Don't Be Shy!

I am glad you stopped by my blog! I'd like to get to know more about you! I enjoy each and every comment left on my blog! If you're new, please introduce yourself! Comments are welcomed!!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Ahhhhhhh...more eye candy!

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



Monday, May 29, 2006

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

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

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

Saturday, May 20, 2006

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

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

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!

Monday, May 15, 2006

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

Saturday, May 13, 2006

More eye Candy from IMQA

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

Friday, May 12, 2006

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

Thursday, May 11, 2006

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

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

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

Thursday, April 27, 2006

I'm still here!!!

Hi everyone! I'm still here! I have to tell you that Mr. Mallard was here AGAIN yesterday afternoon. My son went and chased him away! It is just too weird to see a mallard here in KS...there aren't a lot of ponds/lakes...I guess he just loves our pool! ;o)

I read Amy's blog today and she wrote about her starting to quilt. I thought I'd share my story.

It goes back to 1998 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. (the story is in this link, scroll all the way down to December 1st) http://gottaquilt.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_gottaquilt_archive.html 1999 arrived and my sisters were busy making quilts for kids that were graduating. To keep my mind off of chemo and to get me out of the house (winters in MN can get cold and long) they dragged me to the LQS with them. I found that they were asking my opinions a LOT about fabric choices and colors. I WAS GOOD AT THIS! LOL...

Then we went shopping again and I thought to myself, "I can do this!" It's just taking fabric apart and putting it back together in a different way. Kinda of like puzzles. SO...that is how it began...I told my sisters and they said sure I could do this!!! I started in June or so of '99 and haven't stopped! I also bought a longarm about 4 years ago so I could qilt my own stuff!

Quilting has enabled me to meet lots of neat people as well!!!!! One thing I have learned is that most quilters are great, kind, giving people! I truly am grateful for the gift of being a quilter!!!

Hugs
Laurie

Friday, April 21, 2006

Our first pool swimmer of the year!!!!

Last night I went to see KC & the Sunshine Band! It was FUN!!! Disco sucks but the dancing was fun and KC does have some good songs!!! (OK...maybe disco wasn't so bad!) My 2 girlfriends and I went to dinner first at PFChangs and then on to the music!!!

This morning I woke up, made the bed, then opened the blind. NOW...this is very UNUSUAL for me because I usually wait to make the bed until after I've jazzercised and showered. WHY did I open the blind this EARLY morning???? I think God wanted me to giggle!!! I was laughing so hard...you see, rarely do I see mallards in KS (in MN they are all over the place), much less swimming in my pool!!! He was just as content as could be. I yelled to DH to hurry up and come see this. By that time DH got to the window the mallard was on the pool ledge cleaning himself. DH went back into the bathroom to get ready for work and I said "HURRY UP!" again. DH got to see the duck...and the silly duck was looking for fish while swimming in our POOL!! ;o)

SO...this was my happy start to my day...and as Jeanne would say, I'm grateful for Matthew Mallard making me SMILE!!!

DH and I are off to Chicago today. We're going to go see our son. He has a girl he wants us to meet and a church service he wants us to go to with them. We will be gone until Monday. I'm looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend!!!
Hugs
Laurie

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Ahhhhhhh...Easter Sunday and the Kids

When oh WHEN do we stop with the Easter Baskets???!!! LOL...well...here are my kids right before we eat! We had a great lunch together. DH is already gone to the airport. Kevin decided to buy an airplane ticket back to school tonight. So Dan and I will take him to the airport and then go to Old Chicago and get a snack at Sarah's table. (she's serving tonight) Joe will go home!

I hope all had a great time! The kids below: Sarah(almost 21), Kevin(19), Dan(17), and Joe(22)

Happy Easter

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Lancaster Goods!!!

This is a picture of all the patterns and gadgets that I bought!!! I found a place that has gorgeous but simple floral applique patterns...bought a bunch! http://www.distinctivepieces.com Check them out. I found this fabric at Sauders. It is a striped coordinate to the fabrics that I bought in February and am doing the applique hearts with. The smaller piece is going to be the stop border. I included a sample of 2 of the heart blocks.

