Bye, Bye November

 Tom, age 90 lives above me...His hobby is tatting...Lucky, lucky me was a recipient this year.

Aoife sewing at pre-school.

Random vintage fabric I bought online.

Adorable, but unfortunately not usable on quilts...The fabric is way too thin.

I framed a snapshot of Tom's gift to make into a thank you card.

Grateful for a printer....grateful for the present.!

A quick secret snapshost of my girl and her beloved Rosie.

I took it during our Facetime chat.

Sew busy on Black Friday!!!

My PayPal finger is sore.

I bought a fireplace to keep my sewing room cozy.

Our  visit to IKEA to celebrate Sherry's birthday brought a box of  yummy Swedish gingerbread cookies.  I opened them tonight...so could not wait till December.  They are displayed on one of my new fabric pieces.  My dear husband buys me new fabric every single Christmas...I love him so.

Another IKEA find...

Tonight's surprise visit from Charlene..She selected a bag for her baggies.

Charlene's great smile made my evening  brighter. She gifted me with a pretty Poinsettia.

One more exhausting day...made so much better with friends.

Happy Birthday Sherry...big thanks for spending it with us.

AND for putting together my fireplace and hanging my IKEA storage.

So very grateful today!!

Winter Has Come to Charlotte

In Portland, Oregon, Aoife and Rosie are ready for their nightly walk. 

Warning!!! Danger!!!  

When Lynsey and I went to Aldi the other day, I bought these..

My body said NO, my lack of will power said YES!!

They were so very delicious that in just a few hours they were all gone...Amazing...

Wonder who in the world ate them???

Here is the Black Friday bargain flannel peace sign fabric for the back of a chemo quilt for my niece. .Tuesday she is having  testing...so we should know more then.

Alexis is crazy about peace signs.

Potholder relaxation just never stops.  I gave 4 away today...OMG..

My latest chicken quilt is now bound.  Mary Jerz does my quilting., my arthritis refuses.

It has been sitting around my lazy bones for months now...Tonight ..all done but the thread snipping.

I really love it.  I bound it with plaid, cuz it is a country quilt.  The chickens are from Spoonflower.

Tomorrow we are going to IKEA on a field trip..

God help me.

It is cold and my body aches....a few laughs with friends should be the best cure.

So Thankful

 Happy Thanksgiving...No matter  how  difficult this Thanksgiving was, I am amazed at how long my gratitude list is.

Aoife called her grandmother and was able to say: "Happy Thanksgiving"!!

Above, the adorable family hands for 2023 Thanksgiving.

Dylan and Lynsey spent the night last night.  Lynsey found my 50 year old ceramic tree from Miami.  It was a gift from a friend's mother....still has a chip on the side...making it even so much more endearing.

This is the first year Lynsey decided that the tree should have only white and  yellow lights...a great idea, dear girl.

The stress of what is and what was, eventually drove me to the sewing machine.

While watching a zoom meeting, I finished 4 potholders...

As my sister said, my 5 sewing machines are all in perfect working condition.

Amazing what sewing does to one's disposition.!!

My dear friend, arthritis, forgot that today was a holiday.

It was however, a beautifully sunny crisp day to eat pancakes at IHOP with

two grands and my dearest DIL.

Lucky for us, tomorrow is a brand new day.

Grateful.

Things That Make me Happy

 Aoife enjoying fall in Oregon

Potholder makings

Fabric creative opportunities.

Tea with a peach honey stick

Friends, family, fabric and my safe and cozy new apartment.

Here I go Again

 Below is my fall door decoration...

Tonight's potholder:

Tonight's not quite finished potholder:

My oldest granddaughter....three months shy of 15.  She is writing her book.

Things are sooo much better now that she is being homeschooled and has no phone...

Yay, my girl and yay, her mother!!!!

Productive day inspite of my joint  pain.

Did my  pool exercises

Went to the library

Ate lunch and dinner with friends here at my grande dining room

Got my 
RSV shot...or RVS...etc... no pain, no sore arm...so done!!

Finished some sewing above

Now prepping for Sit and Sew tomorrow.

and bed...my lovely quilty bed.

Looking for the Good Stuff

 And, still more potholders...I am giving them away like crazy.  Everyone who visits me in my adorable sewing studio picks out one from the basket.  People are so nice here.

 Potholders are win-win....they calm my nerves and make others  happy.

Into my bedroom creeps more quilty love.

My man's old work bookcase now houses quilts.

An empty space holds an extra design wall...This is where I enjoy my favorite potholders before I put them out in the basket for others to choose.  My grandmother's vintage holiday  lights are on top.  Coming up on 100 years old.

Aoife took my daughter's wire chicken from the kitchen.  She claimed it as her own as a purse.

I brought these chickens home from a visit to Sao Paulo, Brazil.....back in my youthful traveling days.

My sister and I are planning on Christmas in Portland.

We have our tickets booked already.  My girl has three sewing machines now, as I just bought her this one:   I love mine so much.  Sew  if we are tired from being...we all three can sew!!

Janome TM30 Red

God help me, I am a stress eater...My sister's 37 year old daughter is seriously ill...I fix that by eating cinnamon toast and drinking red wine....at midnight...So sure that will make my niece better!!

Our crazy life seems so out of control.

And yet...beauty...:

Feelin' the Love

Autumn in Portland, Ore.

A three year old and her beloved scooter.

Autumn in Matthews, North Carolina, from my patio.

A bit out of focus makes it all look like a painting.

Lucky, lucky Grandma had Dylan visit  He gave me the best hugs, planted my pansies, underplanted with daffodil and tulip bulbs.

He is sooooo good to his grandmother...

The other day was Susan's birthday.

I got the present!!

Below we find Aoife at the zoo.  So absolutely delighted with 

the bat hanging there...

Found this adorable tree in a magazine...

Look below what one rainy day did to my bright fall  tree color:

Finally this African quilt is bound...whew...

Bags for bags...in fun fabric:

Quilty love is everywhere...passing on the great memories.

Rain and chilly weather today made all my joints ache...OMG...even my feet...the feet of an old lady!

Went to Sit and Sew at Quilt Patch Fabric...Only two out of 16 folks showed up???  What???  Sewing is so much more important than getting wet..!!

My cleaning lady came yesterday ...Already, I have messed it up...Way too tired to do a thing.

I had part of this post all finished yesterday, when one finger mis-click destroyed it all...grrrr.

The Ruffled Purse  put  on a free 4 day Scrap Sewing Summit last week.  It was awesome.

A Few Memories

When I was in high school, I was into embellishing my blue jeans.  I embroidered a few things for the  knees.  Long ago, I had cut them out of the jeans to save the decoration.  Tonight I made this one into a potholder for my daughter.. This is almost 60 years old!!!!

My son was 18 when he graduated from high school.  It was a great big deal as he hated school

Our family invited a few of his friends to dinner.  One guy had a very compelling shirt on.  I told him that that shirt would be great for quilting.  The next day, it was on my porch.  My son is now 38  years old.  Twenty  years later, sentimental me still has cut up pieces of this shirt.  I fussy cut the blue center for this potholder.

Today is organize your scraps day....Bet you already knew that?????

Some green scraps here are organized into a potholder...Kiwi, olives, cucumbers, grass,etc...fun

Even more fun when I could use my cool and awesome lightbulb fabric for the backing!

Just sayin'  :

Hidden here at the bottom secretly is my favorite of all.

My girl and her girl loving each other so very much.

A great  memory.

LOVE!!!!!  I am so lucky to have them. Especially to see my daughter so happy.

A great day today.  A workshop this morning Braver Angels..

.then I slept all day...hmmmmm.