Don't Faint Now!!!

Hello All

I know it's been months since I've posted. I have never been this long in between posts before.I just haven't felt like it. Much like my baby here. Of course Nigel is a dog so he is entitled to act like this. I am told I am not.

My winter blahs didn't leave until April and came back in September.It was a short year. I have been working on a present for a friend for months now and I have had a RR block since October and can't get myself to work on it.

Oh Well enough of that

For only the second time in 22 years I didn't sew any Halloween costumes. Though we did buy everything there was a lot of thought into them so I don't feel bad. It isn't like they came straight off a hanger at Wal Mart

This is Molly's idea of a neon Butterfly. She is so tall that with her wings on she had to duck down almost to her knees to get out the door

I bet you didn't know that Goth Tinkerbells rode Hannah Montana scooters.

Though I have had the blahs it hasn't been completely bleak. Sadly our 13 yo cat Hootie passed away at the beginning of October. He was a real sweetheart and is missed. But he lived a long Happy life

All the kids were sad but they aren't used to a house without an indoor cat. So I sent Hubby to get a kitten......................................................He came back with 2!!

Meet Jack and Will

They are the epitome of kitten-ness


Now to prove I am not a complete slacker. I made this purse from a cigar box for #1 son's girlfriend. We share a love for the artist Josephine Wall so I knew she would like it




I also made 12 stockings and some tree shaped ornaments for a Craft Sale that Janet and I did. That was pretty much a bust

I'll leave you with this image and hopefully the next year I will have more energy

Later
Lauri

Breast Cancer Block

Hello All

I have been working on a block for a breast cancer quilt.
We were given pieces of old wedding dresses to work with. Only white and cream were to be used, along with touches of pale pink, green and yellow.
Hope you enjoy


Later
Lauri

Where have I Been? With Pics at the End I Promise!

Hello All


Where have I been?
Well first of all is this little thing called CHILDREN

School started over a month ago, but before that even started there were Volleyball tryouts. Did I ever tell you how much I hate Volleyball? It is so boring and all the girly girly screaming, the obvious shouts of "OUT" well duh we are watching too, don't need you to tell us that. The need to high 5 and hug after every point , serve or good spike. I am not a huggy type of girl.

Then school started and between driving one girl to school, picking up 2 girls from practice, then the dreaded VBall game themselves , Girl Scouts and driving the 17 yo to work cuz I was mean and wouldn't let him get his license because he couldn't get to class on time............ I have been busy

Plus I drove to the CQI Retreat in Windsor, Colorado. For people who know me that will acknowledge this is a huge feat. I don't drive long distances or on the high way ever ................I mean ever........................maybe 6 times in the 27 years I have had my license

I had a very nice time at the retreat. While there I met some very nice ladies. Gerry K says she wants me to marry her 50 yo son, alas I am taken. but I think she just wants me as a stitching buddy. So I decided she can be my NuMom, as my real Mom left me 7 years ago

I stayed at this Gerry's house. I was their first guest in their new house. Gerry and her husband Gene were both so nice to me. They even helped me in getting new tires put on my Expedition and took me out to dinner. Thank you so much!!! It was so nice to get to know both of you. I am sure we will be meeting again in the future.

Leslie hosted the retreat at her home. I don't know how much time and energy she put into all of this but I am sure she was exhausted having all of us there and driving everywhere. Thank you so much!!! You did a great job

Of course Janet went with me. We talked the whole way there and back. Neither one of us usually talk that much so were talked out for several days.

We also met Connie, who learned to paint buttons from Gerry K and learned very well I must say. Then there was Cathy who was very entertaining. And Jill who's house we visited and had us all for dinner.( Thank you so much)

Then there was Debbie from Maine, she is not at all what I expected. I expected some young little thing in her 30's and about 5ft 10. Well no Debbie says she is 5 feet but so am I. I think Maine feet are shorter than Colorado feet. What a character!!!! Debbie next time we wall meet you will have to go take a smoke so we can go through all the stash you acquired on this trip.


I can't wait until next year!!

Here are some pics I promised. This is the Cq bear I made for the Chinese Auction. Gerry H got to keep this one. I am thinking I may make some of these to sell. What do you think?






And his little hiney.........I have a thing for backends.. I don't know why

Here is the block for Lyn for the Magic Moments DYB, she asked for Victorian and Romance. I figured you can't get more Victorian than Queen Vicky herself

This is the dragon I added for Ati's fantasy block. It is for her grandson, so I just had to put a boy with his dragon.

The block for Ati's Christmas theme. Just had to add the elf button for a touch of whimsy

And lastly Cobi's East Indian block. I like how the elephant turned out

So I have been doing things, just not in a talkative mood I guess. I have dozens of pics I need to show you of all the wonderful work I have received in RR and swaps. I promise I will get to that

I have also been tagged by Lin Moon and someone else( I am so sorry! I forgot who at this moment) I will get to those too. I just am all typed out at the moment

Off to make a few surprises for the Gerrys

Later,
Lauri

What Next?

Hello All
I am trying to decide what I want to work on right now. Here are a few oldie but goodie WISPs.
My Star Trek inspired quilt "Boldly"

Or maybe " Janet's Fault"?

Or another one of these?

