Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas to you and your family during this season of celebrating our Lord's birth.  The weather has been great and the gas prices are down below $2.00 here in Missouri.  Everyone in my house is healthy and I have a lot to be thankful for.  

I plan to spend a few days enjoying my family, kids and grand kids.  My newest grandson is due next week and we are thankful for the six healthy grandchildren that we currently have.  We have a few things planned for the family gatherings and it all involves lots of food!  I am up early to do some baking before the festivities start this afternoon.  Tomorrow's festivities start earlier with our traditional egg casserole and sausage gravy breakfast.  

Thanks to Pinterest, I have added a lot of interesting items to my list of culinary delights this year. I just love looking at Pinterest, in fact, I spend more time on there each day than I do reading the news or Facebook anymore.  I love looking at do-it-yourself projects along with the recipes.   

If you want to follow me on Pinterest, I am listed under prairiegrovegrl.

I will list new fabric bundles and quilts in my Etsy Store after the Christmas holiday season.  Due to the new EU VAT Tax regulations, I am no longer going to sell outside of the United States, however, my patterns are still available through Quilter's Warehouse.

For updates on specials and sales, please follow my 
Prairie Grove Peddler business page on Facebook by clicking "Like". 

Merry Christmas!

No More Facebook

I guess my Prairie Grove Peddler Facebook page got hacked and no longer exists so I am not going back on there and starting over.  If you hear anything from it, let me know and just know that it's not me.  

Thank you to everyone who followed me!

Meanwhile, I continue to keep selling quilts, cross stitch and supplies on Etsy and Ebay.

Merry Christmas!

December News

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.  We just put up our tree even though it is not decorated yet.  I'll do the lights tomorrow and probably start dipping into the boxes of decorations. I am working on some table runners and hope to have them finished and out on display soon.  Somehow I completely lost my November.  I think I must have blinked and it just disappeared.  Honestly, doesn't it seem like life just flies by sometimes?

We got the garden knocked down and ready for winter.  The leaves are finally gone from the yard and the gutter.  My husband has been busy doing lots of remodeling projects this fall.  Not only have we sold everything we don't use anymore around our property but we cleaned up what we are keeping.  We completely emptied our shop, gutted it and redid all the electric, insulation and drywall. Now it's an extra double garage. I'm sure we will find plenty of things to put back in there once it's all painted.

I have been going through tubs and tubs of goodies leftover from 20 years of retail quilt shows and I have been finding lots of fun stuff to list for sale.  I'm not planning on going to any more retail shows as a vendor so it's time to move it all out.  I still have lots of different flosses, pearl cottons, sewing notions and fabrics to sell on eBay.  I'm not retiring yet but certainly planning ahead.

I have a pattern special on my website this month.  It's the end of the year special this year.  You can get 25% off all orders of $20.00 or more.  It includes all of the patterns and pattern/ button combos on the website.  Just use Coupon Code PGP2014 when you check out.

www.prairiegrovepeddler.com

I have been selling a lot of quilts through my Etsy store and Ebay.  My eBay seller name is patternhutch.  I have the last of them listed on Etsy right now if you know anyone needing a special gift for Christmas.  I may start posting more specials on my Facebook page so check it out.

Autumn is in the Air

Just when I think I am about to cross everything off my list and catch up, I realize there are things I never even added to the list to start with. ~~sigh~~

We got a new puppy last month and she has consumed the majority of my time.  It's actually my son's puppy but I find myself helping every chance I get.  She is a tiny 2 pound Chihuahua named Zoey.  My Yorkie is not quite sure she likes her yet but they are starting to play together when no one is watching.  Zoey has those very sharp puppy teeth and Toto has learned the hard way that Zoey plays rough.  We are still working on the potty training as my son gets busy and forgets to take her out often enough.  Hence, the Pine-Sol smell in the kitchen.  Zoey is such a little joy to have around.  Every time we go shopping, we take her along in a doggie carrier since she is so small and too little to leave home alone yet. No one at the store even knows she is in there. She rides along in the cart and never peeps at all.

