Happy Halloween, GREAT progress for me (and a link party)

I cannot believe that last night I actually finished my Happy Halloween wall hanging!!!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - good progress on Nov project
2. Block Swap Adventure - waiting for November swap
3. Charity quilts - cut several pieces for next quilt
4. Happy Halloween wall hanging - DOOOOOOONE (see below)
   This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Oct)
5. Zipper pouches - paused for a while
6. Americana QAL - waiting for Nov pattern
7. Applique pictures - no progress
8. Adam's wall hanging - "background" done (sneak peek below)
9. 2016 QAL (secret) - all blocks designed, more documents ready for future share!
10. Xmas decorations for cards - more done!! (see below)
11. Sweet birds - done! (see below)
12. Allietare QAL - Bonnie Hunter announced the next QAL. I like the colors and the theme so I may give it a try! It will start at the end of next month, but it's good to have it on this list so I don't forget!! :)
13. Spur of the moment, flatware boxes! (see below)
14. Gloves or similar: have the yarn and pattern
    
    This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Nov)
    

The EverythingElse List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
3. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
4. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
5. the Ender project - no progress
6. Embroidery calendar - no progress
7. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - paused for a while
8. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
9. As You Wish -  no progress
10. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
11. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
12. B quilt - no progress

--
I needed few extra tapestry crochet ornaments for my Xmas card!

non-English pattern, but the schema is available treadyarknot

--
I finished the "background" part of the mini I am making for Adam Lister's daughter.

Sneak Peek :)

I absolutely love how it's turning out! I think I was able to integrate my style with his and with tastes of a cute 1 year old :)

--
Another project of my long Q4 list, done (project 8. on the list)!

Birds from "Sweet Tweets (by Erin Cox)

I really like this project! It was the first project after the long break of last week, and I wanted something easy to sew to get me back on the horse/machine!

The initial plan was to make just a couple of pieces and connect them (the center piece) but I couldn't stop! Waaaaay tooooooo cute!! :) :) :)

I didn't follow the measures in the pattern exactly but I got the inspiration from there!

This was also the first time I ever try to make a blanket stitch by hand to use it as base for the crochet edge: I loooove this look! I see it happening again on many small pieces! Plus she says to use embroidery floss (all six strands) and I realized that's a genius idea to use the floss I really don't like for embroidery (like the variegated colors) as they will work out wonderful in a crochet border!!

--
And I have actually another project of my long Q4 list, done (project 1. on the list)!
(FlickR link for future linkup)

My loooong overdue Halloween/Christmas wall hanging! 

This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Oct)

Halloween/Christmas wall hanging (44''x39'')

You can read more about this project in these previous posts:
1. Horror story about FMQ
2. All patterns and link to designers
3. Modern Tree QAL (October 2013... TWO years AGO O_o)

I am extremely happy that last night I waved in the last piece of thread and I can call it DONE!
The quilting is plain terrible (see the point 1. above) but I cannot see it neither from a galloping horse nor from the couch :) so I am happy and proud of displaying the piece for Halloween today and later this year for Christmas!

I learned many many lessons from this piece so we can call it a success in this sense!!
--
Yesterday I also bought some new flatware... and I didn't have more those little boxes for my drawer.
So what does a crafty person do? Go to the dollar store and by more boxes? Of course NOT!
I made two boxes with fabric :)

Size: 10'' x 3'' x 2.5''

I just worked them out as I went... no pattern and few mistakes, but they just have to stay in my drawer so I don't care :) Plus I used some cute Xmas fabric so now I have a themed and cheerful flatware drawer!!

--
And last, but not least, I want to remind you that I am working on charity quilts,
and I would love your help!! 

Quilts are for a quilt drive to help the kids in the DC General Homeless Shelter. 

And you can help me by donating orphan blocks, partial blocks, or fabric (scraps, strips, leftover, uglies, whatever). 

If you are willing to mail them to me, I could use them to make more quilts for these kids!!! 

If you are up for a loving donation, please send me an email at tweloq[_at_]gmail[dot_com] or leave a comment here with your email address so I could give you my mailing address. I promise that your donation will be used to make some kids happy and feel more loved!! 

I don't have finishes to report as I was hoping, but I cut several pieces for the next quilt so I guess I am back in the making!!

