The work ethic of a six year old.

The work ethic of a six year old.  Evan picked up pine cones for Granddaddy..a penny a pinecone.  He had a piece of paper to write it all down for himself and his 3 year old sister.  The tallied count:  140 for Evan, 6 for Lynsey (counted and reported by Evan).  This earned a delighted 6 year old some nice money and a financial lesson...A fun time for all.

A big happy second birthday today for our sweet Dylan..already learning how to get his way!

Vintage recycling

Even though I gave away all my scraps so I could use the "good stuff" before I age out, things do not seem to change around here.  In keeping with my "no think" relaxation phase, I made the following:  Potholders from a child's patchwork vintage skirt (ugly as sin)  from Goodwill...I decided to practice free motion quilting on them.  Relaxing, fun and cheap..recycling...not the "good stuff" ....but then, maybe....

Then I found a ratty old plastic bib.  I decided that I just could not throw it away.  So I did a little fabric therapy on it with zigzagged edges.  Someone at the Goodwill will hopefully enjoy it.  Giving back, you know!

To bed with me before I ruin all this peace with another project.

Spring

Fall is my favorite time of year......maybe......

a nothing post

No pictures, no nothing.  I am so exhausted.   I was hoping that Mental Health day would be a double holiday because I could have used it today.  I have not touched the sewing machine once today.  THAT is a first.  I sat some in the woodsy part of my yard and read some pablum on the Kindle until the rain came.  I wish I had some Halloween candy. Thank you for listening.

Cheering up!

My son went to see his failing grandmother.  Guess who he left with me.  The fun of potty training is a good wash up after:)  Such a treat!

Lynsey just turned 3 and Dylan is 2 on Monday.

Sweet Miss Mollie Muldoon

RIP

Sweet Miss Mollie Muldoon

2003-2012

xxoo

Facecloth love....finished

I know that you understand that when a person buys a deal...like 3 packages of facecloths with 8 in each package, that that means one has to make all 24 facecloths...I mean it is an obsession thing..  If it is to be relaxing, then let it be really relaxing.  The best part of this was adoring the fabric scraps.  They are so cute.  In fact I think I am in love with the facecloths too.  Maybe I will keep them all and not touch them, just like not wanting to cut up my best fabric...You know that today is Mental Health Day.  I have been waiting for it all year:)

I thought I would let you all enjoy the facecloth pictures before I start to ruminate. This is not a political blog nor is it a religious one.  But on the topic of religion, in the past few years I have come to believe that if there is a God, it is not me.  This epiphany would have been heresy in my younger years, but the truth cannot be denied as I age.  Knowledge is one thing, putting it into practice and letting go, going with the flow...one day at a time...is all something quite different.  And yes, all of this is about my mother ....again..  Evidently I have been whining.  It is painful.  I know that she will be 91 in May and that she is of clear mind.  How lucky is that.  I am grateful.  The med tech at her facility tells me to be grateful. He is from Ghana and has seen life from a different angle.  One of her caregivers is from Liberia.  She says to put a smile on my face and be grateful that my mother has had such a will to live and to celebrate life and to spread the joy..I am grateful...the smile on my face, I am not sure of that one.  This whole end of the road thing is bringing my own mortality into play.  Stamp my foot, throw a fit...I do not like that either!  So I am working on broadening my horizons to help me cope.  Nadia has exposed me to a new to me blog Teri's. Teri lives in Libya sharing her life through the revolution...so I am planning on chin up.....OOOO nooo, the Hospice nurse just called with bad news, another UTI and hallucinations and how many times do we want to treat a UTI which is coming from C.Diff and Parkinsons....so forget the chin up thing....and forget carrots.  I need a cookie to cry with and a friend or two.

Facecloths for kids

I am continuing to sew for fun, mindlessly in between visits to my mother.  The latest relaxation comes from Fairy Face Designs.  There are a number of tutorials out there for this, but I happened upon this one and went for it.  She used facecloths from IKEA..which I would have liked for the bright colors.  But I was too lazy to drive up there and went to Marshals instead.  There I found nice pastel colors in pink, blue and yellow, 8 facecloths for $3.99.  You could of course use terrycloth yardage, but this was very convenient for me.

I washed and dried the facecloths.  Then squared them up by cutting off the binding edges.  I put right sides together with a pretty piece of fabric, left about 3 or 4 inches open for turning, turned, pressed and top stitched, using the walking foot.  The Fairy Face post did a zigzag, but I preferred a topstitch, once along the very edge to secure the opening and once more 1/2 inch in for both accent and durability.  I have been going nuts with these..enjoying the process.  A few tied nicely with a bow is a good present for a baby.  I bought a stack of each color, I think it is 50 cents for each facecloth. (Sherry?)

