WIP Wednesday

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!  I ate WAY too much and had SO much fun going shopping Thursday night until 6 a.m. Friday morning.  This was the best Thanksgiving I've had in a long time!!

Over the Thanksgiving break I was finally able to finish my modern maples quilt, yay!!  I haven't been able to get a good picture of the quilting...when I get home at night it's totally dark and the weekends have been a bust. I used this tutorial by Janice at Better off Thread.  I didn't use a walking foot though, just decided to wing it with the free motion foot.  Mine isn't as densely quilted either, which makes it very squishy, just what I love!

 

And as if I needed another WIP, I finally started on the one I've had in my head for a while now, my pixel Eiffel Tower quilt.  The squares are all 2 1/2" and indiviually sewn.  When it's done this will be over 2400 pieces.  I am using low volume prints for the neutral and Dowry by Anna Maria Horner for the color.  It's some gorgeous fabric!! 

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.  Hope everyone has a great week!!

Longarm Quilting

For the longest time, I have been dying to try my hand at quilting on a longarm!!  There is a local shop that has a Gammill, you take the class to learn how to use it and then you can rent time.  It is SOO different from what I have done in the past, lemme tell ya!!  I was so used to the control I had when I was the one making the designs happen with the fabric, but the longarm is so sensitive, moves so quickly that it's harder to control what you're doing at first. At first I wasn't liking it at all, but after about an hour, it was awesome.  I would still totally buy one with my lottery winnings or inheritance from a long-lost uncle who owns a gold mine!  And I would buy a standard, no frills model, just one that can get the job done and I can learn to be a quilting rockstar.

Not a lot to ask for!

It took me about an hour to load this baby, the guy who was supposed to be helping me kept leaving me for bits of time, a little annoying to say the least.

Here is my progress on the hub's quilt...I finished the top a year-ish ago and just never quilted it because to baste it meant taking it to the hub's work and using the bigger floor...just didn't really want to do that! I'm quilting a different design in each color, just for some variety. This a great quilt to learn how to use this machine since I am doing so many different designs.

Took me 2 1/2 hours of quilting to get it almost done, I have a row and a half left!  I had to wait to book another hour to finish on Dec 7th.  I will be so glad to have this finished and put it wrapped under the Christmas tree this year!!  Even though he already knows about it, picked out the colors and pattern, has seen it partially quilted, and knows everything about it...he has to wait until Christmas morning!!

WIP Wednesday

I really need to get back to blogging again!  Seems like WIP Wednesday is a great place to start back since I have so many unfinished projects right now.

This one is my favorite WIP, my modern maples quilt.  I just love this quilt!!  I have seen so many beautiful modern maples on Instagram and I have seen so many different variations of this pattern.  So, here's my version.  I used a LOT of low volume fabric for the background, love me some low volume fabric, and used some of my favorite prints for the maples.  I can't decide what to put on the back.  I had bought some huge cuts of fabrics a while ago at between $4-5/yard so I could have backings available....and now I can't decide!  These 3 are currently in the running.  Thoughts??

This green rosette maple leaf is my favorite block, or one of them anyway.  I think it's all the Paris-themed fabric I've been drawn to lately.

This needs to get finished soon, hopefully before Thanksgiving! Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Google Domains

Without warning, even though I was set up to auto-renew my domain name was not renewed and there is little actual help out there on the Google Admin website.  I am hating them right now, nothing can make you feel like a moron faster than that website.

Anyway, I am starting over with followers again and with a new blogger address: redpoppyquilts.blogspot.com

At least I don't have to move my blog! Silver lining, people!

Technology..... pfftt!!!

New Blog Address

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 because Google domain sucks....grr!!

WIP Wednesday - Pixel Quilt Vanellope Von Schweetz

Fall is here!!  By far, hands down, fall is my favorite time of the year, like ever.  I love everything about it!  My daughter Dayna turned 8 yesterday, can't believe my baby is 8, geez!!  She is such a funny girl...for her b-day dinner she requested Chick-fil-a while riding through the car wash.  I have no idea where she got that from!  She also requested a surprise party, so I had to rearrange her party from this past weekend for 2 weeks from now to try to throw her off the scent.  I hope she loves it!  She has requested a Wreck It Ralph party, focusing on Vanellope and Sugar Rush.  Such an exciting idea!!  My girls always pick party themes that are not things you can easily find at Party City, fun but also challenging and a lot of work.

Another request Dayna had was for a new quilt, of course!  I found a needlepoint pattern on etsy that I just changed into a quilt pattern.  It took a LOT of figuring, but I was able to get the top done is less than a week.  One time saver was to use blocks instead of all squares.  It was MUCH easier that way and I don't think it loses anything as a pixel quilt.  You still have the pixel detail, just without the headache of all those tiny squares. it will look more pixelated once quilted.

