Blogger's Quilt Festival : ROYGBIV entry

        It's that time of year again! Yep, you know what I'm talking about.... the WONDERFUL Blogger's Quilt Festival!!!!!

      If this is your first time visiting my little spec on the internet, WELCOME! I'm so glad you decided to stop by! My name is Kelie and I have been sewing/quilting for around 2 1/2 years now. I'm addicted to everything about creating a wonderful quilt or anything quilt/sewing related! If you wanna know a little bit more about me you can find out here or if you'd like to see any of my other creations you can see those here. (or just click the "About Me" tab and the "Finished Quts" tab...which I'm working on getting completely updated)
      But you are here to see what I quilt I decided to enter into the Festival, huh?

             Let me tell you the story behind it! A friend of mine (Karie) and I decided since we both loved rainbows so much plus each other's work why not do a little swap between ourselves? I don't know if any of you have ever done a swap before but let me tell you, I'm my most creative when I'm making something for someone else. I want to make something that I love sooo much that I would be thrilled if I received it. So, I always push my boundaries. This is what I created for that swap.
           It's very simple patchwork but I have never seen another one like it before! I absolutely hated giving this one away (I already have plans to make one for myself)!!!!

  

        It's made up of around 686 1.5" blocks! I didn't want a stark white background, so I went with Low Volume prints. It was really fun to see this come together, block by block.

             It took me forever trying to figure out how to quilt it! In the end I decided to go with an all over loopy design, kind of reminded me of the wind blowing (don't burst my bubble!!!)

              These blocks are so little, my wonderful (but small) label even covered 2 of them! But just like I knew she would Karie absolutely LOVES it! (I'm gonna ask her if I can use one of her pics of it hanging on her "mini wall" it looks awesome there!

                   I backed it in one of my favorites, Britten Numbers!
      I hope you guys love this quilt as much as I do! I can't wait to make another one! (Maybe I'll even take you guys along for the ride on my YouTube Channel..... stay tuned for that!

             

            Anywho, I would ABSOLUTELY love you forever if you loved my entry enough to nominate it! It's going into the ROYGBIV category!


Quilt Stats
-Size approx 14"x28"
-Designed, Pieced, and Quilted by Kelie Copas (me)

Thank you guys soo sooo much for stopping by! Don't forget to go check out all of the other amazing quilts entered into the Blogger's Quilt Festival (and vote for mine!)

P.S. I finally created a Facebook Fan Page that you can find here and I would love it if you would "like" it so you can keep up to date with anything going on!

I'll also be linking this finished beauty up with Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Friday!

~Hope y'all are having a GREAT day!!!~

I Finished a Quilt

       I'm back!!!! And I have another finish to share with you! Although, I have to be honest....when I first started making this quilt I was NOT feeling it (which I think is the reason it took me so long to make) but it HAD to be made! This was a "commissioned" quilt for my Mom's boss.. She'd KILL me if I didn't get this done!
 

          I'll tell you the story behind it (well a little bit of it at least). As some of you know my house caught on fire this past March. (yes this has NOT been a good year for me) I needed to make some money and fast, to help pay for the repairs that needed to be done, so I thought I could raffle a quilt!!! But I did it kind of backwards, I didn't have a quilt already made up. I figured people would be more willing to help out if I let them choose their own color scheme and design. Soooo, my mom's boss won that raffle! She was not very picky as far as the design went, she gave me the colors she wanted. The exact message I got from my mom was "She wants navy blue, light blue, white, dark brown, and a little orange. She wants a modern quilt but not wonky" So my friends, that left the field WIDE OPEN! I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it some more. I wanted something quick and easy.
   I don't know what came over me but I sketched out my design and went with it. The broken spider web blocks are NOT quick, however they are easy! Well, for me at least they weren't quick! This quilt turned out exactly like my sketch! First time EVER!!! I'm really happy with the way it turned out and SOOOO GLAD that I stuck it out instead of changing the design.

      I did a larger stipple all over the quilt (because that's my go-to stitch for quilting) and I had the entire thing quilted in less than a whole day! I did run into a few issues along the way though.
   

                         I decided to back this quilt with a sheet and I found this sheet at wal-mart and thought it was a perfect fit! It is a "Microtex" sheet. Please learn from my mistakes and if you choose to use a Microtex sheet DO NOT USE BASTING SPRAY!!!!! USE PINS INSTEAD! I spent around an hour basting this baby with 505 (what I use for all my basting) and when I went to start quilting it, the SHEET WAS NOT STICKING AT ALL!!!!! I had to go back and pin baste the entire thing!
   I don't know if I've ever told you that I am a procrastinator, in the worst way. In my hurry to get this thing done before my deadline I wasn't paying attention and ended up quilting some of the excess backing onto the actual quilt! Grrrr!!!! Ripping out quilting stitches IS NOT FUN! But, that's okay, I got it done and to my mom's boss before the deadline! YAY!!!

