Show and Tell

Whoo! Hooooo! I finished my last Hop To It block. I worked on the sashing yesterday. I hope to get the all the sashing done this week and maybe the borders. 

I went to the Applique Addicts bee last week. Patti was the only one with show and tell. Here is her version of one of Jenny's patterns.

If you look close at these two quilts you will notice that the pieced blocks are the same. Just different setting. These were $5 BOM from one of our local quilt shops. Patti does amazing quilts. Great job Patti!!

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Travel Bags

Have you seen the video done by Lori Holt on Riley Blake Designs? Lori showed how to make these really cute travel bags. Now your shoes or whatever you would like to put in them can travel in style.

I have made three of these for friends. The first one I forgot to take a picture. I think I am going to make a few for Christmas gifts.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Being Brave

I finally finished my little Blessing Basket quilt from Temecula Quilt Co. After I finished practicing my FMQ challenge I decided to do a little on this quilt. I was brave to try something different than my typical straight line quilting. 

When Mr. P. came home from work yesterday he went into
 our bathroom to change clothes. There is a window that looks out into our backyard and the bluebird house. He yelled,"There's a black snake (non-poisonous) on the bluebird house!" I yelled, "Go get it off! He did not even stop to put shoes on because the snake was pretty close to the hole. He grabbed that snake off and got bit in one little place on his hand. After he got the snake off, the parents would not go in the house for a little while. I think they were afraid that the snake was inside.

Mr. P. was very brave. This snake has been slithering around here for the last two weeks. We saw him up in the garden and Mr. P. caught him then and let it go. Then two days ago I saw it slithering along the patio. Climbing the bird house was the last straw. Mr. P. put him in a box and delivered it to a new home about half a mile from our house. Mr. P. put it in the woods where no one else lived. That snake better not come back!

Good riddance!

With Passion,

Carrie P.

FMQ Challenge

Nothing like cutting it close with my Free Motion Quilting challenge this month. The challenge this month is brought to us by Don Linn. You can see his tutorial on this post at Sew Cal Gal.

 I printed off a pdf file with this design. This one that I started out with is actually smaller than the print out. This is my practice piece. I did this free hand, of sorts. I didn't draw the design on the fabric. I just looked at the pattern and I added the echo quilting to the design.

 See that center circle in the gray thread? I was going to practice with my regular thread and needle I use for sewing and my quilting looked horrible. I changed the needle to a top stitch needle and thread the machine with machine quilting thread and things were fine. Go figure.

 So the first thing to do was trace the pattern onto mesh tulle. If you look to the right of the hoop you can see where I traced using a black sharpie. Then you put the tulle in the hoop with the tulle touching the fabric and trace with a water soluble blue pen. If you look in the hoop you can see the blue pen tracing. The tulle works like a stencil. Pretty neat idea. Go see the tutorial if you want to try this technique because Don Linn explains it in much better detail plus has tips.

 So here is the pattern done up with my added swirls in the center.

I didn't feel like I had enough practice and I thought it looked a little boring so I added some more quilting which I think looks pretty neat.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Gadget and Computer Virus

Yesterday I was cutting fabric for a charity block and I was thinking,"I need a new blade."  My elbow was beginning to hurt. Then I remembered I had this gadget that bought last year from I Have a Notion. I have used it several times last year. This thing works. In less than 2 minutes my blade was almost like new again. No more struggling to cut the fabric. I am sure Kelly would answer any questions you might have about this handy dandy gadget. 

I have been keeping all my old blades hoping for the day when someone would invent something to sharpen blades. Some one has. The Cutting Edge Ruler works really well too.

Have you heard of the virus that could shut your Internet service down in July? You can see a video and read more here to see if your computer is infected. I checked my computer and it is good. You only have until July to fix this so don't wait.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Nature=Inspiration

Do you ever look to nature for inspiration when making your quilts? I am amazed at God's imagination when He created all things. I enjoy His creation very much and try to mindful of how I treat this world I live in. When you look around you see so many colors that can guide you in making a quilt. Do you think Gail Pan was inspired by nature when she designed this block for the Aurifil BOM?

 Could this Lily of the Valley plant inspire you to create a green and white quilt?

 What flower inspired Clover and Violet to design this embroidered block?

 Look at this little chipmunk who has very full cheeks from collecting those little seed pods. His fur could inspire an earth tone quilt.

I would love to know if you have been inspired by nature to create a special quilt.

