Again and Again, Sewing Saves the Day

The beginning of my backing process.   Showing it now so I can prove I have accomplished something today!!!  Should have the rest done by tonight.

I will keep this one because every other one has been snapped up by a family member.

Such memories xoxo

Kids being soooo good today.  Dylan weedwacking in his jammies. And re-loading the string.

Every bit helps get us all back on track.  Kids doing well so far in school.

The minute I rolled out of bed this morning, Lynsey had something bratty to say.

UGH...Then, in quick order, she had cleaned the kitchen, finished making the homemade chicken soup, made deviled eggs., all without my asking.  I am so grateful.  When they are good, .........!!! 

It is so hard for me to stay in the day and do one thing at a time.  I have done nothing, I say.  Then I say,  well, we have just taken 3 more boxes to Goodwill and I have one bag of books ready to give away.  That is something!!!

Pieced backing  done...How I love that word: Done

My man was Catholic, so I inserted an icon in the backing for him.

My constant dilemma ...Should I use this fabric or not??

See, fabric collecting and quilting/sewing are two different passions.

The great batik polka dots above, I bought in Asheville years and years ago.

The grunge red, I got last  year at a sale in Tennessee.  Both, I have hoarded.

Today , I used them.  So hard not to keep fabric I love so much.

However, like my dear man used to say...when I have died,   "Hello Goodwill, Come get  her good stuff that she would not use.  Her ugly is gone!!!!"

He was right, again. xo

Saved by a done, the kids and Himself saying, "Just go sew"  !!

Going Freaking Nuts

  

Aoife and the animals play in Portland.

Grandma and the cats nod off in Charlotte.

Kids spent the day with my sister...They loved it.

I spent the day with myself...Ah, but I was not really alone.

That Pearl came and stressed me out totally.

Then, I remembered a very important truth.  

If there is a God, it is NOT me!!!

Then, I calmed down...Whew...  

Frustration overcame me and a curse word slipped out before I could correct it.

OMG

The kids  had a heyday with that one...Grandma said this...grandma said that.

Wahoo...Now we  get to curse in this house...OMG

Finally Grandma's last words of the night were:

"Go to Bed"!!!!!

Ennui led me to take two naps on my screened in 

porch in the splendid weather.

And, when old Pearl finally went to bed tonight, I finished this:  

 Finishing this top was huge.  It has been a UFO for at least 5 years.

It turned out almost larger than the design wall, and my old arms struggled to pin it to the wall.  Tomorrow I will piece a backing. One more quilt will be in the "to finish" pile.

Unfortunately for me, my dear son used to spray baste my quilts and before that my quilting groups came by to help.  That meany face Delta is interfering with a lot these days!!

Tonight, before bed, I am putting Pearl's things on the porch.  Tomorrow will be a good day.

I insist!!

Gotta be Strong Around Here!!

The process of adding borders to the very last of  my dear man's shirt  quilts.

Nice to have it all cut ready to sew!!  Looking for a backing...I bet I will have to piece one...way too lazy here!!  He died 6 and a half years ago.

Someone just tried to break  into our house.  Scared the kids to death.

Awaiting the police...that should take forever as this is not an emergency.

My van is still in the shop, so I guess they assumed no one was home.

The bowls I ordered are strewn on the front lawn, so I assume it was porch pirates.

One of them had no  shirt and as they passed by our window they waved at Dylan.

OMG  Every day a new deal.

TBTG I have a security system.

I bet I will have company in my bed tonight.

So relaxing at the O'Quilts  home. 

 

The Lazy Day

 Top finished.  Usually I do a border.  This time, I am passing on it, going to just bind it with the backing:  this lush Kaffe shot cotton..Stay tuned!

OMG  Our Aoife is just a doll...

Tonight somehow, I started feeling jealous of folks who have a life.

Thirty minutes later, dear Lynsey showed up with these...OMG

She used my grandmother's recipe for chocolate frosting...That girl aced it!!

On my sewing machine table!!

Today was day four of no car.  It is OK because now I know it will be just fine.

Maybe the repair of my 16 year old van will be pricy , but it will still drive till the car prices go back down.  Guess that means no pool tomorrow morning.

Today, I slept a lot....the minute I sat down to relax....this old lady nodded off.

I also packed up 3 boxes for Goodwill...

Tomorrow I will border another UFO.  Moving right along.

Then I might make some potholders with my African scraps...that should be fun!!

Yesterday I enjoyed my day.

Today I enjoyed my day.

Nothing could be better than that!!!

Sunday's Kool Aid Surprise

 I Am Woman

The girl just home from her mother's house where they experimented with Kool Aid!!

If I had known, I would have sent over my rope bowl rope for experimentation.

She said, Grandma....Do you like it???

I said....I love color, I love funky, most of all I love you!!!!

Above is the mug rug Lynsey made for her counselor.

I suggested she make changes.  She looked at me and said that she prefers making things her own way!!

OK then....Go, my girl, go!!  Her idea tonight was to relax before school by playing Canasta...Love...

Stitch is Lynsey's cat.  Might have known...He, too has a mind of his own .

Stitch, about that basket I have provided for you?????

Anyone else here with her own mind???

Grandma O'Quilts was impatient without help tonight.

So, she took her trusty flowered woman's hammer and a few big nails..

Wham...My new little design wall is now ready for pictures, cards, etc.

A lovely day.

God Blessed Me Today

 Goings on today.   The O'Quilt's neighbors checking it all out.

Our Aoife meeting her first chicken.

And more....at the petting zoo!!!!!

