I was changing the bed linens in the guest room after my son came to spend the night on Christmas Eve. Look who decided to make her self comfy. She likes a messy bed. I am all the time straightening her blankies.  She likes to make a nest and cover herself.

Here is another view of this quilt.  I made this one in 2004.  It is one of my favorites because I like all the floral fabrics in the four patches.
Here is a sneak peek of the wool cut into some pieces.

I was talking with a fellow blogger a while back and she asked about the thread I use when I am appliqueing fabric.  I have used silk thread but I really like Mettler Embroidery thread.  It is 60 weight.  One of the secrets to nice applique is finding thread to match your fabric and then it just melts into your fabric. I have a list of the spools I have bought so far and when the quilt shop has a  sale I will add more to my thread stash.
With Passion, Carrie P.

Most of the Christmas decorations are put away. The tree is still up until January 1. I have changed the wall hanging in the kitchen. My snowman is a Robyn Pandolph pattern. Parts of the wall hanging are done in wool.
This is how I store my wall hanging and table runners. I have seen this done with bed size quilts too.  One lady had a special closet built to accommodate the large quilts hanging like this.
Red Delicious block number 2 done.  I have decided to hand quilt the blocks as I finish them too. I am working on block number 1 and will show it when I finish.I am starting a new wool project.  Not the best picture but you can get a general idea of the colors of wool I will be using.  

With Passion, Carrie P.

Sunflowers

Yesterday I mentioned that my daughter in law loves sunflowers.  I thought I would show you her Christmas present from last year.  (this picture is just the beginning of me hand quilting it.)I made her this wall hanging which she hangs in her kitchen.  She has black kitchen appliances so that is why I did the checkerboard border.  In the other pictures you can see that I sewed on beads on the centers.


Yesterday while I was reading some blogs I came across this one,Pine Ridge Quilter.  When you have time you should check it out. She posted 25 days of quilts and they are all applique and they are awesome.

With Passion, Carrie P.

The day after Christmas

Another Christmas has come and gone.  I had a really nice day with my family.  Most of the day was spent with my husband,our daughter, son, and his fiance.  Later in the evening we drove to our older son's house to spend time with him, his wife, her father, and her grandmother.  Food and gifts were enjoyed by all.
Here is the Punchneedle design I made for my daughter-in-law for Christmas.  Sunflowers are her favorite flowers.  I finished this Christmas Eve. 
I wanted to show a picture of this pin cushion my daughter made for me.  It started out as a little wooden box that she painted white.  Then she found some cute polka dot fabric from my stash and made the pincushion part.  Looks like a mushroom.  The top of the mushroom comes off so that I can put little things in it.  She is so talented.

I received a Christmas gift several weeks ago from Stephanie. I opened one of the packages which was flannel pillowcase that she made.  It is in my favorite color and it has little teeny trees on the fabric and it is so soft.  I saved the cute little bag for Christmas day.  Yummy!  I had to share the buckeyes so that everyone could say that they had a genuine Ohio buckeye.  And look at the cranberry soap. Smells yummy!  Thanks so much Stephanie.

This picture shows a giveaway I won from Quilt Taffy.  These were some actual pictures from their blog that they had made into cards.  Neat idea!
Today we braved the crowds for those after Christmas sales.  My daughter and I left my husband at a book store and we went to one of our favorite stores.  Upstairs is full of Christmas ornaments.  I am collecting these animal ornaments for our Christmas tree.  The ornaments on the tree now are ones that I have been collecting  for the kids each year that they take when they get married.  We live in the woods and I just love these animals so I thought it would make a nice decorated tree one day.   I will also add the wool ornaments that you might have seen on previous posts.  
We also went to the mall.  I just had to go to Macy's to see if any of the Martha Steward dishes were on sale.  They were 50% off.  Not much to pick from but I got the plates for cookies next year and the cups.  The one in the center is for my husband to use when he has his morning coffee.  

Hope you all had a delightful Christmas.  

With Passion, Carrie P.

