Checking In

Hello everyone! Another month gone. I thought I would share the things that are going on at my place. If you read my previous post you know that my in-laws have moved down here from Illinois. They have picked out a really nice retirement home to move into. They will have to stay with us until June 23rd. They have to wait on the moving company to bring their stuff down from Illinois. It really hasn't been too bad having them here. My mother-in-law is good to help out in the kitchen when I am cooking for us all and cleaning up. She also helps me out in the garden pulling up weeds which is nice. I am beginning to harvest some fruits and veggies now. Here is a photo of what I picked yesterday.

 I have worked on a few blocks.

 I thought I would show you what my daughter made me for Mother's Day. It is hanging in my sewing room, of course.

 Missie from Traditional Primitives mentioned a new magazine that just came out for those of us who like Punch Needle, cross stitch, and rug hooking. She has a punch needle pattern in the magazine. I decided to subscribe for a year to see what it is all about. I do want to do some of the punch needle patterns. Not a big fan of cross stitch any more.

While reading The Jolly Jabber blog I saw a video of Jen Kingwell. I love her patterns and the Fat Quarter shop had her new book, Quilt Lovely and the booklet, Green Tea and Sweet Beans. So guess what I bought. I have been wanting the Green Tea... booklet for a long time after I saw Carla from her Grace and Favour blog working on the pattern. 

 After I bought the books I found out that Jen Kingwell was coming to visit the Modern Quilt Guild. I visit the guild when I can and this time I made it a point to go the meeting.

 I got to see the Green Tea... quilt up close and personal. She brought many of her quilts for us to see.

During the end of April Moda was having a blog hop. I had time to visit a couple of the blogs during the hop. Kathy Schmitz, one of my favorite designers, was part of the hop. She was giving away an original water color painting. I won it! She also sent some of her new patterns. One day things will get back to normal and I can work on these new patterns!

And to end this post is the newest photo of my grandson. He needs a haircut but his mom is not ready to cut it just yet. He is such a smart little guy. He is starting to do the little hand actions from the song, The Wheels on the Bus. He knows some sign language.  He loves running all over the house. He loves being outside but grandma not so much since it is getting hot. He can say thank you even though you wouldn't recognize it but I know what he is saying.

As you can see I am staying very busy. I don't see things slowing down much this summer. I hope you all have a great summer. I will check in at the end of June. Until then...

With Passion,

Carrie P.

The month of April gone!

How was your month of April? I would probably know if I had time to read your blogs but sadly that is not happening these days. I thought I would take a minute to share what has been going on this month. 

First of all I won a giveaway from Stephanie back in March. She had a giveaway for the very cute bag she made. Inside were all the other goodies. She has closed down her blog because of some family stuff going on. Maybe you can remember her in your prayers. Thanks Stephanie for the gifts.

 So I attended a workshop put on by my quilt guild. Mary Sorensen taught needle turn applique. I love taking classes with any hand applique teacher I can. I learn so much and this time was no exception. We didn't get much done but we learned a lot. The photo on the left is what we all did in the workshop. The photo on the right is what it will look like eventually. She only does a few workshops a year now. If you see her at a big quilt show and you like to do hand applique I highly recommend you take a class with her.

 I did get some sewing done this month. I got these blocks sewn and some prepped to hand applique. This is the free sew along from Jeni's blog from the Willow. It is still available on her blog. You will just have to scroll through the post to get all the blocks.

 I did get my two blocks made for the Modern Quilt Therapy group.

 And the block made from the BOM at one of my local quilt shops.

 I did get block #4 made from the free BOM on Buttermilk Basin. Working on #3 now.

 The garden is all planted and things are starting to take off. We did get enough rain last month to fill up my 1500 gallon rain tank. That makes me very happy for those days when we don't get rain for a week or so.

 I have some Lily of Valley planted between my house and garage. Walking by the flowers is delightful because of their scent.

 This spring both bluebird houses were taken over by the Chickadees. Their nest is so neat with the moss and some other fuzzy stuff. I wonder where they find that fuzzy stuff!

So more changes are coming to our household. If you read my blog often you know that I watch my grandson. My in-laws are moving down here to North Carolina from Illinois. They will be living with us for as long as it takes them to figure out where they might want to live. Apartment, Retirement Home, etc. So I will be driving them around town helping to get established here plus taking care of my grandson. Not sure how much sewing I will get done but I do have some hand work I can pick up when I have a minute. Hopefully I will be back at the end of the month to share any sewing news.

Enjoy the month of May!
With Passion,
Carrie P.