My garden  is almost done.  It was a great year.  Our late crop of tomatoes is a hit to everyone who visits.  We usually send some home with them.  I started the last flat of seed around July 4 and we are still getting an abundance of tomatoes.

I still have butter and romaine lettuce growing along the deck rails in planter boxes.  It's my third planting of lettuce.  We planted two crops of sweet corn also.  This is working out rather well.  I did some cutting of my basil plant and rooted them in the kitchen window.  Now I'm ready to pot them up for the living room window this winter. I just love a garden in the living room all winter. I have a few other plants to bring in also.

I did my last craft fair last week with my daughter and it worked out really well. I literally sold everything.  At the end I found another vendor to buy the EZ Up Shelter and even the cash register. While I enjoyed the craft fairs for 30 years I felt it was time to stop.  I am ready for a new chapter in my life and plan to take more time off.  I have a lot of books calling my name and I'm tired of being so busy.  Anybody else feel that way?

I added new pdf patterns to Craftsy-
www.craftsy.com/user/2634293/pattern-store

I am selling off the last of the Harvest Song fabric here-
https://www.etsy.com/shop/prairiegrovepeddler?ref=hdr_shop_menu

I also added some of my last remaining quilt models.  Check them out.

I am listing things on Ebay as I have time also. Right now there is some one yard cuts.

Summer is Going Too Fast

I have been so busy after dark.  I added some instant download patterns and charts to Etsy and Craftsy.  I updated the website again and added more $3 patterns.  I have been cleaning my "warehouse" and tossing a lot of older patterns.  I guess you can say I am still in a spring cleaning mood with the pattern business and my home.  

We are wanting to downsize one of these days and I don't want to wait too late to start clearing out the old stuff.  I have 40 years of collecting in my house alone.  As they say:

You spend the first 40 years collecting stuff

and the last 40 years getting rid of it all!

I'm well into those last 40 years.  I have been a cleaning fool.  I listed some fabric on Ebay and I have a lot more to start listing this weekend.

My daughter and family have been here visiting.  Her girls are growing up so fast, they are 7 and 2 years old already.   Two year old Lily sings Old McDonald's Farm almost perfectly.  It's a joy to hear her sing.  My grandsons are 4 and 6 years old already and expecting a new baby brother or sister around Christmas.  I am hoping for a girl personally.  Every mom needs a daughter, right?

I lost some weight lately so I cleaned out the closet.  I took piles of stuff to Good Will.  I didn't wear most of it anyway even when it did fit.  I did it mostly by walking and adding two protein drinks to my diet each day. I am forever adding new protein recipes to my menu.  I'll share some of my favorite protein drink recipes below.

This week my list includes a new dishwasher, probably a Kenmore, and ordering a new vanity top for the master bathroom.  We have the original dishwasher in the home and I am wanting a new energy efficient quiet one.  One of these days we plan to sell the house and want to get it ready sooner rather than later.  I don't know where we'll go but possibly move into town.  We've been living in different houses in the country for about 25 years.  I'd love to have a neighbor again some day.

Every time I photograph my garden, I forget to post the pictures.  I'm getting really bad about blogging even.  It must be the summer.  There's just so much to do!

Here's some of my favorite protein drinks-

My low fat Orange Julius: 
8 oz low fat milk
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
1 indv. packet of sunrise orange  Crystal Light (you can use the Energy kind also)
Put it in a Magic Bullet and fluff it up

My version of the Steak N Shake Lime Freeze:
8 oz low fat milk
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
1-2 tsp of the Margarita Lime Crystal Light mix (it only comes in larger pkgs for 2 qts.)
Put it in a Magic Bullet and fluff it up

My version of Starbucks Iced Coffee:
1 cup of cold coffee
add a scoop or chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp dark chocolate cocoa 
1 tsp Truvia  
Mix it up and serve on crushed ice.  

Anybody have any other recipes to try?

Summer is Here!

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in such a long time!  Where does the time go honestly?  I have been busy watering the flowers and garden.  This year instead of so many annuals in front, I opted to plant more perennials in my flower bed mixed with a few flowers.  It is looking good so far.  I have definitely noticed the lack of bees this year.  My neighbors bee farm is about empty.  He lost most of them as everyone else has. I've read  it is due to a chemical made by Monsanto.  So sad.  Where would we be without honey?