A Joyous Merry Christmas

I decided to make one of those little Christmas trees that Stephanie has been making. Here is my version. I bought this fabric 2 years ago just because I liked it. And now I like it made into a tree. I had to embellish mine too but I did not have any rick rack so I sewed on some beads and found a little plastic bead for the top.
I just want to take this time to wish you all a Joyous Christmas. I also want to thank each and every one for visiting my blog and making me a part of this community. You all are so kind and your blogs are very inspirational. You all are so talented and I learn a lot from each of you. Keep up the good work. One more thank you to Stephanie who has been my blogging mentor. She has really helped me along the way. A big thank you to every one of you.

Merry Christmas! Enjoy every minute.
With Passion, Carrie P.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to me. Look what I got in the mail. First look where it came from. I have never received anything from Australia before. I won a giveaway at the Quilted Crow.

I can't wait to make some of these but they have to wait until next year.
I am off to wrap gifts and I need to finish a punch needle project for my daughter-in-law. I don't usually wait until the last minute but for some reason I kept forgetting to do it.

Go check out the Cotton Spice Quilting Magazine. There are several free projects and there is a lesson on reverse applique.

With Passion, Carrie P.

Brrrrr!! It is cold here in North Carolina. Eighteen degrees with a wind chill of five. No comparison to Ohio where Stephanie lives. (go check out her trees, too cute) So I am not complaining.
I am keeper of the wood stove. During the winter I keep this thing stoked. It is in the the middle of the house which is the kitchen and it will keep the whole house pretty warm. Sure helps keep the electric bill lower. See the pot on top of the stove. I will put one or two of these mulling spice bags in the water and as it evaporates it smells like I am baking something really good. No calories that way! This is a seasonal product and I get it at a Whole Foods store if anyone wants to know. It is really good in a cup of hot apple juice or cider.
Here are the calories. We make gingersnaps every Christmas and my daughter and I decided to make some a little bigger so we could use our Martha Stewart stencils. She sifted powdered sugar on them. We also made fudge and sugar cookies with sprinkles on them.
The week-end was very full. As I mentioned a couple of days ago our family was going to meet my son's future in-laws. My husband and I met them at a restaurant Saturday night and it was so nice to meet them. They are just really nice down home folk. We felt like we had known them a long time. It was very comfortable with them. Sunday afternoon everyone was at the house for lunch so they got to meet our other son and daughter. It was a really nice time. The future in-laws live 3 1/2 hours east of us so unfortunately we will not see them much. Several hours after they headed back home, my son called and said thanks for hanging out with them. It was a special time for him and know he was glad we were all there for him. He is so happy and we a happy for him.
After everyone left I went upstairs and worked on stitching more stars on the border of my patriotic quilt. It is coming along.
I found a free applique BOM for those interested. Here is the site. http://www.eqg.us/patterns.html There is also a pieced BOM. They are both very nice.
With Passion, Carrie P.

Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and the Weekend

I have been busy and will be busy the next couple of days. Wednesday my quilting bee had their annual Christmas luncheon. We usually have it at some one's house which is always nice. There were twenty four of us that attended this year. It was a house full. This year was really nice because we were in for a treat. Our hostess set up tables with linen table clothes and napkins. She had set out her antique china and real silverware. Her centerpieces were old tin wind-up toys. It was so fascinating to go to each table and look at the toys. Each of us brought a covered dish. The food and fellowship was just so great. Everything was perfect. A few of us stayed to help wash all those antique dishes which do not go in the dishwasher.

On Thursday I taught my beginner applique class. I have two students and one of them has really been busy. They are both in my bee and guild. I saw them at the bee one day and the busy one had finished her homework from the last time we met and she wanted to know what she could do next on her own. The other student has been busy but she has been making Christmas ornaments. Lots of them. She is almost finished so maybe she will be able to catch up on her homework.
Here is one student's work. She still has some circles to put on this block.

These two pictures are the other student's work.
They are both doing great work for beginners as you can see.

