...although I sincerely wish it didn't at the moment. I've received the sad news that Martha Schmidt of Needle Maid Designs was killed in a car accident on Tuesday.

I've had the great pleasure of taking a couple of classes with Martha, assisting her with one of them, and spending a little bit of time with her at CATS that last day of the show, just a few short weeks ago. I went back and read my entry and realized I didn't mention my class or out-of-class time with Martha at all - I can't believe that oversight.

I first met Martha in taking her class "Sampler of Unpublished Insertion Stitches" last year. She was a blast in class - a classy lady, a wonderful person, and a fun teacher. When I found out that she was teaching a second class this year, with more stitches, I knew I had to take it. Mostly for the fun of spending time with Martha again.

Both classes were technically challenging, but comfortable and fun. Martha knew how to make us laugh, and wasn't shy about sharing stories about learning some of these stitches as a girl, some of the history of these stitches, and what her ideas for next year's classes were.

The best part for me, though, was running into her a few hours after class at the Grip-It booth, while we were both running our hands through the lovely multicolored fibers that were there - both of us being suckers for color. She picked up a skein of Waterlilies that was particularly interesting in ocean colors, but I found a skein of Crescent Colours called 'Key Largo' and told her I liked that one better. I handed it over to her to take a look, and picked up a skein for myself. Turns out she was just starting to pick out threads for the jewel box class that she wanted to teach next year, and I think she took that skein of 'Key Largo' with her. We chatted a little more while we both made choices, and then she wandered off to talk with the proprietor of the booth.

My last image of Martha was her laughing at something someone else had said with that marvelous loud laugh of hers. I wished her well in her travels when I passed by, said "See you next year", and paid for my purchases.

I'm so sorry that I won't get to see her next year, and it's not her classes or her techniques that I will miss, but the lady herself. I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her outside of class than what I did this year and last year. She was truly a nice person to be around.

In a strange twist of irony, I received my fabric from the class just a couple of days ago, and had tucked it away Tuesday night, before I heard the news. When I was looking at it, I mused about how nice it would be to manage to combine the two samplers from the classes and stitch it all up to be ready for next year when Martha comes back through again, but I set it aside because I had stitching goals for this year that I promised myself would be met.

I think I'm throwing those goals away so that I can work more on those samplers and get them done while the techniques are still fresh in my mind. So that these unpublished stitches aren't forgotten. I'll find a way to merge the two samplers - maybe make them into a bellpull - an idea that Martha was talking about teaching next year.

Martha, dear lady, you are missed. Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher and stitcher. I promise to try and teach my daughters those insertion stitches when they're ready and accomplished enough so that they're not forgotten either....

...and may your travels now lead you to the greatest of adventures and discoveries, as they will be guaranteed safe travels now.