One More Day of Gratitude

Looky, looky what my eye spied.....red flowers from an African fabric large print.

Today, my Accuquilt 6.5 inch die showed up...wahooooo.  I cut these out so fast.

Scrap quilting is the best!!

I have shown this pink Railroad quilt before, but now the binding is finally on...Done is the word, my favorite word!!

This Alexander Henry fabric of years ago stayed hoarded in my stash forever.

Cutting it up for a backing was torture for me...but oh, so perfect for this baby quilt.

Here are some fairy close ups:

Zoom meetings and podcasts allowed all of the above to be finished ..a joyous miracle.

The dermatologist did some carvings on my face today. I complied because I love the doctor, and, of course it was the right thing to do. 2024 check list:  dentist, check.....dermatologist, check...next appointment will be eye check up..OMG, scheduled!

After that a lunch with friends who still stand by my old and wobbly self was medicine for my soul.

Was going to drop off a cuddly item for my niece on the way home, but more allergies to IV chemo had sent them back to the clinic for IV fluids and a different anti-nausea medication.

Now, I find out that a Mucus Ovaraian cancer is found in young people...yikes!!

Looks like what is left of my family is pulling together for my niece...a warm feeling of gratitude.

Sunshine Makes a Lovely Day

Monday night:  I am beginning to make this seat cover.  First step is to spray baste  one of the African fabrics to the felted mattress pad piece.  I usually buy a crib or twin and cut them to size.  I spray baste, iron and cut to size of felted piece.  Next step will be to spray baste the fabric for the other side on...Once this is ironed and wrinkle free, I quilt it....usually using the wiggle stitch one way 3 inches apart.  The back fabric is cut with a one inch excess in order to self bind...voila...so done.  Next time it rains and my outdoor cushions are all wet, out this comes to protect my bottom from a wet seat.. Great for pets and kids and  old ladies who spill..

Tuesday night  finish...easy peasy.

An inside pix...already to put outside if needed post rain.

With a utilitarian piece like this I like to double stitch the binding.

Love that the cover is two sided.

This was all finished while watching tonight's Charlotte Modern Quilt group meeting.

And:  binding made too....Good Lord binding is a pain in the  patoot!

Yesterday I had the energy to go to Marshalls just to look around...I went past the childrens clothes and past the childrens toys.  I went past the cooking supplies and indeed the cleaning supplies...None of these are needed at my age and place.  I did buy this adorable mug, just for me , to celebrate the day and the sun and my outing....

Tonight I made guacamole for dinner... We used to have a avocado tree when we lived in Miami.  Very  large avocados...I miss that tree like it was  yesterday.  I used to fly to Merida, Mexico where I learned to make salsa from our tomatoes.  We would drive down to Homestead to the U-pick farms.  I learned then that picking them green and putting them in the window...they would ripen in stages. What I did not  know, but have now learned on Instagram:  How to keep avocados from going bad by storing them in the refrigerator in a bowl of cold water.   And, how to fold a tortilla with  cheese and onion, putting it in the toaster for a quick toasted quesadilla with no mess.

Jeeze Louize, evidently this is a three day post .  It is 5 am, Wednesday morning and I am up eating breakfast. (memories, we had a banana tree in Miami too.)

Hoping, as finish this post, and I go back to bed, that this will be the third of a run of good days!!

 

This Life of Mine

 Oh, heart of mine: knitted by my friend Sally Catoe...lovely pin from Goods to Go (our little store onsite..funds go to support folks living here.)..For $2..joy ...cuz I love it.

Mary Jerz quilted this lap quilt for me months and months ago.  Tonight I put on the binding. It took months to procratinate and just an hour to finish...lesson???  Probably not...

Below:  scrap process on my design wall.

African fabric pick for my next water proof seat cover.  I discovered making these when my mother needed something pretty to protect the seat of her wheelchair.  I now have them on all my work chairs to prevent stains.  This will be an extra one to put on an outside chair that  has been rained on..Waterproof to keep my bottom dry while I read.

In desperation I search for someone to fold my yellows and my novelty fabrics

I am so out of control.  I asked one of the workers  here if she wanted a bit of money on the side...she was not interested in folding fabric.  My oldest granddaughter would be great at it...alas, I never see her.

Teenagers seem to have a life of their own...she will be 15 in a few weeks.

Rain and cold seem to really love Charlotte this winter.  Still, hope shows itself in early pop up greens. 

This is an interesting blog about upcycling fabric.

Sewing Through the Fog, thrift sewing and quilting

Today's life....In bed till noon?????  Old lady???

One o'clock lunch with friends...laughing till 3!!

Home to finish a library book and pat some fabric, putting all jelly rolls in one basket, etc.

Applied binding to quilt above,  No healthy eating....no exercise or moving my body. Put some donations in the art room...

When I struggle with the aging situation...my daughter always comes through with pictures of Aoife or texts of  her life...and, her sewing life...

I am so grateful for my daughter.  And, then my DIL, always sharing things about  my grands..and life in the country.

I am one very lucky grandmother.

Sunshine in the Rain

First up....You know who in Portland in her first school picture ever!!

3 1/2  Preschool!!

The North Dakota Bison for Gary and Linda

Some people can make a  potholder out of anything.

