A Crafter's Life

Remember Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Today would have been the 61st birthday of Terry the Quilting Husband (1960 – 2018), and I want to celebrate him on his birthday with this post.

In 2019 I began doing a remembrance post on this birthday but it was not until earlier this year, after a discussion with a friend who had lost her sibling, that I made the decision not to officially celebrate his life any longer on the date of his passing but instead on the date he came into this world.

His life was more than his sudden death at 58, he had 58 years of life, and over 30 of those with me before he left this earth and moved onto his next plane of existence.

I do not want you to be sorry for my loss, I just want you to celebrate with me this awesome man who I grew up with and became who I am as a person with during the 30+ years we were together.

Here is an excerpt from his obituary (writing his obituary was one of the most difficult things I had to do in my life – how do you summarize the life of the person who was your integral to life for 30+ years?):

Terry was a quiet and gentle soul who always treated people with respect and great kindness; a very patient person; and a loyal friend. He was an awesome husband, best friend and life-partner to his wife and made marriage a rewarding union. He was brilliant on many topics such as Military History and Military Strategy, his favorite hobbies. Terry was also a quilter and his quilts were part of the “Man Made” exhibit at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. In addition to sharing a love of quilts, he also shared with his wife a passion for dogs, and adopted numerous rescue dogs throughout his life.

Terry was a “Quilting Husband” and a “Crafting Husband” here is a photo below of him helping me on a crafting project (making the covered rope for fabric baskets that I would eventual give to his sisters and keep one for myself after his passing – see post The Last Baskets)

To my blogging friends who’ve been with me for a while – thanks for all your support and encouragement over the past couple of years as I’ve navigated my new reality of widowhood and dealing with a level of grief I did not know existed prior (and it is a terrible hobby, I do not recommend it!).

Here are the links to some posts on Terry’s creativity during his years as “TTQH”, if you’d like to take a trip down memory lane:

Update: Terry the Quilting Husband

Terry the Quilting Husband – Update

Terry the Quilting Husband Update

Terry the Quilting Husband Hard at Work

He was an amazing life partner, best friend and partner in crafting/quilting. He always believed in me and encouraged me in everything I did (or tried to do). Now that I am gaining distance from the day that he passed, I can focus more on just how lucky I was to have him in my life for so long.

I like to think that he and Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer (who passed in 2017), his amazing Mom (who passed in 2017), my Father (who loved him), and all our other rescued Miniature Schnauzers (Fritz, Snickers and Kerie), his Father, as well as his Grandfather that he loved so much, are all hanging out in the afterlife together or that their souls have all been reincarnated and they meet again somehow in their next life.

I know that I will carry TTQH always in my heart and he lives on in my memories.

Postscript

I wanted to follow up on my “oversharing” post My Etsy Shop is Now Reopened – tierneycreates is now TextilesandSmiles from Saturday. A friend reached out via email after that post and shared an AMAZING story of how she had to reinvent herself and her life after a major life change. It was one of those emails that you hold on to the rest of your life and refer to as needed.

One of the profound things she shared/reminded me of is that when the titles that we assign ourselves (“wife”, “employee of _____”, “owner of ____”, etc.) change this does not alter the CORE of who we are. We are still that CORE and it does not change by the loss of any “title”. It helped remind me that I am more than those “titles” and although I may need to reinvent myself into new titles because of life losses or changes, I am not losing my CORE. Positive Words Inspiration: At your core is a Wh Positive Quotes Inspiration

Feature Photo is TTQH along with Sassy and Mike “field testing” a quilt Terry just completed –

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

40 thoughts on “Remember Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH)”

  1. Terry sounds like a wonderful person, I think you´re doing the right thing by focusing on the good and fun memories and not the loss.
    I´m not to good with words… so sending you lots of healing light and love

    Liked by 1 person

  3. this is a beautiful post. My husband passed away on Sunday. I have literally been thinking of you, your beautiful creations, how you let us know that your husband passed and you disappeared for a short while and traveled and continued on with your life. You’ve been an inspiration. I am in a devastation period and I know I simply must let the grief be. Thank you for your years of inspiration.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Here’s to celebrating your husband’s life. Sounds like you two had one hell of an adventure together. That last quote hit home. The real us is eternal. Each life is just a drop in the pond, but those drops are so nice, right?

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Yes. I do the same with all of my “bad” times. They were necessary, but once they pass, they are forgotten. It’s much nicer to be happy than sad. I think we are wired this way. We gravitate to the good memories and avoid the bad ones. At least that’s what I do. Life is too short to be ticked off all the time. Thanks for sharing your story.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. After my Mum died I saw that in her diary on my stepfather’s birthday she wrote Stuart’s memory day. This is your Terry’s memory day, and what wonderful memories they are. Thank you for your honesty in your blogs such a help to us all. Hugs, x

    Liked by 1 person

  18. It’s hard to imagine the loss but great to remember you had such a great partner. What a sweet way to remember him and your life together.

    Liked by 1 person

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