My Survival Journal

Starts with friendship to support me thru my mess.

Suzette sending me a stunning green batik from Bend, Oregon.

Memories to sustain me...Below Johanna's quilt made from her paintings put on fabric.

Below a first place win for me...forever ago..

Quilt memories, since I have not been sewing and we cannot have a quilting blog without a quilt.

March-29-21, Is the day I survived my first cataract operation. First up was the financial lady.  She was from Trinidad.  I used to fly in to Trinidad ---almost, almost-- just to eat Rum Raisin ice cream. My new friend insisted that Cherry Coconut was better. In November she had taken a vacation to Belize.  She said it is open because the economy is based on tourism.  That there are police everywhere to be sure everyone wears a mask...Wow...

Next up, the pre-op lady.  She insisted on weighing me.  I had her note it only in metrics so I would not know what Covid and PTSD had done to me.  My  nurse had lovely clear skin, she is only 28.  She had an earring in her ear for Migraine head aches.  Her second baby is due in two months...but there she was all cheery and helpful.  They had asked for my shot card.  Guess that will be the new deal...Everywhere we go, we will have to show our driver's license and our vaccination card.  I heard that the big office supply stores will laminate them for free. Walking into the waiting room, I really, really thought that I was in the wrong place....all these old people with canes...OMG Then, I caught sight of myself in the glass...hmmmm, I see that I was so in the right place...sigh!!

My whiny self became subdued when I realized that in the pre-op room, the folks on either side of me were children. They had parents with them for solace.  My anesthesiologist was young and handsome and charming.  My eye surgeon was too...sigh...After the pretty fireworks in my eye, I found myself in a wheelchair being wheeled to my sister who was right outside building the door.  No pain, a bit of light headedness, no memory of the surgery..Amazing organization...All amazing...TBTG I survived...  I was told not to use heavy machinery today....eg Janome, Bernina...etc and not to read???  So I just looked at pictures....online Kona cotton sales....Love!!

Yesterday's thoughts:  3-28-21Thinking again about Aoife. Her mommy says that her personality is quite developed.  She is not supposed to go up the stairs alone.  However, she starts toward the stairs anyway. She looks at her mother who says...No.  No..makes Aoife crawl faster toward the stairs.  If Aoife puts something in her mouth, she refuses to open it when her mother tries to retrieve it. I guess I have forgotten how smart 8 months can be.

 For some reason, the other day, I was looking out my sewing room window toward the greening of the trees. It was my choice of joy.  The big bad storm did not come, rather a grayness with rain that colored the entire day. When I asked myself if that were my last day on earth, what would I want to be doing. That was it.  A small happy, the peace of just being and appreciating life

Looking around my sewing room.  Who works like this?  A little piggy room with a million projects in different stages of ending and beginning....the process.  Me.....I like to be like this.  I love clutter in my sewing room.  A dog at my feet, a cat or two on my table.  A bowl of ice cream would top it off.

Today is day three after my surgery....certainly better than joint replacements

Thank you to Jane...of Jane Likes to Putter....for your encouragement on my surgery..Actually a big thank you to everyone.

Suzette sent this interesting article...Thank you Suzette: Female Fire Lookouts

More memories...Lynsey just born and her admiring granddaddy and big brother Evan.

Both parents so beautiful and so young.

This one is my favorite.  My mother told the staff at assisted living that her daughters were oh, sooo busy...Meaning that she should really have more attention and visits...Whatever...!!

Then I find this in the facility newspaper...My mother at a local winery with her friends...

My Red Onion living at least 12 years in Miami.

Back to the friendship deal.

A million, trillion thanks to Carol, for getting appointments tomorrow for my son and niece.

If anyone wants something done and done now and done right...

It is Carol you need to be friends with. xo

Grandma O'Quilts Rediscovers Herself

What do I like to do???

  How do I care for myself??

A trip today to an antique store..

The two quilts below were tattered.

Taking a picture was free.

 This one below a bit odd...

Self care means...6 pound weights, 25 bi-cep curls a day, among other things.

I tried bigger ones, but they were too much.

Always a picture of our Aoife.  Eight months, sitting up alone!!

Cousins...without Aoife...Oh, well...

Ava turned three years old today.

She is going to preschool in the fall...OMG

My daughter spent today making this back yard swing for her girl.

Aoife's growth seems spectacular to me.  First she crawls rapidly, then she stands up in her crib, then she climbs all the way up the big stairs in their 1907 house.  Now she sits up alone. All by eight months??  How ever does this happen.????  Especially with never having seen her grandmother!!

Got myself focused to make Hourglass from scraps...

