charlotte and butterball

I realize that I haven't posted in a while. The week so far has just been awful. Everything that could go wrong (not the major stuff like the roof caving in but all the small stuff like the toilet overflowing stuff) did and any faith that I had in humanity was just about gone. It seems (ed) as if you just can't count on people anymore to be reliable, honest, trustworthy, etc. The worst part was that Winston and I got locked out of our house yesterday after our walk in the freeing, sleet we were having in Rochester. Our neighbor had our old key, there was no one at the fire house (what's with that?) and finally after almost one and a half hours and no other options that I could think of, wet and tired, I called a locksmith who in another half hour drove into the driveway and with a few little tools opened the lock. He was no James Bond, but we heard that wonderful "click" as it unlocked. Winston and were both soaked and freezing so he proceeded to lie down on a heat vent and I changed into some warm gym pants and a sweatshirt and went under the covers. Then afer complaining A LOT, I got an incredibly lovely note from someone in the Doll Quilt Swap who doesn't even know me but has been emailed me before with words of encouragement. The kindness of a complete stranger was so amazing to me and so incredibly nice to get I couldn't believe how different these few sentences made me feel. I've found the nicest people through Etsy and the virtual groups. There must be something unusual about creative people who are as in tune with the emotions of others as they are with the colors, textures, whatever, of their crafts. Thank you all so much for kind words and understanding. I am so grateful to have found this communitiy of people who clearly see the world in a different way and share their goodness and exuberance with others. So... tomorrow a good friend whom I haven't seen in over a year (who has been quilting for almost 30 years)and has had her share of BIG heartaches, is coming over for the day to chat, have lunch, share quilting tips and meet Winston. I have nothing planned for the weekend and so I plan to practice my fussy cut blocks and get started and hopefully finished on my doll quilt. The world seems like a good place to be again, at least for today and all week long I've had a chance to see the incredible quilts that members have submitted to the doll quilt swap. They are all magnificent to me and so far from my abilities but there were a couple that left me speechless - see what I mean.