Back From Arizona

It’s good to be back home again after our visit to family in southern Arizona. I’ve posted many times about our visits there, so I’m not going to again. Besides, I only took three pictures. It was nice seeing family again and everyone was on their best behavior most of the time (but there was a bit of drama here and there). The weather was beautiful until the last couple days of the trip, when it rained. But overall we had a good time, although the drive seems to get more brutal every year. And I won’t even tell you about one of Bruce’s infamous “short cuts” that took us 95 miles and a lot of time out of our way. We are considering flying next time, although that would limit the Talavera pottery we could bring back home, so we’ll see.

I did manage to get some Rainbow Scrap sewing done in orange before we left. Nothing much exciting to see - mostly selvages.

Fifteen orange selvage half hexies

Some 4” and 6” selvage columns - use to be determined at some future point

Some Beachcomber crumb blocks. Three were from 2019 and 2 were made this month

I worked some on my February One Monthly Goal (OMG) a bit. These are some of the low volume rainbow blocks I have so far.  They trim up to 8.5” and finish at 8 inches, so this may end up being one large or two smaller donation quilts.

And here are the string stars I sewed while in Arizona. There are more than this left to do, so again there will be enough for two quilts when completed. I’ll just keep plugging away.

And that’s it from my little corner of the sewing world. Not very newsy, eh? We are still tired and recovering from the “vacation” and the unpacking and laundry. The kitties are so happy to be home with us after their vacation imprisonment boarding.  We got daily pictures and updates from the vets’ office about them....

Alfie was scared (look at those eyes!) and was wary of the Peeples. 

Darla was scared, too, but mostly very PO’ed the first couple days. Reports are that she began writing a cat manifesto while planning an uprising.

But then Alfie relaxed and began socializing. After all, these Peeples were bringing them food and water and toys.

Darla was still miffed. Not so angry, but still feeling betrayed. And where is my blankie, dammit?

But Alfie took things in paw and gave Darla a good talking-to. She decided to come out and play for awhile and make the best of a bad situation. Reports were that she took a cue from Nancy Pelosi and even ripped up her Manifesto.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Saturday.

Arizona Vacation and REAL Saguaros!

As promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view), this is a post about our vacation to Arizona earlier this month. We left a day late because of a nasty snowstorm that dumped a foot of snow in the Salt Lake Valley. We had to make a few last-minute arrangement shuffles, but it was no real problem.

On the way driving down through Utah, part of Nevada and the length of Arizona, we had nice weather. Cool, but clear. On the second day, we stopped in an area of saguaros to get a glamour shot of Saguaro Sunset, the quilt I made for DH’s sister Annette and her husband Glenn.

Saguaros are HUGE!!  Did you know that Saguaro is pronounced Sa-WA-ro? The G is silent. Also, the saguaro’s scientific name, Carnegiea gigantea, is named after Andrew Carnegie? And the final interesting fact is that saguaros don’t grow their first arm (if they grow one at all) until they are 75-100 years old. They can live to be 150 years old. Saguaros are by far my favorite cactus, and so iconic and representative of the American Southwest.

Another photo to share is the picture of the McCartney Road turnoff on the highway just north of Tucson. Is it THE McCartney (Paul), you ask? Yes! Remember that Paul and Linda had a horse ranch out there - Linda had attended the U of Arizona in Tucson. And then there are the words in the Beatles’ song “Get Back”

Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner

But he knew it wouldn't last

Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona

For some California grass

That’s enough trivia for today, LOL, so let’s Get Back to the trip.....

The annual Tubac Arts Festival is a big thing in southern Arizona. It’s been going on for decades. But this year the weather was lousy (cool, windy, rainy) on Wednesday and Saturday. We arrived on Friday and did visit all the booths and vendors, although I didn’t buy anything this time. I was saving my money for the regular shops in Tubac, which we visit the week after Festival concludes. However, I did take a picture of one booth.

Just thought these old records made into wall hangings and clocks were a cool idea. And below is a picture of a large new statue in the sculpture garden in town. There are lots of them there - I had more pictures last year HERE - but this was my favorite this year.

