Happy Halloween 2020

Aoife and Rosie send Halloween wishes from Portland, Oregon!!

Little Red Riding Hood, on her first Halloween.

Aoife doe not look too sure????  My daughter made her girl the costume!!

Emily insists this is an illusion...However, my guess is that no one wanted any more pictures taken.

The Big Bad Wolf is off-script!!

Ava...cries, please Mommy, I do not want to be a princess...take off my dress!!!

Poor Mommy,,,,

Uncle Eamon cheers the princess, now in street clothes

She agreed to wear her sparkly shoes to go Trick or Treating!!

For some reason the older grands were not that interested in pictures tonight.

They dressed up, but I guess they must be growing up.!

They did not even want to carve their pumpkins...a first!!

Below is my house and our Covid ready treats.

Candy is in the nurse gloves stored in our garage.

Clothes pins always come in handy.

Tonight was sooo crazy...Five children going out.

Noise and commotion galore,

After the treating, they all went home with their mother...and I,...

I am enjoying the beautiful sound of silence..

A great big thanks to my Naranon support group, My ALS support group,

My widow support group..safe places with no judgment

I love you all.

Happy Halloween

Oh, dear...here is more...A kind friend just got her green card after 25 years in the USA.

The American dream

She brought me flowers to celebrate!!

Freezing cold in Charlotte....um...Well...OK, it is 59 degrees..

Brrrr , hunkered down in my chair with the blanket I bought in Guatemala some 40 years ago.

The End of October...Wow.

 

Just a Friday of Sorts

Aoife...starts the day with a beautiful smile.

Yesterday was so much fun.  The first sewing retreat since Covid lockdown.

Virtual...The Good Vibes Quilting Group..  Friends from Oregon, from Minnesota and Charlotte.

We all sewed and laughed and got to know each other.  We have been talking online since March.

Yesterday we met via Google Meet!!  Thank you Suzette!!!!

During Amazon Prime, I ordered a camera for my computer......sooo  I was able to put everyone on my big computer screen while I sewed.

I finished all ten of my bags.  They are strung and ready for gifting.

Below are the masks I made yesterday...

I always get more sewing done when I am hanging with friends.

Here comes Halloween....strict rules in our neighborhood...no door to door treats.

I have put the candy into gloves . A table will be set up by the mail box with pumpkins, candy, etc.

Here is an example:  The nursing gloves each have three pieces of candy

with a fabric tie...I wanted to blow up the gloves, but decided that would not pass

the health test!

Talking with a few friends tonight.  We are all stressed..

Covid, the election, remote learning, isolation.

Then. I found this:

Terry Waite, 1763 days as a hostage in appalling conditions.

He just told us all to stop complaining!

Change your mindset he said, you're not STUCK at home, you're SAFE at home

#TerryWaite

His advice:

*Keep your own dignity - get out of your PJs!

*Form a structure for the day

*Be grateful for what you have - shelter, home, possessions

*Read and be creative

Me and my Friends

Linda's latest masterpiece...random orphaned four patches with grey.

Below is Kathylynn's first rope bowl..

Zoe sorting scraps....Fabric loving is a family affair.

Graduation for me!!!

...From pink...(1 lb) to my new lime green ones, (3 lbs)

PT at home...They say weights help build a core...of which I have none.

Is this not a lovely place for my weights...outside on the screened in porch on my alternate cutting table!!!

I have wasted my day being irritated at my sewing room invasion, and

the kitchen mess, and the fatigue of  reminding folks of the rules and chores..that are already quite well known in this  house!!

I did do a school drive by, picking up quarter two, fifth grade supplies for Dylan.  He goes back to school in 8 days.

Rules...a COVID signed paper by me, before he gets on the bus, temperature check at school, no visitors at school at all, lunch and specials in the room, everyone wears masks.  Dylan will only go in person, for two days a week..the rest will be remote. It is kind of exciting.  If there are 30 children in his class..only 15 will be coming on his days.  And, some of those parents will have decided their children will have full time remote...so not even 15 will be there....

As we all know, Lynsey has chosen not to work remotely in her bedroom on her very own desk.  Instead, she has sectioned off a corner of the living room with a desk, chair, screen divider, chrome book, drink, hand lotion, hair brush, electric heater, garbage can...you get the idea??? 

 I am just putting it out there...Does anyone have any idea WHY she is now sitting in my sewing room, at my sewing machine table with her Chromebook doing her school work???????????

I am constantly trying to refine my mask making.  This one is an Olson mask made for children ages 3 to 5....but Dylan wanted to try it.  I have put a nose sealer in the top part.

This is the back of the mask.  The Olson mask has a place to slide a filter if you want.

A fun zoom time tonight with our  IQ quilters.  Just look who is in the season!!

Our Aoife, showing off her dimples...

Our Aoife....enjoying the wonder of it all.

A good day today,

Tomorrow an all day Zoom with my Good Vibe quilters..

Hurricane Zeta is coming through Charlotte tonight.

 

OK, Then....Another Lazy Day!!!