This fabric I got at Zooks. WOW...I just HAD TO HAVE THIS FLORAL!!! And of course with the prices so darn good I bought coordinating stuff as well! The bottom part of the pic is truer to color with the focus fabric. The fabric below the green is a deep brown/burgundy color! This is going to be YUMMY!!! But first...I have to figure out what I will do with this puppy!!!
Here is a pic of the bright batiks at $5/yard that I got. I figured as long as I was getting a yard of each bright that I might as well buy the mulit-colored batik as well and use it as a focus...I'm thinking bow-tie for this one...but that could change by the time I actually get around to making it! ;o) AND...last but not least...thanks to Laurie Ann posting her polka dot quilt...I decided I needed to start a new fabric collection...what better than BRIGHT POLKA DOTS????!!!!! Thanks Laurie Ann!!!
SO...there you have it...my Lancaster stash!!!

Last night my dh and boys went to see James Taylor. It was in a venue that holds about 2500 people...old and quaint...but HOT cuz the air conditioning broke yesterday and the high yesterday was near 90 degrees! But it was a very good concert and I enjoyed it! So did my boys!!!

Now to the longarm...I really MUST get something done today down there!
Have a great day!
Hugs
Laurie

Monday, April 10, 2006

Lancaster Quilt Show

It was a SUPER trip! It really only rained one whole day! ;o) Friday it rained in the morning but then was quite nice! The quilts were GORGEOUS! There are so many talented quilters out there!!

I arrived on Thursday and hooked up with my friends! Getting caught up was so much fun!!! Friday was spent shopping at the show and looking at all the gorgeous eye candy! I managed to get a few things at the show but spent most of my money Friday night shopping at the local quilt stores near where we stayed.

The prices there are AMAZING and the fabric is very good quality! $5/yard for BATIKS!!!!!!!!!! I bought several BRIGHT batiks with no design on them!!! WOOHOO...not sure what I'll do with 'em but having them on hand is NOT a bad thing!!!!

Saturday we stitched in the lobby and had show and tell. Then a few friends that I hadn't seen in a couple of years stopped by our hotel and we chatted for a couple of hours. We had met on the Alex Anderson message board a few years ago!

Sunday I was taken to the airport by Tracey and able to get home at 5:30 PM instead of 11PM!!! That was WONDERFUL!!!

Here is a link to the quilts that I too pics of!
Quilts
ENJOY!
Hugs
Laurie

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

I'm leaving on a jet plane

OH...that was a great song wasn't it!??!!! Today will be spent getting ready to fly out of KC tomorrow morning...BRIGHT AND EARLY...to head to Lancaster. This will be my 4th year in a row now of going to the Quilter's Heritage Show in Lancaster, PA. About 6 of us or so meet up there for a weekend of girl quilting fun! WOOHOO!!! I am using my NWA frequent flyer miles so that is why my flight schedule stinks. I don't get back until 11PM on Sunday night...but it's free! I'll live!

I am going to look for bright tone on tone batiks at the Friday night sale at Country Store. They sell their batiks that night for $5 a yard! And they are NICE batiks too! The price of things in Amish Country is amazing!!!!! It should be a fun time!

Here's a picture of an Amish Quilt...a little pre-show eye candy for you! LOL

I'll report my naughtiness when I get back!!! Have a great weekend!
Hugs
Laurie

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Angel Quilt Delivered

Last night the Angel quilt was delivered. Marg was taken to Linda and Bill's house under the pretense that it was a retirement party for Bill! She was SHOCKED when Linda handed her a box. "WHAT IS THIS?", Marg said. "This is Bill's party". NOPE...She opened the quilt and tears flowed. A gentlemen, whose name I forgot, read the label out loud to everyone! There were a LOT of hugs and thank yous for me. One gal said "Thank you so much for being our angel. Bill and Linda said all you asked for is to keep you in our prayers...and you have them!" I cannot tell you how honored I was to be included in the gift opening/quilt receiving festivities!

The best part is that the treatment that Marg is receiving is WORKING!!! She has not had any chemo or radiation OR surgery! They are treating this with the same medicine I am on to PREVENT a recurrence! I guess Marg's success is proof that Femara WORKS!!! She looks great and healthy...

The pic here is of me, bottom left, Bill, Linda, and Marg (in the orange). Lots of smiles all around!!!
Hugs
Laurie

Friday, March 31, 2006

BTDT

Been There Done That
(BTDT)

:o)
Laurie