Busy Springtime and Winner of Giveaway

I am ready for springtime to be over. NO, NO, I am kidding. I love springtime but I have been super busy out in the yard since my last post. We have not put pine needles around in the plant beds for almost 2 years. They were looking pretty bad. We bought 65 bales and I have been busy putting them out in the beds. Just finished this weekend.

In between putting the pine needles in the yard I have attended two quilt groups. This is the next block I need to make from the local $5 quilt BOM.

 These are the next two blocks I will make for Modern Quilt Therapy group.

 I did pick out and cut fabric for flying geese and...

 got some other pieces ready to sew together.

 I also got some fabric and plastic pattern pieces cut out for a workshop I am going to go to tomorrow. Mary Sorensen is speaking to our guild tonight and she will be teaching a needle turn hand applique class tomorrow. I am looking forward to learning new techniques.

Now to announce the winner of the giveaway. First let me say thanks for leaving all the comments. I see some of you like "playing in the dirt" like me. Forgive me for not responding to them all but I am going to visit all of your blogs to see what you have been up to this spring. 

The winner of the giveaway is Robin from Crafty Musings. Congratulations! Robin.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

The month of March

The month of March has flown by for me. I have not been on the computer much so I am way behind on reading all your blogs which I miss. Because I am watching my grandson five days a week again I don't much time for my hobbies. Despite not having much free time I have managed to get some projects made. 

 First off--I finished this quilt just in time for my daughter's birthday.This was the free BOM by Jacquelynne Steves. She will be starting another BOM soon. I won't be doing it though but you might like to do it.

  My friend Laura did the machine quilting for me.  She will do yours too if you need a quilt done.

I made this months block for my local quilt shop BOM. Only one more to go.

 At Modern Quilt therapy group we were given three more blocks for the quilt.

I am way behind on this sew-along by Jeni from the Willow but I did get one more block appliqued.

 I made the second block of the BOM from Buttermilk Basin. The next block is a bee hive which I need to make before next months block is released.

 My applique bee is working on blocks for a raffle quilt for when our guild hosts symposium. All the blocks are orchids. These are the two I made. The plan is to add some embroidery or use paint sticks to add more details to the orchids. All the blocks are being done in batiks.

 I went to applique bee and saw some of the other blocks which aren't quite finished yet. It is going to be a fabulous quilt when it is done. I thought I would share some of the blocks that Patti is working on.

I am still working on this afghan from LookatwhatImade.net. I am three weeks behind but I am not worried about. I am enjoying crocheting every row I add to this afghan. There is a facebook group and every one of the afghans are gorgeous. There are new people joining every day so don't be afraid to join in too.

Way back at Christmas time when we went to the mountains to get our Christmas tree we stopped at an antique store. I found this sewing box. All the spool holders on the side were full of old thread. Some were wooden spools which I kept. Inside the drawers were more spools and few other sewing notions. (This is the before photo.)

Mr. P. sanded some of the bad places down and added a few coats of Tung oil to the wood to spruce it up again. Now it sits near my sewing machine where I can get to some of my threads and favorite tools I use while sewing. (After photo)

With springtime here I have been spending my weekends in the garden planting some cool weather veggies or working out in the yard. Check out the garden shoes my daughter got me for my birthday.

My grandson has started coming outside with me now that some days are warmer. He loves playing in the dirt.

He has been walking for the last month. He will be one year old on Friday. I can't believe how his first year has flown. Every day he does something new.

 Buttermilk Basin was having a blog hop which included different designers. They each shared some really sweet projects. This little needlebook was shared by Crabapple Hill. . I just had to make several of these needle books because they were so cute. Two I have given away.

So if you have gotten down this far on the post you deserve to have a chance at a little springtime giveaway. I will send the winner a needle book and two fat quarters of the springtime fabric.

To be entered in the giveaway just tell me if you like to play in the dirt too. (gardening,planting flowers, container gardens, etc.)

I will announce the winner after Easter sometime. I will not give a certain date because I just don't know when I can get back on the computer again. 

I wish you all a Blessed Easter. 

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Took the Week

It took the week to get the binding sewn to the back of the table runner. My grandson will not let me do any kind of handwork while he plays. He wants to be right up in my lap when I start to work on a project. I usually work on hand sewing projects at night now. 

 I have this wavy stitch on my sewing machine. I did not make it evenly spaced on purpose because I wanted it to represent water/waves of the ocean.

This will be for my daughter for her birthday this month. This was a pattern by Sherri of A Quilting Life.

With Passion,
Carrie P.