NEW YEAR'S EVE 2009!!

WELL...WE MADE IT!! Through another year and DECADE!!! Oh my! So much has happened!! Suffice to say that all of my loved ones are healthy, working and seem to be doing what they want. I am now a GRAMMY!! Annabelle Rose was born to my daughter, Laurel Rose, and her nice husband, Dusty, on August 27, 2009. Fantastic! and am soon to have the distinction again...June 15 grandbaby #2 is due to my son, Russ, and his lovely wife, Megan. SOOO excited! My youngest son, Will, has found a very nice companion, Steven, and I am so very happy that he has someone to share with.

The old couple pictured above are myself and DH, Mark, on a motorcycle trip last summer to South Dakota. We do love riding together. I look forward to the warmer days and the freedom of riding once again!

My artistic life is busy, busy. I am so thrilled to have made the acquaintance of some very special and talented people on the HGTV Quilting chat board and on the CQI Crazy Quilting chat boards. These folks are so very creative and certainly keep my head spinning with ideas and anxious to try new things! Thank you to you all!

So, I am attempting to post a few more pix for your viewing pleasure...the mechanics of posting and editing to my BLOG are still quite new to me so thank you for bearing with me!

Now, on with the show... This is the block I made for my friend, Jean Smith. We had a deal where I made a CQ block for myself and she made it into a fabulous bag for me and then I made a CQ block for her and she is making it into a bag for herself. I love the colors. She provided the center focus fabric. I hand dyed the fan lace motif and the green doily beneath the SRE and button grouping.

This block is my FFT#10 participation requirement block to begin the process of being a full fledged member, WITH stitching rights!, to the CQI group hosted by Leslie, Kerry, Hideko and Cathy. This group, CQI, is such an inspiration to me! The stitchers come together from around the world and share a love of stitching. SOOO wonderful to "find my own kind!" This block will be "worked on" by 4 other fantastic people. It should return home to me in February or March. I can hardly wait to see it completed!

I think this will be enough posting for now...here's hoping it all worked! See you in 2010!

Colleen (alexemmarose)

Necklaces made from old earrings

The necklaces below are made from old earrings. A friend of mine, Lori O., brought me old earrings from her deceased grandmother-in-law and I made necklaces out of them for her to give as gifts. Such a cherished-type of gift!

The picture below is of my daughter, Laurel, and her daughter, Annabelle, one day after little Annie's birth. This pix is a gift for Annabelle for Christmas. It was probably one of the harder projects I have ever worked on! Had to make sure everything fit and worry about it all! I am SO not an organized stitcher! That is why I LOVE crazy quilting...NO RULES!!

Anyhoo, out to sit in the hot tub and watch the sleet come down-have the tub in a "bath house" with a double garage door that opens to enjoy nature while soaking.

Two days before Christmas and ice and snow are coming down!

FINALLY!!! I am posting a few pix for your viewing pleasure! (thanks Kathi...for the encouragement to get this up and going!)

Home today after a wonderful riverboat cruise up the Mississippi River and lovely, peaceful stay in the Amana Colonies in western Iowa. The highlight of the Amana stay was shopping in the cute shops and of course, the QUILT SHOP. Now I know you might think, and rightly so!, that I really do not need ANY more fabric and accessories but you know what they say...the one with most at the end WINS! Really, a super little quilt shop in an old barn...so quaint and charming. The fatal mistake was probably when Mark decided to "go wait outside". We would probably be a little bit richer if he had stayed...

Pictures soon of some of "my creative life". I am just thrilled to actually be able to find my blog and then to post on it!

WELCOME TO MY CREATIVE LIFE!

Well, here it is...my very first blog entry of my life! I am sooooo glad to finally be at this point!

Welcome!! I am so glad you have come to visit me! I will do my best to be faithful in posting and am anxious to share photos of my creative life with you!

I will start my blog life by introducing my very precious new grandbaby, Annabelle Rose.

That is enough excitement for one day...me a BLOGGER! Whew!

Next time there will be photos of some of my CQ life.