Pigtales and Quilts: July 2011

July 31, 2011

Mail Call!

Now that I am hosting the How Does Your Garden Grow Sew Along, I decided to use the fabrics I had upstairs, originally bought to make a handbag for my niece. Not to worry, she will still get her bag but I thought how cool would it be to grow a hippy style kind of garden! The fabrics are PEACE by Michael Miller that I purchased from the Fat Quarter Shop last year!

I only had a fat quarter pack of the fabrics so I went online to the Fat Quarter Shop hoping to find more and sure enough they still had the ones I wanted to use for my background and the flowers.... And while I was there I spied another line that had the peace symbols on it as well and found just the perfect fabric for my backing...Peace, Love and Happiness Cocoa Birdsong by Michael Miller!!

When I was in high school my friend Donna and I painted some Fight Fat t-shirts and painted peace signs on them too....just having fun! Using these fabrics brings back memories of those simpler times..times when life wasn't so fast and hectic. And sewing these flowers by hand gives me that sense of calm that those days gave me. I cannot wait for this quilt to be finished and hanging in my studio to share with my customers and friends as they come and go!

Why do I buy from the Fat Quarter Shop so much? Well, they are top of the line to deal with and I love to deal with someone who gives you fast, courteous service! They are always giving back to the quilting community and always pleasant to speak with on the phone! And I always give them a 5 STAR rating for how they package my fabric!

Here you go... A great shot of what was in my package... Just look at that yummy backing fabric!!

What are you waiting for?? Head on over to the Fat Quarter Shop and see what you can't live without!!

Sunday's Linky Party! - How Does Your Garden Grow!

Hello fellow gardeners! How are your flower gardens doing? Mine is expanding one flower at a time! :)

If you would like to read back to last week about the first flower I made go here...! I am just loving this fabric PEACE by Michael Miller that I purchased at the Fat Quarter Shop! While I was making this week's flower I was debating on how to quilt the quilt once it is finished and I think I am going to quilt a peace symbol in the center of each flower! Don't you think that will be so hip!

And if you have not joined up with us to grow your own flower garden, it is never too late to hop on board! There is a dedicated page for the sew along at the top of my blog. Comment on that page and I will add your name to the list on the left sidebar of my blog. Then every Sunday come here for the newest linky post and link up with your new flower post.

This is my flower for this week!

And both blocks together...

I also made a decision this morning of how I am going to assemble my quilt but I will show you that a little later into the sew along. :)

So, it is your turn to show us your flowers!

LINK AWAY!

Leave the URL directly to your flower post on your blog in the box below. And please remember to link back here to my blog in your post. Thanks so much everyone!

And remember while you are linking, to visit the other gardeners to see their newest flowers and leave them some comment love. :)

July 30, 2011

GiveAway Alert!

Head on over and read about the giveaway Sherri is hosting via Green Fairy Quilts!

Get your name in the pot for this fabulous Layer Cake!!

July 29, 2011

New Fabric In The House!

My mother in law rode with me to take Allie to Georgia to meet her mommy and we had to travel down Interstate 85 right past Mary Jo's Cloth Store! Well, you cannot just simply drive right past that place without your fabric radar going off so we HAD to stop! I had been blog surfing before we left and found a new blog that is full of inspiration and eye candy!

So..... What do you think these fabrics...

and this pattern....

and my newest granddaughter all have in common???

And yes, Allie and Parker have chocolate moustaches. The nurse gave them chocolate ice cream! ha! :)

Emilee is almost 5 months old so it is far time that I make her a quilt! Winter is just around the corner!!

July 27, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow - Sew Along!

I ran across a link to Karen over at Journey of a Quilter and she is hosting One Flower Wednesday! I was going to link up with her and her followers but several have been at their flowers for since early 2010 so I would really have some catching up to do! :)

So, I have decided to start a sew along right here on my blog for my followers and their friends! That way we can all start fresh and our gardens will all grow together!