We have been eating salads so much this year so far.  I am trying to lose some weight.  I have planter boxes all along the railing of my back deck full of Romaine, Buttercrunch, Spinach, Arugula, Chives, Kale, Cilantro, Parsley and Dill.  I has worked out great.  When I'm ready for salad, I go pick it.   I am just about ready to seed a new late crop for late summer/ fall salads.

The beets are growing and the deer haven't touched them yet.  The tomatoes look great. The squash has lots of blooms.  The corn is about 8" tall already.   I got a couple of Rhubarb plants this year and I'm anxious to make a pie with it when it's ready.  I have a new pepper bed inside our backyard fence so hopefully the deer will keep out.  Last year they mowed down the beets and peppers in the big garden.  I am hoping the extra fence will protect them this year.

I planted pink Impatiens and Bacopa in my flower boxes that hang off the back side of the deck railing. It's under a huge hard Maple tree and perfect shade.  This year I started the Bacopa by seed.  The plants cost about $5 each at Home depot last year and I ended up using two per planter so it got costly.  This year I used about $8 worth of seed and ended with about 30 plants, well enough for each planter.  Here is a stock photo.  

Bacopa has tiny little white flowers that trail and look perfect in planter boxes mixed with Impatiens.  We started so much seed this year that we had enough for my son's garden also. It was a labor of love.

I recently updated the website.  I added a page for Sales Specials. We have a quite a few older patterns that will not be reprinted anymore and discontinued once they are gone.  I reduced the price to $3 and added them to the Sales Specials page.  Check it out.

My upcoming fall fabric line is being printed as we speak and I'm working on a new one for next spring.  Other than that, I am living in the yard.

Happy Easter

I hope you are enjoying a blessed Easter Day.

He is not here, but is risen:  Luke 2:6

I just got back late from Memphis last night, after visiting my mom, and slept too late this morning for the sunrise service.  I hate when that happens! 

It's been a great week though and most productive.

The vegetable garden is half planted already, just praying we don't have a hard freeze anymore this year.

My flowers are waiting on the deck for the perfect timing to plant.

We still have a few tender plants waiting for warmer days but things are looking great around here.  My husband put in a new brick and stone patio last week off the deck and we are going to add some planting beds around it.  I am ready for some bar-b-ques this spring.

Next is a sand box for the grand kids. We hope to find a way to cover it due to the neighbor's cat.  I grew catnip last year near the deck and kitty has been a frequent visitor ever since.

I am working on another new fabric line this week and hope to send it off by next weekend.  

I am motivated! Harvest Song just came out and I have another new line coming out this fall.

 

We have a winner today for the Harvest Song fabric panel.  The winner is

Marilyn F. from WI.  

Congratulations Marilyn.  I will be sending you the panel this week.

I just brewed some tea and I'm headed for the freezer to pluck a few frozen peaches out to add to it. 

Peach tea and a good book.  What a wonderful day! 

Harvest Song Week #3 Winners

My flats of tomatoes are all on the deck hardening off before planting in the garden.  We are expecting another freeze this week so they will be coming inside another night or two before that happens.  The garden is getting closer and I can just taste fresh tomatoes.  I've been transplanting everything into larger pots and all my seedlings are growing. 


Wow, we had so many entries this week that I decided to draw two names.  The winners are:
 

Linda D. from UT

and

Wanda L. from NC

 

Congratulations ladies, I will be sending you fabric bundles this week.

Next week is the last drawing for the Harvest Song fabric panel.

So, here's what you do for the Week 4 :

1. Email me at PGPeddler@aol.com before next Saturday night, April 19, at midnight central time. If you are not sure of this time zone, make sure you email before Saturday.

2. In the Subject LINE of the email put HARVEST SONG.
This is very important.  ALL emails without this exact wording are not considered for the drawing.

3. In the BODY of the email- put your name and mailing address.

WE do not share this info with anyone, in fact, we delete them after the drawing.  This just makes it faster to ship the fabric TO YOU. If you win, we only post your first name, last initial and state for privacy reasons.

