Christmas

Hello All

We had a nice Christmas here at home. On the 23rd we drove t Denver to see my husbands family, Father, 8 of 10 sibs, 14 of 19 cousins plus various inlaws. What fun! By the time we got to Denver all the snow was off the streets from the blizzard but there were 4 ft drifts and plowed snowbanks up 12 feet high.

We came back here Christmas Eve, a 4 hour drive, even more fun as it was snowing again when we left.

But we has all of kids with us so it was worth it.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Here are some pics of the kids with their loot and even some smiles out of the boys!!

Later,

Lauri

Guess Where I Am?

Hello All

Guess where I am?

I am in the car traveling from Grand Junction to Denver. My hubby got me a card for my computer so that I can now literally get on the Internet anywhere. 4 of the 5 kids are in the car watching their movies and on the PS2. I have to say my kids are really good car travelers. We usually don't have any arguments until about half an hour before we get to Denver. My hubby is switching between his XM radio and Sirius radio. We are such geeks!!!!

I have taken some pictures of Glenwood Springs and Glenwood Canyon. I did loose the signal for a few minutes when you see the pics you will see why. Isn't life so interesting now? I took photos with my digital camera , then put the card in the computer then get on the Internet with a laptop and then everyone can see what I am doing going down the road. I must say again I AM A GEEK.

My children have no clue what it was like when we were kids. Only 3 TV channels, 4 if you got PBS. The phone stayed in the house connected to the wall. Photos were taken on film that you took into a store to be developed and it took at least a week to get them back. You didn't do anything wit the TV but watch Gilligan's Island repeats. Car trips were torture, you read a book(gasp) and listened to really bad AM radio farm reports

These pics show you why I could never live anywhere other than Colorado.I have talked to people who love the ocean and feel a pull towards it. That is how my family is with mountains , if we can't see some we feel disconnected and have no idea which way is which. LA was completely disconcerting to us. I personally can't look at the ocean for more than a minute at a time. I feel like I am falling off the edge. I guess I am strange.

Maybe I'll post some more tomorrow as we drive back from Denver.Maybe I'll be able to get a pic of Santa on his journey

LAter,
LAuri

Christmas Pics

Hello All

I thought you might enjoy some pics of our house at Christmas. The tree is white but the blue lights make it look very different. You can still see some of the left over snow from the storm about a month ago. Hopefully we will get a little more for the holidays so it seems more Christmasy

Later,

Lauri

More of Kids of the World Quilt

Hello All

Here are some more pics of the quilt as promised! Sorry for the fuzziness of some

Later,

Lauri

Art MEME Re-challenge

Hello All
A while back I responded to Jo in NZ's art MEME challenge. This is where you agree that you will make and give to 5 people who respond to your challenge a piece of your artwork. No matter what that may be. In exchange they post it on their blog ( or I suppose you could put it out some other way) and do the same for 5 other people. Kind of a pay it forward dealie. I didn't have any takers last time. In part I think because I didn't have a lot of people looking at my blog at that time and because almost everybody on the CQ groups were doing it too.
So if you are interested let me know. If you have already agreed to respond to someone else's MEME that's fine. Just show me where you have posted your challenge and I will include you. Hope to hear from ALL of you!!
Maybe this will give me some motivation to get going and do something!LOL

Later,
Lauri

International Swap

Hello All

I have joined a swap. It matches up a US partner with one from somewhere else in the world. 4 times next year we will swap"squishies". These are plastic baggies filled with small pieces of fabric, trims, beads and embellishments.

My swap sister is named Samanthi and she lives in Sri Lanka. Ratnapura to be exact. She has jungles, elephants and gem mining. The second pic above is from that area. The third is what Grand Junction looks like right now. That's the Colorado River that eventually flows through the Grand Canyon. The last pic is of the Colorado National Monument in the summer. It doesn't do the place justice. You should see how REALLY red these rock formations are in person. In Western Colorado we have the Rocky Mountains AND desert conditions, tumbleweeds as big as cars, deer and skunk, and natural gas drilling. I guess you can't get too much different can you?

The only way I could think of to give her an idea of what it is like here was to tell her it is a lot like the old western movies especially the John Wayne ones. She knew about those, in fact she like to read westerns.Whereas the only western I have ever been able to finish was Lonesome Dove. I read Fantasy books about Dragons, Trolls and Fairies. Samanthi knows what these are but probably thinks I am really strange for reading about those things.

I told her I have red hair then she wanted to know if I looked like Julia Roberts. I wish! Isn't it funny how American Pop Culture shows up everywhere?

Of course that is the whole point isn't it? To get know something about somewhere else.