I will be showing photos of my new flowers on Sundays and will have a LINKY PARTY for all of my fellow gardeners so they can link to their flower photos on their own blogs!. What better day to have a flower garden show than on Sunday when everyone is resting from their busy weeks and enjoying a nice cup of tea as they swing on their porches! And being able to travel from one person's flower garden to another without even getting in the car, well, that is priceless!

I have been wanting to make a quilt with this pattern ever since my mom gifted me with this quilt that my Aunt Callie Greenhill made many years ago!

I begged for this quilt for a long time and then one Christmas my mom gave me a small wrapped box and inside was a gift card to Walmart. Unlike my mother... hmmmm... I wondered what was going on... Not that I didn't think my gift was bad or anything but my mother always gave me and my sisters something extra special every year for Christmas...always had...and now a Walmart GC??? My sisters had not opened their gifts yet (I did not know they had been told to wait) ... so this Christmas seemed rather odd...

Until.....

Mother asked me to come to her bedroom with her and as confused as I already was, I squinted my eyebrows together and followed her. When we got in her bedroom she stopped short of the quilt rack! THE QUILT RACK!!! I knew immediately what was going on but I feigned ignorance... I wasn't going to steal mother's show! I shrugged my shoulder and asked her what she wanted me in here for??? She smiled and reached for this quilt! When she looked back with the quilt in her hand, it was all I could do to hold my composure... and finally I busted out smiling! When she said Merry Christmas, I started crying! I know that she knew that I knew as soon as we got in the room what was going on but she never told me she knew and I never told her I knew. We just hugged each other real tight and she said, "Now you take care of this quilt as I have done for so many years". I told her she knew that I would...and she said yes, that is why you are getting it!

So, starting this week, I am going to start putting together some of these blocks and make my own interpretation of Aunt Callie's quilt! Thanks Karen for the push!

Now to find the perfect fabric for the job!! :)

I have ordered a set of nesting hexagons from Quilter's Rule! When you take them apart, you will have a window to help you fussy cut your hexies if you are using a fabric with images on it! They are nested from 1 inch to 6 inches so you can choose whatever size hexie you want to work with!

Lori over at Bee In My Bonnet has a great Hexie Paper Piecing Tutorial! (just so you know...turn your speakers down because she has some music on her blog)

Want to join me and see how your garden grows?

.....your flower garden does NOT have to consist of hexie flowers. You can play along and grow any kind of flower you choose to plant in your garden! .... applique, redwork...cross stitch, yo-yo's...etc... Whatever cranks your tractor! :)
There is a page at the top of my blog dedicated to the Sew Along... Click on the page and comment there that you want to participate and I will add you to the list of gardeners on my left sidebar.

I will also add a link to each Sunday's LINKY PARTY on our page so that if anyone wants to look back at the flowers previously made, they don't have to hunt for a needle in a haystack through my blog.

And just for a nudge to get you to come along as our flowers grow... There will be prizes along the way... Not saying when...not saying what... not saying for what.. Just saying prizes!! And we all LOVE prizes, right???

BUT!! You have to comment on the Quilt Along page at the top of my blog and you HAVE to make flowers and post them on your blog! :)

The first prize has been won! Go to the Sew Along Page at the top of the blog to see who and what! :)

Come on! Let's grow a flower garden together!

July 25, 2011

July 24, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow! Week #1 - and - Allie's First Hand Quilting!

Well, the clock has not struck midnight yet so this Cinderella still has a little bit of time before turning to a pumpkin. Allie and I have been busy all day it seems and I had not found time to make my one flower for this week! So at 9 pm she and I made one last trek up the stairs! We both were on a mission!

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will remember this post! With just a little guidance from mawmaw, Allie made her very first quilt top! And after some earnest concentration she can now proudly say, she has done her very first hand quilting! Her wallhanging is complete and ready to use this Halloween (and the only major work I did was to machine blanket stitch the pumpkin)! I am so very proud of this little girl! Her fingers were quiet sore before she finished pulling that needle in and out and was so tuckered from all of our past month's activities, that she got a quilt and laid down in the floor upstairs while I finished my hexie flower. Bless her heart!