Harvest Song Week 2 Winner

 Sorry to be late this week but I had a stomach bug and couldn't get out of bed for a few days.  Thank goodness for my Netbook or I would be even more behind.  Unfortunately, I got the bug my grand babies had when I was watching them last week.  ~~sigh~~

We have a winner for Week #2 in the drawing for a little bundle of Harvest Song fabrics.  

The winner for Week #2 is Donna B. from IL.

Congratulations!

Next week is a new drawing for the last bundle.  Week 4 is for the panel.

So, here's what you do for the Week 3 (another bundle of fat quarters):

1. Email me at PGPeddler@aol.com before next Saturday night, April 12, at midnight central time. If you are not sure of this time zone, make sure you email before Saturday.

2. In the Subject LINE of the email put LEAVES.
This is very important.  ALL emails without this exact wording are not considered for the drawing.

3. In the BODY of the email- put your name and mailing address.

WE do not share this info with anyone, in fact, we delete them after the drawing.  This just makes it faster to ship the fabric TO YOU. If you win, we only post your first name, last initial and state for privacy reasons.

Harvest Song Week 1 Winner

 Beautiful weather today.  I think it's 75 degrees out there.  Yesterday I got another two flats of seeds started and I am so ready for my garden.  It won't be long now.

I had my kids and grand kids all over for dinner today after church and it was so nice to see them all at the same time.  The weather has been so nasty each weekend that we have skipped family dinners for quite a while.  It's nice to be back in the routine.  

We have a winner for Week #1 in the drawing for a little bundle of Harvest Song fabrics.  

The winner for Week #1 is Christine M. from  WY.

Congratulations!

Next week is a new drawing for another bundle.

So, here's what you do for the Week 2 (another bundle of 7 fat quarters):

1. Email me at PGPeddler@aol.com before next Saturday night, April 5, at midnight central time. If you are not sure of this time zone, make sure you email before Saturday.

2. In the Subject LINE of the email put PUMPKINS.
This is very important.  ALL emails without this exact wording are not considered for the drawing.

3. In the BODY of the email- put your name and mailing address.

WE do not share this info with anyone, in fact, we delete them after the drawing.  This just makes it faster to ship the fabric TO YOU. If you win, we only post your first name, last initial and state for privacy reasons.

It's Finally Here!

Spring, that is. My tomatoes are about 8" tall and we just transplanted them into single pots- just counting down the weeks to be planted outside. Yesterday we got a bunch of onions in the ground.  I think today we will get some beets and broccoli started.  I am already to be outside even though we are expecting some snow again this next week.

My new fabric line, Harvest Song, is available in the stores now so I am going to do a drawing over the next few weeks for a little sample/ bundle of the line.  Click here to see the whole line..... Benartex

Here is the panel that goes with the line...

For the drawings each week, all you have to do is email me your name and address by Saturday night, midnight. Details below.   I will post the winners names each Sunday.


So, here's what you do for the Week 1 (a bundle of 7 fat quarters):

1. Email me at PGPeddler@aol.com before next Saturday night, March 29, at midnight central time. If you are not sure of this time zone, make sure you email before Saturday.

2. In the Subject LINE of the email put SUNFLOWERS.
This is very important.  ALL emails without this exact wording are not considered for the drawing.

3. In the BODY of the email- put your name and mailing address.

WE do not share this info with anyone, in fact, we delete them after the drawing.  This just makes it faster to ship the fabric TO YOU. If you win, we only post your first name, last initial and state for privacy reasons.

If you don't put your full name and address BOTH in there, we will make a big ~~sigh~~ and draw another name. This happens more often than you know.

It's March FINALLY!

  Seems more like April Fool's Day(you know, a big joke) than March 1 but it's finally here after the longest February in history.  It must have been documented by now.  Unfortunately, we are celebrating today with  6"-8" of snow again starting this afternoon. Winter's starting to really drag on.  Maybe it's more like the Groundhog Day movie and we are just stuck in the snow and ice pattern with it coming over and over again.  

 I have not felt like working lately, maybe it's winter depression,  or some family illness but probably and most likely just laziness.  I see a change on the horizon though with the turn on the calendar page.  It has to end sooner or later, right?  Has this been the longest winter in history to you?  I'm still waiting for that global warming to kick in. 

