O'Quilts: January 2018

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Grandma O'Quilts gets to sew

The pillowcase story.

A friend of mine...hmm...is sad...so sad..
.Her husband was deported a year ago.
He came to this country when he was 17. He married and has four children...He was here 20 years, built a wonderful business, has a five bedroom house, paid taxes...One day, as he was leaving for work, coffee in hand..ICE came to his door. He spent 5 months in an Atlanta detention center and then off he went to a country he had not seen in forever to relatives that are now dead. His children are all young American citizens, now with anxiety. What to do?? I can do nothing....just made four pillowcases..cozy flannel to spread the love.

I bordered this baby top tonight...

I think it will be ok, with an orange binding...I am going to back it in this cute green print.
Girl??? Boy???
I am out of sugar...so I ate Lynsey's cookies...guess I am off to the grocery store tomorrow.

The O'Quilt family has two kids down with aches and pains, stomach, head and body.
No fever.and no head cold. TBTG they all got their flu shots.

Tonight I was planning on a self-absorbed evening when our....
Stephanie encouraged me to go to the Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild meeting.
I was sooo glad I went.
I came home inspired by the quilts and the friends and the quilting.

Tomorrow's plans: To cut strips to choose a border for this fun one patch of mine.

My girl and her man have bought a 1910 house in Portland, Oregon.
They will be so busy now bringing it up to their expectations.
Good news is so very wonderful.

Worry free...my goal for the year..
Role model....Stitch.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

The Jalapeno Pepper

My life is like a Mexican lunch. Eating away, enjoying the day, when out of the blue, a bite into the hidden jalapeno pepper changes everything.....
Grief again.....like the ocean waves..
So what to do???...do NOT do the UFO or WIP
Start something new...
Here are two baby quilts I started today. Both are a mix of flannel and quilting cotton.

My left hand has a tremor so sometimes the picture is a bit out of focus..like me.

I wish I could concentrate on being creative.
Until then..I am having fun just sewing

Winter can be beautiful.
Zoe agrees, as we were able to sit outside today and read a bit.

I kept thinking that someone was in my house today.
Voila...there from the laundry room, was Baby Alive speaking Spanish.
And, loudly...she is now banished to the garage.

Stitch and Boo are the jealous type.as Zoe and I enjoy outside.

Next Friday, I am going to an ethics workshop.
Putting together some handwork to pass the time
I miss my Fintan. He is everywhere but here with me.
Someone told me that he was an angel working on life's problems from above.
That would be just like him.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Happy = Creating

Sweethearts Quilt From Cloud 9 Fabrics..a free tute..so cute and easy.

Cloud 9 has other adorable free tutorials too.

The cute pastel doggies are from 40 years ago.
I bought them in Germany and never wanted to use them.
At my new age..time is so running out!!!....Ha!!

Looking here at flannel scraps..Mixing them with quilting cotton for St Louis 16 patch
made with 4 inch strips. I was going to mix them all for an easy baby quilt...but now I think I will keep pink with pink and blue with blue.

For Rhonda, who has encouraged me all thru my grief.
MY grandmother's cookbook and the 7 minute frosting recipe.
Grandma always put this on our angel food cakes for birthdays.

My 12 year old grand had the nasty mouth going on this morning..OMG

I grounded him for it, which made the mouth worse.

He emailed me several times from school saying he was sorry.

I said, I accept sorry. You still have to have your consequences, which I listed.

Once home, he trimmed my front garden, he made 10 bobbins for me and folded fabric on shelves.
All without attitude.

I was so happy, I set him free...wahoo...

The difference in children....Lynsey is 8. She does all her homework herself..no need for me to harp.
Her idea of fun, is to put a quilt in the yard with her dolls and read a book for herself and one to her dolls...love..

The seven year old is his father's son. He loves to work and figure things out. However, he is much more easy going than his daddy..TBTG

I am grateful for a good day. Nice to be at the top of the wave.
The POOL After a year of surgeries, they still love me..
All of this has changed my hair to grey..., Bingo,..Overnight.it seems.
Lunch out, a nap and sewing.
Soo happy
xo

Monday, January 22, 2018

Turning that Itsy Bitsy Baby Corner..

Starting with the old standby Valentine quilt.

Just to get ready for the season...early, just like Walmart!!!

I had better get started on another...this one is getting old..

This morning started with a blessing from my Fintan.

He brought the most stunning sunrise as we headed to the bus stop.

Eamon, Happy 33rd birthday to you.

We all love you so.