Now the backing is ready for basting and I need to get this baby quilted!  It measures 60" x 80" and is the perfect size for her bed, can't wait to get it done :o)

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday

So, I am actually alive, and haven't fallen off the face of the earth!  I have not been able to get myself back into my schedule of pre-vacation and have been trying all summer long.  Plus with Instagram, it's easier to just post pics with short descriptions.  Anyway, I'm back :o)

I have several projects in the works and have finished several things since the last WIP Wednesday.  I finished up my daughter's Nancy Drew quilt, finished a baby quilt for a dear friend's new baby girl (will post pic later :o), and got my chicopee quilt actually quilted.

I didn't want to take away from the fabric, so I just quilted in the ditch on this one.  Didn't want Nancy's head quilted all over, lol! 

Binding is attached, just need to stitch it down on the back.

My newest project has been this spiderweb quilt.  I have always wanted to make one, just never got around to making the template, etc.  I found the foundation pieces and the template for the kite shape on Missouri Star Quilt Co. and had to get going!  It goes together very quick, but this is small so far.  If I stop here, it will only be about 36 inches square.  Nice baby quilt, but I kinda think it needs to be bigger!

I have made a little progress on my EPP project.  I was trying to get one row done each week, just picking it up when I was in the car, waiting on my girls, or travelling. This is the progress so far!  I am loving it, even though it's very busy!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced!

Summer Projects

This summer has just whizzed by....I'm a little sad about it, but also excited for this school year.  My girls are both excited about being in 3rd and 5th grade...I cannot believe it!!  This week I am working on some decorated clipboards for teacher gifts and getting the girls' stuff all labeled, organized, and packed up.  One of the items I wanted to make for them this year was a personalized pencil pouch.  I love to paper piece, but these little letters were the smallest I had ever made!  The pattern was created by Diane at from blank pages  and can be found on etsy here.  It is very clear and easy to use, but it still took me 3 hours to do all these letters, ahh!  I love how they turned out though!!

Here are the finished pencil pouches!  I didn't want the other fabric to be so busy it took away from the letters.  The girls LOVED them, I'm sure it's because they had their names plastered across the front :o)

Another fun project I have been working on this summer is another EPP project, pattern by Becca at Bryan House Quilts.  I decided to just use a ton of different fabrics, with the low volume for my neutral fabrics.  This picture isn't stellar quality, thank you iPhone,but you get the general idea.

 I need to start using my "real" camera again, but I still have to dump 1500 pics off my memory card, eep!  Guess I know what I will be working on this fall!

Unexpected Break

I did not plan on being out of the blogging loop for 2 months!!  After getting back from our vacation, it has been non-stop with catching up at work and the girlies' activities.  Vacation was amazing....no other word for it.  I took a little over 1500 pictures and just haven't had a chance to go through them all yet, but soon!  Almost everyone has asked me what was my favorite city-London, Paris, or Rome? Honestly, I loved them all and each one was so different that I can't nail down a favorite.  Although, Paris was pretty much amazing and I wish I could have stayed there at least another forever.  But I felt that way about London and Rome, too.  I confess that I did do a little job hunting while I was in London, you know, just in case :o)

Our days were packed with site-seeing, tours, activities in general.  I loved every second...even when I fell out of the abnormally high bathtub in London on my first day and got a HUGE bruise on my leg that lasted for 3 weeks :o)  Travelling internationally was interesting, too...I got a FULL pat down in both Paris and Rome.  Definitely no boundaries there!  I have to admit though, after the 3rd hand-on experience, I was starting to feel a bit violated and was ready to get home where the TSA agents aren't so touchy-feely!  I missed my girlies the whole time, even though we face timed every day, but I can't imagine taking them at their age.  I fully plan to take them one day when they are older though!  Until I get my camera unloaded and sorted, here are some iPhone pics that aren't half bad :o)

This was taken while we were in the London Eye, amazing views!! London was truly awesome.

One of my favorite churches in Paris, the Sacre Cour.  Set on a hill, overlooking the city.

  Love this pic of my husband doing the Heisman pose.  The Eiffel Tower was breath-taking.

The Trevi Fountain, no other word but incredible.  We went twice while in Rome just to sit and take it all in.

The Colosseum, so much history, monument to Christian martyrs.  Absolutely awesome!

WIP Wednesday and Finish It Friday

Today I have a WIP I am so excited to share!  I teetered on whether or not to make the Amy Butler Weekender Bag for my  trip and I am SOO glad I did it!!  I think I read every single blog post out there about it, so I knew exactly what I was getting into, too.  And I can honestly say, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I would totally make it again.  Now for the details!  I used the quilt-as-you-go method for the panels and didn't include any interfacing or peltex.  I wasn't sure about the piping, but I decided to make it myself instead of buying it pre-packaged.

I used a 26 inch dual zip parka zipper because I had heard the 30 inch zipper went down into the pockets and who wants to mess with that?  Plus, a dual zipper means that no matter which end I grab, I will be able to open the bag.  For the handles, I just used a pre-fab woven handle since I wanted something faster than the pattern called for.

