Ahhhhhhh...more eye candy!

Here are more pics from the show! I hope you like them!
Hugs
Laurie

A return to the quilt show...

Judy, Mary and any other longarmers out there...a couple of these are for you! LOL...Nichole Webb actually QUILTS with this machine! She and her dh drove all the way from the west coast so she could enter this! The story she told was that she had a falling out with the maker of her longarm and decided to cover it up! LOL





I thought this quilt was simple, but pretty!!!




I hope you enjoyed the show! Look for more to come!!! ;-D
Hugs
Laurie

Still here

I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words about my mom! She was a special lady.

Another special lady, whom I met once in person, and was in contact with on various quilting message boards, lost her battle with brain cancer on Sunday. Cheri was a neat lady and it was an honor to have dinner with her and her dh 2.5 yrs ago or so. I will be traveling to Arkansas tomorrow to represent several of her internet quilty friends. Her dd is also an avid quilter, I haven't met her in person yet, but we have a special friendship. It will be a difficult trip and full of emotion.

Please keep Cheri's family in your prayers over the next few days and weeks to come! I'll check in when I get back.

Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend!
Hugs
Laurie

Remembering Mom

Today is the 14th anniversary of my mom's death from ovarian cancer. She lived 7.5 years with OC and the Mayo Clinic called her a miracle for that era. Truly she was. She lived almost 5 years cancer free and truly enjoyed life to the fullest. She took myself and each of my sisters on a trip to Europe (dad doesn't like to travel)...one to Amsterdam, one to Denmark, and we went to London...a trip I'll truly cherish as mom died a year later.

My mom is definitely someone that I admired with every fiber of my being. She was kind, gentle, loved Christ, her family and my dad with all of her heart and soul. The courage she displayed while battling the cancer was truly admirable. She never once complained and she called each of us kids when she decided to stop treatment and just LIVE. She wanted to be sure we were all OK with her decision. Of course, mom started with the oldest and worked her way to the youngest...ME...and our conversation was difficult. She had held all of her emotions in and they let loose with me. All I could do was cry with her and tell her that I respected her decision and would always be there and love her!

I also remember a chat with mom about a month before she died. I had driven to see her (only an hour from where I lived in MN) and just spend the day taking care of her. Mom said to me, "Laurie, please do not be sad when I am gone." I looked at her, with HUGE TEARS in my eyes and said, "Oh mom, you know I can't promise you that. I WILL MISS YOU SO MUCH because you are my best friend!" We cried together! (I have tears in my eyes now as I type this.)

When mom died, 5/20/92 at 5:45 AM, my heart physically hurt...YES...physically hurt. I didn't realize how difficult it would be, because you see, I thought it would be a blessing and that she would now be with Christ. Well, at that moment it wasn't how I felt...I felt a deep sense of loss and like a part of me had died when she died. I cried every day for 2 weeks and would pick up the phone to call her everytime the kids did somethign that I knew grandma would want to know...that was the hardest thing to overcome...picking up the phone and calling mom...(sigh)

My mom's favorite bird was the cardinal, her favorite flower the pink rose. The morning she died, dad called the local catholic funeral home. The Mackens came to get mom, asked dad if he wanted more time with her and any requests. Dad said he had already said his goodbyes (she died in his arms in their home) and to please be careful with her. While dad sat in the living room waiting for the Mackens to take care of mom he looked out the front window. There on the gutter, looking into the house was a CARDINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom was taking care of dad in death as well as life! To this day, when I see a MALE CARDINAL I say HI MOM. The kids say it's weird cuz grandma was obviously female and why would she come back as a male cardninal! I said cuz it was her FAVORITE! I know mom laughs every time that chat happens!

This morning, as I was working in the garden and by the pool, I could hear a cardinal singing at the top of its lungs but I could NOT see it...I still said HI MOM!!!

That's probably enough ramblings about mom. Here is a picture of mom and dad...their last formal pic...not sure what year it was though. She was a beautiful woman!


On a final note...to honor my mom I got one final tattoo...her favorite flower with her initials, PF for Patricia Fischer, in the stem. I got this about a month ago and wanted to wait to unveil it until today! :oD


Thanks for letting me remember mom here. I will share more quilt pics as soon as I get them off of my camera. There are more to come!

Have a great day!
Hugs
Laurie

More Eye Candy

For all of you cat lovers out there!!!
HUGE Eagle Stack and Whack...it was neat!
Pretty applique
FUNNY!!! We should ALL have one of these on our sewing room door!!!!
I just like this one!
That's it for today! And until upload the rest! I hope you enjoyed!
Hugs
Laurie
PS...amy, I don't remember how that tie dye quilt was quilted sorry!

Belated Happy Mother's Day

I hope all had a fantastic Mother's Day! My day was fun...but TOOOOOOOO much food! YIKES! I feel bloated! We went to brunch AND dinner! (sigh) Back to Weight Watcher's with a vengance today! Here's a pic of DH and I at brunch! I got my jacket at the IMQA show!

Darilyn, this one's for you!!! I looked at this quilt while strolling the aisle and thought...WHY would someone put a huge "P" on their quilt. Then I stood back and GASPED! It is a GORGEOUS pineapple using the double wedding ring technique!!! Darilyn, and Hawaii quickly came to mind!!!

I loved the quilting on this...Judy, gorgeous feathing!!!
That's the quilt eye candy for today! There are LOTS MORE to come!!!

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Laurie

More eye Candy from IMQA

I LOVE brights...so here are 2 quilts that caught my eye! They are BRIGHT!!! Enjoy!
Hugs
Laurie

Best of Show from IMQA

Hi everyone! The International Machine Quilter's Association convention is in my backyard! It is an awesome opportunity for me and I take full advantage of it! Here are some of the pics that I took today...I'll try to add some each day for your enjoyment!

This is the "Best of Show" by Sharon Shamber. It is a very bright, happy quilt! And the quilting on it is AMAZING...

Here is a closeup of the quilting...

This pic blows me away...look carefully at the edging...LOOPS all around the edges! YIKES!
Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Hugs
Laurie

Birthday Pics do over!

Laurie Ann asked me to repost a pic of me in the balloon hat! here goes!

YIPPEE...it worked this time!!! Now to go and applique some leaves! Have a great day everyone!

Hugs
Laurie

Birthday Memories...DO OVER!!!

Here are a few pics from my birthday! Brace yourself!!! There are comments written with each picture! DH gave me a new pocket/purse sized digital camera and he took these pics! I'm still getting used to how this works! I hope you enjoy!

DH...so proud to take the first pics with MY new digital camera. Here's dan waiting for me to come out of the bathroom! A big thumbs up! lol

DH takes a pic of the closed bathroom door...the suspense is killing him!
TADA...the unveiling!
getting a closer look...
FINALLY... a closeup of the alien shooting lazers! Is this not the neatest balloon creation???!!!


Hugs
Laurie
PS(not sure why these are little)

MIA

I'm still here...I had to send the laptop in for repairs and then got sick with the flu...UGH...now I sign on to my BLOG and see that my WHOLE sidebar is GONE...VANISHED...POOF! WHERE IS IT????????? I have no clue how to put it back on there either. (sigh)

It's my birthday today as well and I'm not 100% recovered from my day in the bathroom/bed yesterday. The tummy isn't quite up to snuff. So we'll see where the day goes from here!

Hugs
Laurie