HOME AGAIN

I arrived home from Arizona late last night. Now I have to adjust to the three hour time change. Ugh! First thing I did was sleep till 11:00am Eastern time. Second thing was to throw in a load of laundry. and third--well, here I am! Back in blogland! My computer is as slow as I am today. But at least it is working. My son's phone, cable and internet connection was out before I left. He has the Cox package for all three. So if one goes out, they all go out. We have Cox for our cable TV connection and every time it goes out it is because a repairman was working on someone elses installation and disconnected ours! That has happened a dozen times. Next time it happens it will be bye-bye Cox. My son said there was a Cox repair truck working down the street from his house. What do you want to bet...

That darling girl in the photo is my Arizona granddaughter. She is a cutie! Almost 11 years old. The quilt is a log cabin design by Alice Berg that was in American Patchwork and Quilting a few years ago. I enlarged it to fit a queen size bed. It has little stars at the intersections. You would think I would get sick of red, white and blue, but I never seem to. Thanks for all your nice comments on my eagle, by the way. Those of you outside of America probably get sick of seeing "God Bless America", but it seems we need it more and more! Maybe we should come up with a new slogan, like "God Bless Our Patchwork World"! Any suggestions out there?

Along that same international thought, I found my signature blocks here from Cynthia in Australia when I got home. Wow, I can't believe all the countries represented! It is wonderful! Many added their blog address to their block, which I wish I had done. I will have to go through and see who I can find on line. Thanks to everyone who participated and a big thanks to Cynthia for doing all the work!

I suppose I should go now and do #4 on my list today: UNPACK I hate that part.

PVC FRAME QUESTION, etc.

Greetings from Mesa, Arizona, where the weather is sunny and breezy. Just about perfect, in fact! Time is speeding by. I arrived here last Thursday night, April 11. I'll be here for a while visiting my family. Both my sons live here, as well as my sister, aunts and uncles, dozens of cousins, and even my Dad, who moved here last October. I am happy to come here and visit with everyone. There are always projects here for "the sewer in the family". People think that if you know how to work a sewing machine you can do anything that needs to be done in that realm. I am happy to do what I can, but we all know where the real pleasure comes from, right? So I do what I can, and then I have to feed my own addiction! So yes, I brought projects to work on! I finished up my little eagle top. Now I have to quilt him, but he will be ready for the 4th of July or whatever. I also brought a UFO to work on. I am excited to work on it. I will show you that later, after I figure out how to load pictures from their computer. My DIL took my camera to work to load this Eagle photo for me.

I had more time when I first got here, so I have been going through my bloglines to check up on everyone. I still have quite a ways to go to get through, but it is nice to see what everyone is doing. The past few days I have been real busy going to lunch, etc. Oh poor me. I started writing this post several days ago, and can't seem to make it through and get it posted. Draft-edit-draft-edit, etc.

I had a question from a reader the other day who needs advice on loading her quilt on a PVC frame that she just bought and I thought I would pose the question to whomever has had experience with this. Janelle has an adjustable PVC quilt frame that is opened to 34" x 4o" and has a quilt top that measures 60" x 84". She doesn't know how to put the quilt on and get it nice and tight. She has spring type clamps rather than the half pipes. I know very little about this, so I am putting out a call for her. If you have some advice to offer, leave me a comment. I know she will appreciate any help. I am the last person to run an advice column, but I know there are many of you in blogland who have great solutions. Thank you, thank you!

KNOCK-KNOCK

Spring is in the air! Around here there are trees budding and others in full bloom! The sun is shining and happiness abounds! I am even doing some spring cleaning in anticipation of company coming for the weekend. That is my big motivator, anyway. But it feels good to shine things up and wipe away layers of dust. The truth is, I don't know if I got it all or not. My eyes don't notice such minor details anymore. I am a lot more relaxed about that stuff than I used to be. I guess I am good with who I am and past worrying about what people will think. Mostly because I have learned that most people don't really care! It is not that I think I am perfect, or above it all. I am over weight and frumpy. People look at me and feel better about themselves! So in a morose kind of way, I spread good cheer! Wow, I am way off the track...and sounding like Rodney Dangerfield! :)



So, speaking of spring, I finished my house block that has the holly and snowflakes! Seven houses done out of nine. When this quilt is finished I will be searching for a new identity. I have been so wrapped up in it.
On the other hand, I am working on a new project as well. I saw an eagle in an antique quilt in a book and drew up my own interpretation. I added the embroidered banner, etc. A really cute border is in the works.
My 23 month old granddaughter (The pink plumpkin from past post) has discovered knock-knock jokes. Yesterday she said to her mother, "knock, knock". Mom says, "who's there?" Plumpkin says, "Jack, it's time to get out of the shower!" Yes, every day she hears her mother knock on the bathroom door and yell to her brother to get out of the shower. Kids are so hilarious! I love it!
I hope you are all doing well. I haven't been blogging too much lately, in an effort to accomplish something in my life. But I try to run through my Bloglines at least once a week. I enjoy touching base with so many of you and admiring your handiwork. I am always happy to hear from you also. I have noticed some new people coming around, and that is fun too. Wow, my list is growing--no wonder I need a whole week to get through it! Have a happy holiday week celebrating Easter and Passover!