Here are each of the side pockets...they are awesome!

And here's the back...I omitted the extra outside pocket.

For the lining, I wish I had more time to make extra pockets and stuff like that...but I ran out of time and didn't want to be installing it last minute!  The pattern says to attach the lining by hand-sewing, but I wanted it to actually stay intact, so I sewed it as far as I could by machine. I just sewed right over where I attached the zipper and it worked great.

I still have to finish up the false bottom, but that's simple compared to making this thing!  I absolutely love how this bag turned out and can't wait to make another one!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts!

Two Weeks Away!

I've tried to reign in my excitement, but one of my lifelong dreams is coming true in two weeks!!  I am heading to Europe with my sweet husband for our second honeymoon, celebrating 15 years of marriage this summer.  This trip is over a year in the making--planning and waiting, and I cannot reign in the excitement any longer!!    We are spending 11 days in 3 cities - London, Paris, and Rome.  Since we are going to London on day 1, sometime that day I am planning to get my tail over to Liberty of London.

source

Poor Branson is not going to be able to get out of fabric shopping while we're there!!  Good thing I am packing an entire empty suitcase to carry it all back home :o)

I have been making travel bags lately to get ready for the trip (because I apparently don't have enough pouches!!)  I thought about making the Amy Butler Weekender Bag, but that pattern scares the crap out of me...so I've been putting it off and now I really want to make one!!  I don't have the time before we leave to make one, but maybe I can make something close.  Today I finished my over-the-shoulder bag, complete with inside zipper pocket (not shown).  The flower was made using English Paper piecing, placed on Paris map fabric, and sewn together with my favorite Aurifil thread from Italy.....how appropriate!

This purse measures approximately 10" x 11" ish....I didn't get a final measurement.  There is just one strap so it can fit comfortably over my shoulder, across my chest.  I don't want to carry a heavy bag when we're sight-seeing!

I'm linking up this week with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It up Friday!  Amanda Jean's blog was the very first quilt blog I started reading and what got me so hooked on quilting in the first place.  

WIP Wedesnday

Another week flying by again!  I was able to get a lot done this week, despite the busyness of this month.  I had a couple of finishes...which I am very excited about!  They are both of my heart quilts...the first one is the signature quilt from a friend's wedding.  Lovin that gray!!

terrible cell phone pic, but it's all I could get of this one!

Also finished this heart quilt for my SIL for Mother's Day.  This one was easy to put together, despite its appearance!  I love it and need to make another one for my hallway :o)  I quilted it the same as the one above, swirls and pebbles, which seems to be a new go-to for me.

In other news, my daughter Emma turned 10 last week and the original plan was to have a Nancy Drew party....but at the last minute she changed her mind and wanted to go roller skating instead.  But not before she asked for a quilt for her b-day.  The Saturday before her b-day I found this Nancy Drew charm pack at the quilt shop and whipped together this lap quilt for her!  It's not quite finished, but it is basted and ready for quilting.  I just need to find the time to quilt it!

Finishes: 2
In Progress: too many!

Winners!!

This post was scheduled to be published first thing this am, but I had some issues with blogger, apparently!  Here we go again :o)

I am blown away by all the entries in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!!  I had a blast reading through the comments and I can't reply to each one, but wanted to thank you all for entering to win!

Now for the winners!

Winner of the pillow cover is - CurlyGirlMom

Winner of the Tula fabric is - Mike Pearson

I will be contacting both today for shipping info and will have everything in the mail on Monday :o)

I printed out each entry and put them all in a basket and had Dayna choose one at random.  Thank you all again for making this a fun giveaway week!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

*Comments have been closed*

I always seem to miss participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day....not this time!!

I have been thinking about what to give away and couldn't just pick one....so I have 2 items up for grabs.  You can enter for one or both (rules below)!

The first item is a handmade item made by yours truly!  I recently made 2 of these amazing pillows for my couch and have an additional one for giveaway.  I am giving away the cover only to make it easier to ship.  Fabrics are Kona Ash and Lotta Jansdotter Echo and it's machine-quilted by me :o)

The second item I'd like to giveaway is a charm pack of Tula Pink's very hard to find Neptune fabric!!

Now for the Rules!

1.  If you'd like to win the pillow cover, please leave me a comment telling me your favorite vacation spot.

2.  If you'd like to win the charm pack, please leave a comment telling me what your favorite fabric line is.

3.  You can enter for both giveaways, please just leave separate comments...one for each item so I can keep it straight :o)

4.  Comments will remain open until May 10th.

Thank you so much for entering and best of luck!!  Open to US and International :o)

Finish It Friday

This week I finished 2 pillows and a quilt (almost)!  I just need to finish up the binding which should be pretty quick.  The pillows are for our new couches, eeep!!!  I love them!

I'm linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!