Well need to get going, have to pick up the puppy from the vet's. Doing my part to keep doggie overpopulation down. As stupid and clumsy as this Husky is I think I am doing the world a favor by not letting him procreate! By the way his name is Ulric and I think he is channeling his inner Viking

Later,

Lauri

Whoops

Hello All,
I mistakenly said this challenge was from Judyth. My mistake. It came from Lesa the Group Mom. My only excuse is that Judyth is on the board SOOO much (LOL) that sometimes as a newbie to the board I get confused. I am really sorry. If you haven't been to the board go check it out. It is for any one not just newbies.Judyth is a hoot and you won't be sorry. Lesa and JK the other list Mom are great at taking care of everyone

Later,
Lauri

I'm SOOO Spoiled

Hello All, I just wanted to brag a bit. My hubby bought me a brand new laptop for Christmas so I have been playing with it all weekend. It's so nice not to hear grinding, popping, hissing and whirring whenever I turn on a computer. If I can tear myself away I will post a pic of it. Then MAYBE I will get to some CQing

Later,
Lauri

Judyth's Challenge

Hello All

In one of the groups I belong to, CQ for Newbies, a challenge has been issued to use or display an item you have made. One that has been hidden away until........

You know what I mean until you find the right spot or get around to framing it or whatever. I am posting a quilt I did about 4 years ago. I just had no where to hang it until we moved in June.

This is from an embroidery pattern I got from Ebay. It dates from the forties, hence Alaska and Hawaii as their own countries not as America.

I'll post more pics when I get some non blurry ones

I lied, I did not get around to doing anything yesterday.I was too busy dreading work.

There is still some hope for today! Maybe

Later, Lauri

Beta Blogger

Hello All
I just updated to the beta version. This is SO much easier than before.I am also getting a new Dell from the hubby for Christmas and it should be here any day, so I will be all set.
What do you think of the updates?

Later,
Lauri

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy

Hello All,

I know I have been remiss in my blogging. I just haven't felt like doing ANYTHING lately.

So I guess I need to give myself a swift kick in the A$$ and get moving. So in that spirit I will post the last of my CQ that I have pics of. Hopefully I won't duplicate.

And I WILL do some stitching today if it kills me. Before I go to work which makes me want to kill myself.

I work in the local JOANN's. I just started a month ago. They decided about 9 months ago to shut it down. So they let it downhill . I mean they REALLY let it go downhill. The floors hadn't been swept in months and they just put new notion stock that came in wherever they felt like. So no items were in the correct place, no prices are on anything and half the fabric stock drug on the floor. And the customers get ticked off when they can't find a price or it is 3 times as much as they thought. I don't blame them it ticks me off too, but we are the ones who get yelled at. I hate retail. Always have. It's the reason to go to college! I don't need this job my husband makes a pretty good income. I just did it for the discount and to get out of the house once in awhile.

Anyway, I digress....

But then they decided to keep this store open and build us a new one within 2 years. We live in a small city on the Western Slope of Colorado and other than our store there is one other fabric store plus 2 quilting stores ,a Walmart and Hobby Lobby so we really needed this store here. Now suffice it to say we have to get this place back up to snuff and fast. So clean up 9 months of neglect in 1 month. It ain't easy. So hence the disgust with work . AAARRRGGGGGGHHHHH

So take a look at the pics, the last ones I have so better get going so I can show you something. Please keep in mind that some of these are blocks that are just pieced not finished ones. LOL

Maybe I'll go play with my new Rainbow Dyes from RibbonSmyth

Later,

LAuri

I Knew it!!!

You are The Devil

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Hello All,

Why am I not surprised?

If you really knew me you wouldn't be.

Not much new here no motivation. So maybe later

Later,
Lauri

I Guess Not

I guess no pics right now. Blogger keeps saying that they are loaded but they don't show on the post. So I guess I'll try later. Blogger is getting very frustrating

Bit the Bullet

Hello All,
Well after the debacle with the kool aid dye I bit the bullet and bought a whole bunch of Rainbow dyes from RibbonSmyth and hopefully it will go better. The hassle of the other wasn't worth it.
Today if the printer will cooperate I will print out a bunch of vintage images to use for CQ. I found a bunch at Art-E-Zine http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/vintageresources.html. They ask for a donation of $10 a year which I will pay tomorrow after payday. LOL
I am having a hard time getting myself to work much on my wallhanging. Maybe it's because it's so large and the end isn't in sight. So I have decided to do some smaller projects like pouches, pillows and some boxes. I got some cigar boxes from eBay. Maybe getting something accomplished will motivate me to finish the wallhanging.
I was going to post some pics of the ribbons I dyed, but husband used the little doohickey thingie that I put my memory card into to load them onto the computer, and of course I can't find it now! Wow that was quite a run on sentence wasn't it? If my high school English teacher saw that I would be in SO much trouble. Of course talking in capitals and and with so many punctuation marks is so much better!
What was I saying? Oh yeah, the pics. I guess you'll just have to muddle through with some of the last of the ones of my wallhanging.
Off to help Mother Nature along. Restoring my hair to it's natural reddish beauty. I had 8 inches cut off of it the other day and had it layered too. My daughters were in shock I haven't had anyone else cut it since their brother was little and he is 15!

