On To The Next Chapter

The very last customer came into the shop at 4:25 on Wednesday afternoon...Kathy had been the president of the local guild a few years ago and has always supported the shop. It was wonderful that she was the last customer...rather than a random person that I'd never seen just coming for that last bargain.
I got the most wonderful surprise on Wednesday late morning...the phone rang and a voice on the other end of the phone started talking...she asked how everything was going, was I excited, what was I going to do first after the shop closed and several other fun questions...I just couldn't figure out who it was...well she said "You don't know who this is, do you" I said "No, I really don't"...she said it's "Darlene, from Arizona" OMG! I squealed and screamed, poor Darlene probably doesn't have her hearing back in that ear yet. What a sweetheart...she said she just had to call on my last day to wish me all the best. I can't even begin to tell you how that made me feel. I think I smiled all the rest of the day.
When Andy and I were having breakfast on Wednesday, I said "I know that we made the right decision to close the shop, because I don't have a single regret." Well that was confirmed later in the day. A lady I hadn't seen for a long time came in early afternoon. She said she had to come in before I closed to tell me that she was so happy for me, that I had decided to retire. Then she started to cry, she began to tell me the story of her husband who had retired about 9 months ago and had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's recently. With medication he has about 3 years that he'll be "OK" say the doctor's then after that they will be pretty much staying home. She said they are cramming all their years of retirement into the next several years. He's only 63. So she said she was so happy that we decided to do what we are doing and retire early so we can enjoy each other and do what we want to do. WOW! By then we were both crying, she apologized for dumping on me and I thanked her over and over for sharing her story with me...One more confirmation that we are doing the right thing.
Then at the very end of the day, 2 of my very favorite gals called, one at about 4:50 telling me she had a bus load of ladies that wanted to come by...we laughed and laughed...she wanted to wish me well one more time...she's not going to be rid of me because I'm going to her house to sew when the dust settles. And then the final call was from the president of the other large guild in the area, and always a supporter of the shop, to say that she was on her way and would I wait for her...then she laughed and said she was just teasing, she was really home and wanted to say "ENJOY" one more time.
I am such a lucky girl...I have such wonderful people in my life. Now on to the next wonderful chapter of my life.

Quite a Week

It's early Monday morning and I'm looking back at last week now that it's past. WHEW! All I know is that it flew by...We started the 40% off everything in the shop so needless to say it was very busy. The shop is getting very sparse...also on Wednesday my Zack had to have knee surgery...he blew out his knee so just like a human they fixed it. Andy's been playing nurse for him...medicine, ice packs, heating pads and thankfully he's doing very well. Next Monday the stitiches come out and then he just has to heal. He looks pitiful...all shaved in 3 places...his hind quarter, a spot above his tail where they gave him an epidural so they didn't have to use so much anisthesia, and a place on his front leg where they had the IV in. He is being a very good patient and his brother Howie is also being very good. He sits right next to him making sure he's OK.
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I got the nicest surprise in the mail on Wednesday afternoon...Wendy, over at Snippets of a Quilter, saw my Paducah Nine Patches and send me these to add to my quilt. I was so thrilled. This is going to be the BEST quilt! There is not a group of people out in the world better than quilters.
 
Saturday one of my customers/friends came in the shop with this wonderful sticker for me...it says it all
 
My life is good...good health, good friends, a wonderful husband, a new chapter of my life...it couldn't be any better!

Off to get ready for the last 3 days at the shop...Have a wonderful day everyone!

Can you tell I need sleep?

I wrote an entry last night to tell you about my fun mail from Nicole...put up the pictures or so I thought and there were none...so I deleted...but it showed up on Bloglines...so anyone who read it there last night probably thinks I'm nuts because there were no pictures...So this morning I did the pictures again and posted, forgetting that I had deleted my post, so you don't know about my little girl...oh I must sleep.
Sharon, at redgeraniumcottage.typepad.com, has been telling me for a while that I need one of these little girls. So off I went to Nicole's website and found this little one...she has little animals on her dress and so she had to come live with me. She's in my sewing room watching everything I do. She just makes me smile.

Here are the Pictures

I have no clue, but Picassa and Blogger just weren't playing nice last night so I tried again this morning...Hopefully when I hit the publish button the pictures will really be there...here's my little girl wrapped in her tissue...with her tiny little voice..."Let me out!




Here she is...my first little Annie...I think she's going to need a friend.

And the Winner IS...Drumroll...

Nan over at Quilting in Doxie Land! YIPPEE! You are the winner of the drawing for my first year Bloggiversary!
I'm sorry I didn't get to do this yesterday like I had planned. Yesterday was the first day of the BIG sale at the shop...by the time I got home I was just too pooped to pop...so I thought I'd wait until this morning. I was afraid to put scissors in my hand and cut apart all the entries. Thanks to all of you for your wonderful wishes on both my bloggiversary and my retirement. I am looking forward to spending time with Andy, traveling with him, sewing and of course blogging. Someone wrote and asked if I was going to stop blogging now that I was going to be retired...NO! Quite the opposite I hope. I hope to blog more...have more pictures to post, since I'll have more time to sew and blog and take pictures.
I have met so many wonderful gals in my year of blogging I'm looking forward to building those friendships and meeting more wonderful gals.
I'm going to sit in my floating chair in the pool for a while and see if I can muster enough energy to do something productive today...if not I'll just store the energy for the rest of the week. Have a great Sunday!

Oh What a Day...

Sounds like a song...no that was Oh what a night...I must be showing my age. Well, this was quite a day. Not only is today my Very First Blogiversary...it is the day that I told my customers that I am retiring. The shop will close on August 22.
First I want to thank all of you who read my blog and comment how much I enjoy hearing from you. You all have become a very special part of my life. I have made some wonderful friends here in blogland and am very thankful each day. So as many before me have done...I am going to have a prize package for a lucky winner of my Comment drawing...leave a comment between now and Friday evening and I will have my trusty assistant Andy draw a name out of the hat. I look forward to another fun year of blogging and now that I won't be working any more and will have time to sew, sew, sew....I'll have lots more to blog about.
We knew that we were making the right decision about closing the shop and spending retirement together...even though Andy will still be doing his consulting work, and traveling...it was confirmed this evening when I got an e-mail from a gal whose husband had recently retired and went to play golf, had a massive heart attack on the golf course and died right there. She wrote to me and said that this was the best decision I could make...spend time with them while you have them...you just never know what will happen. That just confirmed it. I'm looking forward to spending time with Andy and I'm looking forward to spending LOTS of time in my sewing room...so ladies, you'll be hearing lots more from me.
Again, thank you for a wonderful year. You've taught me more than you'll ever know...here's to another year.
Send in those comments...

Well there just isn't much quilting going on here...don't know what's going on...good intentions...I know about that road and good intentions. I'll get back on track. Here's a picture of a charity quilt that we made while we were at the beach. Sue and I each got one done. It is very easy, really almost brainless, goes pretty quickly, but it is just tedious sewing.
 

It's made with one jelly roll...this is the Hampton's jelly roll by Minick and Simpson. It turned out to be a very nice size and I think it will go to one of the VA hospitals...they can sure use them. Our friend Patti gave us the directions, she had gotten them from a gal in Austin, TX...aren't quilters just the best!

These 3 blocks are for a swap that I'm in...got them done just in time...whew! How do these months come to an end so fast. I thought I had plenty of time.  


Tomorrow is my 1st Bloggiversary...I can't believe it's been a year since I started this journey...more tomorrow. Have a great day!