To Arizona and Back

We arrived home to the Salt Lake Valley last Sunday, after a 9-day vacation in Tubac, AZ. Tubac is located verrrrry south in Arizona, about a 20 minute drive north of the Mexico border. All of Bruce’s three remaining siblings live there, and we hadn’t visited since just before the COVID pandemic in 2020. 

Overall it was a nice trip, but from now on we’ll fly from Salt Lake to Tucson, then rent a car for the remaining 1-hour drive. Driving two days each way in the car is too long for these old bones!! But we did take a new route and saw some new scenery and towns and cities, so that was interesting. I’ll spare you all the scenery pictures except this one, taken near Kanab, Utah.

All the rest of my scenery photos had bad reflections on them. And half the time I was driving, so couldn’t take pictures. Cousin Kim drove the other half of the time as she came with us and Bruce no longer drives. I should clarify that Cousin Kim isn’t really our cousin; she’s our niece and is my age. Her mom was Faye, Bruce’s oldest sister who passed in 2005. We stayed with Bruce’s other sister Annette, who is 2 years older than Bruce. Annette’s husband Glenn died just after Christmas, a month after my brother Steve passed. So we were all glad to see one another. At our ages (seventies, and Annette is 80), visiting opportunities are winding down. 

The above photo is Annette and Glenn’s house. They moved here, downsizing from a 5-acre property in another area of town. This home looks little, but it’s about 1800 sq ft. The lot, however, is small and backs up to the golf course. 

In the mornings, we’d sit out in the backyard pictured below, drink our coffee, talk, take in the view and check out their flowering cacti. It was pleasantly warm, with each day getting up into the mid-80’sF (25-26C). 

This cactus opened one evening and bloomed until the following evening. One day! So beautiful, but sad to me in a sort of Brigadoon way.

This is Annette’s front screen door. The colored wavy lines between the iron bars are just screen mesh refracting the light.

And here is Annette. She doesn’t like her picture being taken, so we had to be sneaky with our candids.

 We were supposed to meet Bruce’s brothers for lunch, but they got their days mixed up and were no-shows. We had seen them briefly earlier in the week. Here’s the 4 of us at the restaurant without them.

L-R: Bruce, Cathy, Annette, Kim

On to quilting……

When I got home from AZ, Ruby (who had been coming in daily to feed Alfie and Darla) had dropped off the other 3 little quilts she’d quilted for me. Actually for Quilts for Kids. So I got all three bound and labeled.

Isn’t the quilting just perfect with the backing?!? 

Ruby quilted the next one with daisies. The quilt itself is rather blah from a distance.

But up close it’s a cute print and very vibrant and colorful. 

The last quilt is this little yellow and orange number. She quilted it with these rather odd swirls that she wanted to try. Yes, we routinely experiment with quilt patterns and colors on QFK donation quilts!

The little quilt pinned below is now a webbed top. I’ll hunt up or piece a backing for it and it will become the first of the next batch of kid quilts I’ve got in the works. The focal fabric of little bonnet girls is a scrap I saw in Ruby’s stash  - a literal hoard of dozens of plastic tote bins she’d bought at a quilter’s estate sale.  Then Cousin Kim had the same fabric in a chunk piece she was going to get rid of. Between the two chunks, I had enough to cut out the 31 squares at 6.5”. 

I tried out several pinks, orangey-apricots, soft greens and neutrals for the two other alternating colors. The pink isn’t as dark as it looks in the picture. I’ll try to get a more accurate color depiction when the quilt reaches the finish line.

This week also featured dentist appointments, a mammogram, and a visit from the plumber (Cousin Kim’s son Nick, actually) to fix the toilets - not used while we were gone, and the old parts in the tanks failed. They all have new “guts” now. That’s the extent of my plumbing knowledge!

By Friday afternoon, I managed to find time to piece the first of two pink Rolling Stone blocks. There is one more to make next week, along with strings blocks and crumb blocks. 

Rolling Stone

Speaking of strings, my friend Judy of the Busy Hands are Happy Hands blog sent me 12 crumb blocks for Quilts for Kids. I added three of my crumb blocks and Voila! The set of 15 crumb blocks are all packed up for my QFK workshop this morning. Sorry I didn’t get a picture, but thanks so very much, Judy! 

Next week is crazy: Monday is the HOA board meeting. I attend only the 1-hour general session to get news for the HOA newsletter I write. Tuesday is Weight Watchers and shopping for a new sport coat for Bruce, Wednesday is the probate hearing for my brother’s estate, on Thursday my daughter Megan flies in from Seattle and stays over, and Saturday is Grandson Easton’s wedding. 

And I forgot to mention that I’ll be having my second knee surgery (left knee total replacement) on Monday, May 18. I need want to get my flower garden in before that, but there are VA visits for Bruce, pre-op visits for me, Bruce’s birthday, the HOA Cinco de Mayo celebration, the closing of the sale of my brother’s house, and on and on. I think maybe being laid up for at least 2 weeks after the surgery may be a welcome respite! But don’t quote me on that!