Monday Shmunday

Monday's used to be my favorite day of the week. Filled with new opportunities and new beginnings. I used to start over clean every week; start a new project, organize a closet, go to the gym bright and early. Now when I wake up on Monday's I just want to go back to sleep.

Quilting gives me that zest for life that I lack Monday through Friday 9-5 (more like 6:30-5 or 6 or 7 some nights...).

Quilting is really my passion. I feel that it's what I was put here to do. I'm here to quilt, and now I know it.  So I'm going to quilt, and I'm going to bring the joy of quilting to others.

That's right bitches, I'm breaking out into the world of teaching!!!! (insert giant smiley emoticon here)

I will be holding workshops sometime after the wedding, no date has been set yet, but I'm thinking June is a fabulous month to start being as though I have my first trade show in May post-wedding.

I'm very excited to share this with you all. Now I know I'm no Karen McTavish (not even close), Leah Day, Maddie Kertay, okay I could go on and on and on with the list of quilters that I admire, but I won't; however, I am Alyx Patterson and I'm pretty damn good at thread painting and making other women feel good about themselves. So that's what I'm going to do. I will be teaching workshops for women only, and hopefully, making them feel good about themselves through quilting.


I am so so so excited to embark on this next journey of my quilting career!!!!



Unfortunately I have no quilty pictures to share with you this week as what I'm working on is top secret for my eyes only, but here's a picture of a mason jar with glitter in it.

These are part of our centerpieces for the wedding! Huzzah!

Here is a photo of my dog. This will make everything better instantly. Yes she really is that cute IRL. 

Finally, a picture of my man crush. It is man crush Monday after all.

Now go quilt on with yo bad self!

~Hoppi

Have you seen my voice?

Finding my voice has been the hardest part of blogging, for me. I've had this blog for a little over a year, and before this, I had two others. I'm having a very hard time remaining true to myself and my voice through my blog. Especially when it comes to a quilt blog.


There's certain stereotypes attached to quilting; I'm not a grandma (hell, I'm not even a mother), I'm not Amish (though some of my neighbors may be), I don't consider myself to be a boring person or an introvert, anyone who knows me knows I'm certainly not a devout Christian (though I used to be and do have my own relationship with God).

Here is what I am; I am bright, I am colorful, I am funny, I am crude, I am a nerd, I cuss, I am raw. I say dude all the time. I say fuck, often. On a rare occasion, I like to drink until I puke. On a not so rare occasion, I like to drink one or two glasses of wine. I am smart, I graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Poli Sci, French, and Japanese. I lift weights and grunt like a man at the gym. I am an incredible cook. I am kind. I have a huge heart. I give back to my community. I'm a sales woman struggling to survive in a mans world. I have big boobs, get over it. I always put others before myself. I spoil my dog as if she were a child. I love babies. I love children. I live to spend time with my fiance, my soul mate, my better half, and my best friend, who all just so happen to be the same beautiful man.
On top of all of this, I create some seriously rad quilts. That's what you and I have in common. That's why you're here. You like my quilting. Not because you like me.


I'm taking this moment to let go of the fear that no one will read my blog if I let my true self shine through. If you don't want to read my blog, that's okay. If you're offended by anything I say on here, that's okay.

You don't have to like me to like my work.


And in a post to proclaim that I cannot find my voice, I have found it.

Wedding Wedn...errr Thursday

Wednesday totally got away from me this week. Work has been nuts, but I'm not going to tell you about it because this is my happy place.


Can you believe our wedding is 6 weeks away!?! It really feels like just yesterday we moved into our new place and got engaged, but at times it feels like years ago.

You all know I've been trying to print on fabric for about a week now. I tried, and tried, and tried, and it didn't work and didn't work and didn't work until... it worked.

 So here is the step by step list for how to print on fabric.

Firstly you need to get some Bubble Jet Set. Just go for the 32 oz, you're going to need it. Cover your fabric just enough so the whole piece is wet, don't over do it, this stuff isn't cheap. Now soak your fabric in the solution for 5 minutes and let dry.









Next, iron the fabric right side up on to the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper. Make the freezer paper slightly bigger than the size of the fabric. Seriously iron the shit out of the fabric. When I say iron the shit out of it, I really mean to iron the shit out of it. This is the reason why my first two tries didn't work out so well. I ironed for about 10 minutes. Just make sure you don't burn the fabric.










Now insert into your printer and print your beautiful self on that fabric. Fabulous.












This next step was the scariest step for me. (pictured to the left is one of the failed attempts at printing the photo) Rinse the fabric, then take a tiny bit of Bubble Jet Rinse in your hands and rub the fabric. Rinse thoroughly. Let air dry. If you're impatient like me, blow dry that sucker for 5 minutes on high.










Quilt that baby up! How beautiful is this? Seriously. I am awesome.















This is going to be the last picture of the guest quilt you'll get to see until after the wedding... I know, how disappointing of me. I want to leave some element of surprise for my guests! Don't worry, I'm working on some other things. Plus I'm almost done with the top, so I'll most likely finish the quilt tomorrow and be on with the next one.

Have you ever printed on fabric? Will you use my tutorial to make something F'ing awesome? Show me!

Quilt on,
Hoppi

Wedding Quilt Update!

As promised, I'm here with an update on our wedding quilt!

Not quite the update that I'd love to share, but an update none the less.

 I drew my layout, and did the math for the size I'd like it to be. I cut my squares but not my borders, which I'll probably just cut as I go.














  The first try at printing on fabric turned out okay, but my printer cut off a bit of the photo.

My second try at printing was a total disaster. I jammed my printer and had to pull out all the little threads that got stuck. Oops.

When you don't succeed try, try again.


I have to buy some more bubble jet set and I will try again. More on that to come, though. As soon as I figure this out I will write up a tutorial for you all so you can try it, too!



My H2H quilt is also in the works. It will be made for a woman, and I am SO excited about it. I am using another person's pattern for the first time and I can't wait! Check back for an update on that later this week!


For now, I'm off to play some Final Fantasy X remastered.

What have you been up to this week other than quilting?



Quilt on,
Hoppi

I'm still here! Hands 2 Help

Man oh man... a full time job really takes up ALL of your time. Not to mention planning a wedding, volunteer work, and being on an event planning committee!

I must admit I haven't been quilting much lately.

After the work day I'm SO tired. Even after 6 months I'm still trying to get into the routine of things.

Great news though! I'm participating in Hands 2 Help for the second year in a row! This year I will be quilting for Quilts of Compassion, who give quilts to those affected by tornadoes in the Midwest. I chose this charity because it is so different from what I did last year. This year I will be making something a little more traditional. I haven't yet decided if it will be for a man or woman.
Are you interested in joining in for this year's H2H? Click the button on my side bar and join in on the fun while doing something great for someone else!

Of course I need to work on our wedding quilt first. Hopefully I will have that finished in the next week or two and I will share some photos with you.

I will update you later in the week on our wedding quilt as well as what I've decided to do for the H2H quilt... and that's a promise!

What have you been working on recently? I've missed you!