Here is her finished wallhanging! I think she is well on to her way of being a mighty fine quilter! Granny Ida and Granny Ella would be so proud!

I wanted to show you her other past time she has had while visiting with us. Allie loves puzzles and is fast as a whiz at putting them together! My mother in law brought over (2) 5 foot x 2 foot puzzles and thought they would keep her busy for 2 or 3 days while I machine quilted! HA! 45 minutes after my mother in law left Allie had them BOTH put together! and a phone visit with her mother! I kid you not!! Allie is VERY smart and I hope that her school recognizes this and pushes her to excel!

And lastly for tonight's post I show you my first hexie flower that I made for the How Does Your Garden Grow Sew Along that I am hosting! I am using the faux middle technique and plan to do a HST in each corner of the blocks. I am using the fabric PEACE by Michael Miller that I purchased at the Fat Quarter Shop so I think I will title my quilt "Peace In My Garden".

Kris is participating in the Sew Along and this is her first flower! LOVE those polka dots!

And Connie posted this one on her blog for the first week of the sew along! This stained glass rose is beautiful!

Wendy is working double time by growing 2 flower gardens! And her flowers are as gorgeous as the rest!

I am hoping to see several more join our sew along as time goes on! There are going to be lots of prizes given away all during the sew along so come on and have some fun with us!

3 links is a charm! Linking up
here! here! & here!

Head on over to all 3 sites and get your link on!

Pinkie

Well.... Daisy has a friend! These little weiner dogs are addicting!

Allie has a baby sister, Emilee, and it would not be fair if mawmaw made Allie something special and not make one for Emilee as well. And since Emilee is only 4 1/2 months old, she cannot have a button for an eye so I drew them on. I am no artist, so don't judge them too critically. lol

Meet Pinkie.... I think Miss Emilee is going to squeal with delight! :)

3 links are a charm! Linking....

HERE! HERE! and HERE!

July 23, 2011

The Fruits of our Labor

I had forgotten just how fun it was to have a youngster in the house! Allie has been here for almost a month and we have had the best time! We went upstairs this afternoon and sewed together. I bought her a learning to sew kit and while I machine embroidered a retreat bag, she sat in her chair and diligently worked on her cat and heart. I took the first 2 stitches while she watched and then handed it to her and she finished both pieces all by herself!... even the stuffing! I would smile too if I had done such a fantastic job!

We bought a weiner dog kit when she first came to our house and we finally got around to sewing him up today. I made him for Allie while the machine was embroidering and while she was sewing. He went together so easily! I wanted to make myself one out of canvas but mine will wait for another day. Although it went together easily, it was time consuming!! I think Daisy is really cute and so does Allie! Although she is still confused as to why it is a one-sided doggie! ha!

And this is the retreat bag that I worked on while we were upstairs. I have a plan in mind for this one and more but we shall see if the plan pans out. Time will be the determining factor. :)

I found this design at Embroidery Library. I do have to say, I really LOVE how their designs stitch out! There is no thread waste whatsoever!!

So, that was our afternoon! What did you accomplish today?

3 links is a charm! Linking...
HERE! HERE! and HERE!

July 22, 2011

Pickles - They are just good food!

I have loved pickles forever it seems! When I was young I would make dill pickle sandwiches with mustard! yea..gross I know... but it was really good..although I do not eat those sandwiches any longer because of the salt content! I do love me a dill pickle on my bologna sandwich though! Nothing like white bread, kraft mayo, oscar mayer bologna, kraft cheese, lettuce, dill pickle, and mustard!!! YUM!! Are you hungry now? :)