Last night,Evan made his daddy's cake himself.

Today, I continued the family tradition of making 7 minute frosting.

Just like my grandmother before me made.

I have finished all the four patches for this quilt

My girl sent me this grief book...I am grateful and relieved to read it.
So working on my identity and my life.
Who am I now and what can I do for the last part of my life?
I wanted to go to the women's march Saturday with my friends.
I cannot walk without pain and I do not have the energy.
I could not go.
I so wanted to go to the antique mart.
Same deal...wobbly on my cane.
I am now a disabled widow.

So trying to find what I can do, so I can continue my life.
Most important thing is I am a bad ass grandma.
My grands are so the best..
They are thriving and doing so well. So proud of them.

Saturday was a first step, turning a small corner.
I have accepted that I can no longer roller skate, nor walk the length of Manhattan.
I can no longer travel the world, hardly even my city without help.
But, I can sew.. and create..and love..
My passion for life includes creating with fabric..color and design

And, Ellen, I still have your directions for dying fabric with Kool Aid.
Saturday, with lots of help from my friends, I had a vacation.

A vacation of 4 hours.

I made myself go..so glad, so very glad.

The Charlotte Quilter's Guild..sit and sew...

My quilting peeps.

I thank you.

I have signed up for a conference to keep my license.
I may just sign up for a quilting workshop.
Saturday, I found my friend, Kathy with her Blue Bell.
Little Blue
( She calls her machine, Blue Bell, I call mine, Little Blue.)

Look what she did!!! She took poster board, glued three empty spools to the bottom to stabilize ,
cut a hole for the feed and off she went free motion quilting...A very clever Kathy!!!

Showing a little fun from Lynsey's first play date ever... Now that I have a bit more energy.

Third graders made slime and had a blast...
Of course, Stephanie supervised..not old grandma.
So much fun!!!

My sister loves me too...she tried her best tonight to help me organize
Just for tonight, things are in bags.
As for tomorrow????

Just to know, there is joy, not just tears.
I think they call it...life!

Friday, January 19, 2018

Southern Snow Days...No School,

House bound on Snow Days..
Some of us sew...Just the next border around a finished applique...from where, I forgot.

Cold and beautiful, our front yard..

Colder and more beautiful, our back yard.

Salvation...Carolina blue...and the sun.

A doll sized snow girl.

Some of us sleep

Warming up in front of the fake fire.

A one night sleepover that turned into 3 nights...OMG
Old Grandma made a dozen scrambled eggs and 100 pancakes..or 101!!
The next day, she made French toast from a loaf and a half of bread.
Ice cream and yogurt and fruit smoothies.added to the treat.

Stitch is so fickle. He tells Lynsey that he is her cat.
He tells me that he is the sewing room cat.

Some people organize fabric.

I am trying to put my grief in my pocket.
Alas, I am trying to get a life.
Snow meant no school.
No school meant Grandma had to cancel her life because of childcare.
Snow meant caring for 5 children instead of 3.
It also meant tons of fun and laughter for them and me.

Child free for the weekend, I am planning on going to the Guild Sit and Sew.
Preparing now for pillowcases and four patches.
Making myself go is part of my plan.
I would love to sleep the weekend away, but just gotta get out with my peeps.

Things I teach my grands....

The love of forgiveness.

We all make mistakes...and we all want to be forgiven.

Accepting people as they are. not trying to change them.

Hitting. We do not hit children in this family and

children do not hit adults nor other children.

Lying...We are tempted...especially when we might get into trouble for a mistake or two.

But if we tell the truth around here, the discipline is so much less

and we love ourselves so much more.

Not talking bad about others when they have made a mistake...back to the forgiveness.
We do not have to go to church for these lessons from God.

Control...we can only control ourselves.

Life...live in the day.

Life again...give to others.
Humming...Thank you WS.

The God thing...each person has to make up their own minds

Believing is a gift...but it is a personal gift.

It has to be role modeled...that of course is the biggest challenge.

Doing the best I can here...

The making of corn chowder...
Fretting on Thursday, scrounging around for what to serve my brood...
I told Lynsey that everyone was on the computers so I could not find a recipe for the corn chowder.
In less than a second...my 8 year old grand was beside me with her I-pad.
Siri, she said...please get us a recipe for corn chowder...and so it began..
Lynsey said that Uncle Brian gave her a Siri who is a man with an Irish accent.
She loves her Siri...he helps her with so much.
This old grandma keeps getting blown away.
From what had started as a perceived crisis, ended as a gift..
I should'a known...xo