Way Over the Top

This is such a fun song..

The Longest Time

I found it on  Kathy's Quilts

Me thinks that the Coronavirus is not going away anytime soon.

 Tonight I experimented with another type of mask for my son.

He is the one who goes out.

Mask with Shield

Keeping everything has been one of my favorite pass times..
The above clock wrist pincushion, I bought years and years ago at Spring's Industries in
South Carolina.
 Now, Lynsey loves it..She wears it on her wrist while sewing!!

Last night the two children came running into my sewing room with cool and awesome music video links to show me...I was aghast...The more troubling it sounded, the more upset I became.
Not going to give you a link here...but it was rap music from DaBaby.

They thought it was hilarious... Awful...My son said that this was 2020 not 1970??
I had no idea that not only were they listening to that...but they knew all the words..
Life is now over the top for me...

Yesterday:

A bag I made for my mother from my grandmother's needlepoint.

My version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear quilt.
I think I made if for Evan...
Yes...this Evan who turned 15 yesterday!!!
Their sister, Ava, is two.

Bed time love....Boo!!

Linda who left me the comment the other day.
Send me your email so we can chat a bit.
I do not know where you are from.
The Rail Fence quilt is
42 inches x 36 inches

In the Moment

Finished, green and blue Rail Fence , my number 6 for the MQG pre-school outreach.

I am so trying to stay in the moment.

Today I Zoomed in to my daughter's baby shower.

That was pure joy!!

It was outside, everyone in masks, everyone 6 feet apart. 

So safe and so wonderful.

Decorations at the party.

Such a gift she gave me...

The best thing about it was that Pearl was not invited.

I had a great time.

Sitting outside now, I look at things, I otherwise, might pass by.

A close up of a small Begonia...lovely yellow and red.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all week, because Grandma O'Quilts
prioritized money to Auriful white thread....sigh..

Emily is planning to breast feed her baby.
She found this cute picture on Pinterest!!!

The school system here has come out with the rule that when school starts,
Middle and High School children will be required to wear masks..
I guess I had better get sewing masks again.
Stress is upon me when my health is so fragile and family and friends
choose not to wear masks..
Two point seven million grandparents are raising their grandchildren in America now.
It makes me feel like they think grandparents are dispensable when we are not.

Oh...I know the answer to fretting..!!!
Just go sew!!

The Glory of it All

We extroverts are going nuts.....Help needed...

My patriotic quilt finally was hung with sticky Velcro on the downstairs bathroom wall.

My son hung the quilt, fixed the AC in my car, fixed the kids dinner, did the laundry...and...

Still I snapped at him....No one's fault but isolation and Covid-19

Talk about Crabby McNasty...that would be me.

I love my white holiday tree...up and lighted all year long.

See below the red heart on my husband's handicap bathroom wall.

Lynsey was only in Kindergarten when he died.

She came home from school and his bed was empty...he had died.

She taped this heart as high as she could reach to tell Granddaddy she loved him.

It is high on the wall...so it is closer to  heaven.

She did not want it taken down, She did agree we could put the quilt over it.

This morning the quilt was on the ground...Velcro was not the answer.

Stay tuned.

Anyway, tonight, in a temper snit, I went to Trader Joe's., just to run away from it all.
  I remembered that my doctor

had said, that it was the safest place..no one was there at 7:30pm.  This was my third outing in

4 months...It helped a lot...

After shopping, I pushed the cart around the parking lot to move my old achy body.

Tonight, mandatory masks started in North Carolina.  There was a lady in the store with a hankie tucked under her eyeglasses.  Mrs. O'Quilts to the rescue.

In my purse I carry a few extra masks I have made.  I gave one to her.

Now, that made my day.!!

My son told his irritable mother, to drive through the expensive houses on my way home from the store....That should give me a  reality check...Sure enough, it did..
Now, I am on to quilting a baby quilt for the MQG and watching a show on Netflix...
Just to get my mind in the right position...
Just to help me forget I am not in charge in this life of ours.
Actually, to help me be grateful that I am not.

Fun is coming tomorrow as I will be Zoomed into my daughter's baby shower in Portland. Oregon.

How nice is that.
And on we go...

Mixed Blessings

Patriotic top done..such a good feeling.  I am going to donate it as is to our guild.

Our guild has measurement requirements...eg a wheelchair quilt is so many inches.

And a veteran quilt is another size...Since I am not a rule follower...

If I donate this as is...then someone will decide on a size and finish it.

I understand that different people like different parts of the quilting process.

 Oh...Dylan...You are so great!!!   Par-boiling the peppers above...AND taking the picture.

 Stuffing the peppers!!

Voila!!!!   And now they are all gone...

