O'Quilts: January 2016

Sunday, January 31, 2016

The Next Step

Just checking tonight to see what the next step will be in my scrap C&S.
January has been just awful with grief ....crazy at nine months.
Valentine's Day is 10 months a widow..Hoping for progress.

Today was a lovely day in the Carolinas. Warm, breezy and Carolina Blue.
The children came home early this morning.
I am so proud of wonderful them.
They told me that they did not need Stephanie today.
The two older ones said that they "had it covered"!!
And, they did. Taking care of sick Dylan and more

WORD FOR THE DAY
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp
Because the dawn has come.
Rabindranath Tagore

One Song
Song Two

Monday, January 25, 2016

The Lights and the Darks

Panther Nation...on the way to Karate.
Just could not decide on the cuteness!!

They are doing so well..so stable and loved.

So grateful for their wonderful support system.

I have not bought fabric all year...this bit is Katie's fault.
Thank you Katie for brightening my day...so love.

Today's news:

1. Crabby me celebrates that I am out..... after.... 4 days in the house...
Solitary confinement.
Snow is gone, ice is gone, I am gone.
I went to the grocery store and bought today's special:
Buy two, get three free ice cream!!
Because I could.

2. There is no school again in Charlotte for tomorrow.
Stephanie is coming early.
Kids will be doing Dreambox, Spelling City, Razkids on their mini-ipads
......and cleaning their rooms.

3. I am offended this year by Valentines candy in the grocery store now..
Why are they there at all?

Who invented Valentine's day??
I used to like Valentine's Day.

4. My son was arrested tonight and is now in jail detoxing from drugs.
He had three warrants for his arrest.
Three days after his 31st birthday.
I do not even know where the pieces of my heart are.
At least he is not dead.
And, TBTG, the good luck scheduled the meeting at the fast food place
for the children to see their dad..only 4 days ago..
Grateful..

Some folks like mediums...me..I seem to have no choice.
Our family celebrates the darks and the lights.!!

Sunday, January 24, 2016

How Sweet the Victory

Gifting.
Finishes.

My habit of course, is to start things, leave them, then start something else.

The storm made me do it..the victorious finishes

Sewing thru the drama.

The back of my name tag..Peltex, Wonder Under on the felt..married with zigzag.

My selfie...finished.

And then there was a Panther game tonight..
.My first football game outside of college.

Victory.

The kids will wear their Panther T-shirts to school Tuesday.
They will wear their Panther shirts to Karate tomorrow.

(Evan has his Bronco shirt!) shhh
Grands are all home from their trips.
There is no school tomorrow because of black ice.
There is no more red wine...a finish.
I am going to make another Cotton and Steel block to celebrate the victories
It took cotton and steel to survive this weekend.
Go Carolina...

Karen Barry...I do not have your email address to send you hugs for all your support.

Truth Everlasting...Just Go Sew

Thru the screen brightly.
The sun!!
Yes...Zoe...the squirrels remember you are still here..

The Only Way to Enjoy Snow

Still only 9 months a widow...or is it one month or is it 100 months??

Making it thru this snowstorm and being snowed in...has brought the worst grief ever...worse than the first Christmas or birthday without him I have been hysterical, terrified, totally alone with my home and my memories. I spent too much time in bed, living on bags of Oreos.
Last night I snapped at my sister when she called to tell me......
that my son was out in the freezing ice storm with no place to go.....
She told him to turn himself in...jail was warm.
It was the right thing to do, but it added to my fears.

I am quite afraid that the road of grief is a rocky one. TBTG the children are having fun elsewhere...Trying to see now in the daytime, the beauty of the snow and to celebrate my survival of yet one more hurdle.
xxoo to you all for listening to the wail.

The good stuff...Lynsey and Evan at the beach with Beth and her boys.

Dylan enjoying the snow with his cousins.

At the end of the day, we did not lose power, the children are having a wonderful time.

I got thru all the bad stuff and am still here to tell about it.

