Applique Bee

Yesterday was my applique bee and I thought I would show a few of their projects. A lot of ladies did not come for various reasons so this time there is not as much show and tell. But it

is  all good.
Check out this little sewing book made by Ellen F. Inside it stores your floss and tools for embroidery projects. Cute.
She is also caught up on her Tisket, A Tasket blocks. Notice all the different backgrounds fabrics. Hers are turning out so cute.
Two more Aunt Millie's Garden blocks done by Patti. I am so jealous because she has nine finished. You go girl!
I have show and tell too.  I just had to do something. So I will stitch about 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening and I finally finished my basket block.

Therapy went okay. I wanted quick healing but it did not happen. I go back next Wednesday. So I am doing some stretches at home and trying not to work to long at one time to stress the elbow more. I know it will happen. I just need to be patient. Thanks again for your encouraging words.

With Passion, Carrie P.

Find contentment in less than perfection.

Siggie Swap

Since my elbow has been causing me so much pain I have not been doing much quilting. I will try to do about 15 minutes of hand work and that is about all I can do. Today is my first day with the physical therapist. So let the healing begin.

Today I thought I would share some more signature blocks I have received in the last two weeks. I really look forward to getting my mail each day. Some days there are just bills or junk mail but some days I will have 3 or 4 envelopes from around the world.  Enclosed in each envelope is a siggie and either a typed letter or a hand written letter. I love the way one lady wrote about her love of quilting. "I am infected with the virus of quilting and working with fabric is my passion." We are all infected and I don't think any of us want to take antibiotics to make it go away either. 

Several months ago Stephanie sent me this journal that she made as a thank you. So I have decided to put all the letters I receive from the ladies in this journal.
If there is a really neat stamp from their country I keep it too and add it to their letter.
And check out this picture I got this morning. I was upstairs in my sewing room taking a picture of the siggies. I heard my dog barking from inside the house so I looked out the window and saw a mother and baby deer. The mother jumped over the fence but the baby could not. We don't have the fence around the whole yard so I went out there to try to herd the baby out.  The mother was making a hissing noise and she was huge and scary but she was in the woods.  The baby was crying and going back and forth trying to jump the fence but she just could not jump high enough. I was finally able to get her to a clearing and they were reunited.
With Passion, Carrie P.

There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.  Han Suyin

Happy Memorial Day

First of all let me wish you all a Happy Memorial Day! and say a great big thanks to all who have served and fought for our country.

Now for an update on my elbow. The doctor did confirm that I do have tendinitis in my elbow. I will be seeing a physical therapist next week. I believe he will be doing some cortisone patches and of course some therapy. My doctor wants me to wear some wrist braces that keep my wrists from bending which in turn helps the tendons up my arm. I have to wear them day and night. I look forward to seeing the physical therapist because every time I have had to visit him he has really helped with the healing of the body parts that are in pain and not functioning right.

The doctor did take X rays to check for arthritis or calcium deposits and that all looks good. So here I come physical therapist and will be on way to having proper mobility.

Thanks again for all your care and concern. I really do appreciate it. 

Here is a picture of part of a small table cloth I found at an antique store the other day. This pattern is embroidered on all four corners. You know I had to have it with the bluebirds on it.

This flower is embroidered on the four straight sections of the table cloth.
Check out this photo. Three new bluebird eggs in the tidy nest.
This past Wednesday the quilting bee that I belong to had our annual spring picnic. This year we met at one of the ladies beautiful home. It was the most beautiful day ever. This is the entrance to her home. Part of her home is an old log cabin built in the eighties. The other part of her home is a new addition which is just beautiful.
This is the quilt on the front porch.
Stacks of quilts on a small loft.
Here is a wall of her sewing room which is on the second level. I tried to take a picture where she sits to sew because the view out the window was so great but it did not turn out but take my word for it, it is a great place to sew.
More of her beautiful quilts.


Have a very enjoyable holiday weekend.

With Passion, Carrie P.

Every garden has its weeds; they are merely a sign of life and growth. There's no need to resent the weeds in your life... they help you to truly appreciate the flowers.

Fabulous Friday

No I have not lost my mind. I know it is Monday. I just have to tell you about my Fabulous Friday! So many sweet simple things happened last Friday.
My daughter and I went to our first button show. Nothing like a quilt show but it was fun going through all the cards with so many amazing buttons to choose from. As you can see from my pile I found some very colorful buttons. Most of them are glass which I find fascinating.
There was an antique mall next door to the button show so we stopped in for a look see.  It is so much nostalgic checking out all the booths. I found this feed sack table cloth. It doesn't really go with the decor of my kitchen but I just had to have it.
When my husband arrived home from work he had a pile of mail for me and it was not all bills.

Yippee!!  Danielle over at Want to"Bee" Quilting, was having a giveaway and I won! Go over and say hi to her sometime. She just started her blog this year and guess what? She is doing Aunt Millie's Garden too. She does some great applique work. Take a look through her blog. The bag came from America Samoa and Danielle made the pincushion from wool. There was more chocolate in the little bag, but you know how that goes. Love it all Danielle, Thank so much.
Also, in the mail was a get well card and an article about Bluebirds.  These came from a guild friend, Cathy B., who follows my blog. Thanks Cathy, you are a sweetie.