Great job Dyl!!!1

Our IQ Zoom last night was so wonderful...It lifted my spirit to realize that

I still have good friends...I forget that, in this isolation.

It was after this Zoom , that Dylan and I had the energy to make a nice dinner.

Asparagus from the oven.

Dylan learned a lot last night..sauteing garlic, sprinkling cheese, setting the timer.
A lovely dinner...and a lovely night.

My girl is in the family way...xoxo

I loved this from Jenny at Missouri Star
Going to get my son to put up the bar for me.
We already have holiday lights around our door.
Anything to cheer us all..
Hanging a Porch Quilt

I just finished a webinar on Complicated Grief and Covid-19.
 I learned some awful news about our country.  I learned that the USA
has less than 5% of the world's population, yet, the USA has 25 to 30% of
both the world's cases and deaths of Covid-19.
Our country is handling this pandemic so poorly that we are at the very bottom with India and Brazil.
We are handling it this so badly, that European countries are working on excluding travel from the USA
I am disgusted!!
On to the next quilty project...something I can control..

Turning Fear into Faith

Lynsey made applesauce last night...our first time, since Granddaddy died.

She washed and cored them all.. She boiled it down...and mashed them.

I would show a picture of the applesauce, but it is all gone!!

Today is my grandmother's birthday.

She was born in 1896, died in 1996.

She would have been 124 years old today...

What am I thinking, as I miss her so????

Lynsey and I at her doctor's appointment...her 11 year old physical brought 3 shots and

one blood test...took two nurses to hold her and ruined her disposition for the morning.

Matching hair cuts...Daddy and Dylan...free, homemade.

Father's Day watermelon.

Fourth of July basket for Pat..

 After...4 months in isolation, now I have so much trouble walking.

Missing the pool, I have been exercising in for 12 years...I doubt that
a senior center pool will be opening soon...as our governor just mandated masks for all.
And, he delayed opening stage 3 for a number of weeks...Scary times.
In my wildest thoughts, I cannot understand why some people believe politicians instead of science!!!

Cheering myself with an old, but favorite Bento box I have made.

Nancy loaned me Nordiac poles for walking ....trying them out..
We all look so adorable in our masks.  Speaking of masks...well I made a ton for presents...then I used  one myself...Good Lord...people's heads are different sizes...Now I have to try another pattern that is more adjustable....
I hope all my family and friends can adjust the ones I sent.

I have my hair in a ponytail for the first time in 50 years...
I miss my friends and going out to lunch.
Now Quilt Con is going to be online.  I am not going to bother..OMG.
But, I am going to give myself another attitude adjustment and just go sew!!

My girl is 36 weeks pregnant...baby is already head down..due July 23.
So exciting.  I told her Cora or Rona would be good names, but oh, no..she does not listen to her mother.
My son is vacuuming.  Dylan is scrubbing to earn money for some video game.
Lynsey is cleaning and coring the peppers.
My girl is 36 weeks and her baby has already positioned head downward.

I am forgetting to turn fear into faith.
This old, warm loving picture, helps me.

Peter told me to spell God with a capital G...My guess is that that advice was more than just  grammar...
Rich told me he wanted to knock some sense into my head???
.I do not get that one.
But, I do know that when my man told me to "Just Go Sew"...it always worked...always!!!
ALWAYS!!!!

Today's Happy and Yesterday's Happy

Best memories with quilts....tenting..for reading or imagination. 

The Sunshine Song, Jason Mraz

The sun came up today about 5 pm, when I rolled out of bed for the second time.

Evidently, day 3 after a fall, is a bit rough!!

I find it quite easy in this virus isolation to focus inward, instead of thinking of others.

I have been to Haiti.

I have been to India during a war.

I have been in Miami during devastating #5 Hurricane Andrew.
I have been in Vietnam and seen the results of war.

I have worked at Hospice and seen pain and death.

I have witnessed despair first hand with my man's ALS..

And, yet......that invasive Pearl!!!!
Even though I know how great I have had it...I cannot control Pearl.

I must tell you that Pearl tried to come back last night.

But, I was smart enough to have put on the security alarm.

Aurifil white 50 mako thread
Here is the least expensive price I found tonight....$11 a spool.
 I balked at that price, until I saw on the Aurifil site, that it was $15 a spool.
Certainly a luxury for me.  However, I have not had to buy thread in forever.

Father's Day at our house.
The kids and my son arranged the fun.
They voted on bratwurst on the grill and beanie-weenies!!
Who am I to question???
They were so excited..They wrote notes about what they loved about their daddy.
Evan sent him a text
No one wanted a sit down dinner...so here we are..
Everyone with smiles...Amazingly great. and no fuss.
Lynsey baked a cake, but it is not frosted yet because she cannot decide on which
homemade frosting recipe she wants to use...Oh, well..there is still tomorrow.
Who said we cannot celebrate the day after Father's Day??
Or, in fact every day...every single day...
I am keeping on my alarm..

