Kidnapped... maybe... maybe not...

This isn't quilt related but i have to get something off of my chest.

There was a story that broke last week about a woman who kidnapped a child 8 years ago and that she and the child had been found. This story shocked me to my core. The "kidnapper" is a woman that has worked for me on and off for three years. i knew she had a child that her mother was raising the age of the kidnapped child, so i knew the child was most likely the missing child, but i knew in my heart there was more to the story. Krystle is a kind, sweet girl and she wouldn't hurt a flea. She isn't a drug head like people want to believe, and she isn't some monster. She is a happy go lucky girl with a beautiful smile and a joyful, christian heart.

So this is what i do know. She worked here in 2009 when we first opened. I hired her and 3 of her cousins. The cousins all quit or got fired, but we kept her because she had a good work ethic and was good with customers. At some point in the beginning we all stood around talking about babies and she showed us a picture of a cute little 5 yr old that she claimed was hers. Now the police have asked if she claimed it like he was her biological child or not... i don't know what was in her heart, i know i talked about a child that i consider MINE who lived with me for a year, but I'm not his biological mother. She told me her mother was raising him. Since she was young, i figured it was best.

Sometime that year or in 2010 she got pregnant and the first trimester was really hard on her. We had to let her go because she couldn't get through a shift without getting morning sickness and wanting to go home.  Krystle brought the baby by to see us after she had him and has been an acquaintance since.. the kind of acquaintance that you stop and talk to in the grocery store. Her baby is an adorable, animated kid.

About 8 months ago, we were ready to hire again and she had asked for her job back. I hired her back. She has been working with me since but about 2 months ago she started getting sick again, and we all knew she was pregnant. We stopped scheduling her till after the first trimester. A week before she was arrested she told us she was over the morning sickness and wanted to come back to work till she had her baby and i was ready to schedule her.

Then we got the news that Monday night and i was in total disbelief. Like i said, i knew there was more to the story....

What local people told me off the bat is the woman gave her the baby. That they didn't file kidnapping charges because the biological mom wouldn't cooperate with the investigation. What i deducted and decided was truth is that the woman gave her the baby... at some point she wanted it back and Krystle and her family wouldn't give him back. Bio mom went to the police and when she decided it was too much trouble for a few more food stamps, she stopped cooperating.

As news broke, i have watched it. the police reported she has "evaded" police for 8 years. Well she worked here under her real name, got food stamps under her real name, went and bailed her brother out of jail using her real name... she hasn't been hiding anything. They say she isn't cooperating. When i talked to the police i asked if she had an attorney yet, they said no, they haven't appointed one yet. my response was... then she doesn't HAVE to cooperate does she? Get her an attorney so that she CAN cooperate. They say she has been hiding the baby in San Aug for all this time. NO... the only time she has had this child was over the summer, her sister had brought him up here and she had him for a week or two. She brought him in to meet us, i saw her in the grocery store with him... if she has been hiding him here all this time why did she suddenly bring him out of the closet?

So the baby was found, Krystle's sister had him and turned him in. She claims she didn't know he was kidnapped, which... I'm not sure Krystle even thought of him as kidnapped since momma gave him to her. Bio momma shows up on the news crying (well kinda) and saying she missed her baby and was praying he'd come back to her. Things are not looking good for Krystle at this point, comments on stories were breaking my heart. People were calling her a monster. I wanted to scream, i know this girl and shes not a monster. Its just not in her... its not a case of the neighbor saying "he seemed like a nice man, before he murdered his whole family" no... i know in my heart that she is a good person with a good heart.

OH... and Cunningham from the local police department... said in an interview "she calls the child dirty" ugh, i wanted to scream with this too. Its just a nickname and the chief of a city that is 80 percent black should know that is just a cultural thing. There are three grown men in this town that go by the nickname dirty. My dishwasher is Huggy. Krystle's nickname is Black. Its like a white kids parents nicknaming him Bubba. Cunningham did it well though because in the American public's eye they could see this woman abusing the child, degrading him and locking him in a closet. But its NOT that... its just a nickname said with love and affection!

