Kites in Flight!

Well, I finished a bedding set which turned out really nice.

Here are photo's taken of the twin size Kites in Flight Quilt (shown on a Queen size bed), Pillow Sham, and double sided Kite Toss Pillow.

This was custom ordered for a little boy who was turning 3. I think his room will turn out great. What do you think?

Still Here... just busy!

Well, it has been a month since I last posted... I figured I better add a note.

We have officially started school in our home for the year... but do homeschool families ever really stop schooling? With a Kindergartner and 1st Grader this year, I am multi-tasking a lot more than last year. DD2 isn't as willing to sit still as DD1 was at her age and requires A LOT of focused attention.

Our school room will need to be rearranging again this year - we keep accumulating teaching tools and need to find places to put them. The local school district is having another auction on Thursday and my DH is threatening to hid the checkbook. At the last school auction, I bought an entire school room (desk, tables, bookshelves, etc) for $15.00. To get anything in the room, you had to take the WHOLE room. The problem is... what do you do with all the things that won't fit into your house? Thankfully, in that instance, I found someone at the auction who was trying to stock a new church school who was willing to take everything I didn't want.

Off to teach... We will see what happens on Thursday!

Off to the Craft Shows....

I have been frantically sewing (and not sleeping enough) in preparation for my first Craft Shows of the season. I finished the "must complete" works in progress last night at 3:00 a.m. (yawn).

I am exhibiting at a private event on 7/18, but if you are going to be in the Bowling Green, KY area, please come and see me at either the Car Show - Sloan Convention Center on 7/19 & 20 or in the Pavilion at the SOKY fair 7/22-7/28.

Today, I thought I would highlight a Stay At Home Mom who makes and sells some fabulous items.

If you have a little girl that you are shopping for, you should check out SarahsCreations at Etsy.com.

Not only does she make cute embellished socks but she also makes mini purses and hair accessories. My favorite items are her darling Button Socks.

The Fabric Mover...

A few folks have asked about the fabric mover so I thought I would share some of my limited knowledge.

First - I love to quilt - primarily free motion, but I don't like having varying stitch sizes. The answer... originally was to get a long or mid-arm sewing machine with stitch regulator. The stitch regulator speeds up and slows down your needle based on how fast your needle is moving over the fabric. Unfortunately, not only are they expensive but even worse they are really BIG! My sister has a Millennium Long Arm and I love to use it while I am visiting her home in Michigan BUT it takes her entire sewing room to house it ... and it is a big sewing room.

So, sometime around December, I found out about the Fabric Mover with Stitch Regulator by Quilter's Cruise Control (http://www.quilterscruisecontrol.com/). It is basically a frame that you place your fabric on and as you move the frame, it controls the stitch speed. The only assembly required is that it plugs through your power supply/foot pedal. They are still not cheap but at least they don't take up any space!

I believe they are compatible with the Pfaff 2000 series and up and they also have a similar product for Husqvarna Viking and probably other machines as well.

I don't have the fabric mover in hand yet but I should get it soon... I hope.

Wowsie... Wow! Wow!

Happy Birthday to me....

I'm so excited... Take a look at my birthday present! I received a Pfaff 2027 sewing machine. I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet but... LOVE IT! And, I am getting the fabric mover as well..

But wait... this post just got more interesting-

... As I was taking the picture of my new sewing machine - a BOBCAT walked across my yard!!!

This isn't the first time a bobcat has visited us... but it is the first time I have been able to get Bobby's (my daughters named him - lol) picture . Lucky for me I was holding my camera and it was on and aimed at the bobcat. The funny thing is, as I realized what I was looking at, I turned around to try to find my camera to take a picture - DUH!

Well, that is my excitement for the day (I hope it doesn't get any more exciting than that!

How we got started

Okay for my first blog post I figured I should say a bit about Poppy Patch Quiltery....

Poppy Patch began when my mother and I decided we wanted to enjoy the benefits of old fashion sewing bees. As young girls, my sisters and I were taught to sew by our Mom, who was also our 4-H sewing leader. As a family, we really enjoyed the times when we could get together, chat and still feel productive.

Over the years, our sewing bees have produced everything from Halloween costumes to our wedding gowns. Mom and I decided to get together regularly to work on our never ending supply of WIP’s (Works-In-Progress). Instead of WIP's, we started new projects - pieced and quilted tote bags based on traditional quilt squares.

In 2004, our quilted tote bags and purses were juried into the prestigious Kentucky Craft Marketing program (KCMP) and we began selling at Arts and Crafts shows in central Kentucky and Tennessee.

The people in our lives inspire our designs. When several friends and family members were expecting babies, we began to design our line of children’s items. As a result, we have added our unique baby/toddler texture blocks, stuffed animals, balls and toddler quilts to our inventory.

We have also added quilted home decor and seasonal items to our inventory including large (6 foot in diameter) Christmas tree skirts, table runners, wall hangings and kitchen accessories. In addition to selling at Arts and Crafts shows, we also sell some items wholesale and now have this wonderful shop on Etsy http://poppypatch.etsy.com/ which allows us to sell to customers outside our geographic location.

Mom and I love what we do and take great pride in the entire process of creating our products. We hope you enjoy our products as much as we have enjoyed creating them.