The soothing of Batiks..

I really enjoyed making this quilt.  I hope the recipient feels the same comfort.  It is 31 inches by 40 inches.  Probably for a child, but really I would like it to go to the Women's Cancer Unit because it is so pretty.  I am just afraid it is not big enough.

 I love it when I have a fabric in my collection that I have just tucked away and really forgotten about.  When I see it...I hear....Choose me, Choose me:)  And it is perfect!  Here we are all washed and ready.

My PT told me to start driving to the local Michael's store...5 minutes away..every day.  She said to go in the store and the minute I have symptoms to go home.  So I told my husband that I was either going to see my mother or to the antique store.  He asked me what part of the instructions did I miss???  Fine...I went to Michaels and came home...tiny symptoms only..

The Potholders and such...emphasis on the such...

How do I say this??? I need to do the potholders as planned, but I tend to leave them to last because they make such a scrappy mess.  I decided to do bibs instead.  My friends are becoming grandparents again and again...  These fabrics are so cute for bibs....but.........

I came upon the rest of the 6" cut batik squares from the other day.  These were not the fall colors, but more pastel, so I had just left them on the desk for a clean-up time.  It would certainly be fun to make them into something...instead of the bibs which were instead of the potholders, etc, etc.....

At first glance there were not enough, and they were dull.  I found a few orange ones and cut them randomly to insert for more color.  That was fun...so I cut some of the others too... This is a random quilt...no design wall, just the liberated thing.  Very, very fun... 

 I finished a top.  The color is off due to the dark and the flash...but I think it is fine...

 If I could get it quilted by Wednesday,  of course without pushing myself...I could turn it into Guild for the hospital.  I could then have four and would be all caught up with my goal of one hospital quilt a month...I would indeed be happy.  I really love the orange stripe.  Sad to see it almost used up.  The batiks remind me of the fun trips to Pittsburgh taking our daughter back and forth to college at Carnegie Mellon.  At the time Charlotte did not have JoAnn's fabrics, but a little town outside of Pittsburgh did...Mountain View...was the highlight of the 8 hour trip...sales galore...nice memories...

Clickety Clack:)

Last night I cut these out, after lunch today, I finished them.  The tute came from Fairy Face Designs.  The way I did them before is posted here.  I finished these 10 this afternoon.

 Adding it to the 14 that I already had makes 24!  I had to make more cuz I only had boy ones left really.  Needed a few girl ones and ones for parents to do not want to know the sex yet.

These are even more fun than the tissue holders.  I think that they could not only be used for baby, but for stocking stuffers for grandchildren who visit.  Then they would each know which face cloth was theirs...or they could be stocking stuffers for college kids with the college fabric on the fabric side.  They could be fundraisers.....many possibilities for the holidays...

Marie, Thank you for picking up the facecloths at Marshalls for me!!  

Come Saturday Morning....a post...

Just look at what Mr. O'Quilts found in the mailbox this morning!!  He did not say anything, he just looked at me.  That of course saved me from having to explain why someone would have to buy 24 zippers at Zipit on Etsy, instead of just getting a plain one locally when I needed it.  It saved me from explaining why a woman needs choices...choices in color and choices in size when she makes pouches and bags.  It saved me from explaining why I needed zippers when I have not made a bag or a pouch in a while....I love you honey!!

 Last night I was so done...I mean sooooo done on this concussion thing that I decided I needed red wine.  I also decided that if I put the wine in one of my grandmother's china TEA cups, that it would not count as the forbidden alcohol of the injured...I mean really, three months!!!!  So I did.

It was so yummy that I had two.  Eeeeeekkkk   freedom....  And I was right, it did not count:)

Starting the Holiday thing....

Tonight, after the Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild meeting, I finished my tissue holders.  I got the tute from...Skip to My Lou.  Of course, I then found a tutorial I like better from Notes from the Patch via Debby's blog. (But, then I am a bit lazy to do the extra trim....hmmm)  It is way too late for me now because I have just  finished 50...just need to put in the tissues.  I like to hand them out during the holidays.

It was Terri who introduced me to these when she gave me one to take to the airport with me as I said goodbye to my daughter.  She was moving to Europe and I am a big cry baby!!  I loved it.....thx Terri....

