My Many Blessings

Here is  my brave and lovely niece with her new monkey family...Alexis is crazy about monkeys!!!

On the other side of our country is 4 year old Aoife with her Rosie.  Her dog came to help pick her up from preschool.

My girl and her girl made this cat pumpkin....very fun..

Experimentation in potholders...applique birds on a strip set.

Linda's special Halloween cookies... Lucky me!!

I ordered some yellow facecloths last month.  When they came, they were scratchy and poor quality.

I did not want to bother to return them, so I covered them with scrap fabric for kitchen/bathroom/ car, etc scrubbers.

Thanks to Sherry, my phone camera now works.  Taking off my nose bandage from my Moh's and plastic surgery on my nose, allowed my face recognition to again, let me access my phone...Here I am, grateful to be able to blog.

Grateful today for friendships....Before she left for Aldi, one friend came to ask me if I needed anyting,  Two friends fixed my bed and made it!!!  Like wow!!  A few quilters came today for lunch and laughter.  Dinner brought more laughter with 3 different friends...A friend showed up with my favorite candy bar, Butterfinger....as in Happy Halloween....My grandgirl called with teenage gossip, batting her eyes and telling me the adolescent news.  She also shared with me that she will do school work when she wants to, not when others tell her to...OK then..!!!!. 

She is always careful not to use cursewords with me...respect...makes me feel loved.

  I  just ordered a book for the bookclub in a few weeks...Had a spiritual chat and hug from housekeeper, Mary from the Congo...

Enjoying glimmers of joy...eg...sunshine and colored leaves...laughter and fabric mess....

 Thank God I moved here... I am indeed blessed!!!

Just for Today

My  new phone is not working properly...It tells me that my passwords are incorrect.  It will not forward pictures and I cannot recieve emails.... So, no posting here, no calmness for me.....Here are two of my latest iron on Halloween squares...I still have to applique them with the machine.  I am getting tired of Halloween and it is not even here yet...Time is going so very fast.. Guess I had better make some Thanksgiving items.....Slowly I am making new friends to replace (not really possible) lost family and lost friends due to COVID. Political stress abounds...

I now have four of these spider blocks.. I will applique them, then leave them for next year..

Above, the first of my fall potholders..

Below, jar openers for presents these holidays..

Seems I cannot get away from stress....Terminal cancer is visiting our family...scary as all get out.

I am dealing with it by sewing mindlessly and munching on the $5 chocolate bar from Trader Joe's.

Voila, washcloths

I bought new facecloths for my bathroom, but they came all cheap and scratchy.  Not wanting to dump them nor return them, I covered them with pretty for cleaning things.  All done tonight....so relaxing!!

No pictures because of my disabled phone.

The bandage on my nose comes off this upcoming Tuesday...I will so be grateful.  Also graterful that the MOHs surgery and the plastic surgery are over...and successful.

With a heavy heart, I am trying to de-stash in small ways....a fabric piece here and there...

Very, very grateful me has wonderful Sherry coming by tomorrow to check on my phone..

I am kind of out there since my sister is so busy now with her family...

Me, the former  matriarch of our family, is now trying to concentrate of her own mental and physical health and what I can control.  What I can control is so very little. I am glad I live in my apartment without the worry of a house.  I am grateful that friends still gather round with love and support.

Happy to still be alive.

 

Calming Myself

It is always sewing that calms my soul...keeps my anxiety at bay

I have made 38 of these and already given away 10 to 

friends and staff here with kind hearts.

They are not only well recieved, but I have loved making them...

Yesterday's  trip to the ortho doctor was a total waste of time and a big disappointment.

I only saw the PA.  Neither doctor nor administrator were there.

PA refused to schedule any surgery because my BMI was over 40.

Guess the doctor allows his PA to make his surgical decisions.  All this despite my record of having had 4 successful joint replacements 8 years ago at the same BMI with a  signed waiver.  (that surgeon has retired) So here I am, still in pain with no recourse in sight...My PCP is thinking on it.  Meantime I am advocating again for myself on the Orthocarolina portal....again with no success, but advocating for myself helps me feel better.

No wonder I need to make key fobs...

Still it is a lovely crisp day...all Carolina blue and fun friends for dinner.

Stay tuned.

PS I voted yesterday!!!!!

Today's News

 Family News:

Aoife is no longer an only child!!!

After two  years of dirt biking in the country on  the bike he bought with his own working money.....

At last, a crash...MRI next week...Stay tuned...Dylan is now 14.5

Sewing fun:  Enjoying Spider process:

Making key fobs for the holidays....There are tons of online U-Tube tutes:

Hardware bought on Amazon Prime.

There are no good posts without a potholder, or two:

And so it goes as I try to stay in the day, appreciating each moment

Reading on the porch, enjoying the beautiful sky...Carolina Blue.  Lunching here with friends;

Trying to organize, one step at a time.

My hip is so painful that I can  hardly walk, even with a  walker.  My ortho appointmet...6 weeks out.

Finally, fed up,  Thursday night I typed a message into the Ortho portal.

It said, " My retired ortho surgeon would be so disappointed to see that I do not seem to be able to get an earlier appointment, even in so much pain"!!!!

The next morning at 8:30 am, I recieved a phone call offering me an appointment this upcoming Thursday.

I am so grateful.  And grateful my sister is available to drive me and keep me company.

Today I celebrated the good things, albeit in pain.

Grateful I am here safe and sound in my adult living community.  Especially since going out is not feasible...No strength left in my left leg.

Grateful for my wonderful DIL doing a grocery run for me.

I have been blessed with a lovely life.

Safe Me, in a Crazy World

Beautiful North Carolina has been destroyed by a hurricane...OMG!!  Life as we know it can change in a second.

We are safe, here in Charlotte...only rain, trees down, etc...but 30 minutes north...OMG OMG

Above, Aoife, still in Cork, Ireland, just visiting with the cows.

Below, calming my soul by making potholders....meditation at its best!!

Here using random strips....

A little experimentation with my Accucutter Leaf die...

More experimentation.....: cutting and applying Wonderunder to vintage quilt blocks from a very damaged quilt top.

Today another doctor appointment...dear me...aging quickly.  This one was a yearly physical...also some talk about my poor and painful hip.  I can no longer walk without a walker  because the hip pain is so great.  In six weeks I have an appointment with a new surgeon...Meantime more and more physical therapy....I can barely stand it.   So 8 years ago, I had 4 joint replacements....Two major joints left and xrays show that both my hip and shoulder are without cartiledge...Enough already!!!

As I try to relax during all this world stress...I am grateful for sewing and sewing friends and blogging friends...

Life is still good...of course as long as one has a sewing machine!!!