A migraine visual disturbance usually begins small, increases in size and flickers irregularly. It is followed first by a stabbing headache, then by a deep, dull exhaustion. Unrecognizable to outsiders, all three phases are debilitating for the person affected. The bright, glaring tones symbolize the headache, the dark blue the exhaustion that follows. For the aura, I deliberately chose wide color stripes so that looking at my quilt should not trigger an attack in migraine and epilepsy patients.
Materials
Cotton fabric, hand dyed with reactive dyes, custom-dyed cotton (backing) and linen (background) fabrics. Cotton batting.
Techniques
Machine-pieced, machine-inserted into blue background, machine-quilted, all on a Bernina Activa 130 household machine.