Carpe Diem

Snow is a big deal in Charlotte.  This is the first snow in two years and it will probably be gone by tomorrow afternoon!

 So...we gotta strike while the outside is cold!!!   Homemade chicken soup from Susan Branch's chicken stock that I started yesterday in anticipation...  A very clever potholder by Karen:)

Mr. O'Quilts made the wonderful  pretzel bread

 Aldi furnished the fruit:)

 Himself made the fire....

 A glass of cheap wine...Thank you Dear Ol' Ma...*

 Then, since this is a quilting blog, not a snow blog and the old fashioned movie is over and the coziness enjoyed..I thought I would take some pix of my vintage cat pillows...  The blue one below made by a friend's grandmother in Miami...1979

  God knows where I got this one.......or..................................This one???  I told you I kept everything!

* My mother wins these bottles of wine at the Assisted Living auction.  They give the residents 100$ fake money to bid on donated goods.  It is one of my mother's favorite activities.  She takes her fake money and buys wine and baubles.  She never gets around to have it opened and she can get a glass of wine if she wants at dinner...so she gives it to me.  Good thing as I am not on a million Parkinson's medications!!  And, it comes in handy on a Charlotte snow day:)

Snow in Charlotte

On duty...no matter what the weather....

 Making friends....Have I met you before?

The two year finish(:

 I know that you all thought that I had finished this in 2010 when I posted the top...but oh, no...you would have been wrong.  I finished it today....Our quilt show is coming up..they were short on quilts so in this one goes.  The quilt is tied and big stitched and of not sufficient stitching quality for a quilt show...However, I do love this quilt and feel like sharing it anyway.  I am glad that the upcoming show gave me the push that I needed to finally be done with it.  Looking forward to a cuddle with it in front of the fireplace after the show on March 9.

The back used the secondary HST's from the snowball corners!!  Yup frugal even before Lent:)

I visited my mother today.  I told her about my Lent commitment...no more buying of new fabric.  She said...Oh, my Dear, that sounds sooo religious..!! 

 That mother of mine was resting in bed eating the rest of her lunch at 4 pm.  She had gone on the wheelchair bus to a fancy restaurant where she had ordered Eggs Benedict, Creme Brulee and a glass of French wine.  I was a bit taken back at this telling of the story.  But, she soon added that the French wine was not good and her caregiver said that she could send it back and not pay for it...TBTG.....Oh, Mother!!!

Linking up to Finish it off Friday

The Love Keeps Coming

Happy Valentine's Day from my dear Mr. O'Quilts...

From my friend J at my water exercise class.  She knew how thrilled I was with the buttons that she gave me last week....so she looked some more and found these hand carved and  painted buttons she bought in Japan years ago.

  On the back of the button card was this...explaining what they were.

 I got these two...How so wonderful life is sometimes.  The Buddha rules!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thru the ages, around the world...from Bath, England...

To my house in Charlotte, NC........ 

And from Ireland comes my most wonderful love of all....My husband!

And then, of course is the new and modern...more fun from Ryan and Pat Bravo 

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Lucky Me

Marie went to the big Faust sale leaving poor me behind.  But, she brought me back a present and what a present it was!!!!!  Just look at the 16 pieces of laminate I got all rolled up.  The pieces are about 12 inches by 24 inches..so perfect for pouches,etc.  Most of the patterns I have never seen.  Marie, it is the most perfect present that a person could ever want.  I just love them.. I will pat them and love them for this week and then I will be willing to share:)

Then my sister came with this treat...she gave me half of what she got.  So adorable..  This is the first day of Lent....so who would have to buy fabric with friends and family like this!!

The Fat Quarter Bag

The fat quarter bag directions are here....Jo...are you watching...this is for you.'
Mine are here...posted awhile ago...

I LOVE this bag...I have two of them and I use them all the time:)

1997, The Magazine and Me..

