Gathering One's Courage

The after effects of the surgery on my left eye were less uncomfortable than the first; thank you for all your positive brain waves in my direction!  Today I had quite a giggle when I went for the post-operative check up.  A nurse took me into the examining room to take the pressure reading in the eye and to have me read an eye chart,  What an experience that was!  I could see the chart.  Now, isn't that something!  Please note that I said I could see the chart; I did not say I could see the letters.  I laughed and said, "Well, I can guess.  I bet the first letter is an E."  Actually, I could almost see that much, and the rest was a game of figuring out if I could get a sense of the shape of the letters.  When I had "read" two more lines, she stopped me, had me put on my glasses, and turned on the lights.  We whooped with laughter because I wasn't even close!  Now when the doctor came in, he was very solicitous and anxious that I not be worried as he explained that the eye was still quite swollen which was why I could see.  I had figured out that much for myself (the white of the eye was bulging most unbecomingly - happens often when allergy season hits).  Ah well, he was kind.

 

Now that I've shared that, I want to tell you about my real subject for the day.  People frequently tell me they'd be too embarrassed to show anyone their drawings when we talk about designing quilts and making those preliminary "idea" sketches.  When I try to explain, that my work is often as rough and dreadful as their dogs' worst attempts, they don't believe me.  Yes, sometimes, the ideas are so clear and are merely pictures that can easily be drawn, but other times I have to plan the geometry of a design.  Geometry?  Puh-leeze!  Normally, I don't carry my earliest plans around with me to convince people that these sketches are preliminary and that the viewer should look through the messiness to the idea and concentrate on the designer's intent. 

 

So in order to convince you to gather your courage and share these sketches with one another, here's one I did tonight.

Yes, I really was using a magenta sharpie that was near at hand.  Here's my idea - fit a circle inside the center of a large hexagon, and then invert larger semi-circles so the points meet the points of the hexagon and the curves touch the inner circle, and finally work designs within all areas.  You'll notice that I added a smaller circle in the center and spokes radiating out from that circle to the point where the apogee (? correct term? I don't think so) of the semi-circle touches it's sister circle.  Whew, I have trouble trying to explain without pointing to the areas I'm discussing. 

 

If you click on the drawing to get it larger, you might be able to see the letters and numbers I use to tell myself what my plan is.  For example, there are three main designs (numbers 1, 2, and 3) cradled in the semi-circles.  Each one will be repeated once (the corresponding numbers appear in the empty sections of the last three semi-circles).  Why draw everything again when, once I have it the way I want it, I can merely trace each image?  I didn't get much farther because it was getting late.  Also, I need to think about this a little more.

 

And I have no idea how to draft this accurately!  If anyone can help me, please write a comment on this blog because I could use the help!!!

 

And therein is one very, very good reason for gathering your courage and showing your sketches to friends and family.  You can enlist their help with problems!