One Fine Day

One Fine Day

My triangle center..above...I am wondering if I put on a white, then blue border,
if I could use it as a patriotic table topper?

Wednesday night quilting...show and tell...above..our Sherry shines again.

Above, Mary Pat's quilt for her granddaughter.
Below, Mary Pat's table toppers for her mountain house.

My girl in Oregon attends Irish dances and plays Irish music,
just like her daddy before her.

She also designs the posters and playbills for Irish events.
Mr.O'Quilts would be way proud.

As I try to adjust to my newish life...I find that taking myself to lunch is
helpful "me" time.  No children, no bothers..just relaxation.
I turn my phone off...
Pool exercise and pool friends are good too.
Reading on the back porch is wonderful..
But,
Sit and Sews are the very very best.
I just love sewing with my friends!!!

This "timer" thing has me still sewing. I think that is terrific.
Tomorrow morning before lunch out, I am going to sew together
some random surprise blocks I found while "cleaning".

I love  this..No matter what your beliefs...
I think this is darling.
Hang on Ruthie, Hang on

Placemats, Et.al..

Preparing for Sit and Sew...There are 3 this month...but two are on the same day  UGH
This was fun using up all the "made" fabric...some from 35 years ago.(above)
Below, random strips...

The children and I filled charm sized squares with rice.
Five bags of rice used...wow...about a third full.

We used clips to hold the hole closed.

Here we are...95 hand warmers/or ice bags.
All ready to be sewn closed on the sewing machine.
I am behind on the holiday prep thing..
.I have not even started to cut the tissue holder fabric..

Look at what I pulled out...in preparation of Queen Bee in a few...
I have had the Go Accuquilt for at least 10 years....never used it for piecing..
only for some applique...fun..  It has just been sitting around..
In deference to all my WIPs and UFOs..
.I am starting something new..
Again!!

Here is Rosie...guard dog...in Portland.
She is looking for me!!!!
Soon, Rosie, soon!!

In the background I see my antique star quilt.
and under the fan on the right, I glimpse the table I bought in Morocco
many many moons ago...love to see the stuff in my daughters house.

Exhausted me came home from grocery shopping.

Out came my army...they had seen me coming..

All three children and my son.

With no fuss at all and in no time,

everything was brought in and put away.

Amazing...all without me.

There is a certain grandma feeling so blessed... 

Kids in the backyard with their scooters...
Glad I have a big yard...
Granddaddy left them a lovely ramp for sliding.

Today, Lynsey and I played the timer game.
I set the timer for 30 min...she cleaned her room and I cleaned my sewing room.
She was finished in 15 min...
Sigh....I guess you know the rest of the story.
I found sooo many treats under my mess piles, that sewing seemed the next best thing to do.
Gotta just love a quilter!!

How Grandma O'Quilts Got the Focus Going

Linda was going to lunch for an hour, I thought.

So, I set my timer for an hour. just to get myself sewing.

Got all this done in an that hour.

Wahoo...I prepped these disappearing nine patches for an upcoming sit and sew.

How to carry them without wrinkling?   Cute little wrap!!

Then...and then...I kept on sewing....

Two more placemats in the making for outreach.

I was gifted the Kaffe salvedge strips..How fun is this??

I took reading breaks..in the backyard...

Such a ridiculous book, that I find myself bursting with laughter at times.

My son's room is downstairs in my second quilting room.

Here...I caught Dylan having a sleepover with his daddy.

Ages 9 and 34...Dear to my heart.

Kindhearted 14 year old under great pressure..deigned to make bobbins for me.

He was in process of making 8 when I snapped him.

OMG,,,such mortification...one would think that I was going to publish it

in the high school newspaper.!!!

The hour set was a great idea...Once I started, then I could not stop sewing

I love to stay up till 2 am sewing...

Then sleeping all day...even when I go outside to read, it seems that

I nod off like an old lady!!!!!

Did you know that the holidays are coming soon???

Before I blink an eye...OMG

Guess I will  bring some holiday things to work on in Portland while visiting my daughter

She already has the two sewing machines all set up.

The Fabric Fairy Comes Again

I really, really, really love fabric fairies.

They warm my heart

My sister and I took a few favorites....and now we will be
Spreading the love on Wednesday night.

Prayers for my Florida peeps who rode Hurricane Andrew with me,
 under mattresses et al....many moons ago...Go away Dorian.
My heart still trembles with the unknown and the fear.

No sewing for me today...just fabric patting and snoozing.

Last night I woke at 3 am...wondering where my husband was.

Why had he not come to bed yet?

Maybe he was in the bathroom?

Then, I realized he had been dead for 4 years.

This shook me to my core.

I felt sick, cancelled my day and stayed in bed.

I was not angry, I was sick in my heart.

Although, grief brings with it tons of anger...It gets displaced on innocent

folks, the cashier at the grocery store, family and friends who are nothing but nice,

It gets displaced on ourselves in a grumpy kind of way.

Staying in bed today saved me...and probably the neighborhood as well!!

Today, it was Boo and me...against the world.

Surprise!!!!

2019  First Day of School..My son remembered to take the picture...
All went well..and the three of them are on their way
Surprise...It went so well without Grandma...hmm
Evan did not get lost.  The other two got their buses.
Everyone got breakfast...
Well my son did set his clock to 4:30 instead of 5:30
No one thought that was funny
Looks like our fourth grader is now taller than our 5th grader....Oh, dear...

I am relieved. I stayed in bed...eyes wide open.

My small design wall..made from the scraps of the  larger one
Ceiling tiles from the hardware store.
I love these because I can iron right on them and carry the board to the  machine.

Tonight's work..Does anyone know this pattern?