I tried to see her a couple times. The chief said i could come down and he would let me but every time i did he was in "interviews" and i couldn't get in to see her.

But today... finally a new light is shining on the case. A family came forward that is raising biological mommas other children. There are 4 other children that this woman gave to them. It was just supposed to be for a few weeks, but that has turned into 8 years and biological momma hasn't even bothered to call or see how the kids were doing. (far cry from her story on one show that her and her children would pray every night that he would come back to them) They said they don't think the child was kidnapped, that momma gave Krystle the baby. They are also filing for custody of the child so that he can grow up with his other siblings. Thank God there is someone who does know the truth. Someone who knows who the real monster in this story is.

I had to get this off my chest. Krystle sat at my thanksgiving table with her boyfriend and 2 year old. She is a good girl, she is a good mother with a beautiful child of her own and one more on the way. Did she do it right? not really, they should have gone to cps and gotten custody of the child 8 years ago when momma abandoned him... but do i understand why a young black woman from a small southern town that is 80 percent black but doesn't employ one black police officer didn't want to go to CPS or the police? yeah, i understand why.

Please keep Krystle, her family and these children in your prayers.

Simpler life and Spring

It hasn't been much of a winter in East Texas, not surprising since we had the hottest and driest summer on record last year. This winter we have seen some rain but its been unusually warm. (our pipes didn't freeze once this winter, usually we have to fight the freeze 3 or 4 times a winter!)

Spring has me wanting to do yard work. I spent all day Sunday cleaning up the yard, burning the burn pile of tree limbs i trimmed last summer (it had been piled for over a year because of burn bans). and then trimming trees and making a new pile! lol. Ralph every spring used to pick up flats of flowers on his way home from horseshoeing but he hasn't the last few years because we have been so busy. I asked if he would again this year so today when i get home there should be some pretty flowers to start planting.

Spring has me wishing i didn't work so much and i could spend more time doing other things. I find i can be Queen of Zippys or Queen of my house, but i cant be both and for two years i have ignored the house for zippys. I find myself today struggling with wanting to be Queen of my home and not here at zippys. Yesterday i took the afternoon off and went home to mow my lawn. I got most of the front done before i ran out of gas.

I also did some plumbing repairs. Last year i ran a water line to one of the horse lots. (beats lugging a hose back and forth between them.) BUT... this big goofy horse....

has a fascination with water hoses and he broke the water line while playing with the short hose from the faucet to the trough! We got home the other night to a flooded driveway and yard because of his shenanigans! He really is a goof ball, very playful and very curious. Makes him lovable but boy can he get into some trouble! I repaired the line to that pen and ran another line off of it to the front pen. Im so proud of myself for finishing these... we have talked for years about how wonderful it would be to have waters at each lot.
There is so much i want to accomplish at home to make it a nice home for us and for the kids and grandkids to visit... but i put blinders on each night we go home because there is no way i can with what time and money i have. Its frustrating and overwhelming... but there is something about spring that screams to me that it is time, it is time to start living life and doing those things i want to do!

Then i somehow ended up on a "simpler life" blog line today. Let me just say having grew up in farmland and living on a ranch... there is nothing "simple" about raising your own food and not relying on preprocessed food from the grocery store so the "simple" part of that trend kinda makes me smirk. Simple is going to the grocery store and buying a carton of yogurt... not simple is getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to milk bessie so that you can make your own!  BUT i do understand the desire to do these things and all the work that goes along with it.

all this has me wanting something other than what i have today. I would love to stay home more, plant a garden, spend some time sewing, finish the remodeling jobs in my house. I would love to be outdoors and take care of the animals and fix fences and water lines. I would love to be a grandma that can babysit grandbabies and have them come visit me. I would love for our sundays to be filled with family instead of us spending the little time we have maintaining our lives outside of zippys.

