Hanging on a thread....

Woe is me...It started like this...I made my own birthday cake.  It collapsed!  I lost my touch somewhere along the way.

  I think it reflected how I felt...Oh, my...such a birthday start.. 

The children all voted to eat it anyway...lol...

 It ended like this!!  How could any one be glum with this group..all smiling for my birthday.  And believe me, at my age, it took the village to blow out the candles.

Mr. O'Quilts always does the fabric ball for my birthday...you know with a dear piece in the middle wrapped with string and another piece around that and around that, etc.  When I asked my grandson how he thought that Mr. O'Quilts knew that I liked fabric..
.His answer......."Well, Grandma, he knows that you have a shop!"
Ha ha ha ha ha Evan...!!!! U r hilarious...
 With the children now living with me, my failed Modge Podge project was definitely over.  But, my mind clicking away, came up with these instead.  Lucky me already had the bag of ground walnut shells from the pet store, in the garage.  And, lucky me already had tons of "made fabric from scraps"...
So, a few happy hours in my sewing room created some improvisational pincushions.  These fit the bill for my friends at the quilt group Christmas party. 

 These garden gloves from Lowes were presents too...A double winner for either the free motion quilter or for the gardener.

Irish twins live with me now...a year apart, with their big brother, two cats, one dog and my dear man.  Believe me this old lady needs a nap every single day...

A huge huge huge thank you to all my friends for bringing food and fun and love.  Beth, the coolers out front are a brilliant idea.   With Mr.O still downstairs in the hospital bed and the three little ones upstairs snug as a bug in a rug...I feel so surrounded by love and caring.  Thank you dear friends for doing the Santa stuff and being on call for when the thread breaks...xxoo

Happiness is....

Oh, Cousin Ann...if you only knew how happy you made me when this little number arrived in the mail...all the way from London.... came joy.....the gift of a bag, but best of all, the gift of you quilting.. Thank you!!!!  I love both:)

 Tonight was the first night in my sewing room in the 11 days I have had guardianship of my grands.  I had so much fun messing with my scraps..Mr. O"Quilts is getting better from his ordeal of the lungs filled with blood clots and the day today, was a good one.  There is so much to be thankful for.

Beth...thanks for the heads up .......

The Great British Sewing Bee Christmas special

I will miss it, but sure hope to catch it on U-tube!!  Let me know when it goes there...I just loved that program.

The Wannabee Wise Grandmother

The wannabee wise grandmother...not owls, but cats!!! of course...

 Thursday was the day....The day the poop hit the fan and I became legal guardian of my three grandchildren.  My son and his wife were having way too much fun partying...

Friday Mr. O'quilts came home in his hospital bed to our new reality.  His body is healing so slowly from all those blood clots in both lungs...His left leg no longer works at all.  He is fatigued, he is giving himself shots in the stomach...I hate it.  

Now, among Home Health nurses comes Head Start attendance, cooking for five and adjustments of all kinds.  Calls came from dear ol' Ma giving me motherly advice.

I was so scared that I would never see my sewing room again, when my girl announced that she was coming back to Charlotte, for now, to help with the crisis...I love you my Dear Daughter...You are the best!!!!.  

Meantime, I am grateful that Mr.O'Quilts is home...I love you too...In fact, I think I love all of you today.  Thank you God for such wonderful friends and family...sister that is you, for sure
..I am old and tired, but oh, sooo lucky.

Today, another new beginning..She was so excited....the first day of Head Start!!

A new day dawning...

The best news ever is that my husband has turned the corner and can talk and breathe a bit better now.  He still is very sick and will be on Coumadin forever, but I am so grateful.  There was a blood clot on his left leg from the hip to the knee.  Pieces broke off and headed right to his lungs.  We are very lucky.

AND, to top it all off.....

Just look what I found on my porch this afternoon after my hospital visit.  I have never had a wreath so nice.  It was hooked onto a cooler with Honey Baked Ham and sides and cookies and love and more love.  I just cannot believe that we are the recipient of Joan's grace like this.  The cluster of bells are to celebrate Mr.O'Quilts brand new day!

