Monday, December 28, 2015

December 28, 2015

Dear Diary,
I have not posted on my blog for sooooo long! I guess I felt I had nothing to blog about! Also, I had problems putting pictures on using my lap top since all my pictures are on my phone or Ipad! Maybe I should investigate the problem start blogging again!

OK!

Hi All,
Now that I'm retired and have ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD!!! I will start to blog again. I hope to have some interesting things to share with you; crafts, books, movies, etc.

I also think I'll redesign my page and make things a bit more interesting to look at!

So for now, I will close and open shop again January 1, 2016!!!!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!
Colleen

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Another Weekend Gone by Too Fast!

Hi All,
I had a nice weekend. Worked a bit in the MIL's condo cleaning out some of her stuff. A bit sad for DH but something that needs to be done. Note to self; GET RID OF STUFF AND DON'T KEEP A LOT OF JUNK!!! As I've said before, my MIL was not one to keep stuff but there's still stuff that needs to be gone through. Oh well, at least we had some "quality" time together! Ha-ha!!!


Took a trip to the fabric store Saturday to buy some more fabric for Juanita's quilt. I had to put together the quilt backing before it gets quilted. I finished that this morning and was very happy to do so. You may think the "quilt" is done when the top has been completed. No, you have to prepare the backing and then have it actually quilted. Once it's quilted, you have to put the binding on. It's a process but I really enjoy it. I'm going to the quilter tomorrow night to choose the thread color and the design that I want to have quilted on it. That will be fun too! All in all, it's a lot of fun making a quilt. It may take a while to be quilted but I'm not in a big hurry.


Of course, since the quilt was completed, as much as I can do now, I had to do another project. I saw these fabric boxes on Facebook and decided to try to make one (or two!)  I cut out the fabric and batting Saturday and started the boxes today. They came out so cute! They're not hard and they're so adorable. I can see a lot of these in my future!















I also finished my latest baby quilt on Friday night. It's a pinwheel design and was very easy and fun to knit. It's all ready to go to some lucky little baby girl! Now I just need to find a baby girl! Unfortunately I'm having a hard time getting the picture posted so I'll post it on FB.


Enough for tonight (my frustration level is very high at this point!)











Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Quilt Recipient Preview Date - October 1, 2014

Good morning,
I will be ready to reveal the recipient of my first full size quilt tomorrow, October 1, 2014! Stay tuned to see who the lucky (I hope they feel that way!) person is and the finished quilt top! I'm very proud of it and can't wait to have it quilted and see it totally finished! This one will definately be professionally quilted!

Check out my previous posts to see the quilt in progress.

I am such a tease!!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

A "Quickie"

Good morning!
Just wanted to give you a "quickie" today. I just finished reading a great book; Not Fade Away by Rebecca Alexander. She's the sister of Peter Alexander, a correspondent on NBC.

She writes about her experience with Usher syndrome type III. This disease will leave a person blind and deaf generally by the time they turn 30. Rebecca tells how she copes with the disease, how it affects her life and everything that she has gone through. I saw a piece about it on the Sunday morning news and couldn't wait to read it. It was very inspiring and interesting to read about how she handles the fact that she is slowing going deaf and blind.

I highly recommend this book.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Why Crafts Are My Life!

Hello all,
I was thinking today about why I love to craft. As I've said before, I can't remember a time when I wasn't crafting something. From making potholders with a metal loom and elastic fabric or putting together scrapbooks, knitting sweaters to making quilts, I love expressing my creativity by crafting. I could spend my days creating works of art! I try to do as much as possible in the little time I have and enjoy sharing my creations with all of you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy sharing them!

In case anyone would like to take a look at my dear Sable, I would like to share a recent picture of her. She is 15 years old but in good health. Her blood work came back very good so we're happy about that. She is deaf and blind so we pamper her by cooking hamburger, chicken, steak and pork for her but she certainly deserves it. She's been a joy to us and we're happy to do whatever it takes to make her happy! She has us well trained!!!


