Let'sPower UpThe Media...

I dropped by Ros-the-Quilter's blog and she had posted about a quilt teacher that had some of her display quilts and teaching materials stolen in a smash and grab at the motel she was staying in on a teaching trip. I put her blog post on FaceBook but decided to go ahead and write a post for those of you not on FB. We form such a network out there on the blogsphere and can reach so many people that I thought "Why Not?" when wondering if a post on my blog might help alert people, not only to watch for her quilts, but to send out another reminder for anytime any of us travel.

Do not leave anything in a car when you stay away from home. Actually we shouldn't even leave anything in our cars at home, but crooks seem to target motel parking lots for quick smash and grab crimes, not having a clue what might be in a bag that they steal. All they are thinking about is turning a quick buck for whatever reason... drugs, booze, jewelry for the girlfriend or girlfriends.

I don't know many people who haven't had their homes or their cars broken into and I can tell you that no matter what is stolen it leaves you with such a sick feeling, such a feeling of vulnerability and loss. Back in the olden days someone broke into the big house (my nickname for our family home). The police figured it was a kid, or some kids, because most of what was stolen was change that I had saved... this was back before copper was added to quarters and half dollars were not uncommon. I had been saving the coins for a coin collection and even now when I run across quarters without the copper layer or older nickels and dimes I still feel a stab of loss from over 50 years ago.

Worse than that was when Carol and I were still living in east Tulsa and she was still teaching. I was in school, taking some art classes, and Carol was still teaching at Catoosa. Two kids broke in the laundry room door, stole Jeff's Nintendo and a bunch of games, stole cassette tapes, this was in the early 90's, and jewelry. Fortunately the neighbors across the street were retired and saw the boys coming from the side of the house with a duffel bag and recognized the boys. When the police came out he was able to tell the officers who the boys were and most of the loot was recovered but a lot of the jewelry was already gone. The item that hurts my heart, to this day, was a ring that my big brother brought back to me from Africa. I had gone to Texas and stayed with my sister-in-law and the kids while he went to Africa to help my sister come home from Mali. Sue was 7 months pregnant and had a 3 year old on the ground and he figured she could use his help getting home. Her husband's tour of duty was to be up in another month but that would have made traveling at her stage of pregnancy not a good thing so Bill flew over for a few days and then flew back with Sue and her oldest boy. While in Africa he did some shopping and my ring was one of the things he brought back to thank me for helping out while he was gone. I hadn't expected anything so that made the ring much more special. I checked pawn shops all around our area, even taking a picture I had drawn of the ring, but it was never recovered...

Sooooo... please help out if you know anyone in the south Texas area that might help watch out for the quilts at garage sales or flea markets, even on Craig's list. Let's see if we can put social media out there for a good cause. Here is the book marked page from the blog of the quilter/teacher that has the info about the theft:

QUILTS STOLEN «

Thanks for your time.