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Hi Quilters, I have been on a whirlwind trip for the past 3 weeks and I am looking for some help! First, I have a quilter who wants to take a Crazy Shortcut Quilts Class in northwest Oklahoma. I am looking for shops info, classes, teachers, anyone with info that I can share with this quilter to help her out – -can you help? Do you know anyone in that area who has made a Crazy Shortcut Quilt or who is teaching the class nearby?

Second, after 31 years of living in Alaska, I am ready to throw in the (frozen) towel. Traveling to Arizona and then coming back to the beginning of winter in Alaska was my tipping point. I am ready for change. I would LOVE to hear from quilters in the northwest of Arizona or southeast Nevada area. This would be a major life change for me and I’d love to chat with anyone else who has made that transition!

This weekend finds us outside finishing some work on the house before it gets too cold. Thankfully it’s gorgeous and warm and we hope to get a lot done 🙂

My friend Susan Round is having a quilting retreat on her blog this weekend. Stop on by and check out her group and their works and join in if you have time to quilt this weekend. Whatever you are doing this weekend I hope that you enjoy it to the fullest!

Are you a member of a weight loss or fitness group? I have been watching my pal Laura and her progress on Spark People and I just joined today. I am almost obese according to their numbers but what’s worse than that is that I look and feel like blended Jell-O in stretched skin.

I’ve been sitting for too long (a couple of years) with almost no exercise and it shows.

So, I am starting the quest for better health and I wonder what my other pals are doing or using?

I am setting a low goal of going for a walk every day and no more whining about the weather unless it’s raining on ice, in which case I fall a lot, and that’s where I’ll be drawing the line.

Help me out and tell me what you do, what are your goals and what helps you stay on track, okay?

Stolen: half a month’s bandwidth at $65/month!!

Sarah, Audrey and I keep trying to find easier ways to stay in touch. We bought webcams and have tried Yahoo!, Google Talk and then Skype. Then Tom got the monthly cable bill and we were charged for a humungous amount of usage. We went looking and found that the day I downloaded Skype, our bandwidth was maxed out. Not by the download or usage, but because they routed their traffic through our router & computers!!

Theft is what I call it, plain and simple and stupid me for letting it happen. I knew Skype’s reputation (bad) but had been reading about all those free calls (free because Tom is paying for our bandwidth – which they steal and give away!)

I had no idea that their business operation was funded on stolen bandwidth! The jerks! I don’t support P2P, pirating music, copyright theft and now I don’t support bandwidth theft either.
Link to research #1 Link to article #2 Link to article #3

Have you heard about this comet? It’s supposed to be visible to both hemispheres, visible to the naked eye, and fascinating to watch!

From this page: “Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn’t draw you out of bed, nothing will. [sky map]”

I don’t know the declination, but my guess is that it is lower than the mountains surrounding Seward to the southwest. I’ll try to see it anyway 🙂

I never thought I’d like blogging, but I am more of a writer and show off than I had imagined. I have about 20 blogs started, plus a few lenses at Squidoo, and it feels messy. I love Google and Blogspot has been very good for me in terms of learning how to blog and making me curious about other blogging platforms, and CSS and now PHP. More than I planned on learning but I am enjoying it!

I’ve learned that not all blogging platforms are the same, a lot of features are more rich on WordPress, although Blogspot holds the key to blogrolling! What it all means is that I have found that Squidoo is good for having something to say that doesn’t change (how-to), Blogspot is great for continual updates along one tangent (lifeblog, workblog, eventblog) and WordPress is good for both. So, I’ve been learning WordPress and been slowly migrating in that direction.

The thing is, my blogging is changing too. Direction and style.

I am learning about video blogging; I’ve written a novel and a half; I want to make the art quilts I’ve been sketching for ten years; I want a blog where I can write about it all – with video updates, downloadable tips/patterns, static page tutorials as well as updates on life in general.

I spend (waste?) a LOT of time on the internet and find cool (exciting, “hot” whatever your word is) stuff and I want to post about that too – -and the super neat people that I find on the net.

So, my blogging is going to change and it’s not all going to be quilting. It may or may not be interesting to you so I am not going to force a re-direct. It’s your choice if you want to see what I am up to.

I call it Marguerita’s Mess – – welcome to my world.

PS. I used to write my opinions on a separate blog – now they are all integrated on one, so you get the nice with the naughty. Fair warning 🙂

I am sorry to say that the blog rings on RingSurf are not working. I have been testing them on & off all day and finally have contacted them and am awaiting a reply. I know that the rings have been down for about a day so far and I can’t wait any longer for them to fix things without posting about it.

I love surfing the rings – I find some great blogs that way! Update: I created a tutorial on how to create a new blog ring here and here. It’s easy and I enourage everyone on ringsurf to change over and replace their ring on alt-webring.com Click Here

This has been a “do stuff I have to (because I’ve been putting it off) instead of having fabric fun” week. Web stuff (I struggle with it), working on kitchen floors (2 kitchen floors this week – trust me, you don’t want to know the details). Yuk. My hands are sore & scraped and my attitude is not good.

Stashbusters group has a philosophy of “quilt (or sew) for 15 minutes a day, everyday” and it’s a good one. I haven’t touched my machine for 5 days and it feels like a year. Next week is all mine, with fabric fun every day – a promise to myself. I’ve been dreaming of those fabric bracelets and I have a few ideas I want to try out. Stay tuned 🙂