I am no good at math...but it seems like it was 16 years ago that CITI magazine visited my home for an article on antique quilts...It was sooo exciting:)

 The writer and the photographer went upstairs into our bedroom, arranged the quilts, put up the lighting and snapped away pictures of some favorites of our quilt collection.

I have decided to record the thrill here in case I lose the magazine....

PS.  Tomorrow starts Lent.  For the record, I am giving up fabric buying for Lent!!!!  Here it is in writing for all to see.  (GW exclusions apply)

The Misc Day....

It is a wet day in Charlotte...Off I was this am to my new bee....The Queen Bee....Charlotte is known as the Queen City after Queen Charlotte, etc, etc, blah blah.. Although I see in Wikipedia that several places are also known as Queen City...Cincinnati, a place in Vermont, etc....Oh, well... It was so much fun to be in a bee where folks are so loving the quilting.  

Sorting thru my mess again, I came upon these trees...I know it is the wrong holiday..but I  put them on the design wall anyway...I see I am short a few trees, probably short other things too:) ha.

 So I tried a different way.  They still look blah...so I am putting them with the Christmas fabric because even I know it is Valentine's Day:).

 I made a little coin purse to give to the swimming friend who gave me her buttons.  She had a Hermes Paris ribbon in her things as well as this little boot pin, so I added them to her coin purse for a thank u gift tomorrow.

 Then a visit to my dear ol Ma who once again told me that I never call or visit...I was better about it this time.   At my Jean Wells workshop yesterday, she was talking about de-stashing...something that is very painful to me.  However, I decided to get together a few bits to donate to Northwest School of the Arts where my children went to high school.  They have a costume design class and may could use some things..

I am  trying to de-stash in a baby sort of way, I found this cut out top from my grandmother...prob 1960.  As I recollect, 1960 is 53 years ago... I am cutting it up right now for my zigzag quilt...ouch!

Indigo Threads and the vanilla thing..

Day two of my vanilla making...in the cupboard:)  And I gave the wrong source of my vanilla excitement...I found inspiration at Indigo Threads  !

Please forgive!

And now about the patience thing...ha...Day two and I have to wait until MONTH two....surely I can do this....  

Such a Fun Day!!!

My cool and awesome pincushion from the Jean Wells workshop this morning....It was wonderful!!  she is a great teacher.  Learned some curved piecing and some itty-bitty stuff...Lordy, do I now need to keep fabric smaller than an inch????  

 A new friend shared a bit of the ribbon holding the fabric she bought.  I put it into the backing of my new pincushion.  So much fun..filled the pincushion with provided crushed walnuts.

Guess 8 months is not quite enough time to be 100% from my July concussion.  I had to leave early to come home for a long winter's nap!!!  Big thanks to Sherry and Karen for their help!!  Tonight I put up my first batch of homemade vanilla:)

Jean Wells

To Drink or not to Drink......

  OMG...Stephanie has me going now on trying to make homemade vanilla.  This is what I got today...and already I see that my jars are the wrong size...(:  The cheapest vodka...and my vanilla beans from Amazon...Beanilla...:) I am excited..Thank u Stephanie...check out her blog for the recipe and instructions.  I liked this source that I found on her blog the best.

Lucky me..tomorrow I am off to a Jean Wells workshop.  She came all the way from Sisters, Oregon to work with us here in Charlotte...how exciting..I will keep you posted!!

Muggs' Ugly Quilt Top..

Is there ever a quilt too ugly to work???  I think not.  Muggs got this fabric/quilt in a kit for a divided four patch from the guild to make up for a hospital quilt.  The patches alone she thought were sooooo very ugly that she could not bear to work on it any more....

I get the challenge...I hate to work on ugly too...Best to pass it on.  

  With group input, we had Muggs add the Kaffe shot cotton lime for lattice.  Still Muggs hated it...so I added now the batik border.

  The block fabric is old donated stuff.  Not antique, not vintage, but cleaning out the closet old.  Never fear...adding some pop of something new and the right colors make this quilt just a little less ugly...don't you think so Muggs?????