--

LAST LAST THING! :)

Go and vote for your favorite quilts at the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

This year they are all in one page (which is great I think), but the page may take a while to load, so be patient!! I have two quilts (Vincent in two categories, and Flying Geese in one).

If you want to go and show them some love they would be very happy :)

This year if you refresh the page after you voted, you will see the total number of people that voted for all the entries. Mine are always in the bottom of the pile :( oh well, I like what I do even if very few other people share this with me :) and there are many more "traditional" quilts that are pretty amazing and it's obvious that they get more votes! So that's ok, that's life!

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Halloween Haunts Blog Hop!

The spoooky season is here!!  Isn't this a wonderful season to make cute and spooky craft projects to decorate our homes? If you are new around here, welcome! If you have been here before, I am glad that you came back!!! :) If you are new here feel free to look around and you will find tons of FREE paper piecing patterns of very famous cartoon characters! :) And do you know that I have been running a fun series of tutorials call Stretch Your Skills where every month we learn a new skill, with a simple and finished little project?!?

From Foundation Paper Piecing, to Applique, to Crochet, to Quilting, to Design and Software!! You can download all the tutorials from the series page and there is still time to enter your projects for a final giveaway mystery prize!!

This is the project I made for the hop:

Spooky Hoopy Art

The Nightmare Before Christmas

I had this big quilting hoop for a while and it makes the perfect frame for a cute cross stitching pattern I designed from a scene of "The Nightmare Before Christmas". If you want to make one of these for yourself, you can download the pdf pattern for the cross stitching piece below. Click here to download the pattern!
And you know what? The blog hop has a daily giveaway too!! A $25.00 gift certificate from the Fat Quarter Shop each day of the hop!! It is a daily giveaway, the winners will be announced each day of the hop (one entry per day, not per blog). Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Oh, and just because it's Halloween, I want to share a recent pattern that I created in response to a "Halloween Fandom Pattern" challenge over at Fandom In Stitches

Peanuts Pumpkin!

This little coaster is the third project I complete for my long Q4 list of projects (project 15. in the list)!
Now, just hop over the other wonderful projects showcased today!! Alida (Tweety Loves Quilting) - http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com (You are here) Agnes (Dachies with Moxie) - http://dachsieswithmoxie.blogspot.com Catherine (Cate's Place) - http://cateslinens.blogspot.com Abbi Howatt (Feather Your Nest) - http://featheryournestquiltstore.com/ Comments are moderated so they won't appear right away. However I answer every single comment within 24 hours, if it's a no-reply blogger! :)

Happy Halloween: a horror story of FMQ (and a link party)

Horror story about my experience with free motion quilting (FMQ)...

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - waiting for Oct project
2. Block Swap Adventure - waiting for Oct project
3. Charity quilts - second quilt done! (see below)
4. Happy Halloween wall hanging - started quilting, horror story! (see below)
   This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Oct)
5. Zipper pouches - paused for a while
6. Americana QAL - waiting for Oct project
7. Applique pictures - new project, done designing

The EverythingElse List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
3. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
4. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
5. the Ender project - no progress
6. Embroidery calendar - no progress
7. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - paused for a while
8. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
9. As You Wish -  no progress
10. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
11. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
12. B quilt - no progress

--
Jennifer put a call for designers to design a Halloween fandom piece and I couldn't pass on that!
I was so inspired that in a day I designed the block and tested it!

Peanuts in a Pumpkin

One patterns, two different characters! Just switching the color and the embroidery details!

More Fandom/Halloween patterns will be shared on Oct 31st on Fandom in Stitches, so make sure to stop by and see many new cool designs!!

--
Happy Halloween wall hanging. This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Oct).
I finished the last block

Pattern by Janeen (with colors changed to get a calico look)

Pumpkin is posing next to her fabric portrait :)

Until here, everything was fine, 

Actually it was great, because I completed all the blocks and I could go on and assemble the top. That went pretty smoothly too (even if I calculated the overall size wrong and I had to rearrange a little bit my blocks from the original plans).

And then the horror begins...
Since I wanted to get more practice on FMQ (I started with the quilt below and went pretty well) I decided to use this piece to keep practicing! Since it's a wall hanging for us and doesn't have to be perfect after all...

