Got back on the cow (and a link party)

Well usually people say "get back on the horse", but I have been making more cows blocks than horses ;)

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - waiting for next tutorial
2. Block Swap Adventure - June block, done (see below)
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - second big block done (see below)
4. Water Lilies (Spangled Stars Quilt-along) - top doooooooone! (see below)
5. D wall hanging -  4 blocks done (see below)
6. the SK project - no progress

The EverythingElse List:

1. Embroidery calendar - no progress
2. Animal blocks for charity quilts - paused for a while
3. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - paused for a while
4. College Days Blog Hop blocks for tote/grocery bag -  no progress
5. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
6. As You Wish -  no progress
7. Happy Halloween wall hanging -  no progress
8. Crazy optical illusion -  no progress
9. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
10. B quilt - no progress

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Susan (quiltfabrication.blogspot.com) is hosting a fun Quilt Along (Spangled Stars)!!
I joined at the beginning of the moth and in about 10 days I assembled the entire quilt top! Kudos to me considering that I usually don't like these "assembly line, quick quilts designs"!! :)

But I absolutely love this design... the striking thing for me is that one block (the bar block) is the one that has more units in the entire quilt, but it is so simple that it "blends in" and it doesn't take over the design. But since it's so simple and fast, it makes the entire quilt very easy to make!!

So this is my quilt top

Original design by Susan,

Water Lilies (68''x74'')

Yes, I didn't iron it yet... it's too big, I will iron it when the batting comes and I am ready to quilt it!

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As I said, I went back on the cows :) and made another "cow face" block (resized to be 5'') and a couple of other animal blocks from the book "A Quilter's Ark". These are soooooo simple, that it takes me more time to pull the fabric from my stash than to assemble the blocks!

The tree is by Jennifer (Sewhooked), pattern called "Topsy-Turvy Trees".

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The other project I worked on is my Mirror Mirror Afghan (using the tapestry crochet technique)

16''x22'' front and back

This is going to be the other half of my main central panel for the afghan! I really like the way it turned out! I already designed the next block, go me!!
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Finally I made the block for Dagmar (for the Block Swap Adventure): she asked for a star block and she said scrappy is welcome. So making my "Water Lilies" quilt I ended up with extra HST and the other unit with triangles in... and when I googled for a star block pattern I found the one below that uses exactly the units I had! so this is the block I will send her (hope she likes it)

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How about you? What are YOU up to?
Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Ups and downs (and a link party)

Do you have those weeks where nothing seems to flow? This was one of those for me.

The Ongoing List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. the Valentine's blocks - block done (cannot share)
3. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - no progress
4. Secret projects - no progress
5. New project! Embroidery calendar - no progress
6. Color of the Year challenge- no progress

The EverythingElse List:

1. Animal blocks for charity quilts - 3 blocks done (see below)
2. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - no progress
3. Reversible sewing machine cover - 4/8 blocks done
4. College Days Blog Hop blocks for tote/grocery bag - 1 block done, no pattern picked for the bag, no idea how many blocks I will need
5. Alice in Wonderland quilt - 6/15 blocks done
6. As You Wish - 8/16 blocks done
7. Happy Halloween wall hanging - 13/32 blocks done
8. Crazy optical illusion - 1 "row" done
9. D wall hanging - collected some fabric and some ideas
10. B quilt - to be designed

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The week started with a paper rejected for no reasons, administrative people not communicating essential pieces of information to me, swaps not running, people dropping out from previous commitments, etc... nothing really major, but I felt like nothing was headed in the right direction!
Like I was not very well aligned with the positive flow of the universe.

Because of that I decided to take a break from all my projects (even the one that have deadlines) and try to channel my energy in something that would give me positive energies and probably will bring back to me some good karma from the universe! So I completely focused on the Animal blocks that I am collecting for future charity quilts!

I made 2 elephants from the Elephant parade @ sewfreshquilts, and a cow by Sandi @ piecemealquilts.


My rule for these blocks is to use the scraps (even the tiny ones) and I am allowed to take only one other fabric from my stash (if absolutely necessary).
Obviously I couldn't resist and I had to use the red fabric with golden elephants for the elephants :).
I am really pleased with all the blocks because they are very me (scrappy, colorful, unconventional, full of prints). And I think they succeeded in bringing me back some good energy from the universe!

On the up side, this past Wed the first tutorial of the SYS2015 series was announced!
Did you checked it out? It's a wonderful block and I will share my progress on that next Wed.

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And now what are YOU going to link?

An InLinkz Link-up