Sewin' Along, Singin' a Song, Joy in the Sweatshop!!!

Happy is............

"Shine a Little Love............"

Someone just told me that whenever they see the light at the end of the tunnel, it is a train...ha ha hmm.
I had to laugh.  I do not think that way, maybe that is why it was funny.
 I do feel despair lately. I mean really, a feeding tube and feeding pump for my dear man????
And, then a little magic comes bringing cheer...some soup left on the porch, my friends coming religiously to quilting, laughter.
 And, today, an awesome package in the mail.
 From Beth at Smazoochie came the most comforting package. full of treats making my heart sing.

.Kangaroo fabric!!!!!!

 Birds on a Bunting

 And a grocery bag for my girl to bring on the Organic foods for us!!
 Everything made to perfection.
 Best of all came the gift of friendship from miles away, from a compassionate soul.
 I am blessed.  Thank you so so so very much Beth for lifting our spirits today. 

Then.....

Karaquilts and Myrtovl  Your comments and support mean the world to me.  I am grateful to have new friends such as the two of you, especially while I am struggling so.  Please send me your emails so we can chat as I cannot seem to reply to your blogs.

 

Figuring it out

 Con mucho vino tinto...tonight's choices are...hmmm 
Should I watch:  Moving Gracefully Towards the Exit

Or Should I read:  The Ladies Number One Detective Agency, volume five???

Or..maybe this new arrival purchased on Amazon just before my new austerity program??

All the visitors from London and Ireland make my heart sing...and when they go home....what do we have????  They QUILT!!!!  How exciting:)

My niece (Cousin Ann) and the anniversary quilt she just finished  for her parents.

 

  My other niece, Fiona...getting with the program back in Currenrue, Co Galway.

My sister-in-law Maura lusting after fabric in a quilting store in Ireland:)

As for me..I am just sitting here trying to finish off my basted quilts as I pensively listen to the hum of Mr.O'Quilt's suction machine, the bed mattress, the breathing machine.  My sister is here waiting  to give the 6 o'clock tube feeding, my daughter is making dinner and bro Declan has taken the kids to Karate.'

Our world is rapidly changing.  People are leaving treats for us on the porch.
Joan left three nice pumpkins with boxes of soup for himself from Trader Joe's...Thank you Joan.

The feeding pump will arrive tonight with more feeding lessons tomorrow.

I cannot wait to show the quilts I have finished...delivery of all three will be this weekend.

I think I will compromise with green smoothies and M&M's.

Lynsey wet her pants at Kindergarten, Evan cried because he couldn't play with friends and Dylan acted out at Karate....but Uncle Declan took care of all that drama..TBTG

Muggs took me to lunch and listened to me talk.  She may be a saint???......I guess I am on a pity party roll and it is not even midnight!!!  Dinner will help.
  I will really try to keep this a quilting blog instead of a therapy one...but...sigh.

I look around and see at least 25 unfinished projects...now on my new budget, my goal is to finish.

Hugs to you all for listening..Well hugs to you all anyway.

The Tempest

When life in not in balance in one area, everything seems out of balance to me.  The tempest.  Or, the tornado...or as the Thesaurus says...the williwaw.  I like that one best, but it is only from the straits of Magellan, not from the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. 

 Too bad, because williwaw just rolls off the tongue in an exciting way.

So, is it hoarding or collecting?  Mundane, but remember I am off balance.  Can the hoarder or collector ever retire??  Me think it is a chronic relapse issue.

Really, I think it is late at night. 

Here is my latest in fabric therapy...and perhaps the last for now.  

Such happy colors and soft good quality fabric.

 My dear man says that we need to cut back a bit.  What???  Was he talking to me?

We need to do some hiring of help for the feeding tube business which has been a real nightmare.  Not only was Himself in a lot of pain in the hospital, but the learning curve for tube feeding is horrendous. 

 The williwaw comes home. 

 Washing the wound, wearing gloves, everything sterile...pouring formula down the tube at just the right speed, being careful that the stomach juices do not come up and squirt a person in the face.  Being sure that the patient is not fed too much so they throw up.  Tube feeding takes about 45 minutes/ 4 times a day. My daughter and I are feeling quite faint, but lucky us, my sister rises to the occasion...sigh.  The home health nurse has come 2 days for 3 hours each time, to give lessons...we are a slow learn in nursing things. 

 Hiring help to lift him and transfer him and tube feed...$15 an hour x 4 x 30 days..is a bit more than my fabric budget. 

 Just sayin' you see...just mulling things out loud so I can get a grip.

When fretting became too intense, I made this doll quilt. 

Good news....Mr.O has a brother Declan.  He came in to visit from Dublin town just in time.  

