Just Give It Away......

A winner has been selected in the monthly Blogger Block of the Month give away.........

Drumroll Please........#6 Rhonda!!!

"We are newly retired, so we watch our income more than we used to. I went through all my fabrics and rearranged them so I know exactly what fabrics I have. I plan projects accordingly. I also enter a

lot of blog giveaways. I have been lucky to win some great fabrics and even some thread. I have only

bought some muslin that I needed for my last quilt. Thanks for the chance to win!"

Rhonda will be receiving a yard of this fun bar code fabric!!!!

I will be emailing her and letting her know she is a big winner. 

Just a reminder that we only have 2 months of Bloggers BOM left. July is Nicole from Mama Love Quilts and August is lil ole me. I am still struggling to pick which block I want to do. I am almost caught up on my blocks. I was hoping to get some sewing done this weekend but I need to go and buy a car since my husband got the bright idea to sell mine. Good times in the house of Peach. 

I've been strong on my fabric diet. Serious temptation though as the National Quilting Association show starts today in Columbus.....Guess where I am working this week???  And we got a surprize overpayment check from our escrow account yesterday.......

Must be a responsible adult and buy a car not a long arm.....

I'm trying to be strong but I feel like the universe is poking me with a stick......

Happy Thursday!!!

WIP and a winner.....

A quick recap on whats new and exciting in my neck of the woods....

 Turkey is getting to be a big puppy.....and is enjoying the warmer weather....

We went to Minnesota and saw this big old shoe....

I also found the SR Harris Fabric Outlet.....

I can't explain how big and awesome this place is.....but I fell off the wagon with my fabric diet.....

It's outside Minneapolis/St Paul....don't go if you have no will power or are having marital issues....

Fabric from floor to ceiling. The only saving grace is you have to cut it yourself so that slowed me down some.....but its all half off.....so the most expensive quilting fabric was 6.00/yd.....

We have a winner of the Blogger BOM....Patty will be receiving a yard of this fabric....

Im back to working on this quilt for Ellie.....trying to get it done by the time she graduates in May........

Linking up to Freshly Pieced....WIP Wednesday

April Blogger BOM Federal Edition....

Today is the April installment of Blogger BOM. ( The only things certain in life are death and taxes federal edition!) The presenter today is Tracey of Itching 2 B Stitchin! The block she created is called "Woven Block". It is a great way to use up and highlight your favorite scraps. . Tracey created a great tutorial here on her blog.

Im very excited to get started on this new block, It looks like lots of fun....

As a bit of old business the winner from the April BOM bonus block is 

Giddy99. I will be emailing them sending off the winning pattern.

As always there is a great prize you can enter to win this go round. Since I am super bitter about all the taxes I had to send off to the government I went looking for some fabric to express that. They do not make a disgruntled and taxed print, or if they do they don't carry it at my LQS. This print is the closest thing I could find. It is called a day in the life by Robert Kaufmann. It is a lovely low volume print that pictures all sorts of things that are as fun as paying taxes.To win be a follower and leave a message below if you are getting a big fat check or had to send one off. The winner will be picked on Sunday 4/20/13 and will receive one yard of this print.

Here is a list of all the participants of the BOM

Date	Name	Blog
Sept 15th 2012	Carin & Carol	Margarets Hope Chest
Oct 15th 2012	Jenny	Sew Kind Of Wonderful
Nov 15th 2012	Jennifer M	Ellison Lane Quilts
Dec 15th 2012	Natalie	Craftin Mechanic
Jan 15th 2013	Stefanie	Little Lady Patchwork
Feb 1st 2013	Jennifer I	Knotted Thread
Feb 15th 2013	Sandra	Sharp Quilts
Mar 15th 2013	Nicole K	Patchwork Duck Designs
April 1st 2013	Bree	Distant Pickles
Apr 15th 2013	Tracey	Itching 2 B Stitching
May 15th 2013	Felicity	Felicity Quilts
June 15th 2013	Erin	Billy Button Design
July 15th 2013	Nicole N	Mama Love Quilts
Aug 15th 2013	Dhia	Peach Patch Quilts

Here is a button you can grab and put on your blog to make sure you don't miss a single post.

