A Blast From The Past

Last week was one of the most unexpectedly busy and unusual weeks I'ver ever had. Not only did I have a flurry of calls and orders from stitchers and stores all over the country for my new pattern, ONE LONG PANEL, but totally out of the blue, I got an email/query from a friend I'd lost touch with many years ago.

Thanks to this wondrous thing called the worldwide Internet, my old friend Liz and I have reconnected and it's been so much fun talking to her again. After firing off a string of emails back and forth, we agreed to meet "face to face" in a video call on SKYPE. Once our computers connected to each other, we were able to see one another, and of course, the first thing we both said to each other as we were jumping up and down is: "YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED A BIT!!!" And then we were OFF, chattering and laughing and getting caught up on 30 years worth of stories.

Here's Liz (and her wonder dog Lucas) from umpteen years ago, when we first met...and yes, I'm the one taking the picture:


That's my horse, Final Appeal, a Quarter horse I got straight off the race track who didn't know diddly except running hard in a straight line. He was SOOOOOO young and nervous and green and inexperienced. And frankly, so was I.

Enter Liz Mooz, horse trainer extraordinaire! With the patience of a saint and more contagious enthusiasm than anyone I'd ever met, she spent a lot of time working with me and Appeal so that eventually, he became a calm and collected pleasure horse, and I became a much more confident rider.

Those years I spent riding and working with Liz, going to horse shows and just plain revelling in all that horsey-ness were truly some the best years of my life. Eventually our paths separated and Liz moved out of state to become a nationally known horse trainer and breeder of the most extraordinary horses, while I found my own niche in the stitchery world. Incidently, Liz is now a personal chef in the Lebanon, Indiana area (check out Liz' blog: The Nutrition Police News.....which might actually force her to write some more on her blog - big grin here...)

Liz, I can't tell you how glad I am you contacted me after all these years....and I can't wait to SKYPE again and catch up on aaalllll the other stuff we have to share with one another! And oh yeah Liz, here's a photo I found of my beloved Appaloosa, Stormy - the club-footed, one-eyed jumper. Remember this terrific guy???


(And All You Stitchers Out There: if you ever think about old friends you've lost touch with, why not try Googling their names and see if you can find them online. The experience is one I would highly recommend!)