On another subject, I was comparing notes with  Rayna about Parkinson's in the family...ugh ugh ugh...she had this site on one of her posts that just delighted me...made me laugh out loud...I needed that.  Margaret and Helen.  I added it right away to my Google Reader as I love to laugh.  It is political, so if you are not a Democrat..you would want to skip it.  Otherwise...laugh on my friends and thank you Rayna for everything.

Stitch in Dye charm pack..relaxing...

Just messing around with parts of a charm pack I got yesterday.  Relaxing my mind with Malka.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lynsey

Today my granddaughter Lynsey is 3 years old.  This IKEA doll bed came with bedding.  I just covered it with fabric I liked better.  Lynsey...doll bed quilt is coming:)  xxoo

A mixed bag..snowball and cheddar

Orphaned blocks, stroller size baby quilt.. done..We went to Mary Jo's last week.  I got a yard of this green because I was short for the border.  In the shop, it matched.  I got several opinions including my own.  On my ironing board, it is not a match.  Because it is on the border, it does not matter, but I question my eyes and I question lighting...not to be crabby about this...but...

Then there is this "cheddar".  With flash and without. Is it really "cheddar" or a garish orange....my eyes, my mind, my disposition(:

And, then, since this is not only a quilting blog, but evidently a therapy blog for me....My mother has C.Diff again...The Cipro for the UTI brought it back.  Now she is quarantined again and cannot go to the dining room or to her poetry group.  She told me that she is rotting on the vine and trying to decide which color cloud to float away on.  How poetic Mom...but, really, this is tough...again...  On the cheering up side...my friends and I are going to the Faust sale in Kings Mountain, North Carolina on Friday( One member needs a business tax ID number)...a full car with like minds....fun....important.

WOW...I just added this from  True Up...so much for my fretting about the difference in hues of Kona solids...even from the same store!!!   unbelievable

Fish Scene

I just finished quilting and binding this small wall hanging from the workshop two years ago with Laura Wasilowski.  I was going to donate it to the Guild silent auction.   For now, I put it on the door in my kitchen. Anyway, you know how I feel about the DONE thing...As I look at it now, I see how lovely the hand dyes are...how they give such depth.  All of these pieces are cut free hand.  She had ideas, but the pieces we made are our own.  Makes me miss Miami a little bit.

More quilts for kids

I am enjoying my "no think" phase and doing it without guilt! (Thank you Joy).  This baby quilt was made from leftover 4 patches from 2 different baby quilts.

 Below is one more cuddle quilt for an older boy.  The Guild says that 3/4ths of quilts given to Guild for the hospital are for baby girls.  Older children and most boys are left out.

After making my ironing pads the other day and finishing the above cuddle quilt during Sit and Sew yesterday, my mind was all about quilting the peaceful way.  Well, all night long my brain was designing a clothes pin bag like my grandmother used in our home growing up.  In my sleep, in my mind, I was using modern fabric and figuring out how to put in the hanger and the opening...all night long.  When I woke up this morning I thought....what the heck was that.  I have not dried my clothes outside for 20 some years.  In fact, this neighborhood association does not even allow a clothesline...crazy...That brain of mine is off task!!

Ironing pads

The dog got Eva's bear.  I mended it best I could cause I know a bear is a well loved creature.  She looks a bit rough, but a girl has to take care of herself..and this one will. While looking for extra stuffing for the arm, I found some ironing board material....hmmmm

So,in keeping with my mindless work nowadays (Joy says it is ok!)...I decided to make some Ironing pads.....While my mat is about 20 by 36, I had enough fabric left for four small mats...about 16 by 18 inches.  I used the green ironing material with Insule-Brite and backed it with the funky IKEA fabric left over from the    hotpads. When you look at funky...keep in mind that this fabric won first place in the Stockholm university student art contest.  I put the ties on and the hangers on...and mindless became a task accomplished and a good day.  I may consider donating one or two to our Guild's shop at our quilt show in March.

On one retreat, we ruined the ironing board cover.  Ever since, Sherry has convinced me that these small mats put on the ironing board in a public place saves grace and..put next to the machine are very handy.

Me and the mindless thing

I have not been able to figure out why I am not creating.  Why am I pulling out old blocks left over from years back and making mindless baby quilts.  I mean I have my Swedish flag quilt that I have been wanting to make and solids to use.  I gave away my scrap bags so I could start all that, but the interest does not seem to be there.  Yesterday I figured it out.  With the past 7 months of my mother's decline.  I am waiting, I think, for the other shoe to drop....not a good thing.  My mind is there, not here.