<center> <a <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">href</span>="http://<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">thepeachpatch</span>.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">blogspot</span>.com/2012/08/blogger-block-of-month-blog-hop.html" target="_blank"><<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">img</span> alt=" Peach Patch Quilts " <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">src</span>="http://i1144.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">photobucket</span>.com/albums/o481/barnbabe13/3ecc08b0.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">jpg</span>" /></a></center>

I have also started a Flickr group to show off all the pretties you make.

Blogger Block Of The Month Flickr Group

If you would like to donate any blocks you make during this blog hop please mail them to the address below.
Donated blocks will be sewn into quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest.

Peach Patch Quilts

P.O. Box 0012

Sullivan, WI 53178

Friday Finish - Welcome to the Jungle

I finished up this quilt for Margaret's Hope Chest. Carin had graciously participated in our Blogger BOM and was the guinea pig for the first month. She put out a call for these "Fun In The Middle" blocks and had enough to make 10 quilt tops. She decided to complete the quilts for orphans in Guatamala. She needed volunteers to make 10 quilts more and I offered to do one. These blocks come together super fast and are a great way to show off fussy cuts of novelty fabrics. Carin's tutorial for the block can be found here. 

I have been torn for the name of this quilt. Animal Crackers, Welcome to the Jungle, At the Zoo. I can't decide and it has been brought to my attention that not all these blocks feature animals (No robots in the zoo).

 A close up of some of the blocks.....

Stripey binding from "Traveling Stash" box and super soft flannel backing that makes me think of a soft yellow ducky.

Very happy with how the quilt turned out. It is my third finish of the year on the way to 13 in 2013.

Also the winner of the Blogger BOM prize pack this month is Amy of Amy's Crafty Shenanigans is the winner. She will be getting a fat quarter of each fabric below and the pattern.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Do good things, good things happen....

Things have been pretty busy at the house of Peach. I checked off a project off my list that has been staring me in the face for quite some time. Sadly we live someplace that has icky water. We have a water softener in the house and the fridge but apparently there is still ick in it. As a result the cover to both of my ironing boards looks like someone wiped their bums on them. I used a duvet cover that I purchased at a goodwill for a couple bucks. I added a few extra layers of padding from some white flannel that I originally used on my design wall. I was very happy with how it turned out. It makes me think that spring is right around the corner. Its a yellow, green and purple plaid on a background of lavender. Its quicker and easier that buying a new cover. I think next time I will add a layer of scotch guard to repel ick.

Last week I was back out on the road in Columbus. I had come across a charity online that makes quilts for kids in foster care in Ohio. The name of the group is My Very Own Blanket. They have a workshop night on Wednesdays where volunteers can prepare quilt kits and sew quilts and pillowcases. By the time I had left I had made quite a few pillow cases and labeled several finished quilts ready for donation. The volunteers cut down donated fabric into various sizes. Anything that is too small gets added to a scrap bin for making string blocks. I had just sent off some string blocks for a swap on swapbot and wasn't sure what to do with the blocks I was going to receive. Here are the blocks I made.

The kind ladies at My very own blanket loaded me up with a mother load of scraps so I could make more string blocks. I have been stitching away on these blocks plus I have received 4 of the 8 blocks from the swap. I also upgraded my design wall by changing the cover from flannel to batting and reinforced the seam. I just need to get something to anchor the bottom to the wall. I don't think these old old walls are very square. I would love to start a satellite branch of My Very Own Blanet here in Wisconsin. I am looking for space to meet so we can get some volunteers together to stitch. 

I am always impressed at how nice string quilts look when the fabrics are put together with no rhyme or reason. If I have enough strings I want to make a pink based string quilt and a no pink string quilt. 

I am linking this up to Freshly Pieced. 

Last but not least we have a winner from the Blogger BOM giveaway, Pamela was the lucky winner of the Chirp fabric. I dropped it in the mail to her today.

Puppy Love!!!

