Thursday, July 4, 2019

When it is good that it is broken

     For a whole week, I had a fever. My days and nights were a blur. My husband brought home a gift from his Grand Canyon rafting trip- a flu or respiratory bug. He came home June 21st. He was sick the next day. I held out until the 24th when I went from incredibly healthy to a feverball complete with wheezing, hacking cough. How fast it turns. This was my view until this past Monday.
When my temp finally came down to close to normal.
The thermometer was my constant companion,
     Went to the doctor, swabbed for the normal flu bugs, negative, chest x-ray, negative. Given steroid dose pack, face blew up red and swollen, stopped them and dealt with steroid withdrawal and fever. Yikes. All in summer. I lost a whole week of June.
     I kept moving around the OBW for distraction, and decided on this.
     I had to audition what colors would look good on the sides. I did not want to lop off the ends of the rows. I had put too much work into sewing and arranging them to throw parts out.
     Then I decided to be smart and sew the ending triangles on before I sewed the rows. Unlike last OBW when I had to sew sewt in trianles on the sides. When I cut the triangle as normal and sewed it, I found that I would have no seam allowance on the outside edge and the outside points of the hexagons would get cut off. I drew a pattern with the template adding a 1/2" line bigger parallel to the side of the triangle to give some seam allowance. 
First triangle (ripped out) not enough seam allowance. Second triangle has it added.
See how I have a good seam allowance so the outside  point of the hexagon is not cut off?
     I sewed all the end triangles on before I started sewing the rows. I sewed two rows at a time as leader and enders so I could keep chain sewing. Due to the fever, this went slowly.
Rows all sewn



10 comments:

Vicki W said...

I admire your tenacity! When I'm sick I don't go near anything that requires math or sharp instruments.

Anonymous said...

I really like it and the way you finished the sides. Ingenious! Feel better too...

Debbie said...

Oh man, that virus is like what Russ and I had last month....and he brought it home to me too! It is awful and the cough congestion hangs on for about a month. And med reactions are the worse to add to the mix! You need lots of rest.
The OBW looks great! The blue edges mellow it out and calm some of the movement. I can't imagine getting all that done while ill.
Hope you are mending now:)

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Oh how awful that you had a virus. I am glad you are feeling better. I find it amazing that you made so much good progress on your quilt while you were sick. It looks beautiful!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Ugh!! SEW sorry to hear that you were out of commission for a week. Smart thinking with those edge triangles and I'm sure you will be glad you did them this way!

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

So sorry to hear that you were sick - and I agree with the others - I can't imagine getting all of that progress done on your OBW when you weren't feeling well - ;))

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Did you tell him that that was not the gift you wanted? Ugh - Hope you are feeling a TON better!!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Being sick in the summer always seems worse than in the winter for some reason. If it hadn't been so beastly hot you could have been out in the fresh air to help heal. I'm glad you are on the mend and finally have the designing done on this quilt. It is a beauty.

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

So sorry you've been sick. No fun. I'm surprised you got any stitching done at all. Hope you are better now.

Mystic Quilter said...

So sorry to hear that you've been unwell - sounds really nasty! True dedication in that you were able to slowly work on the sewing of your beautiful OBW, I love the setting you went with Linda.