Supposed to be a bad storm tomorrow. if so, I will not go out.

If there is a break, I will stop by the grocery store.

Walking with a cart in stores has helped my balance tremendously...as do the 

exercises given to me by the most wonderful physical therapist in the world!!!

Joy Pfuhl at KCP physical therapy

This grandmother is finding the hope!!

Trying not to be nervous about the cataract surgery Monday.

Fabric Play

Blocks rescued with a little help from a friend.

The green fabric is original 30's fabric.  It even had a 39 cent/yd receipt with it.

I purchased it at a quilter's estate sale.  The other prints are reproduction.

The first layout is by far my favorite.  Chill time for me with 10 days off.

.  Today was 77 degrees. I languished in the sun relaxing.

Everyone sees it but me. I am stressed and more..

Tonight, I realized it, as the stress melted away when I played with fabric.

Relaxed and happy...a balance.

Leftovers from my "Spring in Motion" quilt....fabric from Jennifer Paganelli

If I am not too lazy, I will make them into Hourglass blocks.

Tonight I watched two movies...and I usually never put the TV on.

Making my list and checking it twice, 

Tomorrow I am going to an antique store, with my mask of course.

Then, reading a book under the tree and enjoying my meeting in the evening.

Maybe, I might even tidy my sewing room...just dreamin'....

Yet, as the children left for their mother's house, 

Lynsey gave me 10 big hugs, one for each of the days she will be gone.!!!

I miss them already

 

Just Stuff to Know

 Aoife invites you to lunch. 

 Place: Portland, Oregon, a backyard.  Meal:  black beans and berry yoghurt.

Aoife says....her daddy is soooo much fun!!!

A present to my heart...little blue scissors with a cover.

I just love scissors...Thank you Linda!!

Mental Health experts vs our unhealthy Puritan side of American culture

I can see this bird stock her nest from my sewing room window.

The Carolina Wren found an empty bird feeder.

She is not here, but she thinks this is a lovely place for her eggs.

Fat quarters of:

Art Gallery: "Lower the Volume"

My common sense brain is telling me to go to bed!! Guess I will listen.

Choosing Hope

Then it Happened

The moon rolled over

turned out the light

covered itself with

a blanket of night.   AFCB 2009

Success from Guild Sit and Sew Saturday...I have never done straight line quilting like this before,

Delectable Mountains demanded it.

The backing is that stunning hand dye from Andy...Thank you Andy!!!

I am also using this fabric for the binding.

An anxious day made better:

Hi Grandma,  from Portland!!!

 

Little Babies, Big Babies and Finished Quilts

 In a few days, Aoife will be 8 months.  She is already standing up in her crib.

Portland

Neighborhood watch.

Aoife has a new cousin , Abby.  She was born 2.5 months ago...Does she look Irish or what??

Her grandmother chose this delightful color and made the sweater. Those Irish surely can knit!!

Done....Curved block baby quilt. (Spring in Motion)Finished during Good Vibe sit and sew on Friday. This celebrated the one year anniversary of Zoom quilting with some people I have never met before...but now hold tight.

Jack backing.

Fox Block (Make it Foxy)

Finished during Good Vibes sit and sew on Friday..

Backing...stylized holiday trees..

Art Gallery low volume  I got this grab bag on Amazon.

It was not the deal I had thought as there were only 8 pieces...Still, they are lovely.

I do know people, strange but true, who are not so crazy about bright colors...sigh.

Trying to accommodate!!!

Below, a Marcia Derse yard from Ebay.  USPS said it  had been delivered.

It had not, so I contacted the seller.  She gave me a refund, though I did not ask for that.

It was delivered today....Dear, dear me....I told her to try to reverse the refund.

Today, was Guild sit and sew.  Since I did not go to bed until 2:30 am...I missed the first hour.

Lovely to see friends and sew along.  Eamon had taken the children to help him work.

It was so peaceful, this day...so dear, until they all came home.

The children interrupted my zoom.  They made silly faces, they changed the settings on the screen. When I started shouting for them to leave, they UN-muted me...so all the world could hear their hot under the collar, not easy going,  Grandmother. 

 They just love aggravating me,.  Sigh, I am just so reactive....even though I have mellowed in my age.. That was the end of my lovely Zoom day.  I was 3/4 of the way toward finishing my Delectable Mountain quilting....on my 2021 UFO list.  I will finish quilting it before Tuesday as I need to take the machine for its yearly cleaning...

This vaccinated extrovert is still going crazy.

Trying for outside lunches with friends...but no takers....everyone still nervous. Some wear their masks, some not.  I wear mine...no chances here.