Over the weekend I tackled a couple dog based projects as well as a quick valentines project. On the doggie front I made a couple dog chewies as a Valentines present for some puppies in Michigan. I have been cranking these out at a pretty fast rate. Turkey loves them and it keeps him from chewing up my more expensive stuff. If you would like to make some I would recommend this tutorial here.... They are very simple to make and a great alternative to expensive dog toys that get torn up. I have been hitting up the remnants at Joann fabrics. The remnants are 50% off whatever the going sale price is. Recently fleece has  been 50% off on sale and then 50% off cause its a remnant. Gives me something to do with my hands while watching tv other than chomping chips.

Over the weekend I also broke out one of my favorite dog biscuit recipes. I used to make them all the time and it got to the point that Daisy would spit out commercially available biscuits. Such a diva !!! I don't often post recipes but this one is a keeper and I have optimized it so I will share.

Puppy Love Dog Biscuits

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups meat in broth
3/4 cups cornmeal
3 cups flour (whole wheat, all purpose, whatever combo of flour you have)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 F. 

Prepare the meat....

You can use any meat in this recipe. I utilize this recipe to use up freezer burnt items, left overs or meat that's on sale. Make sure that you don't use leftover that are heavily seasoned. Take your meat and cook in 2-3 cups water for as long as you can. I usually cook the meat until it is falling apart. Remove from heat and cool until you can shred or chop the meat as small as possible. If you used bone in meat make sure to remove all bones at this point.

Add your broth and meat to a large bowl. You can substitute meat and broth for hot water with bouillon cubes. Heat the contents of the bowl in the microwave until hot. Remove from microwave and add oatmeal, let stand 5 minutes. 

Stir cornmeal and egg. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

Knead 3 to 4 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to make a very stiff dough. Pat or roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. 

Cut into shapes and place on a greased baking sheet. You can use cookie cutters, or free form shapes. I cut bite size pieces with a pizza cutter. 

Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool and dry out until hard. 

There are no preservatives in these biscuits. Shelf life can be lengthened by freezing. 

I cut mine into hearts this time for valentines day, I should have added some beet to the mix.

I also made some treats for my human Valentines as well. I have a million pink scraps and this ate up some. I think i need an all pink scrap quilt to kill my scrap stash. I mailed off these to my mom and a coworker for Valentines day. Hopefully they will arrive in time. 

Last but not least we have a winner for the Traveling Stash Box #6. Katie from Snuggle Up with a dish from Karma will be the recipient of the traveling stash box. Hopefully she will enjoy the goodies within and add some more awesome stuff. 

January Blogger BOM Winner

     First of all we have a winner for January Blogger BOM. That lucky follower is Scrapbook-ChickADoodle. I have emailed her and will be shipping her 100 2.5" fabrics squares as soon as I get her address.
     I also took some more pictures of Megan's Baby quilt to get some shots of the back and the binding. I ended up cutting these owls in the wrong direction so that's how the ended up on the back. I love the binding on this quilt. I can't remember where I got it and I only bought a quarter yard. Turned out to be perfect for this quilt and was just enough.

 
     Other big news this week is this week is that we added a new critter to our family. Our dog Vinnie hasn't been doing great and my beagle Daisy is very close to him. Vinnie has a tumor in his ear as well as alot of other health problems. We decided that we weren't going to pursue surgery with Vinnie. Since he and Daisy are so close we decided to add a new addition to our family to make the transition easier on Daisy. We looked around and came across someone who had a litter of English Springer Spaniel puppies. My Uncle Tom had one of these dogs when I was growing up and I always wanted one. So this little guy has been chewing and pooing his way into our hearts, his name is Turkey. Daisy has been a very patient big sister.

     
       I grabbed some remnant fleece from Joanne's yesterday. I use it to make some doggie chews from this tutorial here. They turned out really well and the dogs love them. Very easy to whip up while watching tv.

     On the quilting front I am working on this baby rag quilt for Paru's baby girl who is about 2. She saw one that I made for Elizabeth's foster baby and fell in love with it. I made this one for her daughter with the cutest fattest bumble bees. I need to snip the seems on this one....

     Enough slacking I need to get back to the machine. Don't forget 2/1/13 we have a bonus Blogger BOM with Jennifer from Knotted thread!!!

