Sunday, April 19, 2026

Grandma O'Quilts is so Slowing Down

Finally my aches and pains allow a posting...Below is a bag made for a friend...Evidently, the bag must be about 4x7 and clear to enter some events.  I was going to make it from scratch when  I saw in our recycle store this bag for $4...  I cut the bag to size, added pretty laminate with glue and thread, jeans needles.  Voila!!  The next time I was in the store, I bought a handle to match from another bag.  This was so much fun.  The color is much brighter...a perfect birthday present.
Thank you Candace for the very first bloom this season of "Just Joey"  It reminds me so much of the rose my husband won a prize for at a rose show in Miami 40 some years ago...and since it was just the death date for him on the 14th,....11 years, this was a timely gift. xo

A true find from the art studio..Thank you Joyce...I cannot  wait to invent a project on which to place them.
A man upstairs turned 95 yesterday.  He had painted one wall in his apartment a watermelon color.  I call him Mr. Watermelon, thus a jar opener for his birthday.
Trudy and I went to the dollar store the other day.  I bought 2 pkg of pens and some artificial flowers.  That store was a rough experience, however, with a bit of electrical tape from  there, I came home to the fun and quick job of making flower pens for easy recognition.  I gave some to the receptionist  here and to others....I love them.
Very very proud of my daughter-in-law, Stasi...She laid the bricks, found the flag and planted her own garden in her very own home...So wonderful!!
This Portland hen goes by the name of Fig.  
Gathering eggs and patting chickens must be tiring work for a 5 year old.

And so,  Tell me how  the weather  can go from 4 days of almost  90 degree weather to a windy 60...brr..Ninety degrees spoiled me...

Grandma here and her arthritis wish you all happy sewing from the Carolinas.


Saturday, April 11, 2026

A Lovely April

 

In Portland...the family, backyard hen house..
For Easter, my girl delivered eggs from her own hens, the hens' names written right on them...I mean, credit as due!!!
In Ireland....our girl, the farm hand...with an attitude...and baby lamb!
 Baby Bok Bok from a few years back.
Big Bok Bok!!!!

Here, in Matthews, our Ann painted her shoes with acrylics....She is so new to painting...wow...
Today's visit from my grands...I love them so!!
They fixed things for me, gave me hugs and ate dinner...They are so wonderful.
Now I do not know who the old lady is???  Looks a lot like my own grandmother at this age..
Where does time go???
My favorite picture of my DIL and me...taken 4 years ago.
Tonight MC showed me her Amaryllis from last year...It grew so much that it broke the bowl it was in.  I have never seen anything like it..

Beautiful days in Charlotte now...walking by the lake, reading a book and enjoying the wild life.
I do bring my arthritis with me... we are quite used to each other  by now.
Tuesday will be 11 years since my husband died.. Unbelievable...I miss him so..He was great on giving to others...So I guess I will donate to the Food bank in his name.
Life is good.
xoxo


Friday, April 3, 2026

Crazy Life and Age is Upon Me....

 Dear me, I am so out of touch.  Big thanks to Sherry for restoring my blogging button to my screen...I still so struggle with technology.  Age is upon me with issues...darn....How could I struggle with my blog after so long.

Below is a gifted jar opener backed with drawer liner.  It is for a friend who loves Chinese symbols and  just returned from the hospital.. I stuck it on her door last night.  This fabric was found  years ago at IKEA. I have yards of it.

  

Boxes made...guess I just could not stop...This one is for a new couple just moving in:

This one, for a birthday gift to a gardening friend

I have a blue one too...but lost the picture...age is upon me!!
Buttons are my newist craze...The 11 th anniversary of my husband's death is coming up on April 14th...My son still struggles and my last hip replacement has left me on a walker...Jeeze ....so my movie star days are over, but that does not  mean that I like it!!!! 
Below is my O:Wabi-Sabi One....scraps ironed on fusible fleece, quilted and bound...very fun!!

And, so it goes. I am sooo grateful to live in this wonderful retirement community.  If one of us gets sick, we just go to the next level of care at no additional cost....No one gets evicted because of money. It feels so safe...I have wonderful new friends, a new quilting group, a lovely side garden to read in...and when my leg cut mends, a wonderful swimming pool right next door to my apartment.  I am so very lucky.  I have been making small things to share with friends in trouble:  key fobs, tissue holders, bowl cozies, little boxes, covered "happy" cloths (washcloths with color) or jar openers..etc.

These can be  used anywhere:  faces, kitchens, bathrooms,  etc...Just covered washclothes to be pretty.
My today"s practice is gratitude and small things given with great love...You know:  Me and Mother Teresa....OK  not really, but the idea is sounds good, as I bloom where I am planted xo