Quilting Hoop

What would you do with a hand quilting hoop that you never use? I have decided that when I hand quilt I would rather do it without a hoop. It might not be the proper way to hand quilt but that is the way I like to do it.

 I decided to make this Welcome sign to hand in my new sewing room.

 I used some of my vintage plastic buttons for the flowers. Aren't they cute?

I got this pattern from the summer 2012 Stitch/Craft Create magazine. It is loaded with great craft ideas.
My room is almost ready for me to start moving my things into it. Mr. P. is working on the 1/4 round molding as I write. It would be long before I will share my new space with you. I am excited!

Don't forget to link up your UFOs if you finished some for the month of June on the previous post. I will be announcing the winner July 1 of the giveaway.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Working Night and Day!

 Well, not really! but that is what it feels like lately. So much going on at this time. First let me show you what I worked on this month, which was very little. Remember this sneak peek? I was asked to teach an applique class for a local shop so I wanted to make something new.

 Here is my little quilt all done. It will fit in my wire table top quilt hanger. Not sure when I will teach a class but I am ready. I really like how it turned out.

 This is how I got started with a design. I pulled out this book which is so much fun to look through.

 I really liked these love apples.

 Then I thought about all my Quiltmaker 100 blocks magazines. Look what I found! So this also helped me create a block. Mine is a little different. I had to include some circles because that is something that is important to learn in an applique class.

 I did make some green hexagons and got four attached to the top. I did not accomplish much when it comes to my UFOs but if you got some of your UFOs done this month be sure to link up at the bottom of this post. I know Sheila finished her three that she listed at the beginning of the month. Way to go! Sheila.

 I have been spending a lot of time in the garden. If you have a garden you know it is a lot of work but very satisfying work. When I was working out in the garden the other day I notices some tomatoes and a few tomatillos.

 I harvested some more onions, carrots, potatoes, lettuce and some very pretty zinnias. I was very disappointed with the potatoes. I had planted two beds but when I started digging I noticed that voles had been eating the potatoes. I think that is where most of them ended up, in their bellies instead of mine! When we (Mr. P & I ) built more beds this spring we put hardware cloth in the bottom to keep the moles and voles out. Hopefully it will work because we have planted sweet potatoes in some of those beds.

 I thought I would share some photos of the pollinators on some of the flowers around the house and in the garden.

This is one of the entrances to the garden. It is hard to tell what is what but everything is growing really well and I will be planting some pumpkin and pinto bean seeds today.

 So Mr. P. has finally been able to start laying the laminate in my future sewing room. He said doing the closet was a pain!

 One thing I did not mention is that we plan to do the whole house in the laminate except for our living room which has carpet that is only a few years old. That room is not used much so  the carpet still looks like new. After living in this house for seventeen years it is time to update. My kitchen is full of theses boxes. We have taken up the carpet in the other bedroom and I decided to give it a fresh coat of paint. I still have to put a second coat on some of the trim. So the master bedroom is full of stuff from that bedroom. The house is a little out of sorts and I am trying to keep some order among the changes going on at this time.

So the hours are going to be filled up again this week with working in the garden and the house. I just made up my mind to sit at the sewing machine yesterday just to keep my sanity. I made some progress on the blocks for Doreen's sew along.

I am probably not going to do any blog posts the rest of the week but if I get some more sewing done I will be sure to share.

Be sure to link up your finished UFOs if you signed up at the beginning of the month. I look forward to seeing what you accomplished this month. I apologize for taking so long to reply to your comments from last week. I will warn you that it might take me a while to get around to replying to any comments you leave this week too. Have a great week.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Chain Piecing

I finished chain piecing parts of my blocks yesterday. It looks like a big mess at this point.

 I am trying to catch up for the next step in Doreen's jelly roll sew along! Not having electricity put me behind.  I hope to get the blocks put together today. Lots of pressing first!

With Passion,
Carrie P.

From a Finish

 Every month I have been entering one UFO in A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Melissa and Shanna. I was one of the lucky winners. I won this package of Aurifil thread for finishing my bowl wall hanging last month. The purple spool is wool thread which will be nice to use when I get around to working on wool again.

  Melissa and Shanna have gotten some great sponsors. You can join in next month. Here is where you can read about the guidelines to enter your UFO next month. Thanks Melissa and Shanna for hosting and to Aurifil for being a great sponsor.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Getting Back to Normal

After two and half days of life not being "normal", things are finally returning to the way I like them. The day the storm hit the temperature went up to 92* and very humid. I was on my way home from the post office when I saw the menacing black clouds. I was hoping I could beat the storm home but I saw it closing in from my car rear view mirror. Next thing I knew I was being pummeled by rain and wind. Driving home, which was within 7 miles from the post office, was like driving through a maze. Trees were down every where. There are three ways to get to my house. Two were blocked by downed trees and power lines. Finally, I made it home safe and sound with no damage to our home or downed trees.

 The next day was gorgeous with no humidity and temperatures in the low 80's. I spent most of my time outside watching the garden and lavender grow. :0) I was very grateful that the weather was so great.

 With no power we loaded all our food from the refrigerator in ice chests left over from our tent camping days. I had to go up to the store each day to buy more ice. I also had to buy bottled water because we use water from a well and our house is total electric. We used buckets filled with water from the rain barrels to flush the toilets. We drove over to #2 son's house to take showers. This time was not bad living with out power because it only last the 2 1/2 days. One winter we went seven days. Now that was rough.

 I picked some peas and carrots which we cooked on our gas grill.

 I also harvested some Walla Walla Washington onions. Thanks Candace!

 While sitting outside I watched Mr. P. work on getting a spot ready for our

 1100 gallon water tank. This will hold water so that I can water the garden with a hose instead of carrying watering cans up to the garden. I am getting to old to carry gallons of water up to the garden.

 While watching Mr. P. work I was pretty much a lady of leisure. I worked on hexagons and

 embroidered the newest block from Red Brolly.

So today this lady of leisure has been working at getting the house cleaned, clothes washed, and cooking dinner. Maybe tomorrow I can use my sewing machine to work on some blocks from Doreen's sew along.

With Passion,

Carrie P.