He is here for a week.  TBTG

Really, Thank you, thank you, thank you Declan...for coming to Charlotte to save the day!!

Tutorial for baby changing mats and etc and etc

The other day life said...sew Grandma...sew!!  So I have finished 6 baby changing pads for presents.  3 are already spoken for as I am quite behind in presents.

So cute and so easy...Here is the tute:

 Supplies:

1 piece of laminate about 25 x 32 inches

1 piece of batting a little larger than above

1 piece of quilting fabric large enough to self bind mat

spray basting can

walking foot

plastic clips for binding/ or clothespins

disappearing marking pen

The metal rod on your machine

Spray batting with adhesive.  Smooth, then trim batting to size of laminate.

Turn over and spray batting again.  Center on backing fabric. Turn over and smooth, turn over and smooth..again.  Measuring the width of the project, mark a line half way...eg 16 inches.  Draw a line and stitch that line.  Put the rod in the machine measuring about 2 inches and continue to wiggle stitch the project.  Trim backing at one inch.  Self bind clipping with plastic clips.  Stitch down, trim thread..voila..very very very useful for changing baby just about anywhere. 

Very good thing that I got these done as we are just home now from a difficult two days in the hospital with Mr. O'Quilts.  He had a feeding tube put into his stomach and spent the night in the hospital.  It is quite fine to say that this is an easy operation if it is not your operation!!  He has had a lot of pain.  Today is a bit better and he was able to get out of bed to sit in his motorized wheelchair in his hospital gown to watch some tennis on TV.  Now comes the learning curve for the family on how to clean the wound, how to do the feeding with the formula down the tube, how to rinse the tube, etc.

Etc.  is the word lately.  This all ain't easy.

However, sew on my friends.  My man hates hovering so we have to do it on the sly..Good thing my sewing room is right next to his..

MQG Block in the Box results...

Thursday night I had fun at Charlotte's Modern Quilt Guild.  My girl Emily and our dear organizer Kristen held down the fort here at home.
 Whenever I go to this guild, I feel the friendship of quilters envelop me.  People have such good hearts there and sew great things with great ideas.
Last year we started the "Block in a Box" block exchange.  Thursday night was the grand reveal.  Here are the blocks from my fabrics.  They are on this little design wall since my girl has her project on the big design wall:)  LOL

 Last night Emily and I had a sew in. (all three kids were at a Karate camp...6 to 10pm)
 Happy is me.
  We have both my Janomes set up...We called in dinner and got tons of sewing done.  I finished two baby changing pads and she finished 9 blocks in her project..  Today I have four more changing pads cut out.

The other night I could not sleep.  I was obsessing about things I could not control, forgetting that I was not in charge in this life.

So, at 2 am, I decided to read through some of my mother's poetry books.  In Circle of Love, I found this:

Then It Happened

The moon rolled over

turned out the light

covered itself with

a blanket of night.

 Well, my mother spoke to me that night, as I got such a tickle from the poem, I fell right asleep

Friendship and Stuff

 A gift of friendship.  This quilt, idea from a Tula Pink quilt, is totally a friendship quilt.  Most of the fabric was a gift from Katie G.  The strips were cut and sewn at Mugg's beach retreat.  And it was long-arm quilted by Mary Jerz of Seamless Expressions.  A big thanks to all my friends for cheering me on as I made this happy quilt.  I so tried to get a good picture of it, but....This is the best I could do.  Shame that the photos do not do it justice.  It is very pretty.

My girl making yummy tortellini soup...so yummy..

This is a Hoyer Lift.  It arrived today and when the technical guy was showing us how to use it, I got concussion symptoms.  How strong and helpful is that?????  Jeeze Louize!

 Oh, yes...Art Gallery Fabrics are my favorite!!!

Can You Believe it...and Prince Pat

Friends are sometimes just sunshine on a cloudy day...Block two for Muggs at the beach house.

Cousin Ann and Cousin Pat have gone home to London.  In their wake are such good feelings and uplifted souls.  We totally love Ann...but Prince Pat takes the cake.  Can you believe that he fixed things in the house, made us dinner, took the kids to Karate and to McDonald's afterwards...alone!!!  And, then...He told us to go for a girls' night out to dinner while he watched the fort. Unbelievable and amazing.  Talk about caregiver respite. I was totally relaxed, and that hardly ever happens any more.  There are not many folks who can make it happen like that .  A big thanks to Ann and Pat.  We love you so.

 Can you believe it...I have TWO finishes...I am so glad, as I am way, way behind on baby quilts and other gifts...way way behind.