One of my best memories of local high school basketball games is of that gallon jug of whole dill pickles sitting in the concession stand! My youngest daughter had an "admirer" in 7th grade and one ballgame he came to sit by her. He proudly announced he had eaten one of those dill pickles!! 7th graders!! Well, my daughter ignored him so he went on his merry way. He later came back and sat back down only to announce that he had eaten yet another pickle!! She rolled her eyes at him that time! He took that as a sign that he was making progress so he left and later came back and announced that he had yet eaten another pickle! Mind you, these pickles are NOT small! She told him that he was going to get sick and he just smiled! He had actually gotten her to SAY something to him this time... he was DEFINITELY making progress now! So, he hops down off the bleachers and comes back about 30 minutes later looking peekish. He informs her that he went and ate another pickle and later got sick! She told him he was gross and they went to giggling! WHAT!! Yep, they became really good friends..not really so much boyfriend/girlfriend but they had a really good friendship from then on until they graduated! Can you believe what the power of a few pickles can do! :)

My grandmother canned pickles every year in her churn! She called them her 14 day pickles. They take about 21 days before you can actually put them in jars so I always wondered why they were called a 14 day pickle??? Nonetheless, they are delicious and I make them every year in honor of my grandmother! I have 3 batches ready for jarring right now! I remember helping granny Ella wash her cucumbers in the front yard and thinking "My, how long these cucumbers are"! She used those really long burpless cucumbers for her pickles. I like to use the smaller cucumbers myself because those tiny pieces looks so pretty in the jars and they always wind up being the crispiest pickle in the jar!

Allie is the pickle expert and she says her mawmaw's pickles are the BEST on the market! ha! Is that loyalty or what!

For me.. if it isn't my pickle it has to have one of 2 names on the label! And Allie, the pickle expert will show you the 2 I am referring to...

VLASIC is my first pickle of choice! Nothing like the crunch of a Vlasic pickle! I always loved the commercial on television of the little girl eating lunch with her dad. He was reading the newspaper and she asked him "Dad, you gonna eat that pickle?" Thinking about it always makes me smile!

My second pickle of choice is CLAUSSEN! If I can't have a Vlasic, then give me a Claussen pickle!!

And I have to give my mother in law a little plug! She also makes the best pickle.. But not from cucumbers! She makes an awesome pickle from watermelon rind!! That first bite will make your eyes bug out because they are so spicy but they are delicious!! The whole family loves them! I have to get her recipe recorded one of these days! Allie didn't know what to think when she took her first bite but when she learned they were from watermelon, she wanted more!! This little girl could eat a whole watermelon if you turned your back on her for very long! ha!

And for those who love to read about the history behind things....I did some googling! I LOVE to google about everything! I found the following information here. Who ever knew that pickles were so important!!

Pickle History Timeline

		2400 BC: Archeologists and anthropologists believe that the ancient Mesopotamians pickled.
2030 BC: Cucumbers brought from their native India helped begin a tradition of pickling in the Tigris Valley.
		Cucumbers are mentioned twice in the Bible (Numbers 11:5 and Isaiah 1:8) and history sets their first usage over 3,000 years ago in western Asia, Egypt and Greece.
350 BC: Aristotle praisd the healing effects of cured cucumbers.		Ancient Sources not only refer to the nutrional benefits of pickles, but claim that they have long been considered a beauty aid. Cleopatra attributed her good looks to a hearty diet of pickles.
Roman emperors, among them Julius Caesar, fed pickles to their troops in the belief that they lent physical and spiritual strength.
BC/AD
	The Dark Ages
		900: Dill has been introduced to Western Europe from Sumatra.