Charlie Brown

A welcome to our new normal and our new tradition....$39 Charlie Brown tree from Walmart...

6 foot tall..and pre-lit...

An 8 year old and I put it up in 5 minutes. 

 Just maybe I will get used to it instead of being sad.  Maybe decorations will cheer it up....  I will not need to worry about watering it.... and, it is certainly funky and different....I keep trying to remember that "happy" is a choice and not a goal...

Tonight they found more blood clots in my husband's left leg.

Thanks to all for all your much needed support and comments.

The blood clot thing

My broken heart reports that my man is in the hospital with small blood clots in both lungs.  Apparently this is a separate deal apart from any other ailment he has.  Mr. O'Quilts is struggling breathing ...a very scary thing.  He sent me home tonight, as he is just sleeping. I listened.

Wanda says that we quilters are strong women who can take anything that life throws at us...I think I want to be like Wanda!!

 Silly me continues with this project.  That, in spite of the fact that I am sloppy and cannot even paint right.  I have switched from fabric to paper which makes it a bit easier to do the Mod Podge..heavy on the bit part.

My quilting friends do everything for me...So, slop, slop I messily go....turning grief into presents...flawed for sure, but made with love.

F and F...Friends and Fabric

So, what puts a smile on a face??  Totally, friends and fabric!!

This fabric is the bee's knees!!!

We went to Foust today.  Eight of us in torrential rains.  Annie Carol drove and I sat in the front seat so I would not get car sick.  My friends somehow cater to that.   I helped her drive with my eyes shut.

Foust is a wholesale fabric store in King's Mountain, NC.  TBTG to Sherry of Sherry Lynn's Designs.  With Sherry leading the way, bargains were ours.

At Foust, you have to buy the entire bolt.  With eight friends, dividing it all up was a piece of cake.  The rain pounding on the tin roof, the friends going nuts on fabric bargains.  Really, how can it be better.

Now, Sherry Lynn has all the fabric at her house.  She is figuring out how much we owe her and who bought what.  I can hardly stand it.  We will not see our fabric again for two whole weeks.  I am breathing deeply.

Even though I am generally a nice person,  I refused to share my cool bee fabric.  And, I took it home with me.   Here it is, already all washed and wrapped back on the bolt.  There were 6 yards on the bolt at $3.50 a yard.

How can a person love fabric so much???  How can a person feel so happy??

Work in Progress

Therapy is $100 for 45 minutes now-a -days.  I know, because I just retired. 

 I am a work in progress just like my trees and zig below...a little crooked without a pattern...flying by the seat of my pants and hopefully working out ok at the end of the day.

I think that a bit of small money on Fabric.com or another site, is well worth it, if it helps a mind to get straight!!!.

So, my dear Mr. O....I just know you agree....:)

Quilting...a family affair

Dylan is almost four.  He is helping grandma transfer her pins from one pincushion to another.  A perfect task for Dylan

 Great concentration to complete the task.

 Alas, working in the sewing room is exhausting, as we all know...much better to just sit and chill while we work!

Bought the pomegranate.  Did not know what to do with it...Ah, ha....here is the hilarious tute..

The pomegranate thing, by Food Beast!!

And having arrived across the pond, is Martin's,.... feel better, we love you quilt!!!  

And so...here we have it...the Saturday night post.

The night....

Tonight I finished three more travel salad bowl covers...That part is good...

 Worked a bit on this....That part is good....

And, then.....I started making gifts...trying out a new tute...Below is a failed Modge Podge project.....of course, being me....instead of trying the new tute on one item before getting more...
...NO NO NO..
I bought 20 of them, only to find out that the tute is a failure for me...Soooo frustrated...

In trying to fix it all....I cut my finger with the rotary cutter....and so...I hate to report...that it has all come down to this:

Getting ready

The root vegetables are getting ready for a mash!!

 The Eco Travel Bowl covers are getting ready to be presents...BTW...I use these all the time...they are just tossed in the drawer with the potholders, used in the fridge instead of plastic wrap, then tossed into the wash.

 I fussed around last night using a left over doily for Nancy's holiday potluck bowl cover...It turned out a bit on the funky side, but I gave it to her anyway.

