With creative activities , there’s always something that sparks the imagination to get the ball rolling. First, let me tell you that I find quilting to be a very creative activity. There are so many decisions to make during the process: how wide should the border be, what colors to put next to each other, how to bind or edge the quilt, and on and on. Second, since it’s creative, I need some inspiration and that’s where The Patchwork Girl of Oz came in. At a very young age, my parents read The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum to me. The Patchwork Girl herself was rather spoiled, maybe even narcissistic. However, since she was made from a crazy quilt, it peeked my interest in quilts and quilting. So I started to badger, yes that’s right, badger my grandmother to make a crazy quilt for me. I had no idea what a crazy quilt was, but I wanted one! So, unbeknown to me she started a quilt. At the time, she was getting on in years and had moved into a ‘home’. This was around 1950. Her hands were old and stiff with arthritis and resources were limited. She had never made a crazy quilt, so she did the only pattern she knew well, a basic nine patch. She gathered old shirts from other residents, cut them into tiny pieces (no pattern here, just years of practice), and pulled out seams. Then slowly she began to assemble them into a work of art.
Years later, after she was gone, I would discover her work of love, carefully tucked away, and begin my own journey, finishing what she had started so long ago. It took me quite a while to research how to work with a vintage quilt top. Then it took me much longer to determine how to add a border, what fabric to use, how to quilt it (I did it all by hand as she had pieced it), and finally what fabric to use for the binding. What you see in these photos is coming down to the final stretch. I used quilt clips to hold the binding in place as I stitched. They made that task a snap. 
In my next blog post, I’ll share some great tips I picked up and images of the finished quilt!
Yes, I know it’s been a while since I’ve communicated, but here I am. In the intervening time, I’ve traveled/visited Mesa Verde, friends in Edmonds, Colorado, sold our home of 19 years, bought a condo (downsizing from 4400 square feet to 1400!), packed, packed, donated, sold, packed, packed, gave away, found a temporary home (for some of our belongings), had an amazing party for our friends in Normal, IL, had lots of lunches with friends, packed, packed, organized, organized, took one load of ‘precious stuff’ to our daughter’s in Minneapolis, gave away more, packed more, organized more, (you get the picture).
ilters doing demonstrations (hand quilting, making rag quilts, and English paper piecing), no lectures or presentations. Also quite a few of the quilts were pieced only and not quilted. Although you couldn’t get by with this at most quilt shows, it is a common practice here since many are pieced at the park and quilted back home. The quilt in the center is mine. I used black and a fabric called stonehenge for contrast and a bright red border to pull it together. Most of the quilting is done in the ditch or shadow. I did stipple the black border and even worked a lizard and my name and date into the stippleing. The pattern is “Day and Night” by Eleanor Burns.
we decorated our bikes with pinwheels, crepe paper, and wore obnoxious hats. Behind us was street C who put together a hilarious team of horses, hobby horses that is. Then we had the line dancers, Shriners in their cars, the park band, St Pat with snakes trailing after him in a golf cart. And to wrap it up, free green beer on the patio with lots of music.
ark: Scenic Trail. This was our first hike on our own and we got there later than we should have (hardly any shade on the trail). We learned of this trail from our same book, 
d a great place to learn about other places like the Gilbert Water Ranch for bird watching. Walks are held along the Salt River twice a month through March Saturdays at 8 am. Our favorite sighting was a pair of Cinnamon Teals. We also saw a Virdin, Green Heron, Anna Hummingbird, and a good number of the famous little brown birds. Next year we need to remember our bird guides and to buy a second pair of binoculars.
r pipe organ. The organ and player slowly rise up out of the stage, slowly swiveling around so the whole audience gets a good view. The pipes take up an entire wall (about 100 feet). In addition there are a number of percussion and wind instruments that are played/directed by the player using designated keys on the organ. A relic of the silent film industry and not to be missed!
The ballpark was beautiful, the sun hot, the view good, parking easy. Unfortunately, my husband forgot that he is legally blind and couldn’t see most of the game. Plus he forgot his radio so he couldn’t check to see if there was any coverage. Then when leaving, there was a traffic snafu, so we detoured which took longer and ran into rush hour which took even 
And as a bonus, since I received a request for a photo of my shoes that have proudly kept me sure-footed on these trails, here it is. By the way, does anyone know what you’re supposed to do with the long lace when you pull these tight? I’ve never had this type before. And, yes, these are my handknit socks. I did NOT wear them hiking, just for the photo op. 
y of the existing homesteads. Once the owner and family had passed on, the land reverts back to the park. I don’t know how long this one had been abandoned, but access by horse (or in today’s world, maybe a 4 wheeler but probably not on the road) would have been the only connection to the outer world. There were some remnants of the buildings but it must have been beautiful and awesome to live here. All you can see in any direction were mountains and valley.
took a final run around the tents and headed home. Oh, and this little guy came with us (
We started the week hiking on the National/Mormon Loop Trail at South Mountain (literally on the South edge of Phoenix). Our leader, Jim, is a big fan of the guide: 
Plus, I definitely felt sure-footed on the trail which was a blessing since the trail was 
My Ravelry projects