Linking it up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced....

 

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind ?

        Today we wrap up the holiday season. I run pretty hard from Halloween until now and am ready to pack up the stockings. Many birthdays and holiday to celebrate. I got some lovely sewing related gifts this year, a new 12 pound box of mystery fabric from the fat quarter shop, which is always a treat. I also got a new Rowenta iron which was much needed as my old one was leaking like a sieve. I got a rolling bag for my sewing machine and a promise of a design wall from my hubby. While I was in Columbus for work after Christmas I bought myself this fat quarter pack as a late present from Santa. I don't normally buy fat quarter bundles. But this one was half off since it was "Christmas" fabric. I found it to be pretty neutral but wasn't going to argue. I also bought a yard of the zig zag and a yard of a grey snow flake print.

       Today I was spending my day off making resolutions and sewing some blogger block of the month blocks. I caught up with my blocks and decided on the quilting front my resolution would be to complete 13 quilts in 2013. I have several in progress so I may be able to finish them up to boost the total. I don't know if it can be done but we will see this time next year.
       Here are my November and December Blogger BOM blocks. Novembers post can be found here. Decembers post over here. These are my second group of Novembers blocks. I used all the same fabric for the non-fussy cut pieces. My blocks were a touch short. My seem allowances always require a little extra. December's block might be my favorite yet! It was so much fun to make.

November Blogger's BOM Blocks - Big N Little

December Blogger's BOM Blocks 

Last order of business is picking the winner of December's BOM winner. Gill is the winner of this prize pack.    

Thanks to all who entered. Let's rock out 2013!!!

Winner Winner!!!!

I have had a couple give aways over the last 3 weeks and I never posted the winners. I blame it on thanksgiving, black friday and giving into the plague. I am back on my feet and promise that the prizes were not contaminated by the roving death that lay its head at my door.

For the Bloggers Block of the Month winner we have a $10 gift card from the fat quarter shop for.......

Lisa MarieNovember 16, 2012 6:51 AM

My favorite Thanksgiving dish is stuffing and pumpkin pie is a close second.

I have emailed Lisa and will be sending her the certificate electronically this week. I will try not to buy a big box of fabric for myself when I order it. 

The second give away was from the Holiday Lane Blog Hop and is a selection of Christmas fat quarters plucked from my own stash. I love you snow guys but I don't know what to do with you, so off to a new home. 

The winner of this prize pack is.....Mary!

Needled MomNovember 28, 2012 11:05 AM

Very cute. I love the letter writing! Nice work.

I will pop these in the mail when I get home on Friday. I have many other WIP to blog about and hope to get to it this weekend!

WIP and a winner

I have been sewing and sewing and sewing on my scrappy stash quilt for the Ellison Lane scrappy stash quilt along. Here is the button in case you haven't been over there yet.

Here is what mine looks like as of tonight.......

And a follow up on my I WANT CANDY fabric swap. The winner of the giveaway is Tanyia. She is also one of the people I am sending fabric to for the swap. So I will be showering her with squares.

TanyiaOctober 8, 2012 9:06 AM

I sent you an email and here is my blog post :)

http://domesticdeficitdisorder.blogspot.com/2012/10/i-want-candy.html

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced



Have a great night!!!

Blogger BOM Kickoff Winners

This month I kicked off the Blogger Block of the Month with Carin at Margaret's Hope Chest. Carin came up with a great block called "Fun in the middle". I posted that I would be giving away these two packs to two lucky winners. 

Pack A

Pack B

I picked the winners using random.org. 

And the lucky winners are.....

Marjorie's Busy CornerSeptember 15, 2012 3:46 PM

I am a anew follower....thank you. I wish I could take part, but leaving in the morning for Lancaster,PA for a week. So; if I am lucky enough to win....just email me please; I'll get right back to you on the 23rd.....fingers are crossed....lol

And......

JanetSeptember 17, 2012 1:20 AM

What fun fussy cuts! The BOM sounds like a lot of fun and little pressure so I think I will try to keep up.

I will be emailing the lucky winners!!!!

Grab the button if you haven't already

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