 Yesterday morning my mother called me with the help of her volunteer.  Her volunteer is from Russia, a retired oncologist about 70 years old.  She is visiting 4 mornings a week with my mother in order to learn English.  My mother said that she is learning Russian..hmmm.  It was a great call.  Then at 3 in the afternoon, I visited my mother.  Only to find her hanging out of the bed hallucinating out of her mind feeble as they come.  What a shock!  I insisted that the Hospice nurse take more urine for another test for a UTI, which she did.  But she also said that it could be a stroke. I came home last night and made these...tranquilizing cupcakes:)  I just needed sugar to calm me down.  I wish my husband could understand this!!

 Evidently my darling Milito felt a bit of stress as well...for I just turned my back for one tiny little minute and found this!

 No shame at all...and this is not your bed Milito!

This morning I was about to leave to check on my mother when  a toothache delayed me.  An emergency 3 and a half hours at the dentist prepping for a crown on a cracked tooth was all I needed today.  In the middle of it all, I got the call from the Hospice nurse saying indeed it was a UTI.  When I got to my mother's place at one, she was in the dining room discussing the super bowl.  It only took one dose of Cipro...Jeeze Louize...the roller coaster again.  I am hanging on to the side rails, all belted in.

Doll Bed/ Google reader help needed..

Mr. O'Quilts put together this doll bed from IKEA for Lynsey's third birthday on the 16th. A great opportunity for Lynsey and I to make a doll bed quilt together...Now,  Tigger got confused...Whose birthday did you say???

Sooo frustrated with my Google Reader.  Now it only lists my subscriptions with new posts.  I want it the old way with all my subscriptions whether or not new posts.  Also, I want to be able to click on "like" when I like a post....but that is gone too..  Any reader "wise" friends out there to help me..suggestions?

Today

Today I delivered daffodils from my garden to my mother.  She is upset that her memory is not like it used to be.  I said, let's be grateful that you are alive.

The "Jungle" quilt below is finished.  What started out as quite a misstep ended up to be a good thing.  I used this quilt to practice my free motion quilting.  For the first time ever, I quilted a large meandering motif without any loops on the back.   I set my tension to 4 and put my dials all down to zero, slowed down and took my time.  It was finished in 30 minutes and I am delighted with myself.  Now that I have played with the fabric, I will give what is left (lots) to my friends or Guild. (like my sister wanted in the first place!)

 I finished this quilt too.  The left over scraps are from my Purplish Trip Around the World

Now I have two baby quilts in the cupboard for future needs.

Caffeine

When Grandma wasn't looking!

The last thing we need is a two year old on caffeine!

The "Jungle" Top

Well last night about 10 pm, it was over...my quilting life had hit a snag and I was no longer creative..I had aged out.  (Says my man...do you always have to be so dramatic??)  I decided to work on that cuddle, jungle quilt from earlier on..just to relax.  Well after the blocks were together, I started the borders.  Now I do not like to use my good fabric.  I know that the New Year was to bring a change in that...but it is still hard.  I cut some borders from the fabrics below..my good fabrics..and they did not work.  Cutting good, favorites and they do not work????.. Irritability was upon me.  It was now 11pm.

I could not make this work.  This "relaxing" nothing quilt.  At midnight I gave up and got into bed in a huff. My husband said that it was a shame that I didn't have a passion that I could really enjoy instead of getting pissy.  Like, he makes mistakes in his tennis tournaments and in his woodworking and he doesn't act like this..OMG..to have that kind of easy going disposition....  In the morning light, I realized that there was not enough neutral space for the eye to rest and when I added 2 and a half more inches of the green to the top and bottom, it was better.  Then Kaffe to the rescue with his awesome stripes and it was done by noon.  Sigh.... 

Not brilliant, but done and presentable and certainly not worth getting crabby about...unless of course a person happens to be that kind.....

The Jungle Theme

My sister gave me this fabric...lots of it.  Rather, she gave it to the Guild via me and I couldn't/wouldn't part with it.

 See, I do not have enough fabric.  I needed this one too!

 I have been without creativity since the workshop yesterday.  I have ennui....Then my friend Nancy sent me this video to remind me how really boring things are here in Charlotte...NO I do not like drama...well....

Wild Gorilla Encounter Video

So, here I go..as wild as I can get lately!  Just a little process here....

My Bottle Tree

Lucky me went to a Guild workshop today with Sandra Smith.  We had a great time with a lovely lady.  I learned the technique, had some great laughs with friends and relaxed....As for the picture quilting, all I could come up with was a beginning fabric picture of my backyard bottle tree!

I think that Sandra has a lot more patience than I do.  As fun as the workshop was, I probably will not be making a big quilt like this in the near future.