Happy Easter!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3

“Jesus said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’”
Luke 24:46-47

Blessings to you this Joyous Easter Day!
Carrie P.

My Accomplishments for March

Well, it is almost the end of month and it is time to link up your finishes. Remember, if you linked up here and you finished at least one of your goals you are eligible for a chance to win the giveaway.

I don't feel like I was as productive as in February but I did reach my three goals. I finished the two quilts and put one top together.

I almost caught up on the monogram Mondays from Jenny of Elefantz. I didn't get this past Mondays done.

I did get all the pieces cut out for The Raspberry Rabbits BOM. I did some stitching also. This will be one of my UFOs to work on in to April.

Yippee! I finished hand quilting one more side of my daughter's quilt. Only one more side to go!

And I did crochet a few little projects. The soap saver, the first part of the cowl crochet along from Fiber Flux and another handle cover for my #2 son's iron skillet.

Now it is your turn to show off what you did this month. I will announce the winners of the giveaway and show my new UFOs on April 1. Can't wait to see what you finished this month.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Almost Finished!

Well, the top is finished. It took me a couple days to figure out which fabric to use for the inner border.

 Unfortunately, I could not make the tulips from the Bee In My Bonnet row along. I did not have enough back ground fabric. I took out the "V" row which I am going to use on the back of the quilt. I need to make a trip to the LQS to get the backing fabric. I have the binding all made so once I get it quilted I will be ready to finish this WIP. I really enjoyed working on this quilt. Lori's tutorials are very precise on her blog. She went to a lot of work and I really appreciate the time she put into her tutorials.

I am linking this finish up Lyn's blog.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Having Fun!

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon sewing on the Bee In My Bonnet row along quilt. Here is the fun label for the quilt. I still need to put on the antenna and basic information. I am going to embroider it.

 It is always fun to shop for fabric. I received a gift certificate from #1 son and DIL for Christmas. I finally thought it was time to spend it. I bought this yardage. The green is for a backing of a small quilt. The solid is for my first solid quilt I will be working on. Last is the floral. Aren't those little flowers so sweet? It is Posy by Aneela Hoey. My gift certificate was from the Fat Quarter shop. They have so much to offer which made it hard to shop but as you can see I narrowed it down.

 I also won a sweet little giveaway from Sew you Quilt 2. Thank you so much! Now who doesn't love getting fun stuff delivered to your mailbox?! Me!

With Passion,
Carrie P.

My weekend

This weekend was very busy. Saturday was spent doing lots of different things. Sunday my #2 son and DIL came over for dinner to celebrate my DIL's birthday. 

 I did find a few hours each day to do some crocheting. Do you save the slivers from your soap? I do. I found this free pattern for a "soap saver" on Ravelry.com. I can spend way to much time on that site looking at free patterns. I also did the first part of the crochet along on Fiber Flux. I made a swatch to see how the stitches will look with the yarn I had picked out for the cowl I will be making.

 I cut and sewed all the sashing pieces and sewed them onto each background squares. As you can see I got all the bunnies cut out and some pieces for the August block. Now I can applique The Raspberry Rabbits block.

My goal this week is to get all the pieces cut out. Then I can just sit and applique while watching TV at night.

I keep forgetting to introduce you to a new blogger. "What about Rheema?" has been blogging since January. I met her because she has been participating in "Nothing But UFOs." Go by and say hi to her when you have a minute.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Here's the "Buzz!"

 The day has almost gotten from me. I had hoped to get the post done this morning but things just kept coming up. I have several things to share. First I got another block done from The Raspberry Rabbits. I decided to leave the embroidered flowers off my block.

 I put the finished blocks on my design wall. I have cut out the background pieces and I am busy cutting out the sashing squares. Once I get all the sashing sewn on the backgrounds I will work on cutting out the wool pieces for each block. I am linking up to What a Hoot, BOMs Away.

I am joining a crochet along going on  Fiber Flux. We are going to make a cowl together. I have chosen this white yarn and I am going to make it for a friend of mine. It looks like it will be pretty easy since I am new to this. She has some great tutorials on that last several posts showing basic stitches.

 I have been practicing my crochet by making some dishcloths.  The orange and red are for my #2 son. I made them to match his Fiesta ware  The blue one is for my daughter. I plan to make her some more. I love that yarn. I also made a crochet cast iron handle cover for myself. I plan to make a few of these for my son since he has several cast iron pans. I found the directions for the handle cover on Ravelry.com.