And speaking of Bluebirds, the first four eggs have all hatched and fledged. Now Mr. Bluebird is outside singing for his next mate to come check out the house.
More signature blocks came in the mail too. It is so much fun to see what is on each center. The top right block is of a house that the quilter has lived in for more than 40 years. I think that is so amazing. The longest I have ever lived in one house is 13 years and that is the one I am in now. 
And to top it off, I won a one year magazine subscription from Quilt Hollow a while ago and the first magazine came. Thank you so much Mary. I am enjoying my new reading material.

My elbow is still the same. Hopefully the doctor can help when I see him Thursday. I will let you know how it goes.

With Passion, Carrie P.

Happiness is like jam--you can't spread even a little without getting some on yourself.

Update on Elbow

Well, my elbow is not any better and you will all be glad to know that I am going to an orthopedic doctor next Thursday. I tried to work on my Shabby Roses block yesterday but it hurt too much. So in the mean time I look forward to getting my mail because I have been getting some signature blocks. Aren't they great?
One of the ladies is making a quilt with Christmas signature blocks  and asked if I would make one. So here is my American Santa.
Got some reading material to keep my busy.
Bought some fabric from Jane to pet.
I decided to do something fun and have a giveaway. I took all the names from the last two posts and had my daughter draw a name before she went to work. Cheryl at Willowberry Designs won. She will get this book and DVD by Eleanor Burns and some other little goodies too.

When you have time check this out. My selvages are featured on the Selvage Blog.

Thank you all for being so patient and caring. I appreciate it very much.

With Passion,  Carrie P.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

A BIG THANKS

Hello everyone who follows my blog. I just wanted to let you know that I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and I just want to say thanks for all the well wishes and advice. I have been heeding it all. You all are so kind and I appreciate you too. It is really hard to rest my elbow when I have to do regular household duties but I have stopped all hand work. I am going to my quilt bee on Wednesday and am going to ask if any of them can recommend a orthopaedic doctor. I will let you know how things go but I will probably not post again until the end of the week. I have been reading your blogs but I am not leaving any comments just because too much typing hurts too. I hope you will forgive me for not responding to your comments too. I read them all and appreciate you taking the time to come by.

So now I leave you with some photos from the applique bee of their great works.

Made by Jane.
Made by Teri.

Made by Lynn (not quite finished but I wanted you all to see it anyway)

Made by Shirley.
Made by Ellen.

Made by Patti.


Made by Shelia.

Made by Sue.

With Passion, Carrie P.

If you keep within your heart a green bough, there will come one day, to stay, a singing bird.

Arabian Proverb

Mini Vacation

Well, I haven't done a whole lot while my husband has been on vacation which has been a good thing because I have been having trouble with my right elbow. "Tennis Elbow" even though I don't play tennis anymore. I was reading Anne's blog and she mentioned getting tendinitis after appliqueing straight for 4 weeks. The pain has been so great at night that when I try to move my arm it brings tears to my eyes. I got on line to read about how to treat it and the first thing it said was to stop doing everything that aggravates the elbow. Okay, that is kind of impossible but I am trying. It means I have not done any handwork and time on the computer has been way down. I am keeping it wrapped and taking anti-inflammatory medicines. I have not been to the doctor but I will go if it does not get better by the end of the month. If you have had this happen to you let me know how you handled the healing process.

So all that to tell you that I will not be blogging everyday but will try to every other day. More pictures than words. I miss it and I will try to read blogs but will not leave comments just because using the mouse and typing hurt my arm. I have switched the mouse to be left handed which is slow going for me.

I want to share the things I have been up to so here goes.

On Monday my husband and I went on a day trip and we stopped at two antiques stores. He found some more old tools and here are a few of the items I found.

I found these napkins in excellent shape. The little cocktail napkins had few pale spots on them. The other table napkins are great too except there are only seven of them but I had to have them.
I also found some bobbins and I wrapped some  ribbons arond them.
The picture is a little blurry but here is an vintage cold cream jar. I love the pink lid.
I got a siggie in the mail yesterday from Rose Marie. Cardinals! and look at the fabric with the little cardinals. Thanks Rose Marie.

I got a little inspired by Belinda who has been spring cleaning. I decided I needed to clean up some. I had already straightened up my stash. All nice and neatly folded again. Last week I bought the black baskets to put different projects in which keeps them from falling off the shelves. I bought these shelves about 10 years ago from Lowes hardware store. I had a real messy pile on top near the books so that got all cleaned up too.
On Tuesday we took another trip to Charlotte and one of the places we stopped was a brand new Ikea store. Amazing!! I bought these little jars. The one on the front right has a mix of buttons. The white ones are some pearl buttons I found at the antique store.

With Passion, Carrie P

Happiness leads none of us by the same route.  Charles Caleb Colton