One day we took a drive south to the border, all of 20 minutes by highway. We just went south on Interstate 19 - the only metric highway in the USA - to Nogales. The distances are in km, but the speeds are in mph so as not to confuse people. HA!!  

Anyway, the sheer number - acres and acres - of produce warehouses along this I-19 corridor from Rio Rico south to the border at Nogales is mind boggling. It is one of the major transportation arteries between the US and Mexico for produce. My desire was to see the border wall in Nogales - the one that has recently had concertina wire added to it that I read about in the Washington Post. The wall wasn’t difficult to find.

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In this next section, I’m going to rant. I don’t usually espouse my political views on my blog, and I promise not to make it a habit. But our visit to Nogales really affected me. 

Quick backstory: When I was a teenager, I spent the summer of 1970 in Europe and had the opportunity to visit Berlin and the Berlin Wall. I remember walking to the wall one evening with two friends from our hostel in West Berlin. There was a viewing platform we were able to climb, and we did. We couldn’t see much over the wall in the dark (although there was a street lamp), but we could see the backlit silhouette of an armed guard in a tower, watching us. It was silent, eerie, soul-draining. 

That same feeling struck me as I viewed this scene in Nogales.

Other visitors were there too, on foot and in cars, to take pictures. A Border Patrol vehicle was parked down the way to watch us. Actually, I had no problem with that - the agents are just doing their job. So I waved. At least they were on our side of the fence and presumably had no rifle trained on us.....

Don’t get me wrong. I understand why countries have borders and checkpoints and immigration protocols, and why we need to fund customs agents and technology, etc. etc. But somehow, dividing a city in two (probably a century or two ago) and then adding insult to injury by heaping literally tons of wire on the steel barrier....... REALLY?

I think this is not only SHAMEFUL, but WASTEFUL. Just how much frickin’ concertina wire do they need? The scale of the wall that divides Nogales, Arizona from Nogales, Mexico is massive and grows from a concrete base that is already up to a person’s thighs. Look at this young lady standing next to it (pic taken from our car). 

There was and is no logical reason, other than some bully show of machismo, to resort to this. But then that is the method of the current Administration. God help us all.

End of Rant.

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I did get some sewing done on our trip, but I’ll share those pictures in another post. Basically, I made about 60 elephant-themed Happy Squares (10”) and started some string blocks. But we also visited family, went out to dinner, hosted a family dinner, shopped, basked in the sun at the Beer Garden, did puzzles, read, watched a couple movies, stargazed through Bruce’s new telescope (wow! we could see craters on the moon!) took walks, etc. So relaxing. 

The house we stayed in belong to Bruce’s sister Annette and her husband Glenn. It is their second home. They obtained it (and all the contents from the previous owner) about a a year and a half ago, and have been working diligently to fix it up (new roof, new electrical, plumbing fixes, a new shower) and haul out over 8 dumpsters-ful of trash and years of previous-owner detritus. It was built in the sixties as a ranch - hacienda style as befitting the Arizona landscape.

The home was owned by “Amy”, who was a photographer who moved from North Carolina but lived in NYC most of her life. It is all of her and her family’s possessions that were given to Annette and Glenn - three generations worth. 

The front had a circular driveway with a fountain (not operational) in the center front. 

There was a large saguaro cactus at each intersection (entrance/exit) of the driveway to the front road.

See the holes in the saguaro below? Those are made by birds. Yep, saguaros often house birds and it’s not uncommon to see these holes (you can click to enlarge).

Inside, you enter into the massive living room (the door is at extreme left).

See the sofa in the picture above? That is the sofa upon which Madonna (the singer) posed nude for photographs taken by Amy and her partner. There are actual copies of the photos in the house (and on the internet, I might add).  We didn’t use this room at all except for egress. The furniture is all antique. 

Below: looking from the front door through the living room and the doors leading into the back area of the house (which was added later).

In the kitchen, you can look back through the doors and this 2-way hutch into the living room. That little round table was where I set up my sewing. Through the arched doorway is a butler’s pantry with a skylight.