    She absolutely LOVES the quilt! Which of course made my day! I am so excited that this quilt is going all the way to California! She is gifting this to her son, she said he will LOVE it! She said that she wanted him to have a piece of his home (TN) out there with him, she also said I nailed it! And it just so happens that her son lives RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the one and only BLAKE SHELTON!!!!!!!! *squeel* When I found out about his next door neighbor I told her there was a stipulation to her son getting the quilt, he HAD to show it to Blake Shelton and tell Blake to give me a call so I could make him a quilt! (a girl can dream right?)

    I really am sooo happy with the way this quilt turned out!

    The bonus was that this quilt was mainly made from my scraps! YAY!

   I love the way it crinkled up after washing it! It was so soft! I didn't want to give it up, but you do what you have to!

     
           I think the binding really did the trick for me! :-)

    I do actually have some labels now (that's a whole different blog post) but she wanted me to sign it instead of using a label. She said it would make it more personal. So I put my name on it (it's really hard to sign fabric) and where it was made and the year.
   

Quilt Stats:
Size- After washing around 68" x 84"
Fabric used- random scraps and Kona for the solid brown (I don't remember the name of the color) and for the binding I used a print from Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille
Pieced and Quilted- by me on my home machine

I hope you guys like it as much as I do! I'm hoping to get some selfish sewing time in now so I can finish myself a quilt! I'll be ack soon though, got something else to share with you!!!!



~Hope y'all are having a GREAT day!!!~

Scrappy Trip Along FINISHED

I FINALLY have a finished quilt to share with you!!!!! If you all are IG users you may remember the #scrappytripalong craze that started at the beginning of this year. Katy who is amazingly talented made me want to make one so bad I could taste it! Seriously, I was out of town when she started posting her progress pics and THE MOMENT I got home I started pulling out scraps, cutting strips, and sewing these blocks together! This is an amazingly easy quilt and it comes together really quick too! (pay no attention to the fact that I've had my top finished for over 4 months!)

You can find the tutorial for this quilt right here on Quiltville! Now, when I say the "craze started" I really mean it! I believe there is now over 6,500 pics under the #scrappytripalong hash tag!!!! I LOOOOVE looking at all the different ones, seeing what fabric combinations are being used, and the different layouts people are choosing!

There is also a Flickr group that you can check out here. It has a little over 2,000 pics in it!!!! This quilt is soooo easy!! I recommend EVERYONE trying it!!!

Katy has some great tips on making your own Scrappy Trip right here. And if you want to see some of the Scrappy Trips she has made you can look here, here, here, or here! This quilt is VERY addicting, so be warned...you CAN NOT make just one! (yes that does mean I will be making another one as soon as I finish up on a few deadlines!!!)
I will say that you absolutely HAVE to I mean HAAAAAVE to go check out the one Michelle (@ilikeorange) made, it is amazing! Here is a link to her pic on Flickr. You will fall in love too!

I made this one for my Momma, it's the first quilt I've ever made for her. She says she loves it, I hope she's not lying to me though!!! I just recently gifted it to her for her bday!

I didn't use any specific fabrics for this one, it is truly from my scraps! I think I may have pulled out a few prints from my stash and sliced a strip or 2, but mainly used what I had that would work! I really love the way it turned out! There is just something about a scrappy quilt that makes me melt!

For the backing I used a lot of Flea Market Fancy because I thought my Mom would like those prints. I like the way the back turned out too! I'm so happy with this quilt, it was really hard to give it up!

I decided to steer away a bit from the usual stippling that I've been doing lately. But I didn't stray too far! I did a mix between a stipple and loops, I think it turned out pretty good. I need some more practice on my FMQ skills for sure though! I wanted to do pebbling, but I'm not that good yet! Maybe for the next one???? Hmmmm.....

The quilt finished at around 60"x72" give or take. It still has not been washed yet, so it will probably shrink and crinkle nicely (at least I hope so!)

I think deciding on the binding was the hardest part for me. In the end I decided to do a some what scrappy binding with the blue dots, some FMF, and a purple print (I think it's from the line Frippery)

I have NEVER labeled anything I've made before but I really wanted to have some sort of label on this, that way years down the road when my Mom is using it she will know when she got it.
Sooo, this is what I did....

It's pretty hard to write on a quilt, if you've never tried it I would suggest finding a different way of labeling if at all possible! I'm going to be investing in some labels very soon!
All in all I had a blast making this quilt. I do suggest anyone make it! It's great for all skill levels (in my opinion) and I don't think there could be an ugly one! It feels so good to have this quilt marked off my mile long "to-do" list! YAY!!!

Quilt Stats:
Finished Size- around 60"x72" before washing
Fabrics Used- Moda white and random scraps and stash fabrics
Pieced and Quilted on my home machine by me!



~Hope y'all are having a GREAT day!!!~

Christmas finish

I really can't believe we are already on the FIFTH day of Feb!!!!!! This year is FLYING by already!!! WOW!
I accomplished at least a few of my Jan. goals. I am not very good at keeping schedules and what not, but I can say that I FINISHED a quilt! *Whoop whoop* I finished by Bee blocks and I also finished my Lucky Star Bom!!! (I haven't done the Pile O Fabric BOM because I really can't decide what fabrics I want to use, I'll get there, I'm just indecisive!)
So do you guys want to see my finished quilt? I am INLOVE with it!!! (I'm really glad I made it for me!)