As you can see in the picture, there are a ton of heavily PP blocks with bulky seams everywhere... I didn't think that would be such a big problem if I go slowly and try to go around those areas... well... I was wrong :(

First of all I couldn't really keep a consistent speed because the foot keep getting stuck (even if I adjusted its height). This created super small stitches and super long ones... not pretty... but not the worst part either. Every 10 minutes (max) I broke a needle!! HORROR... I tried all possible things to avoid that: change direction, change speed, be more careful on where exactly I stitch, change the size of the needle... nothing made a difference :( I quilted maybe half of the piece and broke 6-7 needles. I had to stop because now I only have 2 needles in the house and I cannot afford to break another one before buying more needles!
On the good side, this forced me to change my needle, which is something I don't do quite often normally ;)

Oh well... I guess I learned the hard way why people like to quilt negative spaces or simply pieced tops! The quilting went pretty smoothly in ares where just a charm of fabric was there...
Oh well, I will practice more FMQ on my charity quilts, where I have big panels and simple piecing! I like the overall process as it's much faster than using my walking foot.

--
And last, but not least, I want to remind you that I am working on charity quilts,
and I would love your help!! 

Quilts are for a quilt drive to help the kids in the DC General Homeless Shelter. 

And you can help me by donating orphan blocks, partial blocks, or fabric (scraps, strips, leftover, uglies, whatever). 

If you are willing to mail them to me, I could use them to make more quilts for these kids!!! 

If you are up for a loving donation, please send me an email at tweloq[_at_]gmail[dot_com] or leave a comment here with your email address so I could give you my mailing address. I promise that your donation will be used to make some kids happy and feel more loved!! 

I am happy to report that I made some blocks to accompany the stars blocks donated few weeks ago! 

Star blocks donated by Dolores and 

my first try at cathedral windows by Jean (Missouri Star Quilt Co)

I already designed the rest of this quilt so we may have another baby quilt top done soon!

And another finish was added to the pile!

Size: 40'' x 40''

The first quilt I ever FMQ on!!

This was my success story in FMQ! I did meander on the bargello sections and spirals in the white corner. It turned out pretty consistent and nice for my first attempt!

The success is mainly because of the use of the best trick I read on the internet: a Teflon cookie sheet! :)

I was thinking to buy those "supreme sliders" and similar to cover my extension table and make it easy to FMQ. Reading the reviews on Amazon I realized that while people loved them, they were "complaining" about the fact that it was not fitting properly their machine and that they had to tape it down. Then one comment said something like "it's just those cheap reusable cookie sheet you get for few dollars" so I said "well... if it's just like that, why don't I buy those, cut it and tape it to my extension table and see how it goes?!?". I did that and absolutely love it! I could put the hole exactly where I wanted it, cut it to size and tape it to be stable. The good thing is that it's taped to the extension table and always ready to go, easy and fast setup for FMQ!

I tried to FMQ with my feed dog down, but I heard that it may cause issues with the stitch quality. So I decided to keep them up, even if my machine doesn't have the option of 0 stitch length. The solution was simple: just add some layers of cookie sheet/tape on the back to cover the mat and protect it from getting eaten up by the feed dog! Of course this is not a permanent solution, but it serves the purpose and since the hole is easy accessible from the back of the extension table, changing the broken tape is not a big deal! Using this method I got more consistent stitching and I was having fun FMQ (at least before the horror story on the other piece ;) )

--

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)

Sunday I had wonderful progress... then I got hit by a cold :( oh, well, some progress was made anyway!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - working on SYS tutorials, waiting for Oct project
2. Block Swap Adventure - waiting for Oct project
3. Charity quilts - another quilt top done! (see below)
4. Happy Halloween wall hanging - one block done! (see below)
   This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Sept)
5. Zipper pouches - paused for a while
6. Americana QAL - Sept block done (see below)
7. Applique pictures - new project, started designing

The EverythingElse List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
3. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
4. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
5. the Ender project - no progress
6. Embroidery calendar - no progress
7. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - paused for a while
8. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
9. As You Wish -  no progress
10. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
11. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
12. B quilt - no progress

--
September block for my Americana QAL is a Sunbonnet Sue, my first applique try at this very traditional block!

Pattern by Deana

Americana QAL

--
Happy Halloween wall hanging. This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Sept).

One more block done... just one last cat block is missing!!

Pattern by Sonja (with slight changes to include tuxedo look)

Halloween Kitty

--
And last, but not least, I want to remind you that I am working on charity quilts,
and I would love your help!! 

Quilts are for a quilt drive to help the kids in the DC General Homeless Shelter. 