Colleen's Sable

In case anyone thinks I'm not knitting too much, I present two projects. The first one is my latest pair of socks. I'm known as The Sock Queen at Woolly Lamb and I do enjoy that name! I think socks are my favorite things to knit. The second is a baby blanket that's halfway done. Not sure who will receive this but there are some little baby girls coming around soon!


Socks


Baby Blanket


So there you have it. My cherished doggie Sable and my recent projects. I hope you enjoy this blog and remember to keep on doing what you love - even if you can't do it full-time!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Happy Last Day of Summer... ; (

Hello friends,
Yes, we're closing in on the last remnants of a wonderful summer. We can't complain about really hot days this year! Some may be disappointed but I was very happy with our summer. It just seemed to go by too fast!

Well, I must say I had a wonderful weekend! We started out by taking our dear pup Sable to the vet. She's 15 years old, blind and deaf but is still our joy. I like to get her checked out to be sure she's doing well. Doc says she looks good and took some blood to check everything out. We'll hear from her Monday night.

We then took a ride to Milwaukee to see Gregory (and stop at the quilt shop!) He needed some food so we took him to Target and bought almost $300 worth of groceries! He should be set for a couple months now!!! LOTS of frozen stuff but at least he's eating! He walks enough to stay in shape so I guess he's in good shape!

Bungalow Quilt shop is exactly that; a nice yellow bungalow! The fabric selection was eclectic and very interesting! They also rent time on their long-arm quilting machine so if I ever FINISH a quilt top, I can quilt it! I did buy some very interesting fabric there. I hate fish, especially goldfish, but saw this fabric and could resist it. You may be able to see the bit of gold in the fabric.


Goldfish fabric

I also bought some very pretty "Paris" fabric at Bungalow quilting. Just not sure who would like it? : )

Paris fabric

I was happy to find fabric in my favorite color scheme. I hope to incorporate some of it into future BOM squares.


Sunday afternoon, after my regular Lucky Grill breakfast, my friend Sharon and I went shopping to Quilters Destination in Arlington Heights. Boy did we have fun. Everything was 20% off! I must say we didn't go too overboard! I bought a salmon colored fabric to go with my goldfish fabric. I also bought a beautiful French themed fabric to go with my Paris fabric. I think these will make some beautiful project bags!!



Goldfish fabric with lining fabric



Paris fabric with lining fabric


Sharon and I and several other customers bought the fabric below for assorted projects! It is new and I think pretty much depleted thanks to us! It is just too cute!




All in all, it was a great weekend and I have a lot of nice projects to work on! I'll post a few more pics the next time. 


Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Happy Halloween!

No, it's not Halloween yet, as a matter of fact, it's not even October! However, Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday and I love all things Halloween. I cut this project bag out over the weekend and couldn't wait to finish it. I am very pleased with it!

Halloween Black Cat Project Bag
Looking forward to Saturday because I'll be seeing Gregory AND going to Bungalow Quilt Shop in Milwaukee! Ok, ok, it is mostly Gregory but since there's a quilt shop nearby.... I have a list of what I need to get and some ideas of what I might want!!! 

On a serious note, I would like to ask everyone to say a prayer for my sister Kathy's husband Steve. He's having surgery tomorrow and I thought he could use everyone's good thoughts and prayers! 

Tomorrow is Open Knit Night at Woolly Lamb Yarn Studio! I have my bottle of wine and I'm ready to go! Oh, I will bring some knitting project to work on too! Probably my almost done socks! It will be nice to see my friends since I missed last week!

I'm planning to get back on track now with Weight Watchers. It's been an uphill battle for me recently and I need to get back to my losing ways! (Literally!) I miss my walks to the L but I'm also nervous about crossing the street since I almost got hit by a car twice! I don't want the third time to be the charm! So, I have to figure out a new way to exercise. We have a great FREE Fitness Center at work so I may just have to get sweaty in the am or after lunch.  All in the name of health and losing weight! I'll keep everyone updated on my progress in case you're interested! 

Enough for now. Tomorrow is Thursday and then one more day til the weekend!