And I sewed...my Dear Man....I sewed.

xxoo

Friday, January 22, 2016

Tough Mrs. O'Quilts ....All snowed in in Charlotte

All the Rottweilers and cats and sewing machines and Grandma.
Being brave in the snow in Charlotte.
North Carolina is closed..sigh.
My neighborhood is snowed in.
Praying electricity stays on.

Muggs et..all surviving the storm the only way they should.
Snuggled in quilts!!!

Tonight....my survival...hmmm one of these blocks is not like the other...
And, it is going to stay that way.
It is the storm block...the scary one..

And, the binding is on my elephant quilt...long needing a finish.

How could I be fretful when lovely Lili is sleeping under my gift..

Come on storm...come on..just pass on...
So saved with help from my friends..

So I have stopped bracing for impact...mostly...
The news says the storm is almost passed/
So saved with help from my friends.

Thought that this link was so quilty interesting.

Heart of Wonderment...fabric painting and printing
Back to working on the WIP thing!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

The Storm Thing......

How do I survive a sleet storm without my Dear Man???

I do not know...I just do not know...
Maybe when a complete year goes by I will know. Just maybe....
Meantime...I am working on Cotton and Steel Scrap quilt.
Cotton and Steel is all about bravery.
Forecasters are screaming ..."Major Winter Storm".

..And "The Wind Still Wails for You"
....said my mother in her poem.

Neither vino tinto, nor chocolate fixes this one.

My grands saw both parents today.
Their mother for two hours, then met their daddy at Chic-fil-A
Everyone happy and calm but Grandma.
Grandma carries it all.
Maybe the Cotton and Steel should be for her.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The Wonderful Life

Feeling weak tonight, I pulled out the scraps of Cotton and Steel
I give quilts of this fabric line only to the bravest and the kindest.
Time to work with scraps...since I realize, no matter how much finery I have in fabric,
It is the scraps that make the best quilts...So hope that is true in life as well.

That sneaky grief
Keep clicking the arrow for more truths on grief.

It is bravery to confront a new life...to re-invent yourself..to carry on in spite of all.
It is bravery to walk through the fire to get to the other side.
Not that bravery is chosen...it is just done.
Seems like that to me anyway.
Here....
Anxiety is the word of the day.
The children miss me when they are at school
Lynsey asked me tonight if her father was dead.
Evan cried because his mother has been sick the past two visits.
We all miss Granddaddy. We all miss Great-grandma
The school counselor left. We have to meet someone new.

Tonight we counted our blessings.
Safe warm house.
Family to love us.
Computers for school work.
Doll babies and pets to love us.
Beds of our own.
A wonderful school
Sharp pencils
Ms Stephanie
Friends to love us.
We talked about hard times and good times.
We prayed for their daddy (my son) to get better and stop Chrystal Meth.
We talked about love.
A wonderful day after all.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Taking it Easy

Take it Easy...

Taking it so easy that I have done nothing but snooze!!

Just aware that I have no name...sooo

My new name tag for Guilds!!

(I will not show you my 14 new potholders)

Jo's grief quilt...Jo lost her mother a few years back...She was so full of grief that she could only muster sewing one piece of fabric to another. She kept going until the wall was full and ...
the new piece was 8 feet by 10 feet.

Once better, she cut it into fourths for memory quilts for her siblings and herself..

Note the cool wavy border on hers.

You go Jo!!

Kids having fun at Aunt Brandy's house....

They so love Murphy!!

And at our house??? My girl bathing

Zoe makes good use of Granddaddy's bathroom.

In freezing weather, this was the only way.

Zoe hated it.!!!

The smell around here has improved tremendously!!!!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The Interloper, Gifting and the Rant

The Interloper:

For months this grandmother has been looking for the first grade spelling list.

Grandmother is outdated..There are no paper spelling lists any more.

It is all now online on Spelling City.

In order to do her spelling homework..
Missy has decided that this computer is the

"girl" computer!!!

Gifting:

IQ presents for Christmas from my girl.

