A super-week! (and a linky party)

So much progress this week!! Kudos to me :)

Last week I shared a "yearly" list, but this is the "weekly" list of progress to put projects from that long list in a less overwhelming group ;)

The List:

1. Xmas tree decoration for 2014 - done! (see below)
2. Pumpkin's play mat - no progress
3. the SK project - 1 block done, 3 other traced (see below)
4. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - 1 block done (see below) and printed all missing blocks
5. Bonnie's Hunter Grand Illusion - dropped (see below)
6. Color of the Year challenge- 2/36 border mini-blocks done (cannot share)
7. Zoo Animals BOM - done (see below)
8. Block Swap (January) - done! (see below)
9. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - first block done! (see below)

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Let's start with a block that is not mine!! ;) The wonderful Jan tested this Daisy and Donald pattern.

Pattern available in my MickeyM, DonaldD, Alice page

Aren't they super cute? And don't you love the choice of the wood floor? Perfect for the ballroom dancing!! :)

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I made my 2014 Xmas tree decoration using this great snow flake crochet pattern by Sarah @ sarahndipities. I slightly changed the pattern to add an extra row of single crochet around to make it more stable and then I used it to make a fabric template for the back: I think the snowflakes stands out more against the red background!
(this is my project for the "Lovely Year of Finishes - January")

Pattern by Sarah (sarahndipities)

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When I saw this fun BOM by Kristy @ QuietPlay I immediately decided to jump right it! Her patterns are always fun and I have already a Kangaroo that I tested and that is pretty lonely in the drawer :) so I decided that I will add all those friends and make one (or maybe two) quilts for charity! I have also several owls blocks and those would be perfect for this project!
My rules in doing these blocks are simple: 1) I will only use things from my stash (no new fabric... if I have to make a blue bear because I don't have the right fabric, so be it ;) ); 2) I will only use scraps from my small&weird scraps bags for the animals and I will touch the other big pieces of fabric only for the background (if necessary).
With these rules I ended up with a very fun Flamingo!

Doesn't that background print scream "flamingo!!" to you?

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I hope that you won't hate me... but I will say something that may rub people the wrong way...
I don't like this year mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter.
Ok, I said it! :) Sorry everyone!
There is nothing wrong with the design obviously... but I have very very specific likes/dislikes when it comes to scrappy quilts that uses traditional shapes (like HST, 4 patches, etc).
In order for me to be visually interesting, the overall pattern needs to make some kind of curves or circles; if the design makes just traditional stars, pinwheels and other linear things, for me, it's not interesting.
So last year mystery (the Celtic Solstice) was one of the best design I have ever seen! because it didn't just have "circles" but the circles were interlocking! And all done just with traditional and linear shapes (triangles, 4 patches, HST, ...).
So I was very excited about this year mystery, but I didn't have the chance to start it... and now I am happy about it because I would have been disappointed if I made all that effort and then didn't like the final layout! Now instead I've already seen 3 ideas on Pinterest that I will combine and I will make a quilt with "curves without curves" as I like it!
I will work on that idea later this year, but I wanted to mention the reason why the Grand Illusion mystery will be dropped from my list so soon :)

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Ok, another thing that may make you hate me... I don't like 12'' stars blocks!
Ok, I said this one too! Sorry everyone again! :)
Again it comes down to the fact that those big blocks, to me, don't make visually interesting quilts. They can be beautiful but too traditional for my tastes ;)
However I have been doing many traditional blocks for my Block Swap Adventure partners.
Luckily this month my partner told me that she is looking for star blocks but in 12'' or 6''.
I may be a weird person... but I really like 6'' stars ;) I don't know, they are cute!
So I decided to make her one 12'' star and four 6'' ones! All of them different and scrappy.

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While I cannot share the 2 mini blocks that I made for the Color of the Year wall hanging, I can show you the fabric I am going to use. It's going to be scrappy as usual... with the cream batik as background and the wine fabric as backing. The others are not all great representations of the Marsala color (one probably is) but since it's going to be scrappy, the approximated colors (with some more towards the red, and others more towards the orange) should make the overall wall hanging look "Marsala" :)

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Another of my "duplicate" blocks for the Tea Towel challenge/PPV BOM is done.

Points are not extremely perfect but I didn't want to use any pins and I didn't want to use the seam ripper either :) I think that in the overall design it wouldn't matter too much!!

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And I bought a new sewing machine!! Yeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
And to test it I made this block from the QAL Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches!

I am still playing around with the stitch length to find the perfect length to be good for both piecing and seam ripping ;)

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Another block for my SK project is ready.
Opening line of "The Dark Half"

You can find the pattern on my The SK Project page.

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As a final last note, let me mention that I receive another (useless) email from Craftsy where they basically say that the only way to deal with the VAT issue is through Paypal, but that Paypal system doesn't work properly and that everything is outside Craftsy control. They suggest to either deal with the issue on our own or remove the patterns from the marketplace. Very very helpful! (sarcasm). Since that was just a "standard" email they sent to everybody, I replied that due to their inability to support small independent designers I already deleted all my patterns and that I was not planning to buy anything any more from their platform or even use it to share things for free. I then said that they didn't even answer to my initial question about what happens to people that bought my patterns once I delete them from my store. They answered that whoever bought the pattern will have it in their account and that's it... not even a "we are sorry that we couldn't help you" or "we are trying to work on the issue to give better answer" or "we are doing our best, and we are sorry to lose you as customer", nothing... wow, I guess that since they have so many people "hooked" with the "free platform" illusion, they really don't care if they lose some people/business. 

