JOY

Flimsy finally finished, backing below cut!

Hopefully my sister will help me baste it today when she comes over to help.

Below, a long saved favorite for the backing. My days of saving fabric are over!

Spring in Charlotte is always delightful

My reblooming Azalea bushes off my screened in porch.

Ten years ago, I found them on the sale rack behind Lowes for $1.99 each.

Look now, how lovely.

Our Aoife at the riverside in Portland.

This girl is now 21 months old and still lovely.

I think that this picture looks like a painting...

Coral Honeysuckle from Lisa xo

Below are some of what is left from my Iris craze of 12 years ago. I used to have more, but they were neglected when my husband got sick.

Indeed, it is a crazy year. Irises do not bloom in my yard until my mother's birthday on May 5th...Alas, they have been blooming this year for  several weeks already.

The exciting news now, is that in 6 weeks, June 10, 2022, my darling grands will be going to live with their mother.  Everyone is excited for this change.  It should be no big deal as they see her every weekend.  Now all five of her children will be together in the country, 30 minutes away from me. They have been with me for 8 years!! 

 Now, they are teenagers, needing their young mother and not their old grandma.

I will get to be a Grandma!!!!

 

Seven Years ago Today, my Husband Died of ALS

Spring in Charlotte

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.

All is well.

Henry Scott Holland

 

Bling and Me

Online I found some bling in several colors.  Used the red so it would read "conservative"...A person has to look deep inside to see that the wild is still inside of me.

One more potholder made from bowl scraps!!

Talked to family

Made lists of future goals.

My painful pulled muscle in my back is better!

That is all she wrote tonight 

 

Stuff

 Guess I am into native plants now...see my purples: (Hi Lisa)

My first Iris of the year.  Usually they bloom at my mother's birthday on May 5...almost a month early this year!

I have 10 flimsys to quilt...and what do I do???

Yup, play around with random blocks for fun.

Spring in Oregon.  Aoife in pink in Portland

The ancient one  gets new glasses.

Bad luck Grandma.   When I went to get my glasses, the cool and awesome round green ones were gone...OMG....They were out of my price range anyway.

Here I am, decked out in red!!

So much more conservative, but I think I can still have fun as I am still wild at heart.

As I ponder downsizing from my clutter of 100 years, I noticed this functional plain storage idea for quilts.  Now, in my home, I have this huge monstrosity hutch that no one can move.

My poor mother would be so sad if I switched it all out.

Laundry Basket Quilts quilt holder

Happy Friday night with the children at their mother's house for Easter week.

Grandma is going to sleep and sew and sleep and sew...maybe a few prayers too and a few cookies! xo

Yesterday's News

Lovely lavender Clematis...coming up every year with no help from me.

It must be a God thing.

The truth is here:

 When the children go to their mother's house for the weekend, I sleep most of the time.  The other day, in the afternoon, I did errands...I filled my car with gas...an event in a Harris Teeter special lot in Waverly...Big brave Grandma.  Shout out to my encouraging friends...It was $3.79 a gallon. (not a yard) with my discount and the car was still 1/4 full. $60. 

  I took in Goodwill things and went to Walmart for probably the first time in two years.  It was so nice to browse for my own cereal, etc.  I sat in a chair at the pharmacy to rest when I noticed a sign for shots and no line....Bingo, I got my second booster...No side effects at all...TBTG

Cannot believe almost thru 7th grade!! 13??????

Below, rotten boards replaced on my deck.  Boo is checking it out.

You can see my cool and awesome barn red screen doors fixed and painted by the maestro, Gary Dassenko..He is otherwise known as the cat rescuer!! Boo says, "Thanks"

My second Moda blockheads done now...

Thank God for supports...school folks who love the kids...zooms to connect with.

Thank God for cake.

xo

Two Thirds a Good Thing

 

My man's 7 year anniversary of leaving this earth due to ALS is in two weeks.

I have never healed.

Below is the Flame Azalea my mother bought us to remember her by.  That was probably 10 years ago.  Still lovely, still going strong.

Started and finished my Moda Blockheads #1 tonight.

And my, oh my what a terrible mess my sewing room is in....all due to one block.

I did it because I was so sick of pink.

I did it because my dear man said to me, in troubled times, I should.....

"Just go Sew"

Wisdom I still adhere to.