Before she came home from her job from Ireland, Emily picked Bay leaves

from her man's family backyard tree in Cork.

She ordered bottles online and stamped the cards.

Such a lovely present.

The Rant:
Never, ever did my Dear Man criticize me for spending money on quilting.
Never...
He would say...Did you have a good time?
Do you love what you bought?
Then he would give me a hug.
That was my wonderful Dear Man!!!

Tomorrow I am 9 months a widow.

Tonight Marie and I went to the Guild sale.
It was so much fun.
I was thrilled to have the energy to go after 3 years despairing..
I bought wonderful bargains!!
Once home tonight......
I heard from Stephanie that I was nuts and needed professional help.
From other close family members I was told that I had a problem
and could just not stop. Hmmm
My darling are you listening to this abuse??

Who, may I ask would have turned down....
Beautiful vintage sewing machine table with working Singer inside and all tools intact???
For $10....He asked for $15...I told him senior discount should be $10 and he said ok!!!
The naysayers said that I did not need it as I already had 4 machines...Hello??
Need is irrelevant and the two youngers can practice on it...

Who, may I ask would turn down beautiful batik fat quarters for $1 each..
Again, need is irrelevant.

I had a wonderful time...not even bothered a bit by the judgmental ones...
Hello, it is my money and my house..etc.
I am of sane mind.
I have been through a lot in the past few years..
I deserve this...said moi...I so do!!!!

Sunday, January 10, 2016

The Dash

I change at night..I turn fretful...worried and worried and missing my man.
Tonight it is the dash!!
Maybe I am missing a dash...Do I have one?
My man had a huge dash...am I in his shadow...
Is there time left for me to make a dash??
Enough, Mrs. O'Quilts...Goodnight Mrs. O'Quilts!!

The school counselor has a brand new big shot job.
She has loved our kids and they have loved her.
Tonight the grands colored potholders for her.... to say thanks.
They picked out their own backings..hilarious...
Dylan picked racoons and Lynsey picked Christmas trees.

With love Ms. C...from a 5 year old and a 6 year old.
You have made a difference in our lives.

Love intently....

Here I am....Still...I am here.
I Love You Grievers
...Goodnight

Friday, January 8, 2016

The Letters and the Bag

The drawstring bag I made for Drenna's purple birthday!!

Jeni's great tute again

To: Mrs.O'Quilts

From: Mr. O'Quilts

Hello my dear, I am watching over you and loving you..

You have to know that!!!.

BTW...I did see that American Express bill this month with quite a load of online fabric sales.

I almost fell off my throne.

Just thought you should know that I saw it and I love you.

xxoo Your Dear Man.

To: Mr. O'Quilts

From: Mrs. O'Quilts

Oh...My Dear...You know that that spending was soooo last year!!

You might have missed that it is now 2016.

Which means..naturally...no more spending..!!!

Anyway, my PayPal finger hurts.

Saw a Bluebird today and I knew it was you.

xxoo Your Dear Woman

He just loved his Irish twins!!
They loved him back.
Everyone loved my man.
I loved him the most!!
xxoo

Cleaning is a Dirty Word...

There will be NO sewing, said Ms.Stephanie....until that table is clean. OMG

Never, ever upset our Stephanie.

I took my machine in for a cleaning and..

I scrubbed and scrubbed...(not really) HA!

I put some left over oil cloth under my computer..

All this work just to catch my cookie crumbs!!!

I need a nap after this.

Just sent off with Cousin Ann's generous gift cert...an order for wool batting.

I cannot wait until it comes.

xxoo Love you Cousin Ann.

IMHO...The sad ending for me....of Fabric.com

Used to be my favorite site...no more..

IMHO....No good sales.

IMHO.....No good customer service.

A gift cert gone wrong with no apology.

Many online communications with customer service.

IMHO...supervisor not available.

IMHO...no timely return email.

IMHO...never again.

Used to... doesn't count any more.....so sad...
I do not know how they still are in business.

Thought I had better get a post up before you think I am not in business....lol