Time is Flying...

Below are jar openers.  They are backed with rubber draw liners...Now is the time for relaxing sewing with no stress and no deadlines!!

Here: 13 bowl cozies for the holidays.  The bottom one is made from a shirt  I had  made for my son when he was five...He is now 40!!  Both my boy grands wore it too! 

Making more laminate  pouches closed with velcro.  They are perfect for holding cards, or snacks, or anything.  I have one for dog  treats and one for labels.  The old ladies here play "Hand and Foot ". a card game.  I made one of these for each table so the cards would not get lost.

Our darling Stitch is now 9.5 years old.  I still remember how Evan and I went to get him at  the shelter after Granddaddy died.  He is  the best cat ever...king everywhere he goes.  Now he lives in Union County with the grandchildren he loves.  Stitch no longer sleeps on my sewing table, but as you see, he is quite happy  xox Love you Stitch!!

A fun scrap potholder...

It has now been almost 3 months since my hip replacement surgery.  Still zero pain...so grateful...However, I am wobbly, on a walker and working on my patience..Life does seem to change.  Little by little I am able to do new things...Eg. I can now exercise in the pool for 30 min and ride the Nu-step for 11 minutes. Still only walking small distances.... I am carrying on.

I am making new friends.  A couple moved in last week where the husband has ALS.  I took them a potholder and told them I was available any time they cared for support.  No one should be alone with this disease!!  I can be a fellow traveler.( If they want)

Reading and  relaxing and getting better...Finally posting...Internet is back and I am still in the learning curve of my new PC mini...

I am preparing new small works for the  holidays..and preparing myself to get  better!!  xoxo

Hello my Friends

 Life is progressing with my hip repair.  I have been spending time on the exercise bike, in the swimming  pool and walking.  I am still quite fragile and wobbly, but pain free..TBTG!!! I guess that 7 months of pain and inactivity mean a long recovery...Grateful...no pain!!

Making small things to give away:  bowl cozies, pot holders, key fobs and small tissue holders.  Nothing to share but pix from my girl in Portland.

Last week the whole family, Rosie the dog, Aoife the 5 year old and Mommy and Daddy drove 6 hours to the mountains to hike and camp out...Llamas carried their gear...

They had a great time!!

Just found this in my email...maybe posted it, maybe not...I do love scraps.

I have not posted in so long...Aoife making cream...must have been at holidays.  Aoife turns 5 tomorrow and starts kindergarten in September!

Below, Carol invited me in to visit...Look what I found on her table...Her  husband's ties...A great job!!

Happy Birthday Aoife with your chicken balloons....

Both Aoife and her mother...kiss their chickens...Dear me!!!!

Lucky Mango!!

Happy Happy fifth birthday dear Aoife!! xxoo

Grandma O'Quilts practices patience with her long recovery!!!!  

Unrealistic expectations...No Diane....at 77 there will be no hopscotch, no jump rope, no running a marathon....sigh.....but pain free!!! Grateful.....

Sunflowers from Trader Joe's make my day so happy!!

Small Things with Great Love

Celebrating life by making for others.  The other night, watching news on Instagram, I  just knew I had to sew for joy....I made 35 key fobs to give to others...So much fun and so easy. Key fob tutorial  

There are many tutes for this.  I cut my fabric 3.5 x 10 inches and my fusible fleece, 2" by 10".  There are great selections for key fob hardware online. Here I have used 1 inch clasps, but just ordered 1.25 inch ones and I like them better..

Continuing on with the fun is Mrs. O'Quilt's nonstop potholder making...I am so out of them now...A few here to give to the rehab nurses who put up with this difficult patient in rehab!! and for the potholder basket I keep by my front door.

Kathy has cancer.  Kathy loves sunflowers....and so.....

Having left the 6 chickens with a sitter, my girl and her man and her 5 year old and the dog, all spent time climbing Oregon mountains with llamas to carry their burdens... So glad I traveled while I was young...OMG

Loving life today.  More good smart friends here, keeping great friends of yesteryear, fond memories of others...Still walking with a wobble...no pain..TBTG, taking walks, exercising in the pool...making small things with great love in order to survive this crazy world.

I have no earthly idea  how folks survive without sewing and having a good stash!! 

I am so grateful!!

Fusible fleece is my new friend.  Quilted holiday items on my door..sewn on Fusible fleece!  Now I find it comes in 3 different weights...

I found a charm pack by my door...from a non-quilter who had randomly found it at a store, thinking of me!! How very thoughtful.  Tonight I finished a potholder for her from that fabric.

Look at the adorable labels I ordered from Cozy Club Handmade  The best labels come from this site. It is out of Malta.

Every day is a slow day to recovery....still going in the right direction!!

I seem to be quickly gaining back some of those 40 pounds I had lost for my surgery.

Without the Semaglutide shots, I have an awful sugar craving...

Grateful to my friends and my sister for helping me out. 

I need some help soon with my  new computer.  I did not realize that I would have to put on all the shortcuts and passwords again.  Still life is good.  Making little gifts for workers here who are so helpful.

 

New Computer, Special Family, a Few Quilty Finishes

Happy July holidays:  Hanging in our art room, my flag piece and a hopeful pot holder:

Finish:  a laminate bag forever prepped...a year later, finished in 15 minutes!!

A homemade sponge from net bags that held oranges and pretty fabric:  finished 5  years ago...has been sitting around forever to be repaired....done and on my sink in 5 minutes...5 years?? 5 minutes??  What I do to myself!!

Family love..daddy's girl!!!

Chicken Mama!!

Chickens eating a homemade ice cake..