Aoife, 3 months old..Irish white skin, bright blue eyes and two dimples

Lordy, that child is her father's girl!!! 

Below...dimples on the other side of the family too

Dylan insisted I make his going back to school masks from pink monkey fabric.  It is still too large and the mask pattern was a child's size.  Sigh, it will fit my sister.  Tonight I will make the old  kind for  him.....much less work.  Evidently pink is in for boys.  Yesterday, Evan came by in a solid matching pink shirt and shorts set.  Ok, now...a it is a new day.  I questioned it , then remembered....when forever I tried to get Mr. O'Quilts into different colors!!! He was totally conservative when it came to his clothes...One time I made him a purple corduroy long sleeve shirt for Christmas.  It looked so professional that he did not know I had made it.  He never wore it because it was purple...sigh.

I have put Dylan's two fabric choices into one mask, two sided.

This is just in case he gets into his fifth grade class

and some of the kids tease him...He may not care, but I will just make one of this kind, to be sure.

Here she is again showing her purple stockings on a cold day in Oregon.

I am very proud of my daughter..She has become a wonderful sewist!!

Her mother's dream!!!

This is the beginning of Aoife's Halloween costume. Made with love by her mother.

Maybe it is OK for me to have two lazy days.  I feel really wonderful tonight.

My son has been great with his children this weekend. He and Lynsey went to Lidl...shopping...Oh, my that girl of ours is a great shopper.. I told her she could get what she wants, but she had to cook it herself.  Once home, she made Hocus Pocus treats...(crescent rolls baked with marshmallows and cinnamon inside)...Oh...Lynsey... Lynsey Lou's Bakery is going to be a great success.

So sorry if  you are tired of pictures of Aoife.  I just cannot help it...She brings me such joy.

Tonight a cold wind blows through my sewing room window.  I am going to have to close it soon.

Next up, in two weeks I have an eye appointment to check out my cataracts...Jeeze Louize...I just paid a fortune a few months ago for new glasses..and I still cannot see.

Now we know the benefits of being old...Medicare...TBTG

Lazy

Lazy me..I have done nothing today....Well...a little...Bags here all ready for the strings.

The Good Vibes Quilters are having their first Zoom Sit and Sew on Thursday.

I will finish these bags then.

Excess here in paradise....Flannel.  I have so much flannel. JoAnn's fabric flannel sales over the years...Mostly Black Friday deals not more than $1.49 a yard.

Someone here must have gone crazy!!  What to do with the flannel and what to do with the bags? I purchased the bags during one of the big sales at Madam Sew   I now have three bags filled with flannel.

What should I do?  Put the bags upstairs under my bed??Put them in my son's room?  Build an extension onto my house for quilting room  number 5???And what to make with flannel...beside pillowcases.. 

Today is the day that I want to be lazy and have everyone else work.Lynsey, it is almost two in the afternoon.  Why don't you get dressed and clean your room.

Silence.

Dylan, are you going to play video games all day?

Silence.

Grandma?  What about your PT exercises and mask making?

Pass the cookies?

My sewing energy is asleep.   Instead I have ordered the  library book,  The Great Influenza Story, by John Barry.  Sitting under my tree, covered with mosquito spray, I am thinking about Cholera, Polio, Smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella and  (Guinea worm disease????). 

Wondering if my head has  been in the sand for most of my life.

Suzette sent me a book,  Thimble of Soil, A Woman's Quest for Land, Historical letters 1854 to 1860

It takes place in 1855, as folks moved from Ohio to Kansas for resettlement. Now that is a story I never experienced.  It seemed that when the Ohio group did not agree with slavery while crossing Missouri, they were refused water for their families and horses.  Each side was sure that theirs held the correct value.  Nothing changes...people always have disagreements.. Except, things worked out better when they kept their mouth's  shut.

90% of my family has now voted (except one, who promised!!)  We have a small family..My bro and his wife, my sister and her two children, my own two children (Emily voted, Brian is a resident and Aoife is 3 months old.) My 3 Muldoon grands..... and me, My DIL and her husband and Ava...I am proud of my little family.  

They practiced their voting privilege, that is how we make a change.

Dylan just asked me where his new mask was...hmmmm. Ok, I am on it.

Gifts of the Day

A lovely masked, backyard visit with a friend today...LOOK at what she gave me.

Unbelievable..  She found it at a garage sale...Thank you Christine!!!!  The visit was gift enough in these lonely times.

This quilt top is in two pieces.  It  looks like it was made for twin beds as the edges are finished.

There are 48 blocks, for the 48 states. (Hawaii and Alaska did not join up until 1959)

Looks like this work is from the 1930's or 40's  It is a meticulously hand embroidered and hand pieced work of art.  Each state has the state flower embroidered and named in thread.

Even though I thought my collecting days were over...hmmmm...I fell in love with this immediately.

It is a wonderful show and tell for those of us who are passionate with quilty things.

Aoife wants you to know that she is not sure that she likes the fall weather.

The weather is pretty crisp in Portland right now.