Good news! the baby cardinals have left the nest. I was not fast enough to get another picture of them before they left. I know they are well because I saw the parents flitting around and one of the babies on the ground waiting for some food. If you want to see what they look like when they leave the nest check out this site.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Christmas Through The Year

I got to do a little sewing the other day for my entry in Darlene and Cheryl's Christmas Through The Year Club. 

Here is the next pillow form that will be given to my DIL and son for Christmas this year. Very 70's! I was able to make this one in an afternoon. I got the pattern from Moda Bakeshop. The pillow was designed by Jera. A tutorial is also on her blog.

Remember this is the rug from the kids house that I am using for my inspiration. The next pillow is going to have some embroidery on it.

While I was busy working in the garden two giveaways arrived at my house. Yay! Take a close look at the book. There are two pillows that I could make for the kids. This giveaway came from The quiltbarn.
Thanks, Tara!

During the Blog Hop Party which was going on during St. Patrick's Day I won some cute little handmade bunny buttons from Buttonmad. If you like handmade buttons you should go and check their blog and website. WOW! thanks Tamara!

With Passion,
Carrie P.

My Garden

Before I show the garden where I have been spending most of my days, I wanted to show you the baby Cardinals have hatched. You have to look close. The photo on the left shows the babies sleeping and the photo on the right show them with their beaks open waiting on food.

 Ever since the first of the month I have not really done any sewing. A few stitches here and there on my Hop To It block and finishing my Bingo card. It is a busy time for me in the garden. I just had to show you this box I got the other day. Read the side of it. Cute! Inside were three different cone-flowers. I can not wait for them to bloom.

 Well, here are some photos of my garden. I will just let you read what is on the photos to see what I have growing so far.

 I have had fresh salad several times from the different varieties of lettuce growing. The white sheets are row covers to keep the bugs off the new seedlings.

 I love to go up to the garden in the morning and just sit on the bench.

 All those little peat pots were divided up and put in the garden yesterday.  All the beds are full of veggies and flowers. We have a few more beds to make for the rest of the seeds we want to plant.

 Here is one of the pathways my husband made to garden.

I almost forgot about the bed with the beets. I have never grown beets before. My husband wanted to give them a try. I have only eaten the beets that you get at a salad bar. If anyone has any good recipes I would love for you to share them with me.

The deer fencing is on the way. While I was out there yesterday I heard and saw a deer going past the garden. When I moved it snorted at me and took off. I sure don't want deer, raccoon, possum, or bunnies in my garden after all the hard work we have been doing. The joys of living in the country, sort of, we are really just out the city limits but we sure do see a lot wild animals on our little bit of acreage.

Now I think I am going to go sew since I am caught up in the garden. Yay!

With Passion,
Carrie P.

BINGO

Raise your hand if you like to play Bingo! I do!  May For Me is all about taking time for yourself. Their will be lots of fun and activities. The hostesses for this May celebration are Tonya, Marcia, Sharon, and Snoodles.

One of the things I will be doing in the May for Me is playing Bingo. Here is my card. It should be a lot of fun. You still have time to make a your little quilt or just the flimsy. You can link up until April 22.

B--Safety Pin, Chicken, Frog, Snowflake, Eggs

I--Butterflies, Stars, Girl, Duck, Dots

N--Strawberry, Santa, Free, Tree, Apples

G--Cupcake, Leaf, Bear, Watch, Hat

O--Spool, Pear, Bird, Bunny, Cat

Before I made my Bingo card I entered a giveaway for some I Spy charms that Marcia was giving away to several readers. I won some of them which was a good thing since I did not have very many fabrics.
Join in the fun!

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Working Hard

First, before I get to my blog post I just have to say a very big THANK YOU! to you all that voted for my Easter Tidings quilt. I won! I was so excited and I really appreciate you all taking the time to vote for me. You all are the best.

GIVE THANKS...

                                                            (little quilt design by Jenny)
So what have I been up to the past 5 days? I did finish this little garden quilt and sent it in the mail to my sister. My husband was going to take four days off but we were really getting a lot accomplished so he took Tuesday off too. We both got a lot done and spent just about every day, all day out side. I will share photos later as I get the vegetables growing. I have three garden beds with cool weather crops growing really well. I have them covered with row covers to protect them from bugs and some cold weather we are having this week. Soon I can get other seeds in the ground. Yesterday I spent some time catching up on household chores and doing some cooking. We ate all the leftovers when we came in from working outside. Glad I had them because I did not feel like cooking.

While I was busy working outside I was tagged by Linda of Flourishing Palms to answer some questions. So here goes!

