Duces, 2013.

2013 was a bitch... a bipolar bitch.

I guess there were a few good moments... like the time Derrick and I got our first apartment together, all on our own with no roommates or parents.

We also got thoroughly drunk on champagne the night we were accepted.

I threw an off the wall bomb diggity surprise 25th birthday party.

Oh yeah, and an itty bitty thing that happened this year.

he put a ring on it!

My best girlfriend had a baby! I spent a lot of valuable time with family. Derrick and I had an amazing vacation in Los Angeles.  I finished a couple beautiful quilts. I started some pretty amazing quilts. I began writing this blog and art quilting.

I also became unemployed on four, yes FOUR, separate occasions.  I gained a butt load of weight, most likely from sitting on the couch for all those times I was unemployed. I discovered that I have a health issue that has yet to be diagnosed. I went from being very very poor to very financially comfortable almost over night. I started my career, not just another job, but a career!
I'm finally figuring out the best way to keep my energy levels up so I can quilt/craft more!

In 2013 my highs were incredibly high and my lows were incredibly low.

2014 will be my best year yet. I'm getting married, Derrick is graduating college, aaannnddd I have  A LOT of new quilt projects in the works! I can't wait to share them all with you!


I wish you all a very happy, healthy, and quilty new year!


Quilt on,
Hoppi

FMQ/Finished Friday: Buttons Quilt is FINALLY done!

Can you believe it? I finally finished the buttons quilt. It only took me, what, 3 months??? Whatever, it's done, and I'm happy.

I'm not super proud of it. The FMQ is horrible. I need to practice more... much, much more.

I'm not super proud of the binding either, I attempted to hand stitch it, but it was taking too long, became too tedious, and I got too frustrated. I finally just said screw it and machine stitched it. It's not super even, and I should have taken my time on it, I was just so excited to get it done. Now I know for the next quilt to go slow, enjoy the process and make sure things are going a bit more smoothly.

Not to toot my own horn, but my piecing on this quilt is spot on. Every corner matches up. It looks awesome. This is the first time I've perfectly matched corners on a quilt!


Toot toot. 

I guess you can't be proud of every quilt you finish, but I intend on making this my [first and] last quilt that I am even a little unhappy about.

I also finished these super cute monogram totes! Yay!

Today I'm linking up with Leah Day and TGIFF and of course, Can I get a Whoop Whoop.

Off to practice some more.

Quilt on,
Hoppi

Wedding Wednesday

I know, it's Thursday, but someone *cough*Derrick*cough* was hogging the computer last night. My 2007 Macbook Pro has almost bitten the dust. Time to back that sucker up and move on to bigger and better things.


Things for the wedding are really shaping up. The caterer is booked and food picked, my full ensemble is bought, I'm going with two of my bridesmaids to pick out dresses next week, and save the dates have been sent. Things are really coming together!

One thing we will be decorating with are pieces of wood that I am burning. My newest hobby is pyrography and I'm so addicted.

A Christmas gift for my cousin

doodling!

I will be burning our menu, drink menu, and table numbers on wood. It will go very well with our rustic theme, I think.






Pyrography, like quilting, is very relaxing, but unlike quilting I feel like I almost go into a trance while burning. It's so relaxing I almost lose myself in the wood.The smell of wood burning, the warmth of the soldering iron, the blank canvas of wood bringing endless possibilities, it all sets a mood for relaxation and enjoyment.
Of course quilting is still my favorite creative outlet, but I must admit, pyrography is a very close second!


I have not started our guest quilt yet, but have an idea in mind. I just need to figure out how to transfer a photo to fabric and I'm good to go. Any suggestions on this would be very welcome!

Quilt on,
Hoppi

Remember Me?

I'm ashamed at how long it's been since I last posted... I could blame it on my health, on the new job, on the wedding, but really it's just because I've been super lazy.

Okay, I've been really, really, really busy too. My job is nuts and I really like it, but it keeps me super busy Monday through Friday.

I have, however, been quilting, among other things!

Rather than bore you with a million words, here's what I've been doing for the past 2 months in photographs:

working on commission stuff

pyrography: more on this to come

noob pyrography

very first try with the soldering  iron

lots of zentangles

cuddles with Ridley

:p

....wait a minute...

Salted Caramel Apple Pie. I made that. I ate that.

wedding quilt!

road trippin'

"where do you plan on putting a tree that big?" "bend over and I'll show ya"

geocaching

Here come the men in black, binding quilts forever!