And you can help me by donating orphan blocks, partial blocks, or fabric (scraps, strips, leftover, uglies, whatever). 

If you are willing to mail them to me, I could use them to make more quilts for these kids!!! 

If you are up for a loving donation, please send me an email at tweloq[_at_]gmail[dot_com] or leave a comment here with your email address so I could give you my mailing address. I promise that your donation will be used to make some kids happy and feel more loved!! 

I am happy to report that I received a great donation from Gigi! 

Orphan blocks that are going to find their ways into future charity quilts!

And I already used some of last week donation: I cut some of the fabric in 10 inches square and tried another of Jean's block from a video tutorial!

Disappearing Hourglass (Missouri Star Quilt Co)

After making those blocks I couldn't stop and I pieced together another top (the first toddler size)!

 about 40''x60''

(I know, the piece needs ironing ;) )

I really like using these big prints as they make a full quilt top come together super fast!!

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Amazing progress, a lot to report (and a link party)

This week has been great! Let's get down to the updates!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - working on SYS tutorials, waiting for Oct project
2. Block Swap Adventure - received my August block from Sue (no picture)
3. Charity quilts - one quilt done! another top done! (see below)
4. Happy Halloween wall hanging - two blocks done! (see below)
   This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Sept)
5. Zipper pouches - one pouch done! (see below)
6. Americana QAL - received Sept pattern, need to work on that
7. Applique pictures - new project, started designing

The EverythingElse List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
3. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
4. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
5. the Ender project - no progress
6. Embroidery calendar - no progress
7. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - paused for a while
8. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
9. As You Wish -  no progress
10. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
11. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
12. B quilt - no progress

--
Happy Halloween wall hanging. This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Sept).
The last wizards/witches are done! Now just two cat blocks are missing and then I will have all the pieces to compose my final layout!

Patterns by Jennifer @ Sewhooked

Harry Potter and Sunbonnet Sue 

--
I made another zipper pouch (birthday present). Isn't this cute? Perfect little pouch to feature cute fabric... and it's pretty easy too!!

Cat-eye zipper pouch (8'' x 5.5'')

--

And last, but not least, I want to remind you that I am working on charity quilts,

and I would love your help!! 

Quilts are for a quilt drive to help the kids in the DC General Homeless Shelter. 

And you can help me by donating orphan blocks, partial blocks, or fabric (scraps, strips, leftover, uglies, whatever). 

If you are willing to mail them to me, I could use them to make more quilts for these kids!!! 

If you are up for a loving donation, please send me an email at tweloq[_at_]gmail[dot_com] or leave a comment here with your email address so I could give you my mailing address. I promise that your donation will be used to make some kids happy and feel more loved!! 

I am happy to report that I received two wonderful donations from Diana and Kaelyn! Look at the amount of fabric/thread goodness that now I can use!! (and yes, my sewing helper tested the donation for comfort and coziness and I am happy to report that the donation received maximum marks and now I can go on and start planning my next quilts) :)

The panels/animal fabric donated from Cynthia already found their way in my third top:

Corner blocks: Dresdens Squared (by Missouri Star Quilt Co)

(I know, the piece needs ironing ;) )

And I didn't get just that top done this week... I also quilted and bound the top I made a month ago!

Size: 41'' x 40''

Quilted with organic lines

(Organic = I know they should have been straight and they are not, but I don't care!!) ;)

The quilt needs to be washed but it's already super pouffy and snuggly, so I am very happy about the final result!!

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Great progress, little to share (and a link party)

Working on secret projects seems to be the trend for this month. But this time at least I can share few non secret blocks too ;)

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - working on SYS tutorials, waiting for Oct project
2. Block Swap Adventure - sent and received (see below)
3. Charity quilts - tested blocks for the Teal mini, in bigger format (cannot share)
4. Happy Halloween wall hanging - four blocks done! (see below)
   This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Sept)
5. Zipper pouches - paused for a while
6. Americana QAL - received Sept pattern, need to work on that
7. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
8. Teal Mini Swap 2015 - top done! (cannot share)

The EverythingElse List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
4. the Ender project - no progress
5. Embroidery calendar - no progress
6. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - paused for a while
7. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
8. As You Wish -  no progress
9. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
10. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
11. B quilt - no progress

--
Happy Halloween wall hanging. This is my project for "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (Sept).
Apparently I cannot spell (or count) as I realized that two letters were missing :) now I have all of them and a couple of extra blocks too.

Patterns by Jennifer @ Sewhooked

Harry Potter and Sunbonnet Sue 

If I am not mistaken, now I miss two wizards and two cats and then I have all the blocks I need!
Let's see if I can have the top done for next week!
--
Jen (my partner for the Block Swap Adventure) requested a star in yellow/green batik and this is what I made for her

Picnic Pinwheel (by Patch & Chels)

I am not a big fan of batiks nor stars, but I think this block turned out pretty cute!!

--

And last, but not least, I want to remind you that I am working on charity quilts,

and I would love your help!! 

Quilts are for a quilt drive to help the kids in the DC General Homeless Shelter. 

And you can help me by donating orphan blocks, partial blocks, or fabric (scraps, strips, leftover, uglies, whatever). 

If you are willing to mail them to me, I could use them to make more quilts for these kids!!! 

If you are up for a loving donation, please send me an email at tweloq[_at_]gmail[dot_com] or leave a comment here with your email address so I could give you my mailing address. I promise that your donation will be used to make some kids happy and feel more loved!! 

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crossing things of my lists (and a link party)

Help!! I have a new obsession and I need someone to stop me ;)

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - finished August project (cannot share yet)
2. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
3. D wall hanging - no progress
4. Block Swap Adventure - my partner replied, I will make the block this week
5. the SK project - no progress
6. Tiny Quilt Challenge (American Made Brand) - cut and fused few shapes
7. Zipper pouches - no progress
8. the Ender project - cut next color
9. Geese project - ordered fabric
10. Dresden project - dooooone (see below)
11. Americana QAL - 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 -  3 blocks done (see below)
8. Crazy optical illusion -  no progress
9. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
10. B quilt - no progress

--
Three more blocks are done for my Halloween Wall hanging it has been in the UFO list for probably two years... that's why I put it on my Q3 list for the Finish-Along!

Patterns by Jennifer, Harry Potter's Alphabet

--

The SYS Skill for next month is Cross Stitching: this is not a secret, but the actual project for the tutorial is very cute and I cannot share it.

Since I never tried cross stitch before, I decided to start with a small project from one of those kits to "teach a craft to your kid" :)

I really like this technique!! It's just so simple, so quite and so portable! Sure it takes a while to cover a "big" space, but for small projects or add "accents" to quilts (see below) it's just too cute!!

(right) my first ever cross stitch project (from a kit)!

(left) I reproduced the cross stitch pattern on a smaller aida (14 counts instead of 11) and added as the perfect accent for my dresden wall hanging!!

And the Dresden Plate wall hanging is also full of "first try":

1. first time I add a cross stitch pattern to a quilted project
2. first time I use a Dresden ruler (bought with a coupon I won in a past giveaway)
3. first time I use jelly rolls (again bought with a coupon I won)... I really like how two very different styles of fabric (batiks and prints) add interest and blend together. And the jelly rolls were very easy to use with the ruler: I assembled the dresden in a snap!!
4. first time I use the "wave" stitch on my machine to quilt... much better effect than FMQ!!!
5. first time I use a blanket stitch (to secure the center): really love the effect, I didn't have a blanket stitch on my previous machine, but now I see more applique with this technique in my future

And as a final note: I didn't measure the center of the dresden nor the kitten pattern: they came out with the perfect size for each other by chance! The Universe sometimes makes everything fit to place perfectly, don't you think??

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

HELP! I need someone to stop me! (and a link party)

Help!! I have a new obsession and I need someone to stop me ;)

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - no progress
2. Mirror Mirror Afghan - added few rows on the current block
3. D wall hanging - assembled the top! (see below)
4. Block Swap Adventure - no progress, my partner is not responsive :(
5. the SK project - done one block (see below)
6. Tiny Quilt Challenge (American Made Brand) - no progress
7. Zipper pouches - dooooone (more than expected, see below)
8. the Ender project - three more blocks done (see below)
9. Geese project - no progress
10. Dresden project - no progress
11. Americana QAL - new project! (see below)

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 -  3 blocks done (see below)
8. Crazy optical illusion -  no progress
9. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
10. B quilt - no progress

--
My plan to "End" the madness in my overflowing bags of scraps with Bonnie Hunter's Leader and Ender project (with tumblers) is in full swing!