Or I could make up some stuff for the craft fair in December or some stuffed dragons or maybe some CQ bears.

Maybe I'll just go take a nap

Later
Lauri

Mesa County Fair

Hello All

First up a very shaky video of a Demolition Derby for those of you who have never seen one. If you listen carefully you might hear my evil laugh I seem to do I every time there was a good smash up. It was in every video I shot. I wonder if I should be concerned?

Next an artful shot of the Fair and carnival

The Bookcliffs, north of town

Mt Garfield

And oh yeah these too!!!

I got a First place and a Judge's Choice. Needless to say I was very happy. The only halfway negative things the judges had to say was that my corners weren't perfectly square and that there wasn't alot of quilting. Well duh! It's a Crazy Quilt, and it is heavily quilted in the inside layer it was just covered up since it very irregular based on where it was needed.

The kids rode the rides and we pigged out on Turkey legs, funnel cakes and fresh lemonade. YUM


Later
Lauri

TA DA!!!

Hello All,

Well here it is. FINALLY!!!!!
You can click ( or is it double click?) on all these pics to see better detail. It took me several days fighting with the backing, binding and trims.Not to mention the buttons on the front and the back.

Jo suggested that I add a bit of color before the final binding. I was leaning that way to begin with , but it is always nice to have some one else independently confirm your thought. Thank you Jo!! I wanted a multi colored piping but couldn't find any. So I ended up with rat tail , which was nice but had to be sewn on by hand on both sides

Here is the inner border. This is not the trim I wanted to use, but it works well. Jjust could not justify $25 in gas to buy $4 worth of trim. I can see from this pic that I need to tack down that corner piece better. GASP!! I know it is almost sacrilege but may have to glue it. Don't tell the judges please.

And the back, a satin with glitter. Never again will I use satin to back at quilt!! ( Yea right, she says so now)It slid everywhere, including directions I did not know were possible

So that is it. Thank you for journeying with me on this 3167 day odyssey. The judging is Sunday and Monday I believe. I will let you know the results. Will try to hold out until Saturday when we go to the Demolition Derby again

Thank you so much
Later,
Lauri

Top Finished

Hello All

Well here is the finished top. I have been working on it for the last week. Not every seam in the border is beaded. I had to try VERY hard not to encrust every one. I have included pics of a few of the black and grey blocks. Also one of the beaded spider I had to do, since spiders are a CQ tradition.

I have already reinforced the piece with fusible knit interfacing. Next I will quilt it using Allie's false backing technique. I can't find the exact method on there for a link right this moment, but if you search you should be able to find it

Then I will put the real backing on it, tie with some iridescent buttons on the front and put on a very narrow binding maybe 1/2 inch wide and also a hanging sleeve.

The longest part will be quilting with the false back.

As this piece is only 30 inches square it shouldn't take really long.

I also dug a piece of sequined trim out of my stash that goes perfect. One or two slight problems though. I only have 1 yard and I need a little over two. Secondly I got it in Delta, over 5o miles away. Factoring 50 miles X 14 miles to the gallon in my new love ( a new to me "99 Expedition) X $4.06 a gallon. I am not sure it is worth it, BUT it so PERFECT to trim the middle section.

I am so proud of myself that this piece actually is square. It took me an extra 3 days to square up the middle section before I added the black and grey blocks. This meant adding small pieces to several colors but it was well worth the extra time.

I don't want to give the judges any ammunition against me. Crazy Quilts already have a notoriously rough time in judging. It is almost an impossible task to get all the blocks to lie completely flat. Due to the very nature of how crazy quilting is done and the fact that so many pieces are cut against the bias in the piecing method itself.

So we shall see if I get this done in time. Both Janet and I plan to take our quilt out to the Fair together next Friday. We both did colorstudies and it is very interesting how both interpreted them so differently. I think it will give the public a wider a view of CQ in general as our styles are so different. Though we have definitely have influenced each other .

So off to the store to buy some 'Warm and Natural' batting and the backing fabric

Later
Lauri

RR work

Hello All

Here is some work I have been doing on some RR blocks



First up Cobi's Fantasy block. I added a silky of a Sidhe. Then added the leafy bower around her and the music song they sing to lure we mere mortals




Secondly, I added a wizard and his magic cloud.

This is a DYB block for Simona. This will be in a quilt for her baby daughter, so I couldn't add any beads or buttons. It didn't turn out like I wanted. Simona says she likes it so I guess I am happy

And a closeup of God's homliest little angel

Well off to day # 1887 of the colorstudy

Later
Lauri

Colorstudy Day 1398 ( give or take)

Hello All

Here are the last of the colorstudy color blocks. Huh? As oppossed to the black and grey blocks for the border I guess

Obvious caption # 1- Peach

Blue block with top right corner redone

Orange block done
And all of them together

So that is the end of this fascinating tour today. Please watch your step on the way out

Later,
Lauri

3rd Place

Update!! Here's a link for the purses

http://www.crazyquiltinginternational.blogspot.com/


Hello All

Well the contest is over and I won 3rd place!!!
My prize is $60, so I see some stash buying in my future.
The purse that won I knew as soon as saw would win. Does that make any sense?
I'll see if I can link to the other purses,
Back to work on my quilt for the County Fair and off to Denver tomorrow to see #1 son

Later
Lauri