptist Fan is a quilt design I want to master (by machine; I don't hand quilt). I know, practice makes perfect. Or in this case practice makes adequate. I'm sorry that the vertigo persists and hope they're able to help you get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteI think Baptist Fans using a sewing machine would be a challenge--for me, at least--trying to keep the arcs smooth instead of angular. But I'm sure you can master it, Nann, even if it takes a few rows of arcs. Adequate to begin, then perfect (or near-perfect).
DeleteThanks for your hope for getting rid of my vertigo. I appreciate that.
Nancy, I'm so sorry you are suffering with vertigo. It must affect your whole life! It sounds like you are getting really good medical care. I love Baptist fans - you've persevered to figure out a good solution for yours. I bought a Baptist Fan stencil from "Fun with Barb" and love it, and I've used it for both hand and machine quilting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cynthia. It does affect everything--energy, concentration level, balance, independence. I'm hoping the exercises physical therapist gave me (mostly eye and balance) will help. I met with him only once and he sent me home with a list of five to begin with.
ReplyDeleteBaptist Fans seem like one of the basic quilting patterns. I'd thought about getting Barb's stencil but I didn't want the arcs as close as hers are.