Made by my sister, Charmaine Lowery:  a peace sign quilt for Alexis....her 37 year old daughter with ovarian cancer...Quilted by Mary Jerz

Alexis loves peace signs...look at the backing I found at JoAnn's

My birthday is in December...I am not against celebrating it in January too!!

Thank  you Linda for this Sunflower panel...It makes me  happy.

In organizing, I came upon this Christmas present from Evan, when he was 9.

He handstitched a "gift card" for me and added in a few $5 bills....It still touches my heart.

Evan will be 19 in June...Amazing....

More sunshine...even though indeed it is raining!!

DIL is coming for lunch

Cleaning lady is coming soon...

I feel good

OMG so far a great day...

Art, the Mess and the Potholder

Starting with the gift.  A stain glass peace sign crafted by my friend  Betty, for my niece, Alexis....the peace sign lover.

Work on the patches for disappearing nine-patch.  Four out of 12 done.

And the potholders finished  yesterday:

Now, the mess is me...the mess is I....OMG.  I have been looking for this neck light for days...wasted time and a lot of annoyance.  It was so  bad, that I just sat down at the computer to order another one, when there is was. in a basket by the computer table.  My brain is the mess.

Somehow when personality gifts were given out, the gift of focus missed me.  It so missed me.

At my age, it is too late...and it is a gift anyway, not a learned skill...I like to make friends with these skills...so far, so good.  There are , however, things I need to do myself.

I can focus if I get furious.  I can focus if I wait till the last minute.  I can focus with meds, I can focus if I run a few miles...ha ha ha...I try not to do any of the above.

I am a mess, my studio is a mess...I need to hire mess support.

or... accept life just the way it is...

Happy Friday

 Adorable Aoife playing an adorable game:

Today I am 85% better...TBTG 

I pulled out of a random bag these nine patches for a disappearing nine patch.

Boring, no contrast, no large prints...Dear me...but I am now determined to fix it and I did not even want to work on this now...

Face cloths, wash cloths, happy cloths.  I ordered an 8 pack of multicolored facecloths, cut off the edges and quilted  pretty  on the front.   With my grands, I chose soft cloths and children's patterns, with house warming, I chose different.  These are just to give to people who are sad.or lonely..they are happy cloths for face or kitchen or whatever..

the fabric makes me sing

And then there are the potholders...I am including a few here...

A friend who works here has an Irish wife.  He chose this one today:

This one for a zoom friend with a cat just like this:

Scrap potholder from a 16 patch quilt in process

And one of the favorite chocolate ones:

I had all these things ready to finish at the Tuesday Sit and Sew

Alas, I was too sick.

But, there were ready to go...feeling better, I was on it.

So much fun.

Finishing things makes me feel so good.

A Little Light, Much Needed

Here I was last week, still sick, no electricity in the apartments, but emergency lights in the hallway.

Mrs. O'Quilts here with her mother's old bed tray on wheels, apt door open, tray pushed into hallway drinking honey lemon tea and sewing away.  Thank God for sewing.!!!

In my mess, I just spotted the ornament Betty made for me this year...lovely

An adventure...a risk...some fun!!

Instagram told me that a folded tortilla with cheese and onion could be put in the toaster for dinner...

Above, raw tortilla folded with the cheese and onion,

Below the cooking in action. 

And now for the quick and tasty result.  Cooking a cheese crisp will never be the same for me again.

No mess and yummy!

I think the weather in Charlotte is freezing, but we do not have this:

From the front window of my daughter's house in Portland, schools closed due to freezing ice..brrrr

Icicles...amazing....

Two good friends visited me today.  They lifted my spirit

I was able to look at the beginning of  the peace sign chemo cuddle quilt for my niece.

Up and down goes life...so grateful I am cozy and warm inside and getting better!

It's the Steroids, Stupid!!!

Yesterday's joy.

And, in the beginning.......3 and a half years now...

Thanks to God and my doctor and my asthma inhalers and  my prednisone, and my antibiotic and my cough pearls and my nebulizer, 8 days later I can see the light.  God only knows what brought this about as I have not had an asthma episode in about 8 years..

Tonight I had the energy to make this cover for a book of mine:

My cleaning lady came today. Perhaps that is why I am better????

Some mean person in my building suggested that I was allergic to all my fabric.

WHATEVER!!!

And TONIGHT'S rant!  Something totally different...as I am feeling worse...the rain??

I read an article on de-stashing and decided tonight was the night....(not a good choice)

I found two hat boxes full to the brim with charms.  They are now all over the bed, over my breathing machine and now on the floor.   My disposition reflects it...

What to do?? One patches???  Then off to Mary Jerz to quilt?? Then off to folks who need them??

Not tonight, anyway......

Even in the best of times, I struggle with organization...OMG  This is so not the best of times.

Drinking tea with honey and lemon as I wheeze, staring in awe at wild, unintended collection. Sigh..

I just left all that to go to the shelves to de-stash some yardage.  I could not let go of even an inch of any of it.  No sewing tonight , just pacing.  Sickness is a waste of time...I cannot accomplish what my youth could do,, I might die of asthma or maybe frustration.....Once again, I am overwhelmed.

OH!! Here it comes...The epiphany .It is the STEROIDS, stupid.  I am on the last day of my treatment. They always make me crazy.

Tomorrow my friends  come for laughs.  Tomorrow is a brand new day.