During the "It's all about Me!" blog hop I stopped by Marlene's blog, Stitchin by the Lake. It was fun to see each person's version of Amy Bradley's pattern. You can see here that Marlene made a really good self portrait of herself. Marlene was having a giveaway during the blog hop and I won her giveaway. She sent me a jelly roll of Blackbird Designs fabrics. I love their designs. Thanks so much Marlene!

Tomorrow is Worldwide Quilting Day. Sew Happy Me has designed a really cute doorknob hanger that will be available on her blog tomorrow but if you click on her blog you can see what it looks like.

Will you be quilting tomorrow? I plan to work on my rabbit quilt. 

Last but not least is the winner of the Ebook by Margaret Bucklew. ANudge from A Quilting Reader's Garden is the winner of the Ebook. Congratulations! 

Thanks again to Margaret for asking me to be a part of the book tour. I learned some new things.

Hope you get a chance to quilt this weekend. Besides sewing I also plan to visit all of the bloggers who linked up to "Nothing But UFOs" the first of the month. I will stopping by to see how you are doing with your UFOs.  I know some of you have some finishes.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Welcome My First Guest Blogger and Giveaway!

Introducing my guest...  a quilt artist, author, and teacher, Margaret Bucklew. Margaret has written a book called Step by Step Portrait Art Quilts. The cover itself is really amazing. Today Margaret is going to share how to finish the edges of portrait and pictorial quilts.

Which finish is best?

How to finish the appliqué edge was a huge concern for me when I was afraid to try appliqué. Since I am self taught, I looked to books to find out the proper way to finish edges on appliqué pieces only to discover there are quite a few ways to secure and complete the edge.

I dearly love needle turn, but that’s not the edge finish I use on portrait and pictorial quilts. With needle turn you must add a little fabric to each piece so you can turn it under and stitch; with fusible appliqué there is no need to turn under the edges.

Once I began to use fusible for the appliqué pieces, I was then confronted with how to control and complete the edges in such as way as to highlight each piece and add to the depth and texture to the work.

My choices were raw edge, zig zag, or satin stitch, hmmm which would I choose? Satin stitch was out because I didn’t feel I needed that amount of thread and it would add to the bulk of the quilt. Raw edge was out because I was afraid the edges would fray too much. Although art quilts aren’t tossed into a washing machine the way a utility quilt might be, I was still afraid of the look of frayed edges, so raw edge was out.

I settled on a zig zag stitch. Setting the width of the stitch to 1.5 is about right for me until reaching the small, narrow areas of the fabric. Of course, the width needs to be narrowed or the thread will overtake the fabric. When putting type on a quilt sometimes the thread really does overtake the fabric and it looks as if I never had fabric on the letters.

A stitch length of .8 gives a nice zig zag and yet not too tight to look like a satin stitch. My preferences may be slightly different than yours, as we all see things differently.

Sometimes I use contrasting thread to make an area stand out, but usually I use matching thread as closely to the fabric color as possible. If I’m not happy with the look of one color thread, I’ll add a second color and go over the same area just completed. The two colors blend and look great.

We cover this and more in our “Step by Step Portrait Art Quilts: Learn to Create Realistic Portrait and Pictorial Quilts”. The book is both in print or eBook. This is a short link to take you to Amazon for more information about the book: http://goo.gl/RguGS. This is the short link to the ebook on Kobo: http://goo.gl/HDVnT

For a few more tips, please visit the next blog in the book blog tour.

Blog Tour Hosts

Day 4

Jackie’s Art Quilts

http://jabotquilt.blogspot.com/

Day 5

Quilting and Sewing Videos 

 http://www.quilt-video.com

Thanks Margaret for sharing those tips on how to finish the applique edges. Now for the giveaway! Margaret is giving her Ebook to one of my lucky readers. Just leave me a comment and I will announce the winner on March 16 after the book tour. Thanks Margaret for offering the book to one of my readers and for asking me to be part of your book tour. It has been very informational.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Just sharing...

my second finish for this month. It is a preemie quilt. My quilt guild donates them to a local hospital. This quilt was made from leftover pieces of an autograph quilt I made for my #2 son when he got married. I even made the binding from the pieces. I am linking this finish up to Such a Sew and Sew and Sew Bitter Sweet Designs.

