Have you heard of the spoon theory? If you know someone with a chronic illness, you probably have. It’s basically the idea that some people start each day with a certain amount of spoons. Each spoon signifies the amount of energy it takes to complete one task. Since there are only a limited amount of spoons for the day, these people must decide what they will use each spoon for, and sometimes there aren’t enough spoons to get all basic tasks done in a day.
I have a limited amount of spoons right now. I go through cycles of some sort of flare-up. For me, I have inflammation issues that in turn cause neurological issues: the swelling pushes on nerves and I can get strange pains anywhere in my body. I also become extremely tired. I wake tired and just want to go back to bed. Everything wipes me out, including digesting a meal. I can fall asleep, or more like pass out, after eating during these cycles. Recently, I also had a bout of vertigo that lasted two weeks straight. It’s better now, but certain things can set it off… like too much time in front of a screen.
While I had made a commitment to write a blog post a day every day this month, I didn’t have all the spoons necessary to complete that task last week. Not an excuse, just an explanation. I do have news on that front: we did decide to get insurance for next year. I’ve been having these digestive and neurological issues for a while. My husband could also use a trip to see a Dr. too. It will be nice to finally be able to get some diagnostics done! Now I’ll just have to get over my fear of Dr.’s in general and find someone who is willing to work with me, rather than be condescending and short with me. I have not had great interactions with Western Medicine practitioners in the past.
Third Eye Progress
I’ve been cutting fabric for the Third Eye Chakra Quilt. Basically, I’m creating two half-circles out of wedges that will be appliquéd onto a background. I have decided to make that background out of 1 inch squares. As you may know, I have a limited fabric stash, and I’m using all my purple fabric for this quilt… and it may not be enough!
So, I’m thinking that the fabric that will be under the wedges can be a different fabric, it won’t need to match since it will be covered. That means doing a little math and layout. I needed to do the layout part on the computer, so I could figure out which blocks would need to be the ‘under-wedge’ fabric.
I started with a 62″ square, then changed it to 64″ making all blocks break down into 4″ x 4″ or 8″ x 8″. Since the quilt is symmetrical, I’m dividing it into 4 quadrants – 2 mirroring the other 2. In each quadrant, I’ll need 1,024 squares, of which 398 are going under the wedges.
Basically what I’m saying is that I will be cutting and sewing lots of little squares together over the next few weeks. The planning is the hard part, once that is done, the sewing part becomes super meditative and relaxing. I’m looking forward to it – especially now that I’m starting to feel a little better and have more spoons to work with!