That Ride Called Life

Cover Me with Sunshine

from Vickie...who wants me to follow my dream.

She has sent me an XXXXL version of this 6 year old's tutu.

It is in purple, because When I Am Old I Shall Wear Purple

When I told Lynsey about it, she said that her daddy would have to get me a helmet. HA!!

I really , really want to "borrow" a grocery cart from the store, spray paint it purple, tie quilting fabric as bows and wheel it down the street in my tutu.  I just need the cart.  I so refuse a walker. And, I am too old to steal it.  Wonder who would visit me in jail??????

Vicki has tempted my creativity.  I am thinking!!!

It came today from Amazon.  I know, I will ask for the grocery cart for Mother's Day!!!

Above is my skirt...purple tulle...and projects to work on.

How do I choose.???  No wonder I have 367 unfinished quilting projects. I sat here watching a stupid movie instead and drinking wine. Just guess I will now cut out the blocks for a new project.

I love my fabric collection.

A friend said I was going to die some day.  I do not want to leave any fabric behind.  I know there is not a trailer hitch for the hearse, but I am not giving up on it.

Yesterday, the CMQG had a get together at the parking lot at St Gabes.  Fully masked, we still had a good time.  Look what Ellen was wearing...Mola sandles .  I know Molas are from Panama. Ellen bought these in Mexico!

Heather bought a new house....Look at the quilty floor she installed!!

I am reading , Eleanor in the Village 

I like this much better than the long and winded Eleanor

Her quotes:

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you will be criticized anyway".

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent".

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.  You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror  I can take the next thing that comes along."

Evan came to stay the weekend with us for the first time since Covid.  It has been delightful.  He is now well spoken and expresses an affinity for Civics and weight lifting.  At almost 16, I will take that with pleasure.

I am having a hard time uploading my pictures to AOL...Ugh.

Tomorrow is my second cataract surgery.  I will be grateful when it is over.

Today, I had the calming pleasure of reading outside, under my tree, on a beautiful day.

 

Spring and Sun and Hope

Happy Birthday Stitch!!!

My girl made this top for her girl...My heart.

This bonnet too.

I so want our Lynsey to love sewing like we do.

Alas, she loves cooking.  She made a fresh blueberry pie for her mother tonight.  Or, maybe it was cherry.  Lynsey sent me this picture..

What to do about the boys.  They have lost interest in their sewing machines.

I think they may have forgotten all but how to wind bobbins for Grandma and how to make scrambled eggs.

I saw this on someone's blog as a perfect solution for the Accucutter and dies...OMG

It is like $225, so of course I do not have it.  Just thinking if my man were here, he would make it...

Of course, he would have to make room for it too...Like a sewing room addition??

Dizzy Quilter's Sewing room table for Accucutter, etc

Spring is in the Carolinas.  Our Irises are out.

Usually they come out on my mother's birthday, May 5th.

I am glad they are early to brighten our days.

Today was outside lunch with Jackie...then I walked, pushing a grocery cart around Publix.

I kept dropping things for my co-shoppers to pick up for me.

My bagger was from Venezuela.  Both of us reminisced about Caracas, etc before Venezuela became like Cuba....

Life is hard...Everyday I ask why.  Now I am just going to try to go with the flow and enjoy the day.  My darlings come home tomorrow, Evan too.  My son has put his work aside for the weekend.

I am grateful.

 

Six Years is the Same as Forever

                                        

                           When I Go                     

  

As the storm clouds gather they darken the sky.

My friends tell me to will the sun to shine. 

I am not that powerful.

 I cannot see glory when the tidal wave engulfs me.

Submerged, even hope eludes me.

My heart touches yours. 

 Without judgment, I will always listen to your pain.

Always!

With God's help, somehow along the way, I came to this:  

A Better Man

xoxox Meg

My Meditation

Playing along with fabric...my meditation..Kaffe and Andy's hand dye.

My seven pound weights came the other day.

Now I can do 30 reps with these on bicep curls.

That is supposed to help my balance. Fingers crossed.

This is what Eithne did.  I am now ready to do it too.  She gave away love in memory of her son.

This year, again...folks are choosing a word to live by.

The word that comes to mind is Grit.

I want to have  grit.

 

Cover Me In Sunshine

With a lovely Zoom Sit and Sew with my Good Vibes Quilters today...I was energized!! I

 finished....flimsy finished for my son's quilt.  Nothing like DONE.  It is so long I do not know how I will baste it with no friends to help.  It is probably too big for outside spray basting...I cannot wait until we can all get back together again. .Hopefully life will get better with our shots!!