Being just one year old is an amazing thing!!

Dylan helping to move the big branch, Evan helped with the final push, even though he did not want to dirty his shoes.

Behold my empty space.  Dearest Heather and her dearest man came to help me today.

They took home my big recliner....to remember me by....Ha!

They loaded all my rotten stuff in a truck for a dump run.

AND, Heather made me her famous salad for dinner.

How can I ever do for others, the way people have done for me??

Heather's salad is my favorite of all salads.  Home grown tomatoes and green peppers.

Homemade salad dressing.  Homegrown friendship!!!

An absolute miracle.

Very Applicable to today: written by CS Lewis in 1948

You may have seen this, written by CS Lewis in 1948.  Very applicable to today:

“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: ‘Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.’

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

I just love CS Lewis!!!  He is the one who wrote that grief was so much like being concussed...Amen  CS...You got that right.``In fact,  you got a lot of things right. xo

Now I am so happy, I am going to sew after my meeting!

 

Grandma O'Quilts and Her Miscellanious

 Am I lazy or does a one patch have a charming charachter of it s own?

Looking over my UFOs, I found this...

Now, who would put away a UFO without the missing pieces kept with it?  Who???

Found with a little help from my friends..

AMH fabric strips...a little joy gift from a friend, lucky me

C is for cat..poster from NYC 1972, now supervising the fish!

We can still eat outside and have fun, you know!!!

My house has been in neglect ever since my husband died and my son left.

The other night, I found seat covers for $10 on Amazon...wahoo. 

Every day, a new beginning

Sad news that the children's pet ferret died.  It escaped right out the door at their mother's house.

There were such hysterics, that their mother bought them another one...2 months old.

My girl and her girl at the ice cream store in Portland.

Evan, first day of 11th grade!!

Tula charms from my neighbor.  Sooo nice!!

Linda and Gary fix my gate..and lift my spirits.

Never too  young to start sewing...Eh...Aoife!!

First day of middle school, 2021 and, old enough to walk to the bus stop without me...wahoo!!

Today, Sherry put together my new red shelves....Walmart specials!!

Unfortunately they have a shelf limit of 15 pounds.

Well, guess who exceeds that one himself alone??

Sooo nice to have a guy around the house who loves to assemble things.

Voila our new Greenworks batteried weedcutter and blower....same battery for both.

And, Dylan has already plugged it into its charger!!!

Whew...TBTG for school not only starting, but flourishing.

Just for today.

The Stuff Love is Made of...

Mother published her poetry.  Mother made crockery.

Mother had a way about her that pulled people together.

Mother inspired confidence.

Here, it is not September, it is August.

This is the Carolinas, not Vermont.

Mother's handmade pottery is chipped, but still beautiful.

It reflects her spirit.

Aoife at the park:

Tuesday, Lynsey had a low fever and chills from her first Covid shot on Monday.

Tuesday, Dylan had his trillionth allergy shots for honey bees and fire ants.

School starts in 5 days.

Stitch  is forever a sewing cat.

Aoife just loves to walk, especially with her daddy.  Now she also plays peek-a-boo,  claps her hands and waves good bye.  My sweet girl.  She goes to her high chair when she is hungry and points to whatever she wants.

Now my awesome new sewing room...Here are my contractors. They put up all the design walls. They help me think, organize and hold my hand.  I am soooo lucky.

Darling 8 inch design boards made for me by Linda...Love!!!

She used the Bee in my Bonnet, design boards by Lori Holt

A great view of the big sewing space.  You do notice that the minute my grands left for their mother's house today, I hurried and put some of my own UFOs on their design walls....Will have to remember to remove them on Tuesday.  Notice their little tables by the fish tank with their 3/4 blue machines.

After karate last night, the kids ran into the store for bread.  They came out with 2 pkg soda, a huge butternut squash and cold cuts and forgot the bread!!  Last night While I was on a Zoom, Lynsey made dinner. She took the squash next door for the neighbors to cut for her.  Then she roasted it, cut up the cold cuts, and fixed the veggies with  Ranch dressing.  OMG.  I was so surprised.  When this girl is good, she is very very good...and when she is bad.....well.....

Last but not least...a finished flimsy:

"Back in the Day"  42 x 52 inches.

Original green fabric,  purchased from a quilter's estate sale.

The fabric still had the sales receipt pinned on it :39 cents a yard.

It is all about love.

 

Interesting Diversions

 

My  bedroom is now uneven just like me.

Getting to love the freedom of this.

Christmas in August .  My two sided cutting mat.  Red and Orange.

Color and me.  We are happy, you see!!!

Present for his crisis counselor.  She likes cats and her favorite color is green.

Jar openers are Dylan's speciality!!

My new pink mouse lights up.  How cool is that?? !!

So does my new keyboard...And, they change colors....I love you Margaret!!

Boo...our other cat...always in the shadow of his gregarious older brother!!

Our scaredy cat!!

Wisdom from our friend, Fred Rogers

Yesterday's Gift

As I sit, the weeds grow over my feet 

They wedge between my toes and cover my ankles.

I do not care.  I tell myself that I have given up.

I know that if I stand, their ties will break and I might walk free.

I do not stand, I am becoming the weed.  It is now part of me.

When I sleep, the weeds wait outside....ever present.

Waiting.  They are mine.

When I sleep, the cool breeze of the open window comforts me.

The weeds do not climb to the second story room.

I have lost everything.

Everything but Choice, 2021 GDM

Now, with  gratitude to my friend, Rachel...this site, this poetry below and this poetry mood!!

John Roedel