First snow of the season!

I love Christmas! This is our house all decorated up for Christmas. The first picture is taken in the daylight hours and the second in the evening. It looks a little "cold", especially in the evening pictures, but it feels really warm when you are in it. Hard to put into a picture. The tree is a 12 foot tree and is loads of fun to decorate (ha ha). I put evergreen boughs and lights up my banister as well (not pictured) and hang stockings from the banister too.

This morning we got our first snowfall of the year. It broke a record for being the latest snowfall on record, not due to lack of cold, but to lack of moisture.

Today's Crazy Finds

The only way I got through my workout today was to promise myself a trip to my favorite spots to find vintage embellishments. This was my take. (-; The buttons are just so cute!

It's For the Birds

I signed up for the "For the Birds" Do Your Block (DYB) at Crazy Quilting International (CQI). These are my blocks. When it begins, I will send them out to the first person on my list , she will pick a block, embellish it, and send it on to the next person. It will continue on in this way until 5 blocks have been embellished and the last will be mine to do. I'm so excited to see how they will turn out in the end.

I won!

Kathy S. offered seven tantelizing give aways last week on her blog (http://www.shawkl.com/) and I was lucky enough to be the winner of one prize! Feast your eyes on these beauties that Kathy hand made -- the crystals in them really catch the light. Thankyou Kathy!

Awesome Crazy Quilter

Anyone who loves crazy quilts needs to check out this link.
http://poppalina.typepad.com/my_weblog/
This gal, Bobby La, just earned $70,000 for her fabulous work of art! Check out the detail in her stitching and you will see this is no ordinary crazy quilt. (-; Congratulations Bobby La.

Took my family to YMCA of the Rockies

I liked the YMCA of the Rockies so much when I went there for the CQI Retreat, I decided to take my family back this last weekend, partly to show them the area and partly to investigate it further for future family trips. We rented a cabin for the night. My husband and I got some trail maps, checked out the pool and craft center. The craft center was really pretty nice with silk dying, tie dye t-shirts, mosaics, and jewelry making. They had a choice of beads that would have made my fellow quilters drool! We drove through part of Rocky Mountain National Park and stopped at Morraine Park and Bear Lake in particular. The next morning my daughter and I went horseback riding. We took an hour long guided tour that took us around the edge of a mountain. Being slightly afraid of heights, I was a little nervous trusting my horse to keep us from falling down the 100-200 ft drop down the mountain! There were some beautiful views though and our guide kept us talking which made it easier for me.

My Chinese Auction Winnings!

Last weekend I went to the CQI Crazy Quilt Retreat at the YMCA of the Rockies. It was a lot of fun. One of the activities was a Chinese Auction where we all brought something handmade to participate. All the players took a number and the person with number one picked the first gift. Then person number two could either take a new gift or take the gift of person number one. If she took person number one's gift, person number one would choose a new gift and on it went. I ended up with this cute chatelaine made by Leslie E!