Now that these are made...I am on to more potholders.  I had thought I was set with 17 potholders, but I only have 7 left.....that will be my next project.....Glad to be getting going with these now..

Walmart vs making the bag????

I must tell you that Walmart lures....However, the distressed looks on the faces of my friends last night and the total exasperation of my sister and Mr. O'Quilts....led me to make this bag instead.  

 I know you have seen this project before, as shown in this post.  Here it is again... I mean come on, it was either this or Walmart!

 Working with leftover screen from my screened in porch and vinyl from the Walmart that I used to know(:. a person can enclose a picture or print from a magazine in the vinyl.  The dog pictured here is from a dog food bag.  It is best to use batiks for these kinds of projects as they do not ravel and are easily attached with a spot of plain old glue and zigzag.  I like to use variegated thread for this funky look.  The dog part itself is a small pocket reinforced on a piece of orange webbing.

The wrap around straps are reinforced at the bag bottom with more of my friend, the zigzag stitch.

Other news:  Both my husband's MRI and Alexis' MRI's are normal.  Seems like Alexis has an undisclosed infection and has been told to stay away from our susceptible mother.  Grateful me is now going to sit in the sun and chill.  Mr. O'Quilts has agreed to take me to the Modern Quilt Guild tonight.

Clickety Clack

My mother wrote this poem for me and published it in her first poetry book. I was totally offended..especially when my sister had a darling sweet loving poem.  Mother has since repented in only the way she can...After making these quilts in just a few days, maybe, just maybe..I can see what she meant..

TRAIN OF THOUGHT

On the survival track

Clickety clack, clickety clack

By the river

Up the hill

Through the mountains

Never still

On the survival track

Clickety clack, clickety clack

By the water

Up the grade

Through the tunnel

Unafraid

Hallelujah, Amen

Turn around, start again

On the survival track

Clickty clack, clickety clack

Why, oh, why....

Fabric.com $3.95 blowout sale

I think that Fabric.com knows that I am confined......Lordy, Lordy, what is a poor weak woman to do????

Hear Ye, Hear Ye.....

The world did not stop in the three months I have been injured...a complete shock to the system here!!!  That having been said, the negotiations between the upstairs office and the downstairs office are complete.  My overindulgence will stop.  (after the next shipment from Fabric.com)  eeekkkk.  Do let me show you today's big deal.  I am now good friends with my UPS driver...

 Those Fabric.com sales tug at my heart the same way my meatloaf got to Zoey...irresistible.   Next naughty thing injured me did...(they say that for sure you are getting better when you start to milk it...ha ha)  So, like I was saying...the next thing I did was to pretend that I was retired.  The design wall that you see here is in my office...  I am seeing two clients on Wed.  I think I will just test the waters and see if they care...they will not even notice!!

 You would think that my sewing room is enormous for the things discovered there.  It is not big, but it sure is   a mess....therefore, I have found these random batik 6 inch squares leftover from another project.  I cut 6 black and white and 6 yellow for centers and am sewing them together for a future corner cut 9 patch quilt.  When all twelve 9 patches are made, I will put them in a project box and try to finish something else......maybe...I might even label the box...so there will be no future surprise:)

Last night I talked with my mother...or tried to anyway.  My sister was there to answer the phone. My mother would not talk to me...She was mad because I did not come visit.  Tonight Mr. O'Quilts took me to visit.  The worker told me that Queen Alice said that I no longer cared about her and thus she has been abandoned.  Lordy....My mother then told me that it was difficult seeing me looking so good, rested and chatty without thinking that I was not really injured, just not wanting to see her.  I know that along with Parkinson's comes a processing problem...and the stop and go of Parkinsons...sometimes yes and sometimes no.  It is still hard.  Hard for her and hard for me.

Ending on a great note is Adopt a Mimi.  My mother has had a high school volunteer for 3 years.  She comes every Sunday morning at 10, stays for 30 or 40 minutes helping her with her poetry and the computer.  Now she just reads poetry to her.  She formed this awesome organization as part of her school project basing it all on her experience with my mother.  If you click on the link and look at the bottom right hand corner, you will see the first Adopt a Mimi....Alice...that is my mother.  Isn't this a wonderful story!!

Friday's doings..

What started out as a little project for my mother using up old fabric pix, has turned now into a much bigger event.  Everyone wants their picture on "grandmother's new quilt".  So, with Sunday's Hobby Lobby coupon, I will need to get more fabric sheets.  I have framed the pix I have with the DS grey dots and like it a lot.  Bright colors will show it off as I put it all together.

Then there is more.....This am, hubby woke up all headachy and sick...it is small wonder with taking care of me and the hospital calling him at 2 am and then at 5 am, two nights in a row to fix their computer remotely...jeeze louize.  In spite of how he felt today, he still took me to PT and to my concussion guru appt.  Both seem to think I am improving and that I should heed celebrating the positive strides instead of what has not happened yet...like being able to drive and read....fine..I will try harder!!!!  Yes I will too!!!

My 25 year old niece is having an MRI on Monday for a hearing issue hopefully not related to the mild Spina Bifida she was born with.  One more scare for the family.  My husband also has an MRI on Monday because he cannot feel a few toes on one foot....he surely manages to play tennis however! 

 My brother and his wife and their 19 cats left South Florida today for New Jersey.  That ends a 36 year life that he had in Miami.  Wow...big changes for my colorful family.  

 And at the Hospice annual visit to my mother today, it was revealed that she now weighs 95 pounds, down from 130 and up from 88...I had no idea.  She is in good spirits and life of the party at her residence.  Oddly enough, her doctor told her the same thing as mine told me today.  He told her to celebrate what she could do and not what she couldn't...Of course we all know that it is easy for them to say. 

All the drippy details of our life having been shared.... tomorrow is so exciting.  My group is coming to my house for the first Sit and Sew in months...just months..maybe in forever  .We will do it as a group, so I have to prepare nothing...of course the homemade fudge is made already:)   That is the Friday update.

Tonight's schpeel...

I told my mother that I was isolated and did not like it at all.  She said, "You should be poor me...my daughter fell down the stairs and cannot visit me"....ha ha ha Mother!!  She asked me to look for old pictures and for old things of hers to send with my sister.  She just wants reminisce a bit.

So, I was cleaning my sewing room, as the same old story goes...and came upon these;

 The pictures are old and they are already printed on fabric.  At least 10 years ago, I had a photo shop do it, before I could myself.  They are a bit on the stiff side, but they will be perfect for my mother.  I cut them to size and framed them with a white border.  Immediately I knew it should have been muslin instead, but the white was cut and I was lazy.

 Maybe putting the grey for a thin next border,  before putting them into blocks will take the glare off.

I went to the physical therapist today.  She said that I am getting better and will have bad days.  I demanded no bad days, but I did not get my way.  She told me that the supposed "swollen glands" I thought I had were really the pulled ligaments and muscles and minuscule whatevers that did not show on MRI or CAT scans..and that it was like whiplash...sigh...she was massaging the neck...really I was afraid that she would pull my head off..but no...I still have it.

On this blog, Blue Nickel Studio, I saw this link..... Downey's clip on Jennifer Paganelli   ...

I thought it was very interesting.

And then there was None...

I have met my challenge of using up all 108 one patches, made into four patches.  There were 10 left.  I  put  them with fussy cut IKEA white fabric I had dyed yellow.  Boy, those vintage fabrics have traveled far:)  I now have 4 baby quilt tops.  I will baste this one later on.  Will need to quilt them another time..quilting does not seem to bode well  for me right now(:

Next project is to clean the mess I have made again in my sewing room.  Although I do know what happens when I start cleaning....I bump into something new:)

The relaxed day...kind of...

Here is number three boy baby quilt made from the 108 yellow one patches or 54 four patches.  In bed last night I thought about adding the red 2.5 inch squares to the corners...like a snowball..

Today was a day for me with symptoms, just like yesterday when I had done too much the day before.  So my husband said that I did too much yesterday....that making two baby quilt tops and basting them was too much.  I disagree.  I think it was getting irritated over the wobbly quilt that bothered me...Truth is in the eating of the pudding(:  So today brings only one quilt top and me taking breaks resting and going outside in between.  Trying to stay sane here.  Can you imagine life without quilting?????

I have 10 four patches left.......

Four patch frenzy....

