Red and Green peek

Today is the first day for "Think Christmas"  Seven days of Christmas blocks and ideas, maybe even a giveaway or two.

Here is a sneak peek from my block. My day is August 1. I hope you will come back to see my block. Plus I will be having a little giveaway too.

Have fun checking out all the blogs.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Slow Stitching Sunday

Another Sunday of slow stitching. I decided to work on another Raspberry Rabbit block. I just have the top of the pineapple to finish. Yay!

 I am linking up to Kathy's Quilts. I love her header photo and I wish I was sitting right there on the water. She has a great view while she is stitching. She asked a couple Sunday's ago what was the view that I see while stitching. Here is my view of the room over my garage. This is where I stitch most times. This is also where my sewing room is. It is on the opposite end of the room. Right now the view is a little boring but during the other seasons it is great to watch the leaves change in the fall, see snow falling in the winter, and watch new growth in the spring.

So what are you working on this Sunday? I am also linking up with LynCC for BOMs Away. She just moved to Colorado and you should see the views that she visited.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Applique Addicts Show and Tell

Yesterday I  met with the applique addicts. Some of the ladies have created some very pretty projects. This first one was made by Beverly. It is a wool project from Primitive Gatherings. Beverly is going to frame this piece.

 This is a Crabapple Hill design made by Patti.

 Some very pretty applique blocks made by Charlotte.

Anyone watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics?


With Passion,
Carrie P.

All Done! (fmq)

I have finished my challenge for this month from SewCalGal. I liked doing those swirly designs. My problem was sewing the straight line for the tiles. Maybe I should have drawn them first. This tutorial is from Angela Walters. Angela calls this design tiles.  She also showed the tiles filled in with meandering. I guess you could fill in the tiles with whatever quilting you would like. Her blog shows some of her phenomenal quilting designs. She has also written two books. If you need some machine quilting inspiration you definitely should check our her blog.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

I got mail!

Don't you just love getting fun snail mail? I do! I received this sweet mug rug all the way from the Netherlands. Simone de Klerk sent it to me! She has been participating in the Zakka Style sew along. This is one of the things from the book. Thank you so much Simone for thinking of me. 

This big roll of beautiful fabric was sent to me from Vroomans Quilts who was celebrating a big milestone in blogging. Sharon gave three jelly rolls away. I was one of the lucky winners. What a generous giveaway! I am grateful for this jellyroll, Sharon. Thanks so very much!

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I have been doing a little bit of stitching on this Raspberry Rabbit block off and on. As you can see I finally got it done. Hey! did you know that Michelle has written a new book? It is called Briarside Lane. 

 Today I am trying to finish up the Aurifil BOM for July. The blue lines in the word "summer" is what I have left to stitch. This block was designed by Sarah Fielke.

I am linking up to Kathy's Quilts today. Go by and see what she is working on! Something I have wanted to try for a while.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

A Little Friday Sewing

I sewed the number three Star block from Temecula Quilt Co. 

 I also started my free motion quilting practice for this month designed by Angela Walters. Worked on paper first and then started sewing on my quilt layer. This swirly design is a little tricky for me.

Have a great weekend.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Great Granny

Three more Great Granny blocks finished.  I have four made so far. I have several more in stages on my design wall. Which one do you like best?


With Passion,
Carrie P.

Last weekend

This past weekend my husband and I took a day trip to a town called Asheboro. Every weekend this summer we have been so busy around the house we decided to take a break. We did a little antique shopping, ate lunch, and visited two very,very small quilt shops.

This was a display window at the antique mall that we visited. I just thought it was so fun and artistic. Look close on the little table. See the plastic Kool-aid pitcher and glasses? Did you drink Kool-aid when you were a kid? I did!

Asheboro has a great zoo which we visited several times when our kids were little. This was a painted mural downtown near the antique store.

Train coming! Get off the tracks! Another mural which has sound effects. The horn blows every once in while. There are train tracks that run down the middle of town and while we were in the store a train did come by very slowly.

Don't let the giant bug bite you!

This past weekend I also decided to do the star quilt along from Temecula Quilt Co.

There we will be a new star on the blog each Friday. These are the first two. As you can see I decided to do mine with some Christmas fabric. The first star center is actually half square triangles in the pattern but I wanted to add the fussy cut ornament fabric so my center looks a little different.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Book Review

Heart Felt Holidays by Kathy Sheldon and Amanda Carestio. Let me tell you the story how I came to be asked to do this book review.

 See this page in the book? Lark Crafts was having a 4th of July giveaway for this bunting made by Constanca Cabral.

 I won the giveaway and decided to hang it up around my sewing room design wall all year round. When I go into my sewing room I feel like there is a celebration going on in it. Isn't it a fun decoration? I sent a link from my blog of this picture to Kathy Sheldon who is one of the creators of this book so she could see it hanging in my sewing room. She then went to visit my blog and saw the wool heart I made for the Red, White, and Blue block hop. Kathy then asked if I would like to review the book. I said yes because you know I love creating things with my hands.

 Look at some of the cute fabrics used for the bunting.

I wanted to try to make something from the book to see how the instructions were written. I am one of these people who reads them before I get started on any project. The instructions are clear and well written with added tips throughout the books.  So the first thing I made was this Lavender Tea Bag Sachet.