I guess many people chose the "blue pill"... I just took the "red pill" and now I see "how deep the rabbit hole goes" (citation) :)

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And now what are YOU going to link?

An InLinkz Link-up

Last things from 2014 (and linky party)

And we are back with our weekly linky party (MOP Monday) for 2015!

I made a list of projects that I plan to tackle this year, but today let me share few blocks that I have been working on during these last couple of weeks. 

Two of my blocks have been tested by two talented ladies.

Josephine included my Mickey and Minnie block in a wonderful set of quilts for very lucky kids!!

This is her version of the block.

The pattern is available in my MickeyM, DonaldD, Alice page

Bea (from beaquilter.com) tested one of my Peanuts block (Franklin) and she is also hosting an entire year of fun with my Peanuts blocks! Join her every 10th of the month for some community BOM fun!!

Franklin's pattern is now available in my free patterns page.

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And finally, during the holidays, no machine sewing time meant embroidery time!

So not one, not two but three new blocks for my SK project have been added to my collection!

-- It --

-- Misery --

-- Revival --

You can find them all in my The SK Project page.

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Now what are YOU going to link?

An InLinkz Link-up

MOP Monday - giveaway cntd

A new giveaway started last week and I've got no entries in my linky party for that :(
But this means that your chances are much higher now, since it is going to run for other 3 weeks ;)

These are the rules:
- to participate in the giveaway you have to link a post of your blog on my MOP Monday linky party (at the end of this post) OR send me an email with your block (see later for details)
- each link added will give you one entry
- if you share one of the blocks designed by me, you get 2 entries!! and if the block is one of the untested ones, you get 3 entries!! :)
- if you want to share one of my blocks and you don't have a blog, you can send me an email and I will add the link to the linky party for you. My email is in all my patterns!
- if you guess which city is the one depicted in the placemat on the background of the giveaway image I will add an extra bonus fat quarter ;) just write it in the comment below or send me an email (note: I will not publish the comments with the answers to avoid helping others ;) )
- links must be "new" (any date after Aug 15th is fine)
- the standard MOP Monday opening/closing time applies (the collection usually opens on Sat or Sun and is open until next Tue 12:05 pm EST)
- the giveaway will be running for 4 MOP Mondays and the winner will be announced around Sep 10
- I reserve the right to delete non-relevant links and/or exclude them from the count in the giveaway
- following my blog and commenting on other links is not required, but is greatly appreciated!!
- the giveaway is open to everyone, international entries are welcome (as well as US ones)!!

And now, for My Own Progress:

-- MOP: The list --

1. the SK project - 1 new block! (see below)
2. Rainbow Starburst - 1 block done (see below)
3. Topolino quilt - 1 block done (see below)
4. Reversible sewing machine cover - no progress
5. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - no progress (progress last week)
6. College Days Blog Hop blocks for tote/grocery bag - no progress
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7. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
8. As You Wish - no progress
9. Happy Halloween wall hanging - no progress
10. Crazy optical illusion - started few blocks... let's see how it goes...
11. Birthday wall hanging - Dooooone!  (this is my project for A Lovely Year of Finishes (August))

-- MOP: This week new blocks --
Third corner block ready!! And I also started the sashing on few others. Maybe next week I will have all the blocks on my design wall and maybe even the full quilt top pieced... who knows, we'll see!!

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And for my "Topolino" quilt, the sweet Daisy Duck is ready! She is calling her boyfriend that (as we saw few weeks ago) is always napping and kind of late ;)

The pattern is available in my "MickeyM, DonalD, Alice" page
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I came up with this project because I needed a small handmade present for my boyfriend's birthday and I know that he likes the "Evil Eye". If you have ever seen the jewelry and other objects using this concept, they are inherently irregular so I felt that was the perfect opportunity for me to try to play around with my machine & color thread. So this is the result:

The big "beads" are applique, the small ones are just "thread painted"... I didn't use any particular technique or tutorial, I just kept moving my fabric around until the part that I wanted to color was filled. This created a lot of knots and build-up of thread, but that was exactly the point, so that the small beads are kind of 3D.
I like how it turned out... but I think that thread painting is not for me, I prefer simple piecing (well, paper piecing technically). 
This is my project for A Lovely Year of Finishes (August)
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The blocks for my SK project keep coming!! :) I am super happy about all of them!!
As usual I will also share this design through Summer of Stitches (on Fandom in Stitches) for the theme "I <3 books"... again another great opening line :)
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The Eyes of the Dragon
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Pattern available on "The SK project" page

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And now, link YOUR own progresses below!!
Links for the giveaway: dated after Aug 15
Rules for the linky party:
1. You can link finished projects or WIP at any stage! Every step is worth sharing
   (A journey of thousand miles is made of single steps)!
2. Link to your specific post to make it easier for others to read about your progress!
3. Spread the word and post my button or a text link (code for the button on the side bar)
4. Comment on other links!! It's always good to support each other every step of the way!! :)

An InLinkz Link-up