Epic Catan battles

More Cuddles

More caching

friends

spending time with this adorable girl

wedding stuffs

I can't promise that I'll never go away like that again, but I will sure try not to. I'm starting to get the hang of this whole balanced life stuff... aka... adulthood. 

Quilt/pyrograph/knit/sew/geocache/bake/fun on,

Hoppi

Happy Selfish Sewing Week!

Don't you hate when life gets in the way of... well everything else? Most importantly, quilting!

That's whats been happening with me over the past few weeks, and as insult to injury, my washing machine broke on Tuesday flooding out our hallway and bathroom ahhhhh! My future FIL is here and it's nice to have him as he's from Los Angeles so we only see him a few times a year.

It's selfish sewing week and my machine isn't even plugged in!
I had these great plans of making our guest quilt for the wedding this week, but that hasn't started yet. At least I picked out the fabric!

I also made some progress on my buttons quilt. I'm half way there, woo!

                                   

This quilt came together so easily. I'm sure I could finish the whole thing in a few hours, maybe I'll work on it today!


What are you working on???

Quilt on,
Hoppi

WIP Wednesday: Sharing stories

I am so incredibly proud to say that I've inspired others to spread awareness for childhood cancer!

Head over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict to read Sarah's beautiful story about Savannah.

For my post card swap I sent a card made by my cousin Vanessa and a post card that I created to mirror Vanessa's drawing.









I sent these cards to a lovely woman named Wendy in the UK. She shared Ness's story with the rest of our group to bring awareness to our whole group! It makes me feel really good knowing that I inspired these women to bring awareness to those around them!


So my major WIP this week is my Buttons baby quilt. I've started FMQ on the quilt but hit a wall. I got so frustrated working on it this morning I had to walk away.

My thread keeps doing this, shredding. What gives? I read online that I need to re-thread the machine, so I did about 20 times. Then I read it's the tension, but my tension is fine. So then I tried cleaning and oiling the machine, and you're not going to believe it, that made it worse. What the heck????

Well once my frustration blows over I hope to finish this by Friday. 

Today I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Quilt on,
Hoppi

How to FMQ a button...

Today I'll be starting with an incredibly upsetting fact about childhood cancer. Everyday about 250 children pass away from cancer. 91,250 lose their life to the disease every year. September is childhood cancer awareness month, do your part to spread awareness to at least one person this month! 

This afternoon I bordered and basted my buttons baby quilt. I am so in love with this quilt and I can't wait to sell it to a family who can adore it as much as I do! 

 Look at the high loft on that baby (quilt)!

... someone used my fabric shears to cut paper. I have a feeling it wasn't Madison (our dog). 

So here is my dilemma. I will be FMQing the quilt with the pattern shown here. However, do I double up on the flower petals or leave them as single petals? What would you do? I think the single petals look cleaner, but the double petals give me a little more wiggle room to get around the quilt.

Happy Monday! Today I'm linking up with Stitch by Stitch!

Quilt on,

Hoppi

FMQ Friday: EYL and buttons!

All of my posts this month will start off with the point that September is childhood cancer awareness month. Each day I'm sharing a new fact about pediatric cancer. About 720 children will be diagnosed with cancer today, that equals about 263,000 newly diagnosed children each year. If you're new to my blog, or haven't checked in at all yet this month, please head over to PCFLV's 30 days, 30 stories and read all the stories, Vanessa is my cousin.

 

Fall seems to be in full swing here in Eastern Pennsylvania, and I'm loving every minute of it! There's something about opening the windows, drinking spiced tea, listening to Explosions in the Sky, and quilting in fall. To me, this season is the most magical of all. I do love all the seasons, which would probably explain why I haven't left Pennsylvania yet, but I must admit autumn is my favorite. The smells, the colors, and the weather. I find it all so inspiring, which is probably why I want to quilt every spare second I have!

    I want to start off today with my Whoop Whoop of the week! This button quilt top that I started around 9 last night. I can't wait to border it and get it on the machine. I am oh so in love with this quilt, and I think I'm going to be really sad when the time comes to let go of it!

I've been FMQing quite a bit this week. I finished up the 'breath' section of my Express Your Love quilt! My goal is to have this quilt done by October 19th as I am having a Silpada party for my future mother in law at my home. I want to be able to hang it on my wall and be proud!

What have you all been working on this week? Enjoy the weekend!

Today I'm linking up with Leah Day's FMQ Friday and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop Whoop over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Quilt on,
Hoppi