I wanted to share a picture of another UFO I just finished. (not on the list) This quilt had been sitting on the shelf for several months waiting in line to be machine quilted. I got it back several weeks ago and just finished the binding last night. This was a $5.00 BOM quilt from our local shop that was from 2006, I think. The shop chose the block fabric and I chose the star and border fabric. I also did the other version they had available which is black background fabric with bright fabrics. That one is on my UFO list so you will get to see it later.

I am spending the day with my daughter today. We have a lot planned. Saturday we will be meeting my son's future in-laws. We are going out to dinner together. On Sunday they are coming over here after church for dinner so you know what that means. Lots of preparation to get ready for company. So I will close for now and you all be safe and warm. I know some of you are in for some bad weather. Have a great weekend and I will let you know how it all went on Monday.

With Passion, Carrie P.

Busy Quilting

I have been busy working on some different projects this week.This first picture is a UFO that I started around 2002. This is not one on my UFO list. I had it machine quilted 2 summers ago and just got the binding and sleeve on.

Here is a sneak peek of the border for my patriotic quilt. Notice the red fabric I picked out for the backing. I decided it might look better with just a narrow red border.

I just thought I would show you this applique that I am working on. This is a technique I like to use for narrow stems. It is called "cut away." As you can see I traced the pattern on with a chalk pencil and then I cut just a little of the fabric away as I applique.

Here is my Red Delicious mystery BOM. You might notice that one bird does not have legs. His legs will be stitched on a piece of fabric that will be sewn where the scallop outline ends. Aren't they cute birds?

Check out this site for some little applique bug bags.

With Passion, Carrie P.

More Christmas

I thought I would share pictures of the wool ornaments I am making. Slow but sure. These will go on the tree after all the kids get married and take all their ornaments. These ornaments are from Indygo Junction. You can see the book and pattern if you are interested in making some for yourself.

Here is a feather tree that I keep up all the time. I have a collection of bird ornaments that I have gotten from Hallmark.


Here is my last Christmas decoration to show you. We have had our tree up since Thanksgiving weekend and it still smells so good. There are some close up pictures of the ornaments that are on the tree.

The new Red Delicious mystery BOM is up and ready to download. Click on the apple on the sidebar. I am doing mine in redwork. I am almost done with the first block.

With Passion, Carrie P.

A Challenge

Well, I have been dealt a challenge by Candace and Salem Stitcher .

Here are the rules:
1. Go to the fourth photo file on your computer.
2. Choose the fourth picture in that file.
3. Post it and explain.
4. Tag four people to do the same.


Here is my #4 photo and it is a quilt. It is a baby quilt that I made just this summer for my niece who had her first baby boy this October. She had registered at Target and I went over to our store to see what colors she had picked and this quilt shows the colors. We got a Christmas card with his picture on it and he is darling.

Now I have to tag four other people. Tag your it. Hope you all will play along.

Stephanie
Heritage Quilter
Mary
Belinda

Unitl tomorrow,
With Passion, Carrie P.

Announcement and other things

I have an announcement! My second born son is engaged to be married to a sweet young woman. He went to her parents house on Thanksgiving to ask her father for permission to marry her and the father said yes. He proposed and she said yes. We are happy to be having her join our family.

Now to the quilty stuff. Yesterday I taught an applique class and afterwards I decided to go to a Ben Franklin store that is going out of business. So sad. They sold Moda fabric too. Well, their fabric is 50% off right now and I found the backing fabric for my patriotic quilt.

This week I also had my last charm exchange for the year. Hear are all my charms. A charm quilt is a one-patch quilt using a different fabric for every piece. No repeats allowed. Some charm quilts have over a thousand different fabrics in them. I have made 2 charm quilts. One of them has over 2000 pieces in it. I started a hexagon charm quilt several years ago. It is in with the rest of the UFO's.

Just had to share this picture of my Carolina blue sky. The last couple of days have been rainy but today it is sunny, crisp and clear. The air smells so good and the sky is so blue.
Here is another Christmas decoration. The pattern for this doorknob hanger came from www.allpeoplequilt.com. There are a lot of great projects on this site. I used batting for the snowman.I am off to my sewing room now to see how much I can get done on my patriotic quilt. Have a great week-end.

With Passion, Carrie P.