If three weeks ago you told me I would cut and assemble 350 2 inches tumblers I would have told you are insane! But apparently that's what I did! And I had fun doing it!
I think the trick is that I don't cut them all at once, nor assemble them all at once... I cut few, assemble few, and before I know it I have 7 colors done!

I also already planned the setting and bought the sashing... so stay tuned for more tumblers ;)

--

And I am back with my Stephen King project!

My lunch breaks are put to good use ;)

Opening line of "11/22/63"

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

--

I finally was able to assemble the D wall hanging! Now only the embroidery in some block is missing and then it's ready to be quilted!!

--

Three more blocks are done for my Halloween Wall hanging it has been in the UFO list for probably two years... that's why I put it on my Q3 list for the Finish-Along!

Patterns by Jennifer, Harry Potter's Alphabet

--

And speaking about new...

If someone has already 20 projects on her list, what would a natural thing to do? Add one more of course!! :)

Deana (over at dodmystery.blogspot.com) is hosting 2 QAL and one really caught my eyes because I could see using those blocks together with some orphan blocks that have been in my drawers for too long!! I am not making Deana's row quilt, but this is the first installment of the Americana QAL for me! 

After careful inspection, my sewing helper said that it's ok if I chopped of few points of the stars... the blocks still makes a nice blanket for summer naps!! :) :)

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And finally... this is where I need your help!

PLEASE STOP ME!!! :)

I have been planning to try the Sew Together Bag (by Michelle), and using up my big stash of selvage seemed to be the perfect occasion. However I was scared that the bag was going to be too complicated so I postponed the project until I came across this variation by Elizabeth (Mini Sew Together Bag): this seemed to be perfect, as it's smaller, less waste in case it came out horrible or I hated the bag! :)

I already purchased Michelle pattern so I was ready to go...

From my cry for help, you may have already guessed that I don't just love this pattern (and its smaller variation) but I am completely obsessed with it!!! :)

I didn't just make 2 small one as initially planned... I actually made THREE small ones, already prepared the pieces for the fourth (big) one and planned FIVE more small and ONE more big :)

Yes, this is my go-to Xmas present for this year :)

Project for Q3 finish-along (full list of Q3 projects here)!

I experimented different things for the outside piece with my selvages! Using just the text part, using just the colorful dot parts, using text and the fabric attached to the selvage, arranging it with an angle, etc. I have several more variations planned! It's so fun to play with these ideas and have a little complete projects ready to gift!

Plus the bag is really great! Even the small version, is pretty big and it can be used to hold a pin cushion, thread, pins, markers, scissors, machine feet right next to your work station!! And then you take the pin cushion out, zip it up and it's ready for your trip to quilting retreat!

Or you can use it to hold any on-the-go project (embroidery, english paper piecing, cross stitching) or to have all your cables and charges neatly stored and ready for travel!

You will see more of these in the near future!

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Great progress this week (and a link party)

I had great progress on several projects of my list! even a finish!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - no progress
2. Mirror Mirror Afghan - added few rows on the current block
3. Water Lilies (Spangled Stars Quilt-along) - doooooone (see below)
4. D wall hanging -  last block done (see below)
5. Block Swap Adventure - no progress, my partner is not responsive :(
6. the SK project - done one block (see below)
7. Tiny Quilt Challenge (American Made Brand) - printed all the pieces
8. Zipper pouches - cut pieces for one pouch
9. the Ender project - two blocks done and few ready to assemble (see below)
10. Geese project - new project, need to design
11. Dresden project - new project, need to design

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 -  3 blocks done (see below)
8. Crazy optical illusion -  no progress
9. Memory quilt 2 - printed grid for next block
10. B quilt - no progress

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My plan to "End" the madness in my overflowing bags of scraps with Bonnie Hunter's Leader and Ender project (with tumblers) is in full swing!

And since RSC15 color for this month is red I choose to attack the Red and Pink bags first. And Purple and Light Green are ready to be assembled (I don't have enough Dark Green for now, but I will probably in few months).

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And I am back with my Stephen King project!

My lunch breaks are put to good use ;)

Opening line of "The Wind Through the Keyhole"

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

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The final block for my D wall hanging is done!

It's the house in the mountain that my family has, and it's the place where this wall hanging is going to be displayed :)

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I cannot believe that I am back to this project... it has been in the UFO list for probably two years... that's why I put it on my Q3 list for the Finