It's all about Purple...almost

 It was in looking for the knitting needles..in a haystack....
rather in the rolling table from Harbor Freight..
That I found a bag I had made from Striped Sunflower seeds....

Lo and Behold...

What did I see, but a bag full of purples looking at me!! 

 I ask you, who would do such a crazy thing??????

FYI  purples found...amazing!

 On my recent sanity sewing retreat, I obsessively made 29 coin purses!!!   I have already given away 9:)  Eunice suggested that each purse given have a shinny penny inside for good luck.  Having a hard time here finding shinny pennies.

 The grandchildren had another monthly supervised visit with their mother today..and it was another success.  TBTG

Last, but not least E turned 9.  Such a day!

Smile Time..

Emily sent me this sign from a shop window in Westport, Ireland...How smiley is this??!!



A big thank you to Muggs for an awesome R&R at the beach..thank you to Sherry for driving so I could rest and for the rest of my IQ quilt group friends for the laughs.  I sewed and sewed and had to make myself go to see the beach..lol...I got a lot done as did everyone else.  I am back now in a much better spirit.  Unfortunately I left my camera at home so am waiting for other's pictures to share....waiting...and waiting...:)  But still smiling.
Back home now in time for.....
 Orange belt graduation at Karate...so fun..

 Kinfolk from Dublin..awesome..hate that they leave on Sunday!  Without their wonderful care of my family here, I would not have had my beach trip.

I just started checking some blogs...

 Thank you Barb...for this wonderful technique   no strip nine patch.

Grandma's moment of quiet

Today I had a precious hour to myself.  Into my quilting room I went...sigh...heaven. The sound of silence.

 Camp starts Monday...none to soon for sanity around here.

  Dylan is only four, so his camp requires a nap...and a quilt and a sheet for the mat.  No crib sheets around here....but that hour came in handy.  I remember whipping out sheets when my daughter was a baby.  Even though she is now 31, I still managed to find that old booklet I used.

Below is the new crib sheet for camp...30 min of sewing bliss, using up sale fabric from Faust.

 I did not realize that turning nine would be so interesting. 

 I feel 100...and that is interesting too!!!

 

 My new mantra...

 

Living the Life

Purples from Wanda..loved and opened by L..  Thank you Wanda.  Thank you L.

Both brought great cheer today.

Still have not found my purple stash...I think I will hire my sister to find it!!!

 Turning 97...and the boss is still at quilting group!!!  You go Margaret!

 The fruits of their labor.  They planted the seeds.  They transferred the plants to the ground.  They watered the plants and they picked the beans.  Now they are loving them and eating them right from the garden...such wonderful pride...

 Mr. O'Quilts in his new wheelchair van, coming home from a swim.  Visiting brother from Dublin did the driving...yeah life!!

And so it goes..

Lovin the Links

My sister is going thru her things for a garage sale...hmm...she is quite careful not to exclude me from family heirlooms...ha!
She found these dyed fabrics she had made like years ago and brought them to me.  I washed them...no bleeding and now I have something new to experiment with.  I just love that.
Thank you Charmaine!

 When I try to get happy and look for brilliance..I go to
 Rachel at Blue Mountain Daisy

And, now a calling for fabric for a friend in crisis...
 Fabric for Bea

I hope you will send her some like I did.

Oh, and by the way..I decided not to make Grandma's homemade chix soup or even Susan Branch's yummy stock.  I decided that I was just too exhausted this time.  So I went to Trader Joe's for stock and frozen veggies and did a big pot dump.  Result:  There is just nothing easy in life that is worthwhile(:  sad face.  Grandma, you were right!

 M&M time for me!!! 
  

The Random

Guess what??  Mr.O's brother and wife are coming to visit from Dublin for two weeks.  They will stay with the Mr. and the grands so my sister and I can go with our group to Ms Mugg's beach house for R&R.  Only a week or so left before the great escape...four days...away....  (with our sewing machines, of course).

Saw my newest love..

Meadowlark... 
for when I find my purples and can maybe get a tiny bit more???

Since I lost my purples...I looked up what I lost...hmmm  Trying not to get all morose about loosing what is below.........

Purple or violet gemstones are believed to increase your imagination, remove perceived spiritual obstacles, calm confrontations, and re-energize the learning of new things.

A Little Fun Break!

 Thanks to my sister Charmaine who took three children on errands with her today and thanks to Ben, who took the Mr. to the pool, in our new cool handicapped van...thanks, thanks, thanks!!  I got a little fun break.

I finished two potholders...long promised for different birthdays.

 I even used this fabric from Miami..ummm 30 years vintage??

 The other day, I got to stop by an antique store where I found these little goodies...They match our wedding set.  Today I cut some Basil to root in the kitchen.so.fun..

Attention all!!!!...I have a fabric room trauma!  

I cannot find my purples.

  Now, really???  Is my sewing room so very messy that my purples have disappeared?? 

 I asked my husband if he had seen them, but I got no answer at all.....so

New proclamation...I am not buying any new fabric!!!!

.  Do not quote me on this...I will accept gifts..!!! 

 And I might buy a fat quarter or two, but this is ridiculous...not to be able to find an entire stack of purples....

Of course when I find the purples, the no more fabric thing might change...just sayin'....

Heaven

 Thank you Katie!!  Without you , I could not have posted today.  Without you, we could not have gone to the ALS support group tonight, I would not have had a nap....Thank you Katie for taking the kids for the day for awesome pool fun!!

Was that not enough????  No, you had to send me right to heaven with this awesome generous gift of Michael Miller fabric!!  Just gotta play that Happy song again!! 

Did I say, Thank you Katie???  !!!!

CMQG challenge, part 2

 A big thank you to Sloane for taking the kids to the pool so I could do this...!!!

This link will take you to a previous post where I started the Charlotte Modern Quilt group challenge.

Of course it was with potholders.  The other day, I used the rest of the fabric for a stroller quilt.  As you can see I did a piece of orange binding for the solid side of the quilt.  I measured it perfectly but made the mistake of diagonally cutting the binding connection.  That threw it off..mistake due to weak brain power.  hmmm...I think the baby will not mind so much.

Before my great fall(:,  Evan colored a potholder for his teacher.  L and D just had to be part of it...so here are the results of the 4 and 5 year old.  When they have their monthly hour visit with their mother, they can give them to her.  She will appreciate it since I taught her to quilt and she was a natural!

ALL of this was so so fun!!  I really love the challenge of making something from nothing.  And the kids had a great time coloring their potholders...You can see the robot with the blue binding and the zombies in yellow...lol  They chose their own backings...L chose purple donuts and D chose blue bikes!!

The Last Minute Can Change it all...

The last minute is not a good minute.  Tomorrow is the last day of school..Evan has the best bus driver...no matter her personal loss, she always has a smile and a cheery expression even at 5:40 in the morning.  After tomorrow, both the bus driver and myself can sleep in..Evan too...his daily 2 hour bus ride to school (each way)  will be over.

I was going to make her the best potholder...alas..not to be.  But, the need for invention popped its head and I was able to applique a bus to a potholder that I had already...Turned out cuter than it would have been before...as the case often is.  I  even put the number of the bus on it and Evan wrote a thank you right on the potholder.

I needle turn appliqued the bus while I was waiting at the Ortho Carolina Urgent Care tonight.

ENUF, she cried as she fell in the mud, in the dark and sprained her knee....Just ENUF, already..!!!

Now the Mr. is in a wheelchair and the Mrs. is in a brace and on crutches...

And, the world continues to turn, albeit a bit more wobbly than before.

Stuff

My girl is on vacation in Sardinia.

I am living vicariously as parents often do.  She does deserve it, she has been an awesome support for us.

I do not know when this blog moved from quilting to being my therapy blog...but so it is.

The folks at the ALS clinic put me on an antidepressant.  I was really annoyed.  I was also annoyed with my husband.  He said that his mood was an 8 on a scale from 1 to 10..and HE is the patient!!  My mood was a 3. 

Whatever!!!

Even though I told them that one could not medicate grief, eventually I realized that they were right...my grief is complicated, very....

  I feel so much better.  The foggy mind has cleared and I am able to function better.  I know that we just cannot see ourselves clearly.

We also bought a wheelchair van for Mr.O'Quilts.  He had his first outing on Thursday evening. Amazing!!  A big thanks to Michael for searching it out and taking care of it all.  So grateful to have a car mechanic as one of my best friends.

Pictures coming when my camera behaves.