I'm working on my Flutterby quilt featured in Jen Kingwell's Quilt Lovely. I found the block on line, and I then studied it and fashioned it into a quilt using EQ8. I was captivated by the block, became more familiar with Jen's work, and I bought the book.
If you suffer from spatial dyslexia as I do: Time OUT
Honestly, I simply put those two words together because it described my issues--as it turns out there is such a thing--though it is called directional dyslexia! To wit....
Quick facts about directional dyslexia:
- Not an actual kind of dyslexia, more of a symptom of other types of dyslexia or a different kind of disability all together
- Sometimes called spatial or geographic dyslexia
- Distinguished by left-right confusion and a tendency to become disoriented or lost
- May be related to difficulty remembering sequences and short term memory deficits
Source: https://www.dyslexia-reading-well.com/directional-dyslexia.html
Remember the "I could have had a V8" commercial--with the giant smack to the forehead? Did you hear me smacking mine? Well, that sure explains a lot--and it explains EXACTLY so many issues I have with typical navigation (left, right, Huh?) and this quilt block. (Flashback 30 years ago...to being lost in DC (after getting off the wrong exit on my way home) because streets were redirected for traffic from two way to one way and "Where the hell am I" panic set in.
With this block, I've had a few of those "Where the hell am I?" moments. At least I'm still in the safety of my sewing room! Spatial dyslexia explains why I have such a large number of seams ripped out because when I sewed a split rect to the nexus block, it looked so very right but was so very wrong--I put the wrong mirrored split rectangle. (I rarely have to rip out seams). It also explains why I love my EQ8 program so much...because I cannot do these things in my head...I need visual cues.
Yes, I made a test block. Yes, I "followed" it. Yes, I still screwed up. I had to resort to taking my test block (which is one of 4 to get the full effect), in manually rotating. I then put my split rects on my design wall, and then built the block on the wall.
For those of you with excellent spatial faculties (and are never met with "No, your other left" from others), you may laugh at the thought of this painful dissection of the "obvious". It seems obvious to me too! Except in practice, from my brain to my hand, it does not work. Accordingly, I have to teach my brain to learn the cues--build endemic understanding of the block...so I'll know when I'm wrong before I sew the $#!%^$^%& seam.
Each block is the same. It is just turned one rotation clockwise or counterclockwise depending on where you wish to start. I started in the bottom right quadrant. A gang of four displays a complete rotation of one of the quadrants of this block. The nexus square on the split rectangles (or alterntatively the outside colored square on the four patch) travels one complete rotation around the block. On the perpendicular, each quadrant is a mirror of the other.
And although I have never researched spatial dyslexia before, all of the above describes the strategy that I had to deploy to understand this simple block--and what I discovered on the way to making this post.
per the website
2) For poor sense of direction
- Write down the steps to your destination and try to memorize them
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