Some of you may have noticed that I didn't have a blog post last week. Rest assured I had an idea that I really wanted to share. However, a trip to the hospital ended up taking priority.
Thursday morning I woke up with extreme dizziness and nausea. After almost hitting the wall trying to get to the bathroom and then not being able to move from the floor, I eventually was able to scoot myself to the phone and call 911. Police, fire and ambulance arrived and carted me off to the hospital. After a cat scan, MRI and a blur of other tests, they ruled out the really scary stuff. The eventual diagnosis was benign positional vertigo and I was released Saturday evening. Follow-up visits with my primary physician and a physical therapist who specializes in balance/vertigo adjusted the diagnosis to vestibular neuritis which is an infection of the inner ear. The average recovery period for this is 6-8 weeks and for the moment I am struggling with vertigo, some double vision, most computer stuff (but using my iphone seems to work pretty well) and have been told not to drive. I am so thankful for the support of family (my sister-in-law came from Bismarck for the first few days I was out of the hospital and my sister and brother-in-law are coming tomorrow from Kansas City). The support, offers of assistance, and prayers of friends and co-workers have also been incredibly comforting. (It was amazing the efforts that were made to track me down when I was unable to do anything other than lie on my back in the ER.) I truly realize how blessed I am with the wonderful people God has put in my life. I suspect I will struggle with the limitations (hopefully short-term) of this diagnosis. I am praying for peace about this. I hope I will be back soon with additional quilting tips and ideas for you. In the interim, happy quilting. Kari Are you working on a Sun Rays Quilt? This one took me a bit of time to decide what to do for quilting it. For the cover photo on the pattern, I wanted to design some unique elements to fill the background space. All the quilting was designed and digitized with Art and Stitch software -- although the designs could also be executed with both domestic machines and hand-guided longarm set-ups. Let's start with how I analyzed the quilt top. I will use my EQ drawing as it is a little easier to draw out my designs on it. I came up with two primary elements to feature in my quilting. The next step was to add the tan stars design. I used a small tear drop to connect all the elements together. For the partial sashing I did a variation on this same theme. I then copied the leaf and mirror imaged it. I then connected to the sections. I liked this design as it allowed for some stretching/shrinking to ensure the design fit into my final borders. Here are a few close-ups of the finished quilt. In my video last week, I mentioned I was working on a wall hanging sized quilt. Let me share the finished quilt. This quilt was pieced using the Softly Spoken collection by Marcus Brothers. For quilting the wall hanging I decided to use a pantograph by Jessica Schick from Digitech. I thought it added some nice curves to the geometric piecing. Happy quilting. Kari Sign up for my newsletter to stay current on what's happening in my studio and learn more quilting tips. As a thank you, I'll send you a FREE pattern for this small maple leaf quilt.
A few weeks ago I released my latest pattern -- Sun Rays. The pattern looks a lot more complicated to piece than it actually is. I like to use tools that involve over-sized piecing and this block makes use of two of the rulers from Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design -- the V Block Trimmer™ and the Diamond Rects™ tool. For this weeks post, I wanted to focus on the Diamond Rects™ units. They look really tricky, but are really a breeze to complete with the suggested ruler. The diamonds, the corners and the final trim downs are all done with one ruler. I have been waiting for Deb Tucker to come out with a video -- but this week I thought -- "Why not try one of my own?" This is my first attempt at videoing myself. There were a number of stops and starts as I went to the sewing machine. But overall, I was pleased with the attempt. Take a look. If you are interested in the pattern for this quilt, it is now available in my store. There are four size options: Wall Hanging (34” x 34”); Lap (66” x 82”); Full (82” x 98”); Queen (98” x 98”) I'm currently working on the wall hanging sized quilt using a new line of Marcus Brother's fabrics - "Softly Spoken" by Harriet Hargrave. The unit in the video is a sneak peak. I am a huge fan of Harriet. Her first book taught me how to machine quilt my first queen sized quilt and I've taken a number of classes from her over the years. It is exciting to see her branch into fabric design. Happy quilting. Kari Sign up for my newsletter to stay current on what's happening in my studio and learn more quilting tips. As a thank you, I'll send you a FREE pattern for this small maple leaf quilt.
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