Christmas Lights Mystery Progress, Cutting some Schnibbles and a Painted Bench

It has been a truly crazy end of summer and start of fall for me. I got a call on the day after Labor Day that my dad had become unresponsive. I had spoken to him the day before and it was hard to understand him and I felt something had changed. To top that off the phone service where he was in Wisconsin (for cells) is awful and we got disconnected. I called back and talked ot Margie (his gf of 30 years) and she said he was really tired, etc. I was worried but after talking to my uncle (who had just been there for several days) heard Dad was doing okay and so my sister and I bought tickets for the two weekends out. The next day I got the call from one of Dad's good friends that we needed to come ASAP...so frantically we packed, switched tickets, arranged things with work and managed to get on a plane. We arrived about midnight their time and my wonderful daughter Hannah picked us up and drove us two and a half hours to little Trego.
My father suddenly opened his eyes as we arrived and seemed to understand we were there. He died with all four of us surrounding him (in about an hour) and telling him he would soon be free from his pain. It was really hard to let him go, but I do believe he is in a better place and can golf, hunt, eat, and drink again. We planned the service and it really meant a lot to all of us that about 300 people turned up to pay their last respects. All of that side of the family came, a few members from my mom's side (despite the divorce 35 years ago) and even my ex in-laws came which touched me too. Two of my three children were able to be there...my sister's son is in Japan with the Navy so he wasn't there and my oldest son Coleman was unable to come too. Both boys called that morning and their hearts were with us.
My sister and I were never so glad to come home last Sunday and have been on the phone everyday since...we are missing our Dad and grieving his short life (59 years) but he did enjoy each day and had a few years after his initial diagnosis with throat cancer....

On to a happier topic, I NEEDED to sew today and so I finally put the twelve stars together for the second clue in Bonnie Hunter's Christmas Lights (that for some reason I thought was Holiday Lights all this time) and also laid out the parts to get some idea of what the other block looks like.

It is a bit messy but you get the idea...

I also got the first Schnibbles pattern ready to go. Here is Glace all cut up.

Cut up the fabric for my Arizona Quilt History Block which I need to get to also.
Saturday we drove up to Prescott and stayed overnight with my mom. She had just finished painting the bench that we gave her for her bday. It looks great and matches her decor.

My sister, brother, his gf and son all came up for the day Saturday and it was nice to be together and mom really enjoyed it. I am so happy I was able to sew....my zen is back to normal!