I did start my seeds last week and I now have 9' of window space full of little sprouts.  I am going to start a few more flats this weekend so we have a bunch big enough to plant outside when the weather allows.  I am so ready for spring. 

I started a lot of lettuce varieties in window boxes this year so I can set them out on the deck railing and cut lettuce all summer.  So far I have Romaine and spinach up.  I have Red Sails, Arugula and Butter crunch to start this weekend.  I've never done lettuce in planters before so we will see if it works. We eat a lot of salad.  My parsley is still growing in my living room from last year.

I have two flats of tomatoes, Jet star (our favorite) and this year we are trying Rutgers for some variety.  I will start a new flat of Jet Star every 10 days so we have tomatoes coming on through October.  I started a bunch of pepper varieties so far.  I have broccoli and some flowers up already also.

I have a new line of fabric out called Harvest Song.  Here's a sneak peek-

I am hoping to post it soon but waiting for the official pictures. My camera shots don't do it justice.   Hopefully, it will come soon.  I have my fabric, I already cut it into bundles and I'm ready to do another drawing on the Blog this month in March. 

 Stay tuned.

 

Ground Hog's Day!

It seemed like January would never go away.  We had so many icy days and very few snow days so far this winter.  Fortunately we didn't lose power and I didn't have to drive anywhere. Church is cancelled again today and this is the third time this year due to bad, icy weather.

Spring is just around the corner though. I can feel it. I am getting seed catalogs in the mail already and have my list made out.  I've purchased quite a few vegetable and flower seeds locally so far but the special seeds come from the  catalogs.

I have figured out what to plant where so the deer don't mow anything down again and I'm so ready to get started.  Last year the deer came through one night and completely took the tops off every beet in the garden.  It looked like we took a trimmer to the whole row.

We have our Miracle grow soil and flats and I'm thinking we will use probably 10-12 flats this year.  Last year's 8 flats just weren't quite enough.  I saved some  flower seeds from last years crop and I'm going to try to sprout them also.  They were Heirloom seeds but I know there's no guarantee they will actually sprout.  I'll have plenty of time to reseed if needed since I am starting early.

Last fall I brought in some of my herb plants and they have done great in the living room this winter.  I have had fresh basil, mint and parsley all winter and they just smell so good in the house! I had a chocolate mint plant and I wished I would have brought it in as it smelled really good too.  Maybe next year.

I have been adding instant download patterns to Craftsy just about every week and there's over 50 patterns available on there now.  Check it out if you haven't already...

PGPeddler on Craftsy

I'm still cleaning through boxes and tubs and listing things on Etsy and eBay when I can.  I have a huge box for Good Will also.  I am determined to remove the clutter in my workspace and my home.  So far, so good.  As they say, 

"you spend your first 40 years collecting things 
and your last 40 years getting rid of it all"

The Snow is Melting

We have a great weekend coming up since the snow is melting.  It's sloppy out there, mind you, but the snow piles are going down fast.   My garage is a mess and I can't wait for warmer weather to scoop out the muck- you know, the salt and cinders that drop to the floor from the wheel wells  every time you have to drive in sloppy weather.

The dog needs a bath but I'm afraid to go to the groomer- the last time I tried I fell down the garage steps and I have bad memories.  I still feel the pain when the weather is cold.  She can wait a little longer.  One of my more senior moments I guess.

I finally got the deck cleaned off so we just need some sunshine now.  I can actually get to the bird feeders without putting on my boots for a change.  We did not lose power, heat or TV so life is good!

I spent this week updating stuff.  Etsy, Craftsy and the website.  I listed some patterns on Etsy with free buttons included.  I'm trying to cut back on the amount of supplies we keep so I will be doing away with the buttons as soon as they are gone.  If you need any for specific patterns, email me at pgpeddler@aol.com.

I do have 8 new applique pressing sheets in packages left from retail shows.  I would love to get rid of them all but shipping them would be a pain since they each have to go in a box. If anyone wants all eight, for the wholesale price with free shipping, let me know.