This is the first post of my new blog at my website, so it truly is a new beginning using an entirely new system. There are lots of neat options, I just need to figure out how to use them all. The only way to learn is to jump in and start. I am also writing this on New Year’s Eve day, with a brand new year starting tomorrow.

The block above was made by Mary D. from the Carol Doak Yahoo Group. I started a Block of the Month for the group last September, so the beginning of the month means a new block is uploaded for the group. Members make the blocks using their creative ideas and upload their pictures. Each block represents a scene and living in New Hampshire, a snow-covered mountain scene is perfect. This block is also a pretty plain block so it offers lots of creative options for embellishment.

I started the practice of uploading a Celebration Block each time we hit a milestone membership. Well, we just reach 4500 Members!!! Trust me, when I started this group a couple of years ago, I had no clue it would grow so quickly to thousands of members from around the world. I just uploaded a couple of days ago, our 4500 Member Celebration Block. I provide the design and the members provide the creativity as no fabric or color suggestions are given. This block was made by Karen. I will show more of these blocks in future blogs.

 

I am also beginning my 2009 travel schedule. I leave next week for Texas and then am home just a few days before heading to New Zealand for a couple of weeks. I will be helping Beth Hayes lead a group of quilters on this exciting and fun trip. I have traveled to New Zealand to teach many years ago, so I am looking forward to returning to this lovely island. When I wrote the Mariner’s Compass Stars book, I named each of the blocks in the book for different countries and areas of the world. When I designed the New Zealand block I was reminded of the beautiful gardens represented by the reds and pinks, the color of the water in the harbors, the gorgeous green and snow-capped mountains.

Speaking of snow, we got several more inches yesterday. Heading south is looking really good.

Until next time, all the best,

Carol

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 1st, 2009 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Carol Doak Yahoo Group. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.