This is one of the best days of my life.. I have finished my all time favorite quilt ( so far). This has been a labor of love for about 7 months.  I will be handing it off to Wendy next week and the next time I will see it will be in Houston in Nov.  I'm so excited to be a part of her exhibit and to get the chance
( God Willing) to go to Houston this year.  My daughter and her cat have never looked better...
The binding looks funny because I tried to get the background out ...

Sooo Sunday  Mike and I took a drive to the
WOW gallery in Wittenberg, Wi. I entered a quilt into a art show and
they were all being displayed. What great artwork.. painting,
photography... and my quilt... with a award of excellence on it... which
means I won a monetary award..!!!! I am soooo doing the happy dance...
So I just had to share...it was my Triple Trillium quilt.
And how about that.. the check came in the mail today... do I frame it or cash it? 

Please vote for my recipe, O-Love Bleu Burger, and help name it champion of Culver's Ultimate ButterBurger Build-Off contest.
I love this burger... you have to try it...


http://contest.culvers.com/entries#54477

I have been bugging my dear friend Chris to start a blog for a few years.. the problem was that she lives in the boonies and always only had dial up... but, thanks to technology lo and behold she has high speed now... Sooooo YEAH!!!  She started a blog.. 6 years ago I took my first art quilt class from Chris.  We sparked almost an instant friendship.  We have grown to be best friends through the years.  We have so many things in common.  And our husbands are like twin sons from different mothers... that is the scary part.  I ...

I have had a busy couple of weeks.. Anne Lullie came to our quilt guild 2 weeks ago for a lecture and a workshop.. it was wonderful.. you know me and all the bright colors... This is what I came up with so far.. but, I have more ideas in my brain for maybe more fabrics and embellishments.  This is a pattern of Anne's that you can get from Anne.  I believe you just have to email her from her website.
http://www.annelullie.com/
 Last thursday I took a class from Isabella Hoffman.  We did some needle felting ...

Wow.. what a great time I had teaching yesterday.  We were in this over one hundred year old barn.  Which is where Wisconsin Quilt Museum is going to be hopefully built in the very near future.  I taught fusible applique.  The gals were great.. it was a great setting... I loved everything about it after I got over being nervous... Thanks to all who made Quilt University Days in Cedarburg such a success...

I'm almost ready to sandwich this quilt and start quilting.. I worked for 2 days on her face...especially her eyes.. they were blue.. but, then I made them brown.. she has brown eyes in real life.. I thread painted eyebrows and lashes and use a colored pencil for some of the facial lines... Can't wait to get quilting on this..

Hi all.. I just wanted to invite you to the QUILT UNIVERSITY DAYS at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts.  2 days packed with fun.. May 21 and 22.. $25 gets you 4 classes each day and a potluck lunch with a guest speaker during the lunch.. It is going to be really fun.. I'm nervous as heck but, anxious to get my feet wet.. I'm teaching Fusible Applique.  "Curious About Fusibles?" And here is my mascot.  Sooo hope you can join in the fun... go here to get all the information.  http://www.wiquiltmuseum.com

I was waiting to post a photo of my banged up car until I received my new one.. so here they are... Old Subie and New Subie!!

I'm in a small group with some of my oldest art friends (not age old...but, years of friendship old).. Patti wanted to do a one for one card exchange.. I thought .. ok.. I'll try.. do you know how long it has been since I have worked with paper?  I fiddled with it for over and hour and decided to give up.. I spoke my piece and opted out of the swap.. Then Patti said.. "Laura ... think fabric... "  and a lightbulb went off in my head.  I can do that... so I revamped my card adding fabric and ...

As I look out my living room window there is a huge beautiful tree in my neighbors yard across the street.. As I was pulling up to my house today that huge tree was only a part of a tree.  My neighbor was afraid it would fall on his or the other neighbors house so he decided to have it taken down.  It was split a bit in the middle and a bad storm could have easily taken part of it out.  I loved this tree.  It was so stately.  I wish I had a before photo of it.  Here ...

This is a quilt that I am working on.  Using a technique I learned from Wendy Butler Berns.  It is now fused to decor bond and ready for the monofilament zigzag stitching to hold the pieces together.  I decided to add Jessi's kitty Mr. Snuggles into the quilt.  It is 52"x63"  This isn't the best photo but, you get the idea...I should mention that she will have a flower on a stem in her hand and some of the petals will be missing and on the ground.  You can see more of this quilt a few ...

I'm sure by now most of you know what Quilts of Valor are... I have posted about them a few times.  Last Thursday at Oconomowoc quilt guild I was given a QOV to give to one of my soldiers.  We write down the information and get the quilts for them as they become available.  My friend Jim's dad was in World War II.  Mr. Edward Mies.  He is also a member at my church.  He and his wife are the most caring people in the world.  I was very happy to present Mr. Mies with a QOV yesterday ...

Thought I would do a little change up with my blog.. Hopefully I won't loose everything this time.. I made the title photo using my snow dyed fabric in photoshop.  Soooo we will be going green until I decide to change it again... HEre is a photo of my kitty "Mr. Snuggles" reading up on Katie Pasquini expert advice... Ha!!!  Have a great week!! 

This was a fun project.. thanks to Terri Kirchner for quilting it for me.. I pieced the back with a panel and it almost looks better than the front.. Ha!!

I did some more snow dyeing last weekend.. I also dyed some socks and a tshirt.. This last photo is a rayon shirt and I love how it turned out.

The challenge was called The Line of Design..Here is my quilt and the rules... We had 20 quilts and 8 were picked to try and get in the ultimate guild challenge in Knoxville.  Mine was not one of the 8.  All of the girls quilts were really unbelievable and I sure wouldn't want to have been that judge.. Oh and funny thing.. my quilt was 1 1/4 inch short to get into knoxville show if it was picked so I put the organic looking trim on the bottom.. Now that the judging is over I think I ...

Well, you know me.. I always love a challenge.  The challenge here is that this is the largest quilt I have every made.  On paper right now it ia 52"x63"... it has to end up with the smallest side 50".  I have to use a technique I learned from Wendy Butler Berns.  I have used her technique in quite a few of my quilts.  So I took a photo of my daughter and this is what I am coming up with.  In the third photo I have the freezer paper templates ironed on the fabric.  So the fabric is ...

My sister posted about my dad's birthday last night.. today he is 90... He is an amazing man. I am so thankful to still have him and my mom in my life.. Please visit her blog to see her post.


Cheryl's Chatelaine: A Defining moment for the family

Some  of these pieces I show a white on white piece of fabric and what if looks like on the front and on the back.. both sides are fun..