I was so excited to squeeze in my cheddar disappearing nine patch, only
to find out that I did not bother to count the squares..assuming it was a regular charm pack.

Ugh..I am missing 20 blocks.  Surprise, Grandma O'Quilts did it again!!

Lynsey made dessert tonight.."S'mores"...a bit on the cold side
but creative..she was way proud and so were her brothers as they gobbled them up.

The biggest surprise of all...our Stephanie came back.

We were sooo happy to see her.
She is weaker and gets tired easier.
She did a bit of cleaning and cooked dinner.
That exhausted her.
We are grateful to have her back after almost 3 months.

It has been a week...7 days..since  I set my goal to buy nothing online until Oct 1.

I do not think that that really means:

Hancock of Paducah Labor Day Sales
Do you???

So life goes on despite my fretting...
I certainly need to work on that.!!!!

The Start of School Frenzy...Tomorrow...

Kaffe stripset...from the  Wednesday night scraps.

 Potholders...a new quilt to start...or ???

Sew relaxing.

Another new project...just when I decided to finish what I have already..

Old charms I just found...cutting cheddar for disappearing nine-patch

Lovely rainy day yesterday....Finding myself reading on our screened in porch

Enjoying a wonderful book, cuddled in my Civil War fabric group exchange quilt.

Nodding off.......

Just love Anna Marie Horner fabric...the funkier, the better...just like me.

My son loves to work...coming home from a job...

Really???

Some how he did not get the message that the sewing room is off limits!!!

The new member of Queen Bee...Bambi...with Stitch in the lower left.

taking inventory...

We have so many deer in our yard, neighborhood....the kids can pet some of them.

There was a family of 8 in the yard the other day.

Ava: 17 months, Zoe: 12 years 

xo

Only Ava is not nervous about school.

The children's mother just brought them back from her weekend visit.

She had them shower for school before they came.

Then, she filled out all the back to school paperwork.

She has the best handwriting of the family.

She also helped Eamon with the computer.

My heart sings when they get along for the children's sake.

You notice the 14 year old is not posing for a picture...

There is great stress about school starting tomorrow morning.

One child's bus is at 6:15am....OMG

The other two have buses at 7:15am

Both parents say it is OK for the 14 year old to walk around the corner

to his bus stop in the dark..

This old grandma is nervous.

I have had Evan since he was 7. in 2nd grade.

High School.??How can this be?

I have been told by the family to stay in bed 

and let my son handle it...OMG

Even deep breathing may not calm my soul.

Sew...just go Sew....

Maybe I will just stay up very late tonight sewing??

I found these:

Divided 4 patch.

I found 10 of them.

I hate them.

I do not know what to do with them..

Suggestions???

Love Sewing Love

A purple process...2 years and not finished yet.

Making a new block is much more fun.
Scraps found in my table mess.

Queen Bee gift...Thank you Linda

Queen Bee Round Robin... from Sherry Lynn Wood workshop

Kaffe fabric from Foust..gifted by Heather...xoxo

Doc Whaley and her Jelly Roll rug process

Wednesday night IQ group brings Sherry's Trip Around the World
You might well find Sherry's quilts on Sherry Lynne Fabrics, her etsy store.
Just maybe!!!

and....Sherry's Harlequin quilt

Jean's finished UFO...

Kaffe scraps gifted to me...xoxo Lindsey.

Today was open house at the elementary school
I went with the four children and both parents.
Vain me should have brought my cane...alas...I did not.
Everyone excited to see their friends and teachers..
The noise level required a 30 minute nap after.
Next up my physical therapy.  It helped sooo much.
They are very good to me.

I VOTED.
and now.....
Sewing bits and pieces and listening to:
Roy Orbison
I grew up with this music...My daddy from Greenville, Alabama put
country on the car radio quick..so we would not have to listen to my mother's music,
"Madam Butterfly"

Things That Bring Happy

From my son-in-law's garden in Portland, Oregon

From my daughter's stove in Portland, Oregon

Kids went camping with my girl and her man, here in NC..sooo much fun.

Even Zoe went.

Slide Rock, NC

At Sit and Sew, Queen Bee today...I stitched 42 hand warmer pouches
The children turned them...60 left for the school at holiday time.

Eithne brought me this cool and awesome laminate from Ireland.
I got it last night.  I lost it last night...
My son just came home, now.......He found it!!
.
"Humility, like the darkness, reveals the heavenly lights", Thoreau...He understood!!!

I left yesterday morning for a meeting...
Lynsey was in my,  our scrap bag, then at my our machine.
When I came home, these little pillowcases were in her dollhouses.
That girl has 5 dollhouses...OMG, she loves them so.

In her busy life, Terri still manages to be good.
She made this awesome yarn necklace for me.
She brought 5 placemats for the Meals on Wheels MQG outreach.
Then, she made raspberry treats so I did not have to do my treat night.
And, Terri did not even stay for quilting..
Terri's middle name is kindness.

Yesterday was wicked...3 children had a dentist appointment.
Our dear Ms Stephanie was to bring them...Alas, at the last minute,
she could not get out of bed...That heart attack did her in for now!!
I did my grief therapist in the morning..then the dentist, then Lynsey had a therapy appointment
to talk about all the losses in her young life...
Lynsey is an old soul.  Lynsey is a brave soul.

Tomorrow is school open house.
Then, I am back to physical therapy.
Just 10 days dealing with family crisis and not going to PT...my knee rebels..ugh.

How do we know that Mrs. O'Quilts is getting better?
She did more self-care...got herself a new pair of crocs...(or 2)
Crocs.......for every occasion
Weddings, funerals, birthday parties..and every day use.

Mrs. O'Quilts tries to be adorable in her old age!!