When I saw the sachet I knew it was something I would make because if you follow my blog you know I grew lots of lavender this spring which I dried. The sachet is full of my very own lavender. It is such a sweet little idea for a sachet. I did applique a pink heart on the other side of the "tea" label.

 Next I decided to make these adorable Christmas ornaments which you will have a chance to win during the "Think Christmas" block hop.

 So what is my review of this book? On the cover of the book you can see some really cute projects you can make for the holidays. The tea bag lavender sachet is  a project made for Mother's Day. There are projects in this book for holidays you wouldn't even think of making like Groundhog day and Martin Luther King day. This book is perfect for those of you who like to make decorations for your home during holidays. There are several projects that you could make for your children or grandchildren for their birthdays or Halloween. If you have not worked with felt before the beginning of the book gives you some felt basics plus diagrams of the embroidery stitches that are used throughout the book. The templates for each project are in the back of the book.

When my children were young I did decorate for the lots of different holidays. Now with this book I look forward to creating some new decorations for grandchildren one day. But in the mean time I might just create the leaf coasters and table runner that are in the book to decorate my home for fall.

So I conclude that if you like making holiday projects using felt this is the book for you. You can get this book Heart-felt Holidays and their other book Fa La La La Felt from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for less than $10.

Thank you Kathy for the bunting and the book.

With Passion,
Carrie P.


I am linking this post up to Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching because I made them yesterday, Sunday.

Truly Scrappy

 I have been wanting to make a granny block quilt ever since I saw the first block.   I don't even remember how long ago that was. Lori and Jodi are hosting The Great Granny Along. This block measures 12 1/2" and I am definitely using my scraps. Here is my first block. I am so excited to be making this quilt, finally! Come join in.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Garden update and Winners

Whoo! Hoo! we are finally out of the heat wave and finally getting some rain today. I just came in with some of the harvest. These are the onions which I planted from seed. I am very pleased. The greens beans have slowed down growing but maybe with some rain they will take off again. My first cherry tomatoes and a tomatillo. You can always count on zucchini no matter what. Can anyone tell me why bell peppers in the center of the photo have those brown spots?

Now for the winners of the Red, White, and Blue giveaway. I went through all the names and separated them into countries. The left bowl is foreign countries and the right bowl are those from the United States.

From Norway is Tubakk who flies her flag on the National Day which is May 17 in her country. What is so neat is that her flag is also red, white, and blue. Cindy from Minnesota, USA flies "Old Glory" in front of her house. Congratulations! ladies. I have sent an email.
Thanks to all who visited during my day of the hop. Hope you will be back when I participate in the Think Christmas block hop.


With Passion,
Carrie P.

Hand Stitching On Sunday

I am linking up with KathysQuilts this Sunday to show off some hand stitching I have done. I finished one more block designed by Clover and Violet.

 I am very behind on all my BOM blocks but will continue to stitch on this one today. Maybe I will finish it too.

Link up with Kathy if your are doing some hand work today. Enjoy your Sunday.
Don't forget my giveaway here.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Celebrate the Red, White, and Blue Blog Hop and giveaway!

Have you ever thought of the history and the importance of flags? People have used flags for over 4000 years. Flags come in different sizes, shapes, and colors. They can be used for special events, or to represent something special, or give a special message. Think about all the times you have seen a flag and what was the occasion? In America each one of our states has its own flag to represent that state. As a whole country we have one red, white, and blue flag to represent the United States of America. I love to see our flag waving in the breeze. This past Independence Day there is one town nearby that lines the main street with the "Stars and Stripes." I have my own "Old Glory" hanging from my porch. 

My block for the hop is one of the symbols of our country. The flag. I have been collecting the Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine since they came out. This block is in the very first issue. It is called Patriotic Pinwheel by Susan McDermott. When I saw it in the magazine I knew one day I would make this block. Now is the time. My block is done by hand applique using the back basting technique. You can see a tutorial on my side bar if you would like to learn how to do it.

I decided to make my block into a mini quilt. So I practiced my free motion quilting. I used the pencil first to practice the design. Then it was time to quilt the block. This is the backside of the block.

Here is my finished block!

Now for the giveaway! For my American friends I have a wool door knob hanger that I made and a fat quarter of red and white fabric.

For my friends in other countries I will send you a half yard of red, white, and blue fabric.

All I need you to do is answer this question to be entered in the giveaway! Do you hang a flag from your country outside to show your patriotism? Also, make sure to let me know which country you are from. I will announce the two winners on July 10th.

After you get done on my blog why not go over to the other blogs for today and see what they made. You can see the whole schedule by clicking on the button at Janes Fabrics. Thanks Jane for being our fabulous hostess for this blog hop. Thanks to Madame Samm for putting the fun idea out there for us to participate.


Why Knot Kwilt?
Quilt Quest
Crafty Imaginings by Jen
Sew Me Something Good
Grandmama's Stories


With Passion,
Carrie P.

How about...

a little show and tell from my applique addicts bee!

 This first quilt was made by Susie. She is in the process of hand quilting it. Look close at the leaf with the fussy cut bug on it. The chosen fabrics add such detail.

 This one was made by Toni who took a class to learn how to do that very interesting circle around the rooster.

 This top was made by Patti. It is a Lori Smith pattern. Wouldn't that be a sweet quilt for a little girl's room?

Now I am inspired to go to my quilt studio! How about you?
With Passion,
Carrie P.