Annette and Glenn have done so much to this place since we visited it last year. Glenn’s latest project is waxing and sealing these beautiful Mexican floor tiles. This is the view of the working area of the kitchen. So pleasant to look out these windows in the morning! The only thing we had to bring was our coffee pot and coffee grinder and beans (we’re kinda-sorta coffee snobs).

And this is the view in the other direction, looking through the large dining area to the sitting room. It’s where we spent the most of our time.

So many odd things about this house!! This is a little room built in the middle of this great dining-living area. In it is housed a lot of electrical stuff, cleaning supplies, etc. It was covered (as are a few other walls) with barn wood brought from North Carolina.  You can see some of the curiosities in the cubby cabinet to the right and the faux (non-working) fireplace to the left. Oh, I guess the cattle skull, branch wreath and wooden bowls are rather curious, too!

A view from the dining area to the back outside. You can see the covered patio, trees and an outbuilding (including dumpster!)

Same room looking back toward the kitchen. Here, you can see doors (left) that lead to a central enclosed atrium area. Amy used it as an office. It has a skylight. I used it for a well-lit daytime place to work on puzzles! The whole floorpan is rather circular in nature.

This was once a master bedroom. Right now it houses an amazing amount of vintage Victorian furniture; bed sets, armoire, chests, trunks, chairs, tables, etc.  and isn’t really ready yet for guests.

We stayed in the lovely guest room. The antique bed was as sturdy as the day it was built! Lots of antique furniture in here, too, but I’m only scratching the surface with all these pictures.

Outside in the huge yard (this house sits on about 4.5 acres), this is the view beyond the back fence.

Side yard.

Along the back patio. Remember, it’s still a work in process. But doesn’t it have great “bones”?!?!

We enjoyed staying here, and hosting a dinner (I made my family-famous Hungarian goulash) for the whole fam-damily and taking in all the beauty and antiquity. Annette and Glenn were so kind and generous to us, and we loved spending time with them. It felt like going from the outhouse (AKA the Bates Motel - the old family trailer) to the penthouse!

Annette has a fun sense of humor, just like Bruce. When she told us that the only thing we’d need to bring was a coffee pot, I jokingly lamented that I would miss not having to dodge the frozen snake meat in the freezer (Bruce’s brother Dennis, who owns the Bates Motel family trailer keeps snake meat specimens in the freezer there. Don’t ask; I don’t know why. It’s a well-known family fact).

About halfway through our visit, Annette asked me if I’d found anything interesting in the freezer there at Amy’s house and mentioned she’d left some frozen Key Lime Pie there if we wanted it (we didn’t). But when I went to look for it, I saw two other small containers. I opened them and just about died laughing. Annette had wrapped toy snakes in the containers!

That’s it for the vacation pictures! I’ll be back soon with an update on my quilting projects. Thanks for dropping by, especially if you read this novella all the way through!  xo

Welcome Yellow February!

January is over for another year - yay!  February is one step closer to spring, and I’ve been happily celebrating with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, yellow. We can generate the warmth and brightness of the sun right in our own studios! Come see what we’re all doing at our weekly Rainbow Scrap Saturday linkup.

I got a lot done with my yellow scraps in the last few days, primarily because we will be on vacation for a nice chunk of February. It seems I always tackle my selvages first, and once again it was so. First are the selvage 4-patches. The selvage patches are 4.5” unfinished. They’re paired with 4.5” patches of a low volume neutral to make 8.5” inch four-patch blocks. I made four blocks in yellow.

And I finished a row (14 blocks; 7 selvage tumblers, 7 colored fabric tumblers) for my selvage tumbler quilt. That’s not a very enticing name, but it’s just a working title for now.

I do plan to alternate the orientation of the tumblers every row, but yellow will be two rows away from red, so is cut the same way. As this will eventually be assembled in rainbow order, a row of orange tumblers (starting with an upside down orange fabric tumbler, then alternating) will go between these two rows. Come assembly time, I may have to make some additional tumblers or else trim the edges, not sure which yet. The row width as it is now measures about 43”. The height per row (after joining) will be 4”, so I’m figuring I’ll need about a dozen rows, and then a border to surround it all and get it to a good size for a donation quilt.

Next up were the Cracker blocks - seven of them.  My yellows are ranging from very pale to very gold, almost golden brown with some fabrics (which you’ll see when I post my string blocks later in the month). The Crackers are 7.75” unfinished.

And then the Anvil blocks. These are fun to chain piece and hence they whip up really fast! They will finish at 8” each, and I plan to mix all the colors merrily in the quilt.

If you only catch my blog on Rainbow Scrap Saturdays, you can use these links to check out two finishes I had during the week. Saguaro Sunset is HERE and the Pink Selvage Donation Quilt is HERE. Or you can click the 2019 QUILTS page tab above.

Next week won’t see much, if any, scrap sewing as we’ll be leaving for Arizona and I’m not taking my yellow scraps. I am taking Bob, however, my trusty back-up sewing machine. And I am taking scraps, but they’re multi-colored strings. I plan to get started on a long-planned string quilt inspired by this quilt. It’s called Diamond Frenzy, was sewn by Nancy Messier and it was pinned from Facebook. The best tutorial for these blocks (in my opinion) is from Molly Flanders’ blog, HERE.

Inspiration: Diamond Frenzy by Nancy Messier

Along with the Rainbow Scrap color of the month, I’m trying to get a donation quilt done every month (and more than one if I can) using that color. With yellow, I’ll be focusing on using up a lot of my stray gold fabric chunks (and other colors too) to frame this cute elephant fabric into Happy Blocks. I’ve cut out 50 center blocks of 6.5” blocks (yes, my hands are numb) and the strips. I'll plan to sew up two quilt tops from them.

I’m also bringing along the next Pineapple Quilt to start if there is time.  And if there isn’t, there is always the rest of February to work on it.

But needless to say, sewing will not be my highest priority on vacation, LOL!! This time Cousin Kim is not joining us, so Bruce and I will take two leisurely days to drive down to Tubac. This time, for the first time, we won’t be staying in the Bates Motel family trailer. Instead, we are staying in the second home of Bruce’s sister Annette and her husband Glenn.  We’ll have a whole, beautiful house to ourselves, and it’s up in the hills above the town. There are lots roads and trails for walking. The Tubac Arts Festival will be going on while we’re there, and that will be fun too.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy-Jig

We are home, and so glad to be here. You have no idea how glad. It was certainly a vacation to remember. But if you know me at all, you know I can’t leave it at that. First, though, I have to say that we had fun with Cousin Kim, who usually comes with us. And although I have a few new pictures to share of some things, the best pictures of our annual visits to Tubac, Arizona (just a half mile north of the Arizona/Mexico border, and even south of the checkpoint) are from previous visits and can be found if you click on “Tubac” in my word cloud link area in the right sidebar.

Let me show you the new pictures first, before I go into my rant tale of woe. The Tubac Arts Festival ran from the day before we got there until Sunday the 11th. The weather was picture perfect - mid-seventies.

 

Free rides in a horse-pulled wagon

Some of the side street crowds at the Festival

Our favorite place was the Beer Garden, a new feature at this year’s Arts Festival. Proceeds go to help maintain the DeAnza Trail and Presidio, where both Bruce’s sister Annette and her husband Glenn donate their time. There was beer, margaritas and entertainment. Plus gorgeous weather and good company!

We sat over to the side and our backs faced this little footbridge and dry creek (below). The footbridge crosses over into the new area of Tubac called The Barrio. In the Barrio are great new stores and restaurants and several dozen streets of new condominiums, plus a park and a sculpture garden.  We were just happy to take in the fresh air, sunshine, good music and to RELAX.

Once Festival was over, the weather turned cloudy, and by Wednesday it began to rain. Before that time we got some walking in and visited a couple of our favorite restaurants.  The following few pictures we took in the Sculpture Garden one morning.

Bruce and the kids playing

Bruce and Mark Twain talk about Things.

Cousin Kim

Cathy playing Ring Around the Rosie

The next couple pictures were snapped during walks around town. They show how some of the stores are brightly painted. And you can see that some merchants keep their wares out at night.