Bowled Over and Dear Picasso

 My new Accuquilt Big Go electric cutter is so awesome. It brings me so much joy!! One package of Wrap and Zap makes 6 bowls.

I love them stacked...lookin' good.

Thank God for Zoom.  My trusty I-pad on the sewing machine table has me chatting and sewing at the same time...YES!!

Dear Picasso, my Rose Period is almost finished....3  more blocks.

I must confess, I am quite sick of pinks, just sayin'.

As for pink scraps and strings...Oh, dear, they are still here!!

Aoife making scones for her daddy.

Our Aoife born into a sewing family!!

Big rain today in Charlotte.

April coming...for our family a sad, sad month.

-

Surrounded by Love

Love of some of my life's work: 

 My mother wanted each of  her daughters to have a place for the family china...It was so hard for her to get used to quilts instead.  Dear mother, As I have been quilting since college, I need another hutch...please..

 

Next love is my new electric Accuquilt...So much fun!  I got the bowl die the other day. So far I have made these two bowls and have 4 more all ready to top stitch.  Today was a teacher work day.  Since the children were home, I asked them to come down and choose fabric for their own bowls...They are actually excited about it.

Several years ago, JoAnn's had a sale on Wrap and Zap, BOGO

Even though I was not ready to make bowls, I do love a good sale!!!

Once I bought the die, I was all ready.

So grateful to be surrounded by friends today .  Grateful for Zoom and grateful for forgiveness and acceptance.  And for surviving my fall the other day.

Every time I feel the big lump on my neck, I know my fall could have been so much worse.

Today, I feel surrounded by love.

I Planned my Life Today, Instead.........

The cleaning ladies came and I went to the deck for a lovely nap.  Sleeping away, my chair fell thru an unknown rotten piece in the wood.  Over went 
Grandma....boom!!!  It took two ladies and the man next door to get me up. This left me dazed, but nothing broken and my plan for pool was dashed. 

Looking for the positive, here is my view from the porch, from a supine position on my deck, next to my overturned chair awaiting help.

The day is still pretty.

The lovely Clematis showing its beauty. While Aoife, in Portland takes Monkey for a ride.

All I want is a big package of double stuffed Oreos.

Scrap Crazy

Today was my appt with my eye doctor for my new glasses.

Confused again....Valentine's day is over...Still working on the pink crossroads quilt.

Yellow scrap flimsy finished...whew..

No privacy anywhere in this house!!

Nature's art....from the pine tree above....

March tulips in our yard from where, I do not know.

Aoife modeling her beauty for her family.

The 20 months picture.

Mother/daughter headbands....OK, Aoife/monkey headbands.

The  two children who live in my house are crabbing at each other...driving me nuts.

Dylan explains that that is what siblings do, argue...and they like it....Grandma here, is in her sewing room with the door closed. So very grateful for a door that closes.

Today is the end of the third quarter at middle school...only one more left.

OMG

 

One Scrappy Day

The beginning of my pink "X" quilt :

Working with left over scrap HSTs from 5 years ago...Experimenting...

In my head was this purple grunge fabric...Oh, No...the photo shows how very wrong that was.

Today was one scrappy day...First St.Sherry took me on a much needed errand run. Awesome company too!!  Always happy with a great nap. A helpful visit from my DIL.  Off went Dylan with his mother for the weekend.

  The teenager in this household will be going on an Honor Drama competition tomorrow bright and early.  As, tonight it is just my Lynsey and me, Grandma was thinking time together or a card game....Crazy crazy Grandma....Up to her room went the 13 year old with her phone with her new boyfriend's phone number and her dinner. 

At first I was OK with that, then Pearl's cousin, Debbie....Debbie Downer came by.

   I called a few friends, made a new gratitude list and started sewing  PHEW...I kicked her under the rug!!

Now..the real gift:  Our Aoife on a walk. Showing off her whispy white Dineen hair. Adorable.

Taking Pig along for the  walk!!

I usually do damage when Pearl or Debbie visit.

A die for my Accuquilt for bowls.

I was eating healthy for awhile...that lasted 3 days...Stress did me in and I caved.

http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/temperance.htm

When my husband and I married in Miami, we started a lovely antique quilt collection.

This "T" quilt was the first quilt we ever bought.

I have had it on my bed all winter, snuggling in with good memories.