How do you say goodbye to a best friend . . . . Philip Michael Cox 1949-2018

There is no way to say goodbye . . .  Death comes quickly. 

We have so many good memories of him. I'll let pictures show you.

His famous baked beans.

Phil and Bernie doing together what they did best together.

Homemade ice cream using an antique engine.

Margie and I at the Hamilton Steam engine show.

My first vintage sewing machine before Phil . . . 

... after Phil's expertise work.

A beautiful 301 Singer I picked up for Phil. 

Hamilton Steam Engine show, Karen and Phil.

She loved her blacksmith!

Phil sent us home with the juiciest cantaloupes. We sent him this picture of our grand kids using them on each other.

Phil and Nathan Robertson, who loved Phil like a dad.

Phil's friend and neighbor, Joni  made a cake for the BAM meeting at his house.

Phil forging in his shop, demonstrating at a meeting.

Just a couple of his mules, looking for a hand out.

My blacksmith was a saint and drove the bus in the background, with 19 women, to Hamilton Missouri. We visited Missouri Star Quilt. Phil came to town to keep Bernie sane! Margie was still working and met us on her lunch hour, the four of us dined at Subway.

His other girl Coco.

One cold day the four of us went road tripping. When he saw this horse drawn chariot, nothing doing we girls had to pose for a picture. 

Phil along with his buddies Nathan and Ken, discuss the big hammer that he rebuilt and  hauled to our conference in Sedalia.

We met in Arrow Rock Missouri one Sunday afternoon. 4 best friends!

This was their 46th wedding anniversary!

Margie took up broom making after Phil made all the broom making tools. 

The Bradley Boys! Phil had hats for all these friends that just happen to own Bradleys. For those that don't know, a Bradley is a BIG power hammer. 

The Bradley women, Nathan's Mom Beverly, Steve McCarthy wife, Lori, Me, and Margie.

A blacksmith gathering at our house, Phil and Pat McCarty visit.

 Another machine I bought for Phil. I believe he said his mother had the same machine.

Last year Phil driving us and blacksmith Willy in the parade. The truck won 1st place!

 Phil and his bride -  as he referred to Margie. Phil trudged through this weekend, not feeling well. The following week he was diagnosed with diabetes.

 The BIG ice cream maker, a 5 gallon one was brought to the Hamilton 

steam engine show.

 This was a  November  meeting in Doniphan. We took off early Friday morning. Bernie showed us a lot of Missouri state parks on the way.

 this sums it all up . . . 

I used this picture against Phil so many times. Margie had bought a big roll 

of quilt batting. The lady from the shop and Phil stuffed it into Margie's car!

The blacksmiths all discussing something.

Such a memorable day, Phil loaded the big Bradley on the trailer for us. Little did we know, 30 miles later we'd have a flat! I called a blacksmith who happens to be a highway patrolman and he helped us out. 

 The day before the Lord took Phil away from us, we were eating breakfast together. Phil found tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce in the hotel kitchen. I'm not sure who liked them the most, Phil, our 13 year old grandson Alex, or my blacksmith Bernie!?!?

 Saturday  March 10th. If we only knew it was our last day together. 

 Phil is being loaded into his beloved "Shelby", an 1948 International truck.

Lick Fork Cemetery, Gallatin, Missouri

So you can't say goodbye . . . you say until we met again my friend.

"It will work itself out", Phil Cox

The shortest month of the year and it flew by!

I started another patriotic quilt. Again it will be for St Margaret's Parish picnic in Osage Bend. The picnic is August 5, 2018. Come and bid on it!

Just trying to show you the size here. This pattern piece is 2 1/2 inches wide and there are 25 pieces of fabric in it!

 The eye, yes the eye has 16 pieces of fabric. Look at in comparison to the dime. 

The eagle is a pattern by Silver Linings Originals. I have used Linda's patterns for years. She has the most beautiful animals, birds, plants and more on her web site. 

Here was one Big mistake I made. I mistook the color coding on the pattern and didn't recheck, until the wing was completed. Needless to say I had to remake it. 

My first attempt at a bargello pattern. Thanks for my niece Amber who sent me a book on the process I got it made! 

I have it all together now. It's pretty impressive if I do say so myself. My friend Rita found the military blocks at The Quilter's Cache, they represent the 5 branches of the military. Below each I used my embroidery machine to add the correct units. Miss Liberty is another of Silver Linings Originals patterns.

 Once upon a time we were two very young kids who fell in love. This is my blacksmith in 1968. 

This is me, Osage Bluff Quilter. Don't you just love those pants. Yep, I made them. They were navy blue with hot pink roses. WHY? I asked myself why did I ever wear those. 

Anyway, February 21, was our 50th anniversary, not wedding, our first date! So we took the day off and went road tripping. We drove to Mennonite country. We had so much fun just browsing. We stopped by Weaver's market and stocked up on spices and noodles. 

At Weaver's Variety store they had all these antique accordions for sale. It makes me wonders who they belonged to. I found  Sketcher tennis shoes and hubby found Wrangler jeans at their variety store. It kind of reminds me of the the old P.N. Hirsch department stores. 

We stopped by Martin's Horseshoeing shop. There we bought a bucket of horseshoes from Leonard. He also gave us a pair of their new coffee cups. 

A few days later grandson made this Welcome sign. He is selling them for $55 if you are interested. 

We had a quiet lunch at this brewery, Bee's knees. The blacksmith thought about the beer sampler, but we still had a drive back home. 

Back in October I won this collection of silhouette pictures from Ebay. They were never received. The seller refunded my money and filed a claim from the post office. Fast forward 122 days and look what showed up in my mail box!  If only the box could talk. It was clearly labeled, not dusty, not torn up. mmmmmm makes you wonder.

The blacksmith has been busy making a new portable forge. All from scratch. The fire pot is part of a car axle!  He's really creative. 

A friend brought me 6 of these quilt blocks. She wants them made into a queen size quilt.  I've looked at 4 shops for fabric. I found these two at the last shop. I love, love, love the big bright flora print. I put a poll on Facebook and the big flora won unanimously. However, she nixed both of them. I'm bummed!

We took a trip north the other night just as the moon was rising over the Missouri River. Pictures don't do it justice!

 The guys made deer sausage last week. It's our best batch yet!

Saturday we were up and out the door at 4:50 AM. Our friends Tim and Rita rode along with us to this 600 vendor flea market. 

What an event, not that we bought much. They closed it at 10:30, the Interstate was totally jammed up. People were parking across the interstate and walking across, so dangerous. 

We did see a lot of friends, mostly blacksmiths looking for good deals. MY blogger friend Sarah found some great finds. Check them out at Makin' Projects. 

The highlight of the day was eating at Klein's restaurant in Rosebud, Missouri! Here's an old blog post with pictures of their desserts. 

Now the shortest month is over and in comes March, Lamb or Lion?  Time will tell.

Life is Good!