This quilt top was a pain in the hiney, let me tell you.  Even though the gingham edges are on the straight of grain, I think that gingham is a looser weave than I had expected.  Then fussy cutting the cute IKEA car fabric for the center blocks had to be on the bias..wiggle, wobble...annoyance...sigh...but, the top is done.  Now I have two tops done from the 54 four patches from the 108  yellow pre-cut squares....ha ha...This quilt uses 12 and the last quilt used 24...so I now have....54 minus 36, is I think 18 left....whew...not tonight....

Isn't this IKEA fabric cute... I already basted 4 patch number uno...and put this on the back.

I am a little tiny bit on the crabby side...just sharing...could use a bit of sugar..but I hid what I have and now I cannot find it.....Wish I could blame that on the concussion.  Wish I could blame something on the concussion!!

P.S...So I am no math genius.....There are 22 blocks left.....hmmmm

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails....

I know that these are not vintage, but they are saved favorites...boy, am I on a roll...using things that I love.  My sister does not have this problem...she uses her favorite fabrics...she even brings them to work to admire.  She drapes her quilts around her cubby and sells her potholders.  If someone likes sheep, she would have cut this adorable sheep and made a potholder for them....we are different.  I am like my grandmother, she is like our mother, in that way....

 So, here are the fabric used in the top I just finished this morning..All the vintage and specials and it will be given away....that's the life...someone will be happy even if they do not know about the specials!! This quilt will be 30" by 35".  I love this stroller size.  It is so versatile for strollers, car seats, etc...I think that it is the most used size.  24 blocks used.....30 to go:)

Evening last, Mr. O'Quilts was a saint.  He drove me to JoAnn's fabric store at 8 pm when it would not be crowded.  Then he went in with me to be sure I did not over do it.  It was delightful to be in a fabric store.  I could breathe in the joy.  Alas, again, he was right...I lasted 20 minutes and lost my balance and got dizzy and went home. And, I didn't even drive.  But, I had great fun and it was worth having to rest today.  This morning, he was not a saint.  As I was showing him all my vintage that I was sacrificing for this quilt top, he looked around the room at my fabric collection that spans 50 years and said...just think...at your estate sale, some young girl will come and say...wow vintage...and she will love it...Then, he laughed and left with his umbrella to watch the neighborhood golf tournament.  He just does not love my collection quite the way I do:)

My four patch, one patch diversion...

I do not remember why I cut out 108 squares??  But, tonight I now have 54 nine patches and tomorrow I will have fun.....

 My dearest Milito always sleeps on the sewing table while I vroom away!!  

Here is another piece of vintage.  I bought this at an estate sale in Coral Gables, Florida in 1980.  At the same estate sale, I bought my dessert plates, Riviera ware....My Milito is disgusted that I put down a plate next to him that is empty!!!  I would never have used these vintage pieces if I had not had a concussion.  I would have hoarded them and loved them.  Now I realize that no one will appreciate them like I do.  No one will remember where I got them and no one will have the same love for them.  And since I heard that you cannot hitch a trailer to the hearse, I am using them now!!  Just using them with great love.....

My girl....

The best daughter ever...brings joy to my life even a million miles away.  Here she is on one of the smaller Aran Islands 

 And, riding the bike trail in Killarney..

Bringing in the hay in Cork.

 xxoo I am so proud of you.

From thing number one to thing number two.....

On the way to doing one thing, I spied this thing...a bag of 108 already cut 3.5 inch yellow squares.  What is a quilter to do???  I stripped some co-ordinates..kind of...and am making something new...

 I think I will make an old fashion, scrap, one patch baby quilt.

 Look at the vintage scraps I found in my stash.  This one from the 80's Miami...

 This one from my grandma's apron, Phoenix, the 60's......

Pooh and me....

My new mantra......Thank u Carol and Eithne for the Facebook post....

Pink Single Irish chain baby quilt done and washed and crinkly ...love that done....love that crinkly..

 Doggy label..:)

 I quilted the baby's name all around the border...:)

Dizzy or not...this is my favorite day!!!

Vroom, Vrooom, goes this quilter....

Vroom.....vroom goes this quilter.  Which, of course is why there are so many mistakes.  Not to worry, they will crinkle in the wash...Oh, FriXion pens...where have you been all my life????  I see that they sell them at Staples, Target and Walgreens as well.  I, of course ordered them online in my Paypal frenzy of the past 2 and a half months...well worth it.