Looking again on the old picture site.
Bag front is from  a workshop I did with...Rose Hughes.

Below is the house quilt I made...back in the day when my man drafted the house pattern for
me to make templates from cardboard...Hand pieced, machine quilted.  My girl has this now.
Also, the log cabin quilt that I finally made years later for an anniversary..
My man loved the log cabin block. Quilted by Terri Feehan.
Pig on the bed I made in 1978 for my grandmother who collected pigs...
Little piglets are attached by snaps.

Bed made in Miami by Ric Orgaz....marvelous carpenter/wood artist.
I also see on the corner shelf, my grandmother's cookie jar pig..with shamrocks.

Remembering yesterday and enjoying  today

Grandma O'Quilts Tries To Run Away From Home....Again...

Grrrr....Last night started off wrong...isolation with my son and two children..

Everyone on each other's nerves.  My son leaving the doctor with a diagnosis of a stomach ulcer.

Grandma O'Quilts deciding that the fail proof way to relax was to make a rope bowl.

Shutting both doors to my sewing room, I found this:

A small 50 year old scrap from a family table cloth.

I stripped it for a rope bowl...Not relaxing ,for the first time ever.

The table cloth fabric was raveled, the rope was too soft, the bowl would not hold its shape.

Then came my least favorite visitor, Pearl..

I admit that the virus and isolation makes me crazy.

I love to be with people....but, not Pearl.

She stayed the freaking night.

Lynsey crawled into bed with me and kicked me all night...no sleep for me.

The AC in my car is broken, so I could not take the kids for a ride.

My son took a small car job, leaving me at home with the two kids and Pearl.

The children started fighting.  He found a box to play in, she wanted it so she stepped on it with him inside..OMG  They are going nuts too.

Never mind my swollen purple arm from my fall..(sparing you the picture)

Hold on....I think Pearl is getting the hint..She is packing to leave...

It took a huge bowl of coffee ice cream that my sister brought last night to get rid of..

Poor  Pitiful Pearl!!

Soo proud of my daughter...sooo proud.

She organized this fundraiser...

35 weeks...My two girls..

So excited...xo

Opening the Mind that Thinks it is Open....

o

Elephant postcard I made to say "Thank you".

People are sooo good...Gotta be sooo good too!!

I am much better after my fall...

I love you Naproxen and Tylenol!!!

Friends, Thank you for all the well wishes.

Tis the season...of sorts:

On a stressful day, I just sewed one block to another to make a four patch.
It was relaxing and no-thinking.

In a few days, I felt more focused and made the 4 patch into triangles.

I ended up here:

Once sewn together it will be for outreach...

The recent "revolution" is making me think!!!

After all these years of accepting the status quo,

I now struggle to understand why we celebrate the Fourth of July...when..

It only freed white men...certainly not women..We could not vote.

Certainly not black slaves, and certainly not American Indians..whose land it was in the first place.

I wonder why it never came up in my schooling that this holiday was not for all of us. In fact, it was not for most of us.

My sister and niece came by tonight dressed in colorful masks...
They brought treats for the fallen one, who is now better.
It was delightful to sit 6 feet apart with masks on and visit.

Tonight is the night I will leave my patriotic blocks on the wall, not sewn together.
And, I will work on something new!!
YES!!!!

Mortality......Me Too...

Mr O'Quilt's Music Quilt

Outreach baby quilt

My son, Eamon's quilt..all made from fabric from India...from clothes I wore.
I started hand piecing the Mariner's Compass when Eamon was just one.
I just gave it to him now...at 35..as he has been so wild all his life.
Indian fabric faded...still the memories have not...hand quilted.

The beginning of Rhonda's brain tumor quilt.

Another mini quilt show....because:
Today, I had another nasty fall.  I was just on my way outside to read when I slipped...

There must have been some sink water still on my shoes.

This is the second fall in one month.

The fall broke nothing...nothing but my spirit.

I had thought I was the Phoenix..now I realize, that is not true.

Life is fluid.

My fall frightened the children.

Lynsey called her father, her father called the neighbors,
I said...NO!!  But, 

The neighbors came running...got me up and into my chair.

I am bruised, my glasses are askew, 

My soul is struggling.
Our country is in revolution.
My body is in revolution.
I feel lost.

Cheering me are the pictures of my grands...being loved by the cats.
Below Lynsey 4 months and Tigger

 Below, Evan 3 years and my Milito

My mother's poem...just found...again"

by Alice Franzen Clemons Burt
Great memories.

Love is all there is...