 

I don't know why that pic is blurry, it turned out really good. Maybe it's because I resized it to be smaller????? Any who, u can look at my Flickr photo stream and see the pic above better, as well as any of the pics I'm getting ready to put on here!!!

I used a tutorial by the Missouri Star Quilt Co that can be found on their Youtube channel. Click here for the video. It's really easy and this quilt came together really quick! I wanted to make it a bit bigger and add a modern flair to it so I used this tutorial from Film In the Fridge and made a sort of "Converging Corners" border. I really love the way it turned out!

The fact that we actually had snow here in east TN was a miracle! I had to take advantage and brave the freezing cold temps to get some pics of this quilt in the snow!

Here is an up close of the front. I stippled the whole quilt!!!!! (I actually did a pretty good job too!)

I had bought random half yards of the fabric line and used them for a pieced backing.

It was getting dark out when these pics were taken, sorry! But I did use a REAL camera and not my Iphone!!!

I used some of the left over jelly roll strips to make a scrappy binding! All in all I really do love this quilt!!! I'm having a hard time even thinking about packing it up with the rest of our Christmas things and making it wait until it's Christmas time to bring it out!!! :( I may just keep it out anyways!!!!

So the stats of this quilt:
Fabric Used- Joy by Kate Spain and Moda White
Finished size (before washing)- 58" x 72"
Peiced and Quilted on my home machine

I'm thinking of using the left over blocks for a few pillows or maybe a small wall hanging?!?!? Any suggestions?

~Hope y'all are having a GREAT day!~

Babbling

I finally finished the Nightshade quilt!!! YAY!!! I still have to get some pictures though, weather hasn't been that great, so haven't had the opportunity yet! So I will get those for you guys this weekend! I love how it turned out! I can't believe it's finished!!!!
I've also been working on a few other things! My niece had her 6th bday this past week and I made her a cute little wall hanging!

I

Pretty huh? I figured out what I was doing wrong for FMQ and got that fixed! I had my darning foot too high! I used Kelby Sews paper pieced alphabet pattern for her name! I love it! I really hope she likes it too! (She hasn't gotten it yet!)
I joined another swap! The DQS round 13! I am working on a design for my partner now. I hope she likes what I have in mind. I'm going to leave it a secret for now.
And on top of that I signed up to be an "Angel" for the Modernista swap! I figured, why not?
So here is what I've got so far!

A wonky cross table runner! I did this based on Elizabeth Hartman's Craftsy class!

Here is one of the blocks. I've got the top completely pieced and now I'm trying to figure out what to do for a backing. I hope my new Partner likes it, I think she will but, ya never know!


On another note, we've almost got everything together for the bee! We will both be announcing it on our blogs first! So keep your eyes open, just a couple more days!

Sew Mama Sew is back at it again! Giveaway day is Dec 3rd! And, yes I will be part of it! I actually have something special for you guys each week the whole month of December! I'm really excited about it and have been working very hard on it! I'm trying to grow my page hits and readers, so hopefully these things I'm doing will help!

I know I've been promising you guys a book review, just been a little busy as of lately! So no, I don't have it done for you yet, but I am almost done! I don't want to do a review without actually reading the whole thing! That feels like lying to me. So I will be getting that out soon too!
Well, I'm off to get some sewing done!
~Hope y'all are having a great day!~

Crossing Something Off the List

I can mark something off my 100 day Hustle list!!! YAY! I finished my 241 tote! Pattern is by Anna of Noodle Head.

I used up my FQ's I bought from Julie of The Intrepid Thread. I don't know how many of y'all remember, but she sponsored a giveaway on my blog a while back, and I loved the bundle she made for it so much I HAD TO BUY IT! I'm really glad I found such a good use for them!
I used a QAYG (quilt as you go) method for the first time! It is a bit more time consuming, but hey, I like the end results! The print fabric I used are from the line Lily Belle by Bari J for Art Gallery! I love the feel of their fabrics! The solids I'm honestly not sure, I KNOW they aren't Kona. I use Kona on a daily basis, and I'm thinking these are some of Art Gallery's solids line.

I'm SEW HAPPY with the way this turned out!

I love the way this fussy cutting of the flower really paid off on this side!
If you are interested in making a bag like this you can purchase the pattern from Anna here. You can also find all of her other patterns here.  This is my first ever "pattern" that I have EVER followed! I found it EXTREMELY easy to follow! Sew, I know if I can make this, so can you!!!
I also made me a pretty little pouch with my left overs!

I used the QAYG method here as well.

I did inted on it being wonky. I love the way it turned out too!!!

I love the color of that blue! Don't you?
And if you are wondering...I did take these pics with A REAL CAMERA!!! Edited them and all! Aren't ya proud of me?
I know I am!
Sew, now that I got that one done, it's time to get back to sewing and cross something else off my Hustle List.
On a side note...I hope everyone traveling to Sewing Summit this weekend has a  GREAT TIME and a SAFE TRIP!!!!
~Hope y'all are having a great day!~