I really am wanting more and im trying to decide what to do about it. We have been working 12-15 hour days 6 days a week. We are avoiding paying payroll this way and we are maintaining quality and excellence at zippys which is important to us. BUT... im thinking the time has come to hire again. To find at least one or two employees that can give us some time off for balance. the question is where is the money going to come from and how do we find employees as committed to excellence as we are... but i think its time to find a way to give me at least one other day off. One other day to be queen of my home.

superbowl sunday!

Ok... i figured it out, last year i lost my quilting mojo for about a month... this year i did too. Its superbowl sunday! We spend a week getting ready for it, a day of crazy work, then a week to get over it! Im still trying to get caught up at home on housework!!

BUT... here and there i have been working on this....

Its going to be a bathmat when i finish it.....

lets see what else.....

we have a new grandbaby!!! (no i haven't finished her quilt yet)

This is Sophie Elizabeth... shes a pretty little thing!

one friday night, some of the kids showed up at zippys... we had to take a group shot. Here we have Ralph, Ally, Caty, Leah, Dallas, Waylon, Buck, Sharon holding Sophie, Trinity, Me and Destiny! I know its quite a clan... but there are 3 kids and 6 grandbabies not pictured!!

and to wrap things up... how bout some food porn.... these are the rocky road brownies i made for zippys today!

My Zig didn't Zag!

yesterday morning we babysat Waylon. We're their only babysitter and its the 2nd time in his life I've babysat him.... so he doesn't take well to momma leaving him.

So... he cried if i looked at him... he was fine if i pretended he wasn't there. That takes all the fun out of babysitting grand babies!! I pretended i didn't watch him scatter crayons all over the sewing room floor, and pretended i didn't see him scatter my embroidery floss from one end of the room to the other (but it was entertaining him for a LONG time) While i was pretending to not watch him.... I started sewing rows together on the zig zag quilt. I guess i wasn't paying attention because i sewed them together wrong! lol. My zig didn't zag!!

So... i guess we have a date with the seam ripper....

But since i didn't want to get into that today... guess what i did... I started another project!

its 1/2 a square... that's all i finished today but its from my tan and red bits bins and my string bins (the newly organized bins!!!)  The strips are 1 1/2 in wide so its a small block, but I'm making a small project... a bath mat for my bathroom. I'm going to use a towel for the batting. I am tired of using a towel as a bathmat!
I finished the borders on the "I Love Lucy Sophie" quilt. They have decided to name her Sophie Elizabeth instead of Lucille Betty Ann. (I'm glad but i think i hurt their feelings when i told them i was)

I just used scraps I had left over from the blocks. I'm happy with how it turned out. I need to buy batting and quilt it yet. She's supposedly due at the end of February but her doctor said it could be any day!


 Ive been watching "scrap attack" over at Stitched in Color and I'm going to link up there today.

WIP Wednesday - I love Lucy

I have finished piecing the hearts for I love Lucy and I just need to add a border to it. I think im just going to use left over 4" strips from the hearts. It seems a little big for a baby blanket... but i do like how its coming along.

I have also been working on the baby quilt for Jess' baby Keagan. He is due in April. I was inspired by this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts. I really like her quilts and this one spoke to me as something i haven't done, something easy and quick and would be appropriate for a little boy. I have started cutting and sewing my rails this past week. I am going to do my blocks on point so that my zigs and zags go across the quilt.

On a side note... what is up with the waking up at 2 am thing. Since thursday I have woke up at 2 am, I get up, putter around, clean house, and sew till about 5:30 when i am tired finally and I go back to sleep till about 8 am. I dont like the middle of the night time... it used to be i just got up at 4:30 or 5:30... but the middle of the night thing is weird.

But i have made progress on organizing:

This is the "blue" pile so far on top of a FULL box of ironed strings. Im going to have to work on a string quilt soon. 

I now have these nifty containers for my precut squares:

the cool thing is they are free! you get them with stamps from the grocery store (we buy some groceries for the restaurant there so i have ALOT of stamps) I have one for my 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2 in squares. I also have one for tiny bits that im going to do something with someday and for the HST's I started for an Ocean Waves Quilt. I need about 4 more and I'll put my bigger chunks in them sorted by color.