 I got some nice buttons for the centers of some of these covers.  Once I had them home, I saw that they were marked "dry clean only"...They are wood....disappointing.

That was the day.  I have started my search for the perfect funky artificial tree for our new tradition...I will find my fun where I can...that is for sure:)

Keeping on keeping on...etc

I have a decision to make.  Should I make this zigzag quilt modern or mix it with these trees...Help is needed because I cannot see it today...Maybe I should just put it all away until next year.?

 Then I am making some log cabin blocks...Why??  Who knows?  But, it is fun and relaxing...Fun wins out every time.

 Before my girl went home, we went in to JoAnn's big sale of all sales.  I saw this doggie flannel and knew right away who would love it.

 This pillowcase was delivered to the friend and her hotdog last night:)  Yup, it was a success, she loved it.

Mr. O'Quilts is sick.  He told me last night that he is too weak to put up the Christmas tree this year.  He cannot put up the big 7 foot fresh tree that we always have had for 33 years...He cannot put on the lights and he cannot put on the decorations.  The end of tradition. 

 I cried. 

 And, then...I moved on. 

 Looking now for a funky white artificial tree that works like an umbrella...push a button and it comes alive...lights and all...A woman just has to do what she has to do...Friends, please point me in the right direction...

The making of a quilt...

I decided to use up some of the HSTs from my Red and white Silly String.  Maybe this could be called "Broke"  ...ha..!!

Evidently there is no such thing as a "quick use up" of scraps!!  Oh, no...it got more complicated when I found these tree UFO's in a box with the Christmas fabric ...stay tuned....

 I think I have something that could work here...I am giving away these ugly trees...they are so blah!!

She is gone....

Empty is her bedroom, but full is our heart.  My girl left on the jet plane tonight bound for London and then Ireland....Gone home to her own man and her own job and her own life.  Even with the sadness, it was a wonderful two weeks...Thank you Em..you are the best!!

 She made kale and fruit smoothies for the trip to the airport...LOL...They left me at home with my diet Coke!!

 And for breakfast she made this awesome puffy pancake in Great Grandma's newly restored cast iron pan.

Safe home my girl!!!   I love you so....xxoo

Liberty Love ....all done!

Hi Cousin Ann....check this out!!!  Liberty Love is finally finished and soo soft and nice.

 Just turned around for a minute and I find Mr. O'Quilts all cozy under it...I thought you would be pleased.

I certainly hope that there is some quilting going on in London at your house...Hugs

Here and there..the bits of love..

 The Dammit doll!!  Thank you Andy...How in the world did you know that I needed one!

 The oranges I can do...the pomegranates, not so much...    

 The sneak peak...My girl is sewing on the binding of my birthday quilt...so excited.

My girl found Great-Grandma's cast iron pans in the garage, all disgusting and all....She googled the fix and they are like perfect...albeit some 90 years old!

I was at the JoAnn's Fabric Sale yesterday with my daughter.  I saw a woman in a hat with a blue cane like my husband uses.  I asked her about it and she told me that she was a few years in to being a brain cancer survivor. 

 She took off her hat to show the open incisions that she said would be open for the rest of her life.  She was 45.  We chatted and laughed about fabric and quilting like women in pain all throughout the ages...Just love that is all...It is around everywhere.

The Very Special Visit

My girl came in from Europe to visit for a few weeks..my heart beats!!  Can u believe that she took apart my pantry....She said..."Motherrr!!!" and she painted it and put the shelving back..

I feel so loved.

Emily has only been home a few days...it just takes that for me to feel spoiled...Tonight, tortellini soup and my favorite of all favorites....pretzel bread.

I did not want to retire two weeks ago.  Life made me do it.
  Tonight I decided to make the best of it.
 Just opened up those doors from my sewing room into my office and added quilting things.
Now my girl and I are sewing.  I want her to stay forever and ever.

Guess who has to be part of it too??  Zoe!

The Smashed Tomato

Life made me do it!  Life made me start a blue log cabin. 

My mother wrote this poem a few years back, she was only 89 at the time.....My dear Mother knows stuff.......

I found this poem when I was going thru my recipes!!  Ha!!  My state of mind....