Our Aoife having a great time at the park!!

News:  I found out that Connecting Threads sent me that blue fabric by mistake and sent someone else my solids...Will wait for their reply..

My grands have been cleared by the health department to go back to school Wednesday.  TBTG

And, my girl and her man got their first Pfizer shots today....Grateful!!!

Just in case you did not know me before I got so old and on my cane.

This is who I really am.!!  Inside anyway....

Cover Me In Sunshine

 

Midnight Musings

Covid is making this extrovert a bit anxious.  Tonight I treated myself to a bit of reproduction fabric.

When it came, I was thrilled...so much cheaper than therapy.

Look what my girl made for her Aoife.  Be still my heart that my Emily can sew.

Praying that Lynsey and the boys will pick it up too.

I am auditioning the border for my son's quilt.

Should have the top done tomorrow during our Good Vibes Sit and Sew

It is on my UFO list...a long time coming.

 I have several yards of blue fabric I did not order that came to me with no invoice.  I do not know if it was a mistake or a gift.  I do not know whether I have to keep them in the UPS bag or if I should take them out, wash them and put them in my stash. Maybe I should call the neighbors to see if I got theirs by mistake? I have emailed the people at the return address...no answer.  So the lovelies just keep sitting on the dining room table with a big question mark on them....???

What to do , what to do.???  Will I have to return them??

Tonight I am eating brownies.  God help me. My friends will soon call me Hippo.

The roofer gave me a $7000 estimate for the roof leaking repair.

The vet bill is awful as Zoe has kidney failure and Stitch has an eye tumor.

Guess I have to cut it out on the fabric spending.

Cruising Etsy is probably not the best bet for me now.

Staying in the day, saying a prayer and being so grateful for my friends xoxo

Missing my grands.

Peekaboo Star Top Done

 Peekaboo Star top done from stash and scraps..

Linda's 15 minutes of help...my clean cutting board. (sorry Jean Piaget)

First time a friend has been in my house in a year...windows all open.

Every night my son's home from working on cars.

Get out of my sewing room...OMG!!!

My father used to be an airplane mechanic.

Today, my goodness, was a Clematis family reunion!!

Below is one of my favorite batiks.  I have cut it with great humility for the back of the Peekaboo quilt.

My first instinct was to save it, as I love it so...Ha Ha Ha...I almost forgot how old I am.

So it goes...My vacation is extended for another 10 days.

The children will be staying  with remote learning at their mother's house.

Too bad since in-person school starts on Monday and they were really looking forward to that.

I guess a bit of isolation is not the end of the world. No one will forget 2020-2021!!

Next up on the design wall, is my son's quilt.  It was started 2 years ago as a surprise for Christmas, then for his January birthday, etc...same thing this past year.  Now, I have put it on my UFO list to finish!

He wants wool batting and flannel backing. OK, then...I have both already, no excuses!!

The borders and sizing the width is next.

I am now reading, Eleanor in the Village. 

I will not start something new....Well, maybe those 4 inch 4 patch scraps!!!

A Sun Shiny Day

Sunshine on My Shoulders

 This morning I found my Clematis with a few cousins..  How sweet it is.

A trip to Walmart and to the Easter clearance shelf landed me these fat quarters!!

Aoife just loving that girl in the mirror!!

I have not made one of these in awhile.  I just loved this cat....took the cat food bag from the recycling bin, cleaned it up..and Voila...Every time I make one, I end up giving it away.  The clerk at Aldi wanted mine, the guy at the pool wanted a few for his daughter for Christmas..Years ago...

Did you know that scraps are endless.  I am getting a bit tired of pink scraps.  I want to get on to my African fabric...I want to make funky!!

My darlings went to the beach with their mother.. I did not want them to go.  I mean..Covid and 4 children with one parent and dear Ava having had 4 brain surgeries...and,,,and,,,and...I put a clothes pin on my lips and off they went....I can see they just love it.  Now I am not the grandma of 3 year old Ava.  The other kids want me to be, but dear Ava has her own grands who love her so....Lynsey is always saying that I have three granddaughters... We settled on the name, Grammy-D.for me..I do love her too...look at those lovely faces!!  Ava looks just like her daddy!

And when did Dylan start changing..OMG.  He will be in middle school with his sister next year..OMG OMG  He is starting to look like his daddy and have his build. He already has his daddy's hair cut.

These girls love to smile...These boys are another story.  Thank goodness their mother made them pose for grandma.