She looks just like her daddy in this picture!!!

She does love to take a walk, however.

Aoife was 3 months old  yesterday!!!

 My loneliness today is for my own youth. 

I so miss the young me with no aches and pains and lots of energy.

 For some reason I did not get the message, that I too...would get old and wobbly, never mind, the death thing.  (OMG)

Lynsey came home today after school...I had missed her so.  She made cookies and cornbread for the soup.  We all played canasta...too fun...a relaxing day...

Early November, after the election, Dylan goes back to school for two days a week.Four weeks later, on November 30, Lynsey goes...one whole week on and two weeks remotely.  I asked Dylan to pick out some fabric for an extra mask for school  This is what  he brought me.

Good thing I asked him, as I never would have dreamed that a 10 year old, fifth grade boy would have chosen this.

I will make it up for him tomorrow.  He can keep a spare mask in his bookbag.

The weeks and years are speeding along...It is nice when there is a great day like today.

Just Go Sew

Tonight I finished the main parts of my 10 Jeni Baker Drawstring Bags

The draw strings are made already, the only thing left is to sew the channel and

thread the laces.  I like this bag, even though it is a bit time consuming to make.

It was so much easier to do all the cutting , then all the lining, etc...factory style.

My son and Dylan re-covered my ironing board above.

Cactus.....reminding me of Arizona roots.

Below is a brick from the yard, covered with batting and canvas to anchor my sewing machine pedal.

Another big Thank You to Eamon and Dylan.  Nice to have helpers around.

Looking for things to keep me going in all this isolation and scary stuff.

Karen, at Get It Done Quilts...has a great U-tube channel.

The.link below..is one example.

Sewing hacks from the dollar store #1 

PS I have done all my PT exercises today!!

Month Eight of Covid Scare

I am sick of Covid...TBTG not sick with Covid...Grateful for that one.

To cheer myself, I have added to my 2020 quiltlet project...hopefully there will not be too many other crisis this year..

Spoonflower had a sale.  Who am I to say no,..when things seem quite dour and I get a chance for some fabric cheer??.

At half price, I could not stop at 2020 reminders.   I added some Swedish Dala horses

and a pickle fabric for Dyl.......Dylan...

After caring for grandchildren for 7/8 years .Why?  

Do I feel guilty when I spend a little money on myself..   Oh, well..

It is Grandma survival time. 

In the mail today came two new masks from Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Plain...free...but plain.. Sooo I have done a bit of applique.

One for me and one for my sister.

My son just came from work, smelling like grease.

It reminded me of my father who was an airplane mechanic.

Eamon fixed cars for two people today. He is always happy when he has been working.

I am so trying not to eat nonstop...What else to do to fill the void at night. This isolation bit is for the birds..

I am making a plan...sewing and reading in the sun...for the day time...

Here is my piece of heaven.

Now I am watching The Indian Doctor on Amazon Prime (Thank you Carol)

And will start on the drawstring bags...

At least tomorrow I will have a visitor..Yeah!!!

Never thought I would look forward to a masked friend.

I just found this on the Megan Divine site...She is so right on!!

How Grief Changes Your Address Book

You Raise Me Up  ( I think that this was when he was at Carnegie Mellon.

New Beginnings

 

Turning my frown upside down...is our Aoife.

She smiles, she babbles, she kicks, she wiggles....she shows off a vintage baby quilt.  

About 10 years ago, I was in my happy space...The Metrolina Antique Show.

(sadly now out of business)

From the widow of the man who owned this quilt...made by his mother...I purchased this gem..

Thirty five dollars for a million dollars worth of love.  

All hand pieced and hand quilted with a story, to boot.

Now years later, it is loved by our Aoife.

1940 to 2020...80 years of love that continues on...!!!

Isolation brings memories . Today, I started wishing for a good canasta

game with my grandmother...She was such a great sport and a wise woman.

Let's see, Grandma would be  124 years old now....sigh...acceptance is not one of my virtues.

Instead, I am drinking my tea from a Swedish IKEA mug, thinking of her.

The above work may not seem like a big accomplishment.

Let me tell you, it is!!

I am speed sewing these Drawstring bags.

These are the "strings". 

 All made and ready for the next step on the already prepared bags.

At the midnight hour, I am a great philosopher...A little wine.. and some cheese and crackers.  Wonderful... Tonight my epiphany is that I am going to re-invent myself.

I may be aged.

I may have gained an enormous amount of substance and fluff in my body..   Ha!!

I may have creaky joints, etc.

However, in this lonely time of Covid...there has to be something I can do in order to keep succeeding 

and to bring a smile to others.

This positivity is courtesy o Linda and Suzette..

(the Sparkle folks)

It is also courtesy of my physical therapists and my drive around town today.

Even from the grave, my mother encourages me on.

For You

I will weave a poem

Of fillagree and lace

Angel hair and sunny thoughts

And the beauty of your face

Though it will not do justice

To all the things you are:

The best of life

The brightest light

 A shiny golden star..

That in spite of gloom, remember that this is inside all of us.

xo