 Of course the whole crew helped with the snipping...and only two holes were made..lol..cough..lol

  Em took the two oldest to the apple orchard today...here they are with apple donuts and apple cider..Nice to have a wonderful auntie:)

Mr.O'Quilts told me today that now his arms are getting weaker and holding his soup bowl is harder.  Now, he has to put the bowl on the table and lean over to it.  He came in to the quilting room to give me a kiss and he said that I would have to stand up to get it, because if he leaned forward, his core muscles are so wasted, that he would fall out of the wheelchair.  Believe me I jumped for it, a kiss is nice anyway you can get it!

Running away from home...

Or, taking Cousin Ann on an outing with the four F's...Fun, Fabric, Family and Friends!!!

 Today's IQTO (Tuesday outing)   was to Mary Jo's cloth store in Gastonia, NC and to Sew Much Fun.  Here is our Jean meeting up with us for the first time since her surgery.

No, she is not working...but giving expert advice to Cousin Ann:)

Here is the fat quarter gang... Ninjas and Love

Some Kaffe

 Some Paisley

 

 and out of focus Zombies...of course!!

 Cousin Pat held down the fort with Granddaddy, made dinner and met the school bus!!!  Yeah cousin Pat.  Without you...there would have not been Sew Much Fun!

Thunder now...perfect for sleep.

Cousin Ann from London town...She is here!!

 Last year when cousin Ann came..she had never even dreamed of quilting.  One year later...here she is visiting again...an accomplished quilter!!!  Yeah!! another convert...She showed up today fresh in from London with her man and a quilt she had made for me.  How wonderful is this, no one hardly ever makes a quilt for me...

 She even did a creative backing.

 And, a creative label!!

 A mouse pincushion present from Liberty..Thank you soooo much.  I love you Ann.

 Next convert is Kristen, the sitter....the quilt room organizer...the brilliant senior in high school who is steadily amassing enough college credits for free at the junior college.  I gave Kristen my scrap basket..soon she showed up with these scrap blocks stuffed in her jeans pocket.  I love you Kristen!!!

Thank you Emily for the funny!!
And...ES...You know how I appreciate your comments.  Email me pls so I have your email address.  Also, if you click on any picture you will get a close up of it.
Today fall came...my favorite season...The first crisp bit of air after a gruesome summer.  Hope!!!

The Adreneline Rush

I do not want anyone to think that I am a slacker...hmmm...So last night my wonderful Wednesday night group basted these two quilt tops that I finished.  TBTG, Adreneline gets me quilting...sometimes..(:

 This is the backing

 Voila, the remnants of a special quilt I have not shown yet....Here are the scraps..lol, already in a quilt

 and the backing.

 My son has earned a few hours out of his treatment program.  Here we are in a well received visitation.

 Little Missy here does well in Karate...good thing, says Granddaddy....because she is a bit full of herself!!

Mr. O'Quilts had his first fall today.  He was transferring in the bathroom and boom onto the floor.  TBTG my daughter was here...It took the three of us to get him onto the potty as his legs do not work at all..being dead weight.  His bulbar area is now affected with the ALS.  He can no longer project his voice, so I did not hear him as I worked in the kitchen, when he called out to me. 

 As they say, "All's well as ends well".... and it did end well. 

 However, the adreneline is still going strong in all of us as we enter a new phase where I no longer feel that my man can safely be left alone.

Reading Between the Lines

From Lori's cool tute comes this top I just finished:

I started using her pattern because I could not think to create myself.  However, in short order I became me again and did a bit of ad lib....

I love how it turned out.  I do not know why I have gone nuts about buying new fabric, when my favorites are the scrap ones.

Today was all about doom and gloom until:

 from gratefulness.org came this message to me.

WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Sep. 1

It is a huge danger to pretend that awful things do not happen. But you need enough hope to keep going. I am trying to make hope. Flowers grow out of darkness.

Corita Kent

1.  At the ALS clinic on Friday, the good doctor told Mr. O'Quilts that he has now lost 50% of his swallowing ability.  Everything is pureed now.
2.  The Mr and I went to Hong Kong on our honeymoon 34 years ago.
3.  My dear man and I used to work at the Miccosukee Indian reservation.  We would drive for an hour through the Everglades in Florida to the reservation.  Himself was the tribe counselor and I was the school counselor.  I had to work through an interpreter, avoiding eye contact with the elders as was their custom.  Alligators galore.

3.   I went on a 5 week language study program to what was then the Soviet Union when I was 21 years old.  That year all the women wore red and purple rain boots.  Evidently that was all that was available.  I fell in love with Georgian bread and the subway.
Just FYI...lol  ps..if this is a repeat...pls forgive...
xxoo my friends!

ps if when you make a comment I do not answer, it is because I am overwhelmed...It does not mean I do not cherish your comments...cuz I so do!