Evan is two months short of 16 and Dylan is 11.  Evan favors his mother and Dylan favors his father...in looks and personality..

Boys...I think that caution sign is perfect!!

The strangest thing happened today.

In my mailbox was a big package of backing fabric.  Two blue pieces for two backings..??

There was no invoice and I did not order them.....I will keep them safe, until someone knocks on my door asking for them...The package has my name on it...hmmmm  Secret??

The next zoom sit and sew, I am definitely going to finish my project bags...Deborah's tute. Or maybe I should work with my luscious Marcia Derse fabrics.  Of course, there is dear Aoife's toddler quilt that I have not even started and before long she will be needing it.

It is two am, my favorite time of night...tomorrow Linda on the porch day...We are going thru my Civil War fabric...sigh...I love all fabric.

I am dreaming of the new solids I bought on Connecting Threads.  I have never tried them.  Problem is that I like to sew with friends...and guess what?????  That nasty Covid interrupted my life style!!

Next week I might start meeting friends outside for my mental health.

Reading:  I heard this was a great book.  I put myself on the library list...Hmm..I was number 455...On Amazon, it was $14 in hardback...so I bought it. I mean at my age, I may not have time to wait to be number 455 on the list..... Stay tuned!

Tuesday's post  below: Linda does splendid work.

Below is her star Civil War reproduction quilt, she made in a sew along with Barbara Brackman.

We spent an hour today admiring all the fabrics.

Then we went through my five boxes of Civil War fabric.

Today was the first time a friend had come in the house in over a year.

I opened all the windows and doors and put on the ceiling fans. It was a stunning day. It was 82 degrees with sun and Carolina blue. sigh...Already I feel better.

We wore our masks even though we have both been vaccinated..no hugs but a wonderful time.

She even came in my sewing room for 15 minutes and in that time, her organizational skills fixed what the last year could not do for me.  Remember Jean Piaget and this Grandma are cousins!!

Such a good day.

Easter Comfort

This morning brought the first Clematis of the season.  New life and hope at Easter.

Stitch always spreads love.

The easy herb garden.   It all sprouted nicely from last year.

Little work, lots of comfort.

Easter breakfast.  Thank you Chile.. Thank you America.

Aoife's first Easter.

The family bunny...bonnet made by her mother.

I did not get pictures from my other grands...sad, but OK!!

Good bye Easter...Hello hope...

Ending this post with a scrap quilt in progress!!!

Like my man always said:  Just go sew...and tonight,

a glass of wine and my sewing machine helped end the day with joy!!

Nothing like sewing..xo

 

The Duck and The Creative Process

My outing today included Staples, where they laminated my vaccine card for free!!

It is recommended that I show you the back side for security reasons!!  For me it is Pfizer with absolutely zero side effects.

It is now in my wallet with my driver's license...Good Grandma!!

Grandma O'Quilts walks like a duck.  My cataract repaired eye is still blurry.  ( common I read) It affects my already wobbly walk.  Thus...I walk like a duck. An old duck. 

Going today to Fresh Market to do my exercise while pushing a buggy.  I could only walk half the store as I lost four days exercise due to the eye thing.

However, an adorable blue eyed 16 year old boy walked me to the car.  This is my vacation as the children are with their mother.  So as cooking is not listed as part of my vacation goals  I got a few things that are financially viable for two, but not for 4...especially children who eat like crazy!!

My creative process started with with scraps leftover from my curved quilt.

They were cut into squares, made into HST (half square triangles)  HST then made into Hourglass, shown below:

I was questioning what to do with the Hourglass blocks when I found these dog blocks in a random basket.  A little rearranging gave me this look.

On my design wall that was ruined when a certain kitten (Stitch) climbed it.

When life is stressful, it is best to start creating new exciting projects!!

OK...a million of them!!

Here we have our Aoife, no longer a newborn...

I have strict instructions that if I ever ever get to meet her, I am not to give her a lollipop as I thought was my right as a grandmother!!!  Sigh!!

Oh, well...my sweet kisses will have to do.

Aoife....Where is the infant I never met???

Who is this big 8 month old  girl??  Who??

Even though I am disappointed that my eye is still blurry, I must carry on...now up to 30 Bicep curls with  number 6 weights...I just might order number 8!!!

Easter this year will be ignored like St Paddy's Day.  However, I am getting better and next year I am determined to do holidays again.

Jean Piaget and Me

This shows to go you that Creative Minds are Rarely Tidy!!!

There must be a sewing machine in there somewhere!!