Now...we are talking...

The world in fabric!!!

http://all-things-bright-and-beyootiful.tumblr.com/post/41872007800

The cure for what ails me....

 When the heart is heavy...there is nothing like a finish!!  

A Checkered Past....

And a brand new future!!!  100% cotton orange gingham check shirt size 3x from GW.....yup yup yup  Love that orange check:)

Should be called GW Tuesday...purse handles...

Just sharing Carol's handsome and clever sons and their adventures...so proud for her...Tim and Noah...very interesting..  And then....there is always this:

I called my mother tonight, she was confused.  She told me that everyone hated her in the dining room and that the staff was neglecting her, eg.not answering call buttons and that all was not well.  She was agitated and frustrated...so helpful me became agitated and frustrated right along with her...How helpful was that???? Trying to fix things, I emailed a complaint to the management.  My sister then advised me that none of this had happened today...it had been happening spread over a week...Mom had forgotten what had happened today and what was yesterday and actually, what had happened at all.  I do not like Parkinsons and I do not like the feeling that I have to double check what my mother says now.  How do I advocate for someone who is confused today and not tomorrow???  Life surely is not easy.

On still another note....I dropped by J's house today after the pool.  She wanted to give me some of her sewing things.  J is almost ninety.  She gave me her button bag:)  How fun is that!!

Little Blue

Just like any new baby that comes into the house...cute little accessories are needed!!

 I appliqued the bird onto the provided machine cover...nice:)

 I cut down a strong IKEA bag and put a few wonky pockets on it. Little Blue is now loaded and ready for a Sit and Sew:)

A few good motivational blog posts from Marc and Angel and Marc and Angel

The Gift!!

My husband RETIRED on Wednesday and we headed up to the mountains for R&R...He for a tennis tournament and me for sewing and fabric shops.  I had been so wondering what retirement present to get my man.  He sat in the car while I ran into the Tuesday Morning in Asheville.....and when I came out I was carrying the perfect present!!!!!  By the astonished look on his dumbfounded face.....by his speechless demeanor, I knew in my heart that I had made the right choice...:)

This is a Kenmore mini ultra...11 pounds!!  We know that we cannot keep up with the Jones'...but we CAN keep up with the D family and the W family and the Y family....They all have a Kenmore...Now the lucky M family has one too!!!  (Although Peggy says that Kenmore machines are now owned and made by Janome).  Kathy had one of these at a Guild Sit and Sew and I totally loved it.  It is easy to carry and comes in the most lovely shade of blue (that does not show so well in this pix). She gave me the Ebay link for a $10 free motion foot for it.  How exciting is this???  This machine is available online at the Kenmore link for $99 or at Sears or Walmart for $69...but thrifty me found it at Tuesday Morning for $59.  I thought it was hot off the press, but Kathy has had hers for three years..so guess not.  I am so glad that my husband has retired!!!!

I did a little work on these quilt blocks in the hotel room while Mr. O'Quilts was playing tennis.  I have 9 blocks to go to make 7 by 5...if I want it that small...I also worked on my secret challenge for my IQ bee.  We read by the fire in the cozy hotel lobby, exercised in the pool, ate dinner out and had a wonderful time.  Oh, and P.S....went to 4 quilt stores.  I think that Ruth is right.  The Asheville Cotton Company is really a wonderful store.  They have frequent sales of 20% off all fabric...a wonderful sale section...with minimum cut of 1/2 yard....AND  they offer Wi-Fi for waiting husbands.  We hit two Foam and Fabric stores which both said that they have Wi-Fi, but do not let customers use it...whatever.....Good customer service brings in more moola...It was sad to see that Marti's quilt store in Black Mountain has gone out of business.  We are home now.  It will be very strange for my husband not to go back to work come Monday....oh...hmmm...he just got an email with a possible offer of consultation...hmmmm