Once it began raining (in a steady, consistent manner that Bruce’s late sister Faye used to call a “female rain”), we pretty much stayed indoors and read, watched movies, and sewed. We left for home a couple days early because - well, rain in Arizona and snowstorms forecast for Salt Lake. We were smart to go and beat the weather.

And that’s about all you need to read unless you want to hear about the unsavory portions of our trip. I hope I don’t sound ungrateful, but I probably do. Oh well. After visiting Tubac almost every year (except last year because of Bruce’s cancer surgeries) for 15 years, one thinks one knows what to expect. First, some backstory. There were originally 6 siblings in Bruce's family, and they grew up in Bountiful, Utah. Now they all (except us here in Salt Lake)  live in Tubac, a town south of Tucson.

The oldest remaining sibling is Dennis, who owns the Tubac Trailer Tether (mobile homes, camping spots, laundromat and propane concession). Then there's Marv who lives in the Tether, Doug who also lives in the Tether with his significant other Katsi, and Annette and her husband Glenn who built a huge house in the Tubac hills when they retired from their California/US Navy life. Cousin Kim’s mom Faye was the eldest of the siblings when she was alive, but she passed away about 13 years ago. It is her mobile home that is designated for visiting family. We offered to pay once, and were laughed at. Not about the money, they said. So, we always come bearing gifts. This year it was quilts, wine, cheese - things they like and can’t get there in Tubac. Anyway, the last time we (or anyone else in the family) visited was 2 years ago. And the place hadn’t been cleaned in the meantime.

We arrived at the Bates Motel trailer on Thursday evening, the 8th. It was dark, late, and we just put fresh sheets on the beds and went to sleep. In the morning we surveyed the place. O.M.G. We were shocked. Our immediate and first trip was to the local market to get creamer for our coffee and some cleaning supplies. That’s what we did on Friday - clean. All day Friday. Kim scoured the bathroom (after two years of disuse, it was a major undertaking); Bruce vacuumed the cobwebs, furniture, floors, desiccated lizard, etc. I cleaned the kitchen, greasy dishes, light fixtures. We washed towels, curtains, windows, etc.

The steps and railings outside the trailer were hazardous and in need of repair; the toilet kept breaking down (Kim got the Golden Toilet Award for using a twist tie to fix the chain), and the doorknobs locked at will. Bruce had to climb in through the window once because the key wouldn’t work. But at least we had a place to stay. We may never go back, but we had a roof over our heads while we were there. For that I am grateful. But the rest.....

Dennis owns the park and employs brother Doug to do handiwork. They never thought (or cared) to have anyone pay any attention to the family trailer. Dennis is in his seventies and and it’s not about money - he is a millionaire. But he lives like a hoarder/pauper (which I mentioned in previous Tubac posts years ago). And that is his right - his choice. But I don’t know if we can go back to that, even to visit. And small-town lodging is hard to come by.


Anyway, once the place was cleaned up and we spent several hundred dollars on groceries for our stay, the single brothers came by every evening wondering what Kim and/or I were cooking for dinner. So yes, we prepared meals for 5 people (Bruce, Kim, me, Dennis and Marv) every. single. night.  So, we got the Bates Motel, and they got free cooking and cleaning and some minor repairs. Kim’s sister Carrie and her hubby are going down to visit the family later this spring. Carrie’s hubby Jeff is a contractor (he did our living room remodel) and we will prepare a list of Must Fix-it’s for him. And if we have to chip in on the repair costs, we will do it gladly. Just don’t make me stay there again in those conditions!!

So now we’re back home and it began snowing within a couple hours of us arriving home. Great timing, as we had clear roads all the way back. We are so grateful and happy to be in our clean and (relatively) spacious cottage. Bruce has gotten a “wild hair” and cleaned his man cave again (bathroom, which was cleaned before we left) and installed a carbon monoxide detector in the last 24 hours. It’s unbelievable how clean everything here seems!  :-)  The unpacking, laundry and grocery shopping are done, and I even got some sewing time in this afternoon. It is wonderful to be home, and we are so happy. Jiggedy-jig!!!

xo