Linda, I used to quilt all my quilts by hand, but now I machine quilt almost exclusively. This quilt I sent out to be longarm quilted by a member of my quilt guild. She did a wonderful job! I was thrilled with her work and I love my quilt. The fabrics used were 1930's reproduction prints, some authentic vintage 30's fabrics, and some plaids, checks and polka dots thrown in for a good mix. The 30's prints are what I call brighter pastels - very happy fabrics. I'm glad you like the quilt. It gives me such pleasure twice a day - when I make the bed in the morning and when I pull back the covers to go to bed at night. Teresa

We chose this town 26 years ago when our 3 children were approaching school age because of it's small town feeling, excellent schools and character. It's just across the river from Philadelphia which makes it a suburb in the typical sense and I guess technically it's a township, a subdivison of a county. Our region is so built up that for the most part you can't tell when you leave one town and enter another. My town is 15 square miles and the population is under 20,000 with about 5000 families. In spite of recent development we still have farms which have been preserved from sub division. The town was founded in 1682 and has a strong Quaker heritage, the Quaker Meeting House is at the main intersection in town. We still have many beautiful old homes lining the tree shaded streets. In fact we're officially a Tree City and in 2000 Money magazine named it the number one town. We're only 20 minutes from Philly, 30 minutes from the airport, an hour from the ocean, 90 minutes from Manhattan, and 2 hours from the PA mountains. I love the fine old homes, huge trees, small town center, the old cemeteries, the local farm stand, and the history. The Lenni Lenape tribe were the original inhabitants attracted to the area because of it's natural springs. During the Revolution Hessian soldiers camped just off Main Street while retreating from Philadelphia, Lafayette stayed at a farmhouse and one beautiful old home was a stop on the Underground Railway. I appreciate the fact that our school system is a manageable size. There were about 200 in the senior class when my kids graduated. That was the primary reason for moving here. We wanted a town with its' own school system where our children would go to school with the same kids they went to church with or sat with in the orthodontist's office or played baseball with in the summer. It's a town where many of the children who grew up here and went off to college moved back when they had families to raise. I love the strong community spirit and the volunteers who who organize the activities in town - Candlelight Night, Town Day, the parade, the charitable 5K runs, scarecrow making on the community center lawn, Easter egg hunts, the Strawberry Festival, the Blueberry Day, Family Day at the park and all the sports for kids etc. But it is the people who live here, my neighbors who make this a wonderful community. It's a town that I'd love to live in until I die and with any luck one of my children can purchase our home for their own family some day.

I expect it will be a bit of a challenge for them, BUT that's good--learning a new place, meeting new people, finding a niche for themselves are all GOOD things, and those pursuits will keep them active and on the move. We are far more active now--we were starting to stagnate just a little at the other place. We had it all fixed the way we wanted it, we had established friendships that didn't require much work--here, we've had to get out of ourselves just a bit to make this work. It will be a good move for them--they'll do fine, and will no doubt love the new place once they have settled in.

I'm afraid there are several other areas out there like this. There are a lot of peoplewho would love to help them, but are going to areas where there is currently too much help and are getting turned away. Sharing the story where it will get more publicity may help them to get more help directed their way.