U.F.O.'s Sighted in Phoenix, Arizona!

All right, friends and family....are you ready? It's time to get back to a little blogging, but with a new theme for the summer of 2011.

Little Flag for a friend with a new home

Back of Flag Quilt with hand drawn label

Do you believe in UFO's? I sure do because I have about 20 of them in my sewing room. No, they're not the kind with little green aliens. They are incomplete quilting projects, otherwise known as Un-Finished-Objects. 

 This summer I plan to try to finish a handful of these UFO's and will post my progress here, along with other tidbits of fascinating news from the Sheps in AZ.  Here's a glimpse into Mission Control Headquarters where we'll be keeping tabs on all the UFO sightings.  Most days, we just call it "Grammy's Sewing Room."  

   

Craft table and fabric storage closet

Cozy spot for hand sewing

Betsy Bernina, faithful friend

I made the Flag Quilt over Memorial Day Weekend just to reassure myself I knew how to start and finish a project.  Cutting and sewing went well, quilting was fast because the project was small.  I had a hard time recalling details about binding techniques, but in the end remembered it all without referring to instructions.  Guess my quilting brain is still functioning after all.  

The project on the sewing table is a signature quilt - a wedding gift for friends. Blocks were made ahead of the date to have on hand for wedding guests to sign at the reception.  These friends are celebrating their 10th anniversary today. Oops! Where did the time go?? Hopefully, it will be completed by the end of June and become my first finished UFO.   Stay in touch for news of future UFO sightings!

Does anyone other than me feel surprised that it's been three years since we left Muskegon? Or that we have three MORE grandsons than we did that day?? We drove away on February 6, 2007. There was plenty of snow on the ground and it wasn't a very auspicious day to begin a cross-country trip. We had planned a leisurely drive to Phoenix, which would include visits with family/friends in Illinois & Texas.

A horrible ice storm delayed us by a couple days; we barely arrived in time for Tom to begin his new job on February 12! But, here we are 3 years from that trip; life has settled into pleasant routine and familiar patterns. We could still stand to decrease some of our worldly possessions to fit more comfortably into our home, but by and large we are unpacked, organized (and re-organized) and settled in. It took longer than I thought it would to reach this comfortable point, but we did a lot of painting and fixing up of the house along the way, which had us in redecorating mode for a long while. We miss far away family, friends and grandsons; but this is truly home now and we enjoy our life here so much.

Our Yard

A friend in Michigan has asked to see pictures of our yard.
Here are a few recent photos, taken on a particularly beautiful day:
Our lemon tree, my pool boy (hmm - slacker?), west side of yard
and a northeast view. Isn't that sky gorgeous?

Cannonballs in the Pool - Like Father, Like Son!

The Khatir Boys work on their cannonball stylings, some of which involve landing on Grammy's head.

Owl Sighting!

A couple weeks ago, we discovered a young owl in our front courtyard. It was hopping around by the front door, perhaps searching out something to eat. When we stepped outside, it flew up into the tree near the patio we got these great photos. He puffed himself up to look huge and scary and his eyes were like saucers! After a while, he settled down and got to looking a bit smaller.  We think it was probably a Western Screech Owl, according to information in our bird books. Collin thought he was cute and wanted to pet him. Grammy and Pa assured him that was NOT a great idea, but we sure enjoyed watching him while he stayed around.

Bad Quilting Grammy

Sheep Quilt for a Shepherd Baby

I'm so far behind in the quilting projects I'd like to do. Caleb is 5 months old and his quilt, though nearly finished, should've shipped with his cradle back in March. Poor little Peter doesn't even have a scrap cut out for his quilt, though a nice robot quilt for his big boy room is shaping up in my head. Our newest, about-to-be-born grandson might have something by the time he is a month old. I'd better get to my sewing room and quit this blogging stuff!

Sick Day

Today was one of those rare cloudy days in the desert. Pleasantly warm, but very gray. Actually, it was a perfect day to recuperate from a bout of influenza. When Tom left for work this morning, his orders were, "No housework or gardening today. Do something like sorting papers." What kind of medical advice is that? It didn't sound like much fun, so in-between naps and glugging lemon water, I've been poking around on the computer instead. Then I remembered...hey, I have a blog!!

It seems that NONE of the family is blogging these days. Guess we are too busy. Maybe it's time we all called it quits. If no one's paying attention and no one's putting up any new news, what's the point?  But today, it seems more fun than 'sorting papers'.