I am also sharing what's in my garden.  These daffodils have been taking their sweet time blooming. The green part started coming up back in January. They just can't make up their minds with the cold, then warm, and then cold again weather that we have been experiencing.

I thought I would share something I learned from a gardening blog last year. Sorry I don't remember the name of the blog. The blogger shared that sometimes when you buy green onions or leeks from the store they might have their roots still attached. She said to plant those to get more onions or leeks. I tried it and it works. I buy organic veggies which still have the roots. Here you can see green onions, leeks, and celery in a bowl of water. You will notice more roots on the leeks and green parts coming up on the leeks and onions where I cut them. I am trying the celery to see what happens. Even though there are no roots on the celery there are some green leaves popping through the center.

 Here are some I planted a couple months ago to see what would happen. Yay! I have more to harvest. Even if you don't have a garden space like me you could put them in a flower pot and grow your own. Pretty neat idea!

 Theses are two beds I have had under the hoop houses during the winter. Cabbage, onions I planted from seeds and kale.

 If you look close at this photo you can see some green leaves which is garlic. Looks like the Easter Bunny came early to hide eggs.

Don't forget about the book blog tour. Come back tomorrow to read what my first guest blogger has to share about her new book.

Day 2 March 12

Sew Useful Designs

http://www.sewusefuldesigns.com/

Day 3 March 13

A Passion for Applique

http://apassionforapplique.blogspot.com/   (that's me)
  

Day 4 March 14

Jackie’s Art Quilts

http://jabotquilt.blogspot.com/

Day 5 March 15

Quilting and Sewing Videos 

 http://www.quilt-video.com

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Slow Sunday and Book Tour coming!

Today has been a Slow Sunday. I did a little sewing at the machine and some hand sewing on my BOM from The Raspberry Rabbits. I need to finish the bee bodies and stitch on Harrington and Hannah.

I am linking up to Lyn's BOMs Away and Kathy Quilts.

Tomorrow starts a book blog tour with author Margaret Bucklew. She asked me to be a part of her book tour. She is going to be a guest on my blog this Wednesday. I hope you will take the time to visit each blog this week to see her book about making portrait quilts. It is called Step-by-Step Portrait Art Quilts: Learn to create realistic portrait and pictorial quilts. 

Blog Tour Hosts

Day 1 March 11

All About Applique

http://www.allaboutapplique.net/

Day 2 March 12

Sew Useful Designs

http://www.sewusefuldesigns.com/

Day 3 March 13

A Passion for Applique

http://apassionforapplique.blogspot.com/   (that's me)
  

Day 4 March 14

Jackie’s Art Quilts

http://jabotquilt.blogspot.com/

Day 5 March 15

Quilting and Sewing Videos 

 http://www.quilt-video.com

With Passion,
Carrie P.

What's Wrong...

with this picture? As you can see the flowers are not symmetrical  I was appliqueing the last one onto the background and thought something is off. As you can see it is. This bothers me but not enough to take out my stitching and redo it. I think the flowers turned out very pretty but I am just not excited about it now. I was going to make a pillow out of this design. Since this is several years old I have made plenty of pillows. I really don't need another one. So this piece has been trashed and it is okay.

 I have pulled out another UFO to work on instead. I am going to finish this block from The Raspberry Rabbits. I also have five more blocks to do. I am going to prep those and see how many I can get finished this month. Much more exciting to me.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

First March Finish

Yes, I have my first finish for March. Here is my mini quilt made for the wire hanger. The center square is a embroidery design by Kathy Schmitz. I don't have any decorations for March/St. Patrick's Day so I thought this would be fun to make. The embroidery piece has been done for a couple of years.

 I looked through my Quiltmaker 100 blocks magazine for ideas and decided to use this block by Felicity Miller. I think it frames the embroidery perfectly.

I am linking up to Finish Fridays at Richard and Tanya Quilts.
I am also linking up to Such a Sew and Sew. 

 With Passion,
Carrie P.

Progress

I put my St. Patrick's Day little quilt together. I am working on the binding as you can see.

 Even though this was not on my UFO list I made the frame for the next little quilt that I got in the mail last month.

 It is for the embroidery, March Winds by Kathy Schmitz. I traced the design and I have put it in my special box for me to work on next year.

Progress feels good. Today I will work on the preemie quilt to see how far I can get on it.

With Passion,
Carrie P.