Happy Birthday my dear grandson, Evan.  Twenty years old...unbelievable that your parents had you when they were twenty!!!!

I have a new computer., a mini PC that hides behind the monitor

 in secret...Found online and ordered by  my dear SIL.

.Then,.Janet's husband, Bruce spent hours and hours setting it up for me.  Finally I can blog again.  Grandma O'Quilts is approaching the modern age...not so fast, I still am learning details..I still do not know how to put short cuts on the screen.

So hoping August will be the time my daughter comes to visit before her girl starts kindergarten...Yup...five already next week or so.

I have been without a computer for 10 days...

Talk about gratitude to have it up and running.

Friends and family and fabric  

Happiness!!!

 

Flag Day and More

 Loving America, even though it is currently in turmoil..I put together this flag top today.

This is my first time using pre-made iron on squares...It came out a bit funky. I like it anyway.

A horrid day till now....I was so distraught that I almost invited Pearl in for a glass of red wine...OMG  OMG'

But, then, my darlings came to visit...My heart, my hugs, my joy...Evan is 20, Lynsey is 16 and Dylan is 15.

Of course we needed a selfie!!!

The best time ever...They helped old grandma...all voluntary...all splendid..

Lynsey not only emptied the dishwasher, but cleaned out the fridge and organized the counter...That girl has so many organizational skills...

The boys:  Evan hammered some nails into the table to hang a bag.

Dylan had connived an agreement with me...If he made me bobbins, would I buy him an apparatus for his computer...Of course, Dear Old Grandma, never looked at the price...ha!!  But, I love him so.  He made 40 bobbins for me...Here he is sewing away.  I ordered his computer gadgets.  I am so happy and so grateful.  It was like old home week.   The best thing I did in my entire life was to raise these kids.  I love them so much.

Now, out of Portland:   Potatoes from their garden:

Aoife painted a picture of her new favorite chicken....Painting while her parents finish building the chicken coop.

And, here in Charlotte, Anne showing us her hand stitched Boro boxes.  We are going to do a class together on this in the fall.

Happy Birthday Anne!!!!!!!

At the end of the day....all is just spendid...Nothing like a little loving from ones you care about...

Note to self, always remember that every cloud eventually passes and the sun comes out.

xoxoxox

Finally Home...OMG

This card pouch for Irene is the first thing I have made in forever...I think this means that I am finally on the mend. It holds 4 decks of cards for "Hand and Foot"  I added the cards to make the gift complete.  Feels good to be sewing again.

 Today I came home from the hospital after a 3 day stay.

Seems like I am low on most everything....I am anemic, low on vitamins, low on Potassium, low on folic acid.  Seems like I lost my appetite while on those weight loss shots and have only been eating Oreos??  Ice Cream??

I have not been on those shots for 5 weeks. I have had a successful left hip replacement .  Somehow those shots still affected me.  Anyway, I am home today with antibiotics and a whole basket full of supplements.

I have been told to set my alarm for 2 hours and eat something then...In a million years, I never would have dreamed that I would lose my appetite!!!!!!

Listening to the doctors and eating, I feel so much better, that I even sewed tonight.

Still wobbly, but friends have offered to help me...so grateful.

Once again, I feel like I have been in jail...Reading a book on my patio was better than anything. Joy, relief and gratitude.

My sister coming by to meet the hospital van was so wonderful...And, so it goes....Age is upon me.

I now have had two total knee replaceents, one shoulder and two hips replaced...just one shoulder left....and I am in no hurry.

This is by far the hardest recuperation...but it is done and I am still above ground...so grateful.

Nothing but Chickens

Since my energy is low, and I am wobbly walking, as I recouperate from surgery...no sewing, just enjoying my niece, Aoife and her chickens.

Sunshine is the favorite...fun and beautiful.....Here he rides a scooter with Aoife.

Oh, dear, Oh, dear....Sunshine woke up this morning saying "Cock-a-doodle-doo"  This handsome guy is a rooster.

Roosters are not allowed in the city... Evidently Silkies cannot be sexed until now.....Oh, dear...'

TBTG my girl has a friend in the country who is taking Sunshine....Here he goes to his new home in a box.

Our girl says "goodbye" to Sunshine...

He does not seem too unhappy checking out his new digs...New friends too!!

Our fickle girl has  now caught one of the farm chickens....a stranger chicken that she does not  even know.

Look at the ugly feet....Oh, dear, Grandma O'Quilts evidently is not a chicken lover..

Lucky that Sunshine did not end up in a stew pot...

Nice to have friends.

Now, all about me!!!!!

Today, Tomorrow and Forever

Portland, Oregon,....Now it is just too much!!!  Chickens are inside the house on the sheep quilt  I made Aoife!!!!

Rope bowls from rehab!!!

Given to the nurses

And from my chicken crazy daughter....She has plans to hang with another friend who loves chickens..

OMG....Here they are enjoying the "drinking with chicken day".

I would not say that my girl is obsessed, would  you???

Someone asked me what was the most challenging sewing project I had ever done.

Well, in high school, I  took shop.  I re-upholstered the family car:  A Peugeot we had brought back from 
Europe when my father was restationed home.

And, above....The Irish dance dress I made for my girl for her competition  in the World's Irish Dance.

Today, I have another good behavior pass from re-hab to my apartment...So nice to be home.  Tomorrow the staples come out of my wound at the ortho...Wednesday, my quilters come to help me move my things from rehab, home to my apartment..I will have been in rehab for 3 and a half weeks....Thursday, I come home for good...............No pain at all...no pain meds either!!!

Lucky, lucky Grandma O'Quilts