Since the Middle Ages, pickles were a common condiment and snack in England. Queen Elizabeth's chefs noted her liking of them, and Shakespeare peppers his plays with references not only to pickles, but new uses of the word as metaphor: “Oh, Hamlet, how camest thou in such a pickle?” (Act 5, Scene 1.) 'Tis a gentle man here a plague o' these pickle-herring! How now, sot!” (Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5.) “What say you? Hence, Horrible villain! or I'll spurn thine eyes like balls before me; I'll unhair thy head: Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire and stew'd in brine, Smarting in lingering pickle.” (Anthony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 5.)	15th Century	Before Amerigo Vespucci set out to explore the New World, he was a pickle peddler in Seville, Spain. Since food spoilage and the lack of healthy meals were such concerns on long voyages, he loaded up barrels of pickled vegetables onto explorer ships. Hundreds of sailors were spared the ravages of scurvy because of his Vespucci's understanding of the nutritional benefits of pickles. Pickles were brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus, who is known to have grown cucumbers for the purpose of pickling on the island of Haiti.
Cartier found cucumbers growing in Canada in 1535.	16th Century	In the sixteenth century, Dutch fine food fanciers cultivated pickles as one of their prized delicacies. The area that is now New York City was home to the largest concentration of commercial picklers at the time.
As early as 1606, pickles were being produced at home and commercially in Virginia.	17th Century	By 1659, Dutch farmers in New York grew cucumbers all over the area that is now known as Brooklyn. These cucumbers were sold to dealers who cured them in barrels filled with varying flavored brines the pickles were sold in market stalls on Washington, Canal and Fulton Streets.
Thomas Jefferson notes: "On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar."	18th Century	*Napoleon* valued pickles as a health asset for his armies, so much so that he offered the equivalent of $250,000 to anyone who could develop a way to preserve food safely. The man who won the prize in 1809 was a confectioner named Nicholas Appert, who figured out that if you removed the air from a bottle and boiled it, the food wouldn't spoil. He'd have to wait for Pasteur to describe why by making the bottle airtight, no microorganisms could enter, and by boiling it, any microorganisms that existed were killed. Known today as the “boiling water bath,” Appert's discovery was one of the most influential culinary contributions in history.
1820: “A Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons, exhibiting the fraudulent sophistications of bread, beer, wine, spirituous liquors, tea, coffee, cream, confectionary, vinegar, mustard, pepper, cheese, olive oil, pickles and other articles employed in domestic economy and methods for detecting them” was published by chemist Frederic Accum. It opened consumers eyes to the possibilities that common household ingredients were tampered with during production in order to improve their appearance or lengthen their shelf-life. This text revealed that pickles were commonly treated with copper to brighten their coloration. 1851: The Scottish chemist James Young patents a way of creating paraffin, which will be used to seal home preserves, through a dry coal distillation. 1860: Louis Pasteur sterilizes milk by heating it. 1881: Alfred Bernardin invented the first metal tops to be used in commercial canning. 1893: Heinz, a new company to touted its “57 varieties” of pickles, preserves, and other jarred foods, introduces the pickle pin at the Chicago World's Fair. The pickle pin resurfaces at world fairs and expositions to this day, marking it one of the most successful marketing efforts in American History.	19th Century	1848: Failed German revolutions bring a large number of German immigrants, Potato Famine in Ireland brings Irish immigrants. From 1870 to1900, religious persecution brings large numbers of Jews from Eastern Europe. Political unrest and economic conditions bring a large wave of immigration from Greece and Italy. 1858: John Mason designed and patented the first Mason jar. Made out of heavier weight glass than normal jars, these were developed to withstand the high temperatures necessary for processing pickles. When the patent expired in 1879, manufacturers of such jars continued to use the term “Mason” on their product. Lucius Styles Ball, who started the Ball Brothers Company in the early 1890s, was one such inventor. Alfred Bernardin invented the first metal tops to be used in commercial canning in 1881. These two companies joined forces as recently as 1993, to form the Alltrista Corporation, is the largest producer of Mason jars today. 1893: Pickle Packers International, a trade organization for workers in the pickling trade, was founded.
1895-1910: Lower East Side pickle purveyors began operations on Ludlow Street During World War II, the U.S. government rationed pickles, and accounted for 40% of the country's pickle production. 1942: Vlasic Pickles, the polish-style cucumber pickle company, was born in Detroit. 1993: Ball, Kerr, and Bernardin jar makers join forces to form the Alltrista Corporation, today’s largest producer of Mason jars.	20th Century	1926: Mount Olive Pickles, based in Mount Olive North Carolina, was founded with the intention of brining pickles for other commercial picklers. Instead, they went on to establish one of the biggest names in the pickle industry. 1985: Steven Trotter became the youngest man to conquer the crest of Niagara Falls in a pickle barrel actually, two plastic pickle barrels surrounded by rubber inner tubes. In September, 2000, after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys 41-14 in the blazing, September heat, many players attributed the win to the vim and vigor they gained from drinking pickle juice. "I may start drinking pickle juice when I'm just sitting home chilling," said defensive end Hugh Douglas.
2001: The First Annual New York City International Pickle Day begins - a celebration of pickling traditions for all ages, cultures and culinary persuasions. .	21st Century

