Wednesday, February 19, 2014

LOOK!! SEE!!

Seeing things seems to be new for me.  There's a good reason for that, though.

About 20 years ago, I was diagnosed with keratoconus.  It's an eye disease of the cornea.  It's usually genetic and mostly male, but my case was stress related. It's usually correctable with hard contact lenses. Basically, the collagen layer under the cornea fails, and the cornea bumps out in a cone shape.  This affects how the eye works, and causes double vision, light halos, and difficulties with depth perception, among other things. It doesn't hurt, but you do need to adapt to a new reality on your vision.   Last August, I developed a hydrops, and have basically had no vision in my left eye.  A hydrops is almost like a mini volcano in your eye.  A fissure forms, and fluid from the back of the eye goes to the front.  In my case, the fluid filled the bump in the cornea, which made it seem like I was looking through a thick sheer curtain.  I could see colors, but nothing else.  It was recommended that I have a cornea transplant, which would "fix" the keratoconus, as well as remove any scar tissue from the hydrops.  That transplant happened on January 31, and was performed by Dr. Thomas Boland, from the Northeast Eye Institute, in Scranton, PA.  I've been a patient there since I developed the keratoconus.

If you want some idea of how I've been seeing things, visit this website http://www.nkcf.org/ and scroll down to the pictures that change.  Reading street signs, driving at night, and other challenges have really affected my life.  The cornea transplant has changed most of that, to a considerable degree, and the healing has just begun.  I never realized how I had limited myself until I could actually see the moon without a halo.  I haven't been to a movie in years, because I had challenges seeing the screen.  I can't wait until the healing is more complete and I get either glasses or a new contact lens, that will give me 20/20 correction.  It had been about 20/140 before with contact lens,and worse than 20/400 before, but at the first post surgery visit, was 20/70 without correction.  To me, that's amazing.  Yes, I'm seeing things in a whole new way.  I bless and thank the family of the person who donated his or her eyes, that enabled my vision to be restored.

So, as I'm recovering, I'm playing with a new Accuquilt GO! die, the Hunter's Star, and a package of Island Batiks fat quarters in shades of purple.

But LOOK!!  See??  I made a mistake!!  I actually laughed when I realized what I had done.  Can you SEE it??

This is 16 smaller 6" blocks sewn together.  4 are wrong.  

I had hoped just sewing the wrong triangles correctly would work, but it didn't.  I had to take the 4 squares apart and rotate them, anyway.  Here's the corrected blocks, along with one I made today, and parts of the next block.  This will have 15 different purple fabrics in it.  The light fabric is spray painted in pastels, so each section has some different colors.  I wanted something that had some interest to it, and I love how this LOOKS so far!  

But Hazel has shown me it's also time to play with her.  She's either in most pictures, or leaving her toys in them.  See that little brown nose in the bottom right corner?  


This is the guest bed.  I know I need to make new quilts for here.  These were purchased, and although I love them, they were not really hand made.  My guests deserve a quilt made with love.  I may even do double wedding rings.  I'll let you know.  In the meantime, this purple Hunter's Star will be my project.  And playing with Hazel.  

To see what others are doing, please visit the Quiltsy Team Blog.

SEE you soon!

3 comments:

thebutterflyquilter said...

So glad about your vision! I probably would be piecing half of these wrong myself. It will be beautiful when done! Love it so far!

Astrid said...

I'm soooo happy for you! Can't imagine how it has been for you all these years. For me it wasn't easy to see the error done on your quilt... but I see it now after the correction. It's going to be gorgeous!

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

How wonderful to get the correction on your vision! Your Hunter's Star quilt is beautiful!