1. Where is one place in the world you haven't yet visited, but would like to?
    I have to admit that I really don't desire to go any where outside the United States. I really just want
    to see more of our country. There is so much to see.
2. What is your favorite quilt-making gadget?
    I like my 6" square ruler to square up blocks. My favorite gadget for applique is the lowly toothpick
   for turning fabric under to applique.
3. How often do you oil your machine?
    I have a Viking sewing machine and I was told not to oil my machine. It is 12 years old and I have
    never oiled it. I don't know if the guy who cleans it does.
4. What is your favorite perfume?
    I don't wear perfume and can't be around people who wear it because it causes me migraines.
    I didn't always used to be sensitive to perfume and colognes. When I was younger I liked a perfume
    my grand-mother wore called White Shoulders.
5. Machine piecing/applique or hand piecing/applique?
    Machine piecing/applique.
6. What is your favorite dessert?
    Homemade peach pie with a crumble topping.
7. Who is your favorite author?
    I don't have one. Lately I have been reading lots of gardening books, bread making books, and books
    on raising chickens.
8. What quilting technique would you like to learn more about?
    I really can't think of any.
9. What dish do you cook/bake that is considered your best?
    I have a lot according to my family. Sour cream pound cake, potato casserole, Jalapeno
    Cornbread, the list goes on and on according to my daughter. I love to cook!
10. Machine-sewn binding or hand sewn binding?
     First part is sewn on by machine then the folded part is hand sewn.

Okay, so I am going to tag just two other bloggers. You can participate if you would like and I have only five questions. So I am tagging Mary of Quilt Hollow and Sharon from A Few of My Favorite Things. Here are your questions...

 1. What is your favorite flower?

2.      2. What is your favorite season of the year and why?

3.      3. If you could live somewhere else in the world where would it be?

4.      4. At this time, what is your favorite line of fabric?

5.      5. Do you have one quilt that you made that is your all time favorite? 

I      With Passion, Carrie P.


ps just ignore those other numbers. I am having some issues with blogger.

Happy Easter!

Hallelujah! He Is Risen!

Have a Very Happy Easter!

Please vote for my quilt here. My quilt is called "Easter Tidings." thanks!

With Passion,

Carrie P.

                                                     

On the Go!

Oh! this has been one kind of hectic week. I won't bore you with all the things that I have been doing but I will tell you that I have not been at home very much. I have not even done any kind of sewing except for some blocks at this workshop I attended on Tuesday. Our guild offered a workshop with Froncie Quinn. She spoke at our guild the night before. Froncie is a licensed museum pattern writer for the Shelburne Museum. She brought lots of quilts and she shared the history of each quilt. She also shared how she goes about re-creating and writing the patterns. It was a very interesting lecture. You can see all the quilts and patterns on her web site.

 For the workshop we all got the Calico Garden quilt pattern. It is a 39" x 49" baby quilt. The original quilt was made by Florence Peto in about 1950.

 Froncie talked to us about the 9 patch blocks and the way Florence Peto made them. Each of Florence's blocks had a special fussy cut fabric in the center of the block. Enclosed in each pattern packet is the history of the quilt, very detailed instructions, and freezer paper patterns for the applique. There is also a certificate you can send to Froncie when you finish the quilt. She will sign it and seal it confirming that you have completed an American Treasure. When you complete a quilt your name will also be entered in the Shelburne Museum Quilt Registry which is pretty cool!

The main reason I took this workshop was to learn more about hand piecing blocks. I have not had a class on hand piecing even though I have done some myself. I wanted to learn the right way to do it.I did learn some things in the workshop.The original quilt was made all by hand. We also learned about needle turn applique using freezer paper on top and broderie perse. Here are my three blocks I got made in the class. 

 Next is some show and tell. Here is mine. Take a close look and you can see Mrs. Cardinal sitting on the nest.

During lunch time at the workshop some ladies brought some really great quilts to show us. Of course, I think many of you are familiar with this Dear Jane quilt. The lady who made it finished in a year.

 This top was a re-creation of an antique quilt one lady had seen once.

 Another fun quilt.

 This one was made in the mid 1800's. It was in really good shape.

 Close up of one of the blocks.

Another really old quilt.

 This is a portion of quilt that was cut from a bigger quilt and used for a baby quilt.

Last week I went to my applique bee. There was only two things to show so I thought I would share them now.

 These two pieces were made by Alice who does superb applique as you can.

I am way behind on  replying to the comments made on the last posts. I hope to get to them soon. My husband has the next 4 days off so we will probably be in the garden most of the time. We still have more garden beds to make so that we can be ready to plant more seeds soon.

With Passion,
Carrie P.