Sewing and Quilt Expo

This past Thursday my husband and I took a day trip to Raleigh to the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo. There were several quilt displays put on McCalls's Quilting, Fons and Porter, Gammill Longarm Artists, Quiltmaker, and the Art and Science challenge. Here are some of the quilts in the exhibits.

 Quilt Alliance Auction Quilts. After traveling, these house quilts will be auctioned on ebay in November to support the projects of the Quilt Alliance.

 Quilts of Valor display

 NYC Metro Modern quilt guild display

 Here is Sir Walter Raleigh all dressed up and no place to go! This statue is outside the convention center.

 One reason I really wanted to go the expo was to see the Primitive Gatherings booth. I know I walked around that booth for thirty minutes. I didn't want to miss a things. I bought some fabrics and thread. I also bought this wool quilt kit . You were only allowed to take a picture of a sample if you bought that pattern. I did take a picture but you can just see it on her web site. All her stuff is much prettier in person. I just wish I had a bigger budget. There were so many things I would have liked to have bought. This was probably the closest I will ever get to the shop since it is way up in Wisconsin.

You can read more about the expo here. Maybe you have one coming near you sometime soon.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

More Quilting and Canning

Yesterday I worked on another corner of my free motion quilting challenge.

 One more side to go.

 We have some sweltering hot weather here in North Carolina but I had to go out in it today to pick all the beets and half the carrots. I froze the carrots and pickled the beets. A lot of work goes into preparing the veggies for preserving them but it is worth it.

 Mr. Bluebird stopped by for a minute and I was fast enough to get a picture. You might remember me showing you some bluebird eggs here. All those babies hatched. A few days later I noticed that the parents were not visiting the house so I went to check on the babies. They had all died. Not sure why. But this bluebird has found a mate and they are in the process of building a new nest in the house. Hopefully the babies will make it this time.

Some of you had asked about the recipe for the Chocolate Zucchini bread. Here is a link. I have the cook book and it is filled some really great recipes.
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/08/chocolate-zucchini-bread/


With Passion,
Carrie P.

My favorite things

Quilting is one of my favorite things. I can say that Free Motion quilting is becoming one of my favorite things. I worked some more on the SewCalGal challenge which was brought to us by Cindy Needham. You can see the technique on the SewCalGal blog. Cindy's quilting is amazing.

 The quilting I showed the other day began with me drawing some squiggly lines with my blue water erasable pen. Then I filled in those spaces with different kinds of quilting. The next time I decided to wing it and just have fun quilting whatever I wanted to quilt.
The center quilting designs were from the previous two lessons. My plan is to now fill up the other two corners with  whatever comes from my mind and hands.

My other favorite thing is gardening. As you can see things are starting to take off. This cauliflower was cut and eaten the other night. I made it like mashed potatoes with lots of good seasonings and butter. My husband really liked it that way.

 Here is another one growing which will be on the dinner table in a few weeks.

 I am picking zucchini and beans every day. I made some chocolate zucchini bread that was really yummy. It was gone in a flash.

 The blueberries in our yard are ripening and I pick them every other day.

 I made this blueberry bread with almond flavoring in it. A really nice combination. It is perfect for breakfast.

 With some of the surplus I made some of my first freezer blueberry jam and canned some sweet zucchini relish.

 I have also been pulling up some onions. Here are two different kinds. The one above was picked several days ago that is why you don't see any green leaves. The other one I picked today.

We love blueberries so much I went to a farm today and picked 12.5 pounds. These all went in the freezer for us to eat during the winter time. They are so juicy and sweet.
Tomorrow or Wednesday I am going to pull up all the beets.  They are not doing so well in the hot weather we are having. So I think it is time. My plan is to pickle them. Another first. What should I plant next in that bed? I'll let you know.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Practicing My Free Motion Quilting

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Doll Quilt Swap

I am a member of a Modern Quilt Guild. I joined in a doll quilt swap. We were assigned partners which was a secret. I knew who I was making for but did not know who was making one for me. My partner, Kim, likes turquoise, green, orange, and birds. So this is my little creation. I didn't take the measurements but it approximately 12"x 16". Of course I had to do some applique. The bird and flower design both came out of the volume 4 of the Quiltmakers 100 blocks magazine. I used a technique for the background from a quilt that was in the June 2012 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. I also did some big stitch hand quilting. You will notice that there is not any binding. That is because I tried something new. It is called knife edge binding. Kim seemed very pleased when she opened her package with this little quilt in it.

Ania is the person who made my quilt. The only request I had was that there be some green fabric and it be a 12" square. I wanted my little quilt to hang on my table topper hanger. It fits and look beautiful. Thanks so much Ania.

With Passion,
Carrie P.