Moving Forward

Three years ago my husband of 25 years went on a fishing trip, he came back with a new girlfriend and a divorce and thus my life forever changed - for the better, lol. I don’t know if I could have said that three years ago but I have definitely come full circle and really enjoy the person I have become. Life is funny like that sometimes. When this all took place my quilt friends being the wonderful group of gals that they are gifted me with some letter blocks. You see I have a love for words, always have. It goes back to my days of being a young girl and immersing myself in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Rod McKuen. Words started showing up in my quilts in the early 90’s and have continued to do so since. So it was only natural that when I was feeling down they each made me a letter spelling out there love for me. I love these letters, they are all so unique, so the friend that made them. I have cherished them for three years now and know that the time has come to create a quilt with them.



I have completed that circle of disbelief to happiness. The time has come to put those letters into words, my friends words, my own words. Thus the divorce quilt is evolving. The letters are sewn together and the work on the borders, my words, has begun. As I said before, life is funny like that sometimes, you don’t know what it has in store for you but with a little bit of love from your friends and a whole lot of faith you will survive and continue to move forward.

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning to sail my ship.” - Louisa May Alcott

Heading Out

Two little finishes. I have had the quilting done on these two little quilts for quite awhile but as I tend to do I never got the bindings put on. Binding is definitely my least favorite part of quilting. I don’t know why I just tend to put it off forever. Maybe it is a psychological thing; I don’t want the process of that particular creation to end. Possibly, possibly not. Anyway, I got my act together and was able to spend the whole 2 hours that it took me to make and sew these bindings on.



I like having little quilts to quilt on. They are so easy to pick up and work on, easy to maneuver around and easy to travel with. I have two more I am working on then I will have to get busy and put some of those ideas in my head down on paper and create a few new ones.



Remember the Would Your Rather quilt with friends or go on a cruise question? Well I would definitely choose quilting with friends as I have the bestest quilting friends ever!!! I am packed and ready to head out for a weekend of quilting, eating, talking and even movie watching with these friends. We all started reading the Janet Evanovich books together back in the 90’s. Lucky for us that the movie based on book one is premiering this weekend so while we are all together we are going to take a trip to the theater and have a few laughs. I have been busy preparing a “Special” project to work on. Hopefully I can get some pictures snapped over the weekend and share it with all of you.

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” - E.E. Cummings

A New Day

I’m walking on Sunshine, oh yeah, I am walking on Sunshine is the title for my quilt. I definitely love getting up each day and experiencing this wonderful life that has been gifted to me. So with happiness in heart I created this quilt top. The sun is shining and my new life is growing (yep that’s for me!!). A few years ago my life took a drastic change and I found myself starting over again. But I can say it has been a happy change for me and I see life in a whole new light. It is to be enjoyed, the good, the bad the happy and the unhappy. I read a quote from Leonard Cohen a while back that has really stuck with me, “Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you act.” Give it a try, it works! It won’t be long and I should be done with this quilt. I have the background quilting done, now I just need to finish up the quilting in the wool areas.

Everything can be taken from us but one thing - the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance. – Victor Frankl

Time Off Well Spent

I was lucky enough to have a couple of weeks off over Christmas. Laura + Time off = Couch potato. I can honestly say that I barely left my house. I didn’t even go gather my mail, just sat around hand quilting and watching Westerns. Those who know me know that I am a big Western junkie. So I DVR as many as I can and I pay extra for the Western channel each month so that I will have an endless supply of entertainment. My favorites are the black and white ones from the 40’s and 50’s. Plus I can never get enough of Randolph Scott, George Montgomery or James Drury as The Virginian. My love affair with Westerns goes back a long time. My oldest son was named for the character Jess Harper in the tv series Laramie played by Robert Fuller who also portrayed one of my favorite characters “Cooper Smith” on the Wagon Train. So I enjoyed my few weeks off with my favorite guys and about four different hand quilting projects. I didn’t want to get too bored with any single one so each day I worked on each one a little bit. I have two small ones in the works, a crib size that is done in both cottons and wools, and a large bed size that I made for my daughter back when she was 11. She is now 19 so it is definitely time to get it quilted. I am happy with what I have accomplished so far and will be sharing my progress along the way. Now off to do a little more quilting and watch Eddie Dean sing a little and then ride off to catch the bad guys.

You were born an original. Don’t die a copy. - John Mason

Would You Rather -

Fight a polar bear or a grizzly bear? That is how my summer was spent, playing the; would you rather game. One of my jobs at work is to oversee the summer interns that work for us. I work in ag research so we spend many an hour outdoors taking samples, monitoring fields etc. The very first day one of the kids asked the above question and thus the summer of would you rather, began. At times I thought I was going to go crazy from this silly game as they would argue as to who had the right answer and then google what they felt was the correct answer on their Iphones to support their argument. The game seemed endless as they never ran out of questions to ask. The very last day they worked one of the last things said to me by one of the boys was a would you rather question.
Summer is gone and we are in the middle of winter and the game continues to haunt me. For Christmas one of my superiors at work placed a wrapped gift on my desk and told me to open it on Christmas day. It was the boxed game of Would you Rather? How funny that these kids are still bringing a smile to all of us months later. So welcome 2012, I think I will start off with my own game of Would You Rather? Let me know your answers.
Would you rather Hand quilt or Machine quilt?
Would you rather use batik fabrics or plaid fabrics?
Would you rather machine piece or appliqué?
Would you rather take a quilting cruise or a weeklong quilt along at home with friends?


You don't stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing.