Fun with Grandkids at the Beach!

Last Saturday we went to the beach with a bunch of our kids and grandkids. It was so much fun! This is a wonderful white sandy beach in Racine on Lake Michigan.

The girls have never been to the beach before, and when they first got there they literally squealed with delight! The joy was palpable!

Featured in the video are Nellie, Mei, Hideko and Mase!

I hope you find some great moments with friends and family before summer is gone!

Happy Stitching!

XOXO

Annie

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Hello!

 Long time, no blog!

 For quite some time now I have realized how much I miss blogging. When Instagram and YouTube came along blogging has seemed to go by the wayside. But those formats are just not the same. I love looking back on my blog and seeing what I was thinking, what my family was up to, and what I was creating year after year. Instagram is wonderful eye candy, but it is very in the moment, there is really no place for musings, etc.

 I have decided to come back to blogging just as a way to document what is going on in my life, with my design business, and whatever creative projects I am working on. I would love for you to come along for the ride! Leave me a comment and let me know what projects you are working on, how your family is doing or anything else you would like to tell me!

My last post on my personal life was Aug. 7, 2018! Needless to say a lot has happened since then!

We have had a Pandemic, which I won't go into, and the world is still in the throws of trying to deal with it. But on a personal note, since then my family has expanded greatly! Lucas and Emily got married in 2019 and now have a 2 year old little boy named Mase. He is a real cutie!

Masao Edward

Can you believe this is Lucas? Ha! I know! He is a grown bearded man now! LOL! 

He did graduate from Marquette and is now a Computer Engineer at a very up and coming company in Milwaukee.

Aidan has added another baby girl to his little family! 

Genevieve Arlene

and has also become a Police Officer in Racine Wisconsin. We are so proud of him and so happy that he is finally fulfilling the dream he has had since he was a little boy! Here he is at his graduation from the Police academy with all of the "cousins"

Aidan with most of our grandkids!

Chelsea and Bo have added to their brood as well, they now have 5!

My sweet little Nellie was born in 2019, and they finally had a boy in 2020!

Naomi Nell

Elias William

So that's the family update. Onto there creative life!

I am exhibiting in Needlework Expo at the end of the month, so I am busy getting all of my new releases ready. I will have 5 new releases. Here is a sneak peek of my new chart called Pumpkin Folk:

I am really busy getting everything ready for my booth. I will show more in future posts.

I am also working on some quilts. I truly love hand applique and right now that has really been my focus. I have joined in on the Blackbird Designs Quilt Along that is going on right now hosted by Lori Textstylust and OliviaB on Youtube. So far I have made 2 pillows tops. One is from the book Fresh Picked:

This is a really big 24 inch pillow! I want to make another on of a different block to put on my bed.

This is how it looks in the book. I love it so much!

I want to make the quilt too!

Of course the Needlework community is so sad about the passing of Barb Adams, one of the dynamic duo of Blackbird Designs. It is so so sad and the needlework world will really mss her. I feel my little stitches are something of a tribute to her legacy. She was a really sweet and talented lady. I met her twice at the Nashville Needlework show and she was just as sweet and down-home as you would imagine. 

Thanks for reading if you have made it this far, and I will be updating regularly, even if no-one even reads it!

XOXO,

Annie

Visit my on Istagram: AnnieBeezFolkArt Visit my Etsy Shop:https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnieBeezFolkArt

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I'm a Gramma! (again!)

Here is Aidan and his new baby daughter Corinne Therese! 

She looks just like he did as a baby!

I can't believe my baby is a daddy! LOL!

 She is his first but my fourth grandchild. The other three belong to my oldest Chelsea and they are all girls!

And here are Chelsea's girls!

Hideko and Amy

And sweet little baby Mei!

 She broke her little leg when Hideko accidentally opened the basement door!

Isabel holding the new baby!

Chelsea holding the new baby!

And thats all the news from the Belcher Homestead!

Happy stitching!

XOXO,

Annie

3 down, 1 to go! Long post, picture heavy!

I don't know how it is for you in your neck of the woods, but for us May is an insane month, with a never ending whirlwind of activity! We had prom and fundraisers, the track season which is short and intense, the end of travel basketball, kids moving back from college, and a high school graduation! 

First of all, here is Isabel showing off her ribbons from track, she got a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th!! LOL! all bases covered!!

We are so proud of her! She is such a determined athlete. I don't know where she gets it, I was one of those kids who cringed whenever someone threw a ball at me! LOL!

And next we have Aidan and his girlfriend Annaliese at senior prom. Aren't they a gorgeous couple? I wish I had better pictures but I ended up taking lots of pictures FOR Aidan with his camera and neglecting my own!

And then we have graduation! Yay!! 

Here is Aidan and Annaliese posing with Chelsea! Aidan is off to Western Illinois in the fall to study criminology, and Annaliese is off to Marquette! Wow!

So Isabel has about a week of school left, and then the summer begins. Lucas is going back to Marquette for the summer to work. This will be the first summer I don't have everyone home. :(
But as they say, "Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim!"

And on the creative front:
I joined a quilt guild in March, and then subsequently have joined 3 little quilting bees, or mini groups. A Wool applique group, a regular applique group, and a Baltimore Album group. So naturally I have been doing some applique! I already showed you my woolie project in a previous post, so here are some of my applique projects:

Block 1 and 2 of my Baltimore Album quilt. I still have the embellishment to do on both of them.

Blocks 3 and 4 of my Grandmother's Kitchen quilt. I have showed blocks 1 and 2 in a previous post here, and if you want to see the entire quilt by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet go here.

And this is block 1 of a basket quilt designed by Kim Deihl. I am thoroughly enjoying all of this applique and have become quite addicted to it!
Thank you for reading my blog and I will try to get back to posting regularly again now that all the frenzy is over and we move into the lazy days of summer!

Did you know top hats are in?

Even when you are 6'4"?? This is my son Aidan's Jr. prom picture. I do think he looks dashing in top hat and cane, but I was a little surprized because I knew his date wasn't very tall. So I'm thinking he is going to be like 7" tall with a top hat! But it wasn't that tall a hat, so it worked. They look great! A good time was had by all.

We are so proud!

Here is Lucas and his roomate(and best friend since kindergarten) Miguel on move-in day at Marquette U in Milwaukee. He is in the bio-medical engineering program. It is really a challenge-he has tons of classes with tons of work. But he is loving it! We are so proud of him!Go Lukie!(ha!ha! don't tell him I called him that!)
(and yes! That long crazy hair and scruffy beard have got to go! Typical college freshman coming out of a Catholic high school-he can grow his hair as long as he wants for the first time in his life!)

Engaged!!

My oldest DD got engaged last Saturday night!Congratulations Chelsea and Bo!

We are so excited for them! Whoo~hoo!!!

Sorry to have been so remiss...(long post!)

Wow! I have really let thew time get away from me!I have been very distracted lately. May was insane, and then all 3 of my younger kids had different last days of school this year. But they are finally all out and we have been trying to get into a summer groove, but it has been hard!

Last weekend we went to visit Loras college in DuBuque Iowa. Chelsea has decided she wants to teach theology, so that is one of the schools we are looking at. We loved it! Who knew DuBuque was such a charming city? It's right on the Mississippi river so it is very hilly and scenic.

After our college visit we went to Wisconsin Dells to frolic away the rest of the weekend. It was really fun, but I am still recovering! I am so tired this week! We haven't had any sunshine since we got back, and that doesn't help! L to R: Lucas, Chelsea, my hubby Gary,Isabel and Aidan
And of course if you go to the Dells you have to have a hardy lumberjack breakfast at Paul Bunyans! Here is a pic of the kids with their grandmother! She is amazing! 83 and still kickin!
I am still working on new releases! I have one finished and going to the framers tomorrow. It is called Colonial Gardener. Here is a sneak peek!

The Graduates!

This is why I haven't posted in so long!! We have had a busy week with graduation, and getting everybody finished with school, planning the summer and every thing else!! Whew!BRAG ALERT!!!Here are Lucas and Brittany(his girlfriend-can't claim her as mine!) on graduation day! We are so proud of both of them! They both graduated with honors, were awarded with scholorships, and Brittany, she was standing there for like 20 minutes while they read off all of her accomplishments!
Gary and I were quite astonished when Lucas won the Greg True award! This is a great honor at his high school and is given for academic and athletic achievement, sportsmanship, grade point average, and leadership, among other things. The trophy is displayed at school and will have his named engraved on it. So exciting! This is a picture of Lucas with my brother.We are so proud of him! And on a stitchy note, this is as far as I have gotten on This is the Day, before I put it aside to do some model stitching. I am close to a finish on this one but, duty calls!