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sad news...........Kathy Sandbach


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I don't know if any of you have heard what is going on with Kathy but I got this email from my RCTQ newsgroup:

Hello ladies, this is Ken Sandbach, Kathy's son typing. As most of you

know by now my mom has been diagnosed with a nasty type of dementia,

called FrontalTemporal Dementia. If you were around her the last few

years at all, you may have noticed some behavior changes--slight at

first, and then progressing to downright bizarre. It took the kids some

time (unfortunately) , but this last December we finally got the

diagnosis, and began putting all the pieces together. Her symptoms

these days are too numerous for this email, but if you're curious Google

FrontalTemporal Dementia or go to www.mayoclinic. com and search there.

The reason for writing this morning is to let you know after a long

conversation with my sister we have decided to begin selling my mom's

quilting legacy. We are down to about 6 month's money left for Kathy's

care, and have found that Social Security and Medicare just don't cut

it. Assisted living care is running 7k/month, not including her

insurance and mortgage payments (her Oregon house in on the market, but

no one is buying these days).

As a test experiment we have put 3 of her quilts on eBay to test

reception. Their names and descriptions have come from her books,

because we're just not that smart! If this eBay auction proves to be

worthwhile, there are another such 100 quilts that will make their way

to you--her fans.

While this is a tough time, and even tougher decision to make, neither

Kristine or I have the room or energy to store these quilts in the way

they deserve, so we're hoping/praying that the people who love them most

will be willing to adopt them.

Lastly, it has been at least 18 months since Kathy spent any regular

time on her email, so many of these addresses are likely to be bad.

Please, PLEASE forward this letter to your address books/quilt lovers,

and ask they do the same. Kathy has traveled all over the United States

and UK teaching, so I am hoping this letter will make its way around the

entire quilting universe!

Also there is a guestbook at mom's old website www.machinequiltlad y.com.

Please go there and sign the guestbook. It would mean a lot to grasp

just how many people Kathy has touched through quilting.

Thank you for letting my invade you inbox this morning!

Such a loss to the quilting world. Keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.....

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I cannot express my saddness at this tragic diagnosis. This is not only devastating to Kathy but can be even more devastating to the family members trying to provide care and come to grips with this horrifying disease. I send my prayers to Kathy and family and hope that each day the family gets a glimpse of the "old" Kathy so their memories can include some good times as they go through this difficult time. I know from experience how devastating this (especially this) type of dementia can be. God bless the caretakers....Mercedes

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I am so sorry to hear this news. "Show me how to Machine Quilt" was the first book where I learned the idea of free motion quilting. Then I was fortunate enough to take a class with Kathy and picked up "Teach Me ho to Machine Quilt." Just last week, I was teaching a student how to quilt on her DSM, and we were discussing the wonders of her books.

You and your family will be in my prayers.

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How very sad - I will say prayers for her and her family.....

Do we know if these auctions are still on eday?? Or when Ken sent this letter???

I am going to go and try and search for them, would be nice to try and help in any little way.... somebody post a link to the ebay auctions please if they find them - - thanks!

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For anybody curious as to which quilts the family is selling. Look up eBay seller: machinequiltlady

There are 3 quilts listed so far. Here is one of them:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Summerhaven-Wallhanging-Quilt-by-Kathy-Sandbach_W0QQitemZ120459449151QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0bf1533f&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

Just trying to help.

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I am so saddened to hear this news. I took one of my first machine quilting classes from Kathy. I spent a very enjoyable day with her and was amazed with her quilting and that she was able to run a quilting business using her DSM. I have both of her books and often refer to them for ideas. At the time she still lived in California but was greatly looking forward to moving to Oregon to begin a new chapter in her life. She spoke very proudly of her children.

Sue

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  • 10 years later...

I just Googled Kathy’s name and found this very sad post from ten years ago. I was going  through my notes from the 1999 machine quilting class she taught at Asilomar. I’d love to write more if I know anyone will get it after 10 years have passed  

Kathy turned me into a confident machine quilter!!!!

love from Marti Oetzel, in Boulder CO since 2002.

 

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