Later,
Lauri

AARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!

Hello All,
I've spent all morning trying to kool aid dye some lace. What a pain in the a$$. My white velvet ribbons came out great. Really bright but good. Some of the other lace, not so good. I got some really obnoxious reddish hues. They are alright just not the colors I usually use. All the pinks, greens and purple I tried came out muddy or faded when I rinsed them out. End of story I put away about 30 pieces of lace until I can figure out how to dye them the way I want, without costing a fortune.

I've included more motifs from some of the other blocks. I am almost out of pics of my work so I guess I better get working on some more huh?

Time to go pick up kiddos from school. Sometimes I wish I had put them in public school so they could ride the bus.

Later,
Lauri

I Need Help Here

Hello All,

Here's the block I was talking about. I've come to a stall on it. I have some seams done but I am not sure what to do with dyed lace I have up in upper portion. I know I had a plan when I first pieced the block but what it may have been has completely slipped my mind. I am too stubborn to take it out. So I have to figure a solution.
The lace is lavender and aqua and the piece it is sewn into is shiny silver velvet. The whole block is somewhat of a sea theme. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Onto another CQ dilemma. Am I the only one who has found that viewing others' blogs is taking a huge chunk of time out of the day? After I check my email ,yahoo groups, international newspapers and CQ blogs I find it has taken almost 2 hours out of my day.
But I really like to see what everyone else is doing! Maybe I'll divide the blogs into 2 separate folders in my Favorite folders and check each blog every other day.
But that wouldn't be as much fun.
What will I do? What will I do?

Later,
Lauri
e

Back on Topic

Here are some more Cq things to look at. Just more of the pink block. There is quite a bit of beading on this one. You always need more beads in my opinion. As I said before I think this one is my favorite so far. I think next time I will show the one I am working on now. There is a piece of lace that isn't working so I'll post it to get your suggestions

My new CQ friend in town and I went downtown Friday. I actually behaved and only spent about $65. Not bad for me. I bought up a lot of perle cotton #8 and just 4 pieces of fabric. I also purchased another one of my favorite thimbles. It is a round disc with the dimples on it, that sticks to your finger. I've used it for hours at a time and it stays on.
Now normally I can't use thimbles as they are so uncomfortable but I had to do something because the callous on my middle fingers were black and grossed people out. These work great.

Now it's time for my Sunday afternoon nap so .....................

Later,
Lauri

Quick Note

Hello All,

Just to remind you don't forget to check out my Flikr site . I uploaded a few new pics. The link is in the sidebar. Also check out my post about the Art MEME.
More later after my playdate with fellow CQ'er , Janet, in beautiful downtown Grand Junction.
Actually it is quite pretty and you won't get run over there, Very turn of the century

Later,
Lauri

Those @*&)!#%^^&** Halloween Costumes

Hello All,

Would you believe I got these done with a day to spare and managed to get in another costume also?
Tomorrow I am going CQ shopping with Janet who I met thru one of the Yahoo CQ sites. I think we are probably the only 2 people in Grand Junction with this hobby. So we have to stick together. My husband noticed we had very similar personalities so he said we couldn't play together anymore because it wouldn't be safe for us or anyone who came in contact with us. So Janet threatened to embroider, embellish and bead him.
So I guess my credit cards better get ready for a workout!

Later,
Lauri

Blog Complications

Hello All,

Blogger seems to be having problems downloading for several days. I can't get any pics to load.
On the bright side I got the costumes done with time to spare for a last minute emergency costume.
I'll post some pics when Blogger gets fixed

Later,
Lauri

Something Different

Hello All,

I finally got blogger to post my pics. I thought that I would show you some of my drawings today. A few are originals and couple are my I copies I did from other artists' work.
The one of the beach is my 3 youngest kids and me 6 years ago. Now 2 of them tower over me and the baby is only 6 inches shorter than me. Time Flies!

I think the mermaid is the best I have ever done.But the Unicorn Eye is my favorite.

I really enjoy drawing but for me it is much more time consuming. Much more demanding. Therefore I don't do it as much as I would like.

CQ is so portable. You can take it anywhere! Thus one of it's dozen appealing traits.

Later,
Lauri