That's OK. No one knows anything for sure anyway....and we carry on.

 

The Education of Grandma O'Quilts

 First of all...let me tell you, I have been advised that I have evidently failed southern tree identification....sad, but true.  Today, I was gifted with two stalks of Redbud for educational purposes  One with bloom and one with no bloom.  Redbud is part of the legume family. I will take off the flowers and stick them both in dirt tomorrow...to see what happens. Who knows, I might get my very own Redbud tree.

Tonight's work below...

A next border for the pink flimsy and another block or two for the Churn Dash.

The pink border is from a hand dye gift from Andy.

I always loved Marcia Derse fabric...but could never afford it and felt guilty when I looked.

Wondering why now I can indulge, I realize that the parents of my grands are helping out, freeing me to get a few things for myself...That is wow...and I am grateful.

The free gift of a few fat eights that come with an order.

My choices below:

Wanda was right when she said each grouping sells out quickly.  I was lucky to find these on the Marcia Derse site. The fabric came today.

My heart beats rapidly when I look at these fabrics, also the African.

Like it is Christmas Eve or something.

And this....this is why I do not sleep all night, but have to sleep half the day.

Sally, my salamander, creeps into my bed and smacks me with her foot and arm all night, in her sleep

I think it is the price of love...

Today, I was unable to even think about St Paddy's Day.

It is too sad for me, still.  However, I pledge to myself that next year I will make a bigger effort.  Mr. O'Quilts would not like at all that I am not celebrating his Irish holiday with the grands, just because I miss him so.

Tomorrow we are suppose to have a big bad storm with tornados and thunder and rain and wind. The children are supposed to both be in school.  I have the day off....As with Covid, this  year is always wait and see.

I vowed not to shout anymore to the kids about staying in bed.  Just send them to bed and let them set their own schedule, They are 11 and 12.  At midnight, I do hear noises that I am ignoring.  That is not working so well..as my limits are being tested.

We have four Alexa in our house.  The first one is in my sewing room, the next in my bedroom and two more in each child's room, for music and alarms for school.

What I did not realize since I am tech impaired is that one Alexa can talk to another.

Sigh.

While I now have time to myself, Lynsey is messing with me.  First she pretends to be asleep.

I am sitting downstairs in my sewing room listening to lovely happy relaxing music and fondling fabric.

Soon blaring into my room comes this loud, whatever music.  She has told her Alexa to tell my Alexa to play that music in order to irritate me... Really????

Yes, really.  I am blaming this irritation on why I have a package of M&Ms hidden in my stash.  So there.

A Bit of Freedom to Soothe My Soul

Covid be damned!!  My mask and my hand sanitizer, my cane and I left my house in the rain this morning.

We went to the Goodwill store.  Twenty five percent off on senior day.

African clothing screamed my name. $3.50 each...Cut it down tonight during MQG sit and sew.

The orange and pink fabric holds 3 yards, My heart!!  The red and yellow, a yard and a half.

No one else there seemed to be stressed about Covid.  The parking lot was packed and there were lines at the register.  Everyone wore masks. I then put gas in my very own car like a grown up.  I checked out Publix for the first time in the 20 years, since we lived in Miami. A load of stress was lifted from my shoulders, just being out and about.

Look what Aoife's daddy found at the store today!!!

Lynsey is so daddy's girl.  She got him to make doll candy bars with her. (Ps, You do note that this is an invasion of my sewing room!!

She printed the labels from a doll site online, and made the bars, using cardboard and tin foil

Last year Lynsey gave up dolls.  It was such a shock. One day I was making a doll baby carrier and the next day all the dolls were put away and she was all grown up and done.

Today she changed her mind.  She said last year, a friend had looked down her nose, saying...Lynsey, you still play with dolls?????  This year she said she does not care.  She loves to organize and create for her dolls. Whew.  I told her even adults make things for their dolls!! Sharing that one time a lady looked down her nose at me for quilting.  You cut up perfectly good fabric to sew back together again????, She said with an eye roll...I did not put my quilting things away.. Grandma is way mature!!!

The two churn dash...

Below, Dylan's joy.  He is fixing up his brother's old room as a technology place.  In the garage, evidently there were extra screens...Mr. Computer lover has hooked them all up to talk with friends and play two games at once.  Wow, Dylan, Wow.

I have not handled Covid well...I have eaten too much, had too many glasses of wine, been in tears and recently started buying new fabric that I have always wanted...all to soothe my soul

Today was a good one.

 A good night and a good day....all because I was brave and left the house.

Tomorrow a porch sewing visitor...wahoo..