Well, what are you waiting for? GO! eat a pickle!

And by the way... If you are in the market for a good pickle... I will be loading some of mine on the website in the next week, once I get them in the jars! Hop over there and order you up a jar!!

Linking up at The Picket Fence and The Trendy TreeHouse!!

Surprises???

Told you I had a surprise!!
It's pickle time in this house!!!

And I have 3 sampling jars of pickles I am going to give away to 3 of you who have commented!

How is that for a surprise!!

AND!!
If that weren't enough...
Someone won a squishie but will not send me her mailing address so I am gifting that to one of you! She must not like giving out her personal info...some people don't. I have asked her twice for it...actually on a reply to an email from her and then I received another reply from her but without the info I requested. I tell you this so you know I tried double hard to get her to send it to me but she won't. So, someone should win it.. I have had it packaged and ready to go so it needs to go somewhere!

SO! here we go!

Pickles #1! - Carol from NJ!!

Pickles #2! Melissa from WA!

Pickles #3 - Lynn from MD!

The Squishie! - Needled Mom from CA!

I need for you all to send me an email by using the Contact button on the right edge of my blog with your mailing addresses!

And for the rest of you, don't despair...keep watching... there will be more surprises later! :)

July 21, 2011

Machine Embroidered Bags!

I am linking up over at House of Hepworths tonight and showing off a couple of machine embroidered bags that I made.

The first bag was made this afternoon for my granddaughter Allie. She has more clothes for her babydoll than I have in my own closet. So, we decided she needed a special bag to carry them in. I went online and found a design at Bunnycup Embroidery.

I will tell you that I did find a few errors in this design..the freckles have a connecting line that should hide under the sunglasses but it doesn't... and the baby carriage sews out completely in pink thread and then it sews back over with the other 3 colors on top of the pink. I felt that was a waste of bobbin thread, with it being as expensive as it is. I think I will stop the machine and change threads throughout the stitching of the carriage next time.

Allie loves her diaper bag for Malea (her babydoll's name) and she will go home and have to show it off now! I expect to get a phone call with orders from headquarters to make one for her friend Hannah and her cousin Delaney. :)

I also made several of these bags over the course of a few months! 41 to be exact! I hosted a quilting retreat for 81 ladies and wanted to surprise them with an embroidered welcome bag! I found this fun design at Embroidery Library and love how it stitches out!

The job proved to be much larger than I thought so I hired a reputable company in town to help me finish. Embroidered Image Business and Sportswear of Henderson, NC - He gave me a 75% price break on the job in lieu of his name being on the sponsor banner that hung over the course of that weekend. He had a much faster machine than I have so he was able to do as many as I had done in about 3 days...and it took me months to do my 41! I think the ladies liked them..and that was worth the hard work!

July 20, 2011

Missing Quilts - ALERT!!

CT Publishing has recently announced that a few quilts, in their guardianship, disappeared after Spring Quilt Market. They've done everything they can do to find these quilts and are now asking for our help to find 3 cover quilts and a table runner.

CT Publishing is asking for help in finding these beautiful quilts. They are offering a reward of $4,000 - no questions asked - for the return of these quilts. If one quilt is returned, the reward will be based upon the appraised value of the quilt. Information and inquiries can be sent to ctinfo@ctpub.com.

Please keep an eye out! IF you see one or all of these quilts in a friends possession, please do the right thing and notify CT Publishing! It will do your heart good!