I folded and put away all of my yardage

I have 7 boxes total... not alot but enough when needed. It was a mess though!

And current projects are in bins (where the cant can no longer get kitty snot on things! ugh, hes the snottiest cat)

Yes that is our 1964 tractor out in the back yard with the hood up because i think it has finally bit the big one and needs to go to tractor heaven. (its older than ME!)

I haven't made progress on anything else this week... Im hoping to quilt and bind I love lucy this weekend and then I can start working on the Zig Zag quilt for Keagan, finish the quilts I started for Jess and Faith and send a box of quilts to Alaska!

Be sure to check out freshly pieced and other works in progress!

Irene Update

I think one of the best parts of quilting is someone telling you how much they appreciate the quilt you gave them. I dont expect people to go gaga at how pretty like i do, or admire the quality, or even respect the time that i put into it. I do like to know they got USE from it and appreciated the gift I gave them.

The quick backstory if you werent reading back then is I started a quilt the weekend Irene hit the east coast and I knew this one was going to be a donation quilt so i called her Irene. I eventually settled on sending it to the fire victims in Texas. It was in the backseat of the truck to be mailed when I gave a woman a ride "home" from our restaurant but her "home" was a van. I ended up giving her the quilt. She needed it.

So... Ralph and I are in the grocery store and im waiting for the manager to get me something from the office, so were kinda just standing there looking stupid when the person I gave Irene to came up to me. She said... "your the lady from Zippy's, right?" (i am called the Zippy Lady or the Pizza Lady daily) I said yes and she asked if I remembered her, I had given her a quilt. Of course I did.

She then told me how much she appreciated it, it was pretty and SO warm and it has been so nice to have on these cold nights we have been having. I told her how glad I was that she was getting use out of it and that she liked it. It was one of those moments where I wish i had said more... but i really didn't say much because i was so touched!!

She left and i just kinda stood there. Thats WHY i make them and it was SO wonderful to have someone tell me that. I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day.

I went to goodwill today and actually spent 9.00 on shirts for fabric for one of the baby quilts im making... but... its time to go home and ill have to tell ya about that another time.

WIP Wednesday

This is week 2 of 2012. I didn't make a post last week but i am going to try to make one every Wednesday. I like to see what i accomplished from week to week!

Mostly the past week i have been organizing and cleaning my sewing room. The mad dash toward Christmas caused a chair in my room to be piled as high as i am tall with fabric.  Mostly fabrics i was auditioning for borders or backings that needed to be put away. I also have 2 big tubs of scraps that are so wrinkled, it drives me nuts to pull them out to use them (i HATE ironing) so.. i have been ironing! When i finish i will take the pretty "after" pics... I did take a before but not tiill the after!!

Projects Started:

"I Love Lucy" It is for a grand baby on the way who's name will be Lucille Betty Ann Hampton (for the majority of her life she will hate her parents for naming her this but hopefully someday will appreciate that she is a namesake baby and is named after some wonderful women who came before her)

They are very simple pink and purple hearts. The background will be white (not black) I'm using 4" squares. It will have 20 hearts and i have a different fabric for each ones (although i may use one more than once if i really like it!) . Of course all scraps.


"Orange Crush" It will be orange broken dishes with 6" blocks. This one is for me, that orange is still calling me and i cant get away from it so i figure i best hurry and get it done!

Ongoing Projects:

5642 - I finished one more 36 pc square

Lovely Little Windows - No Progress
Faith's Flowers - No Progress
Lavender Stars - No Progress
Travis Star - No Progress
Jonathan Camo - No Progress
Kisses from Paw Paw (Landon) - Attached 2 of the borders, finished flying geese for the other 2
Kisses from Paw Paw (Trevor) - No Progress
Adriana's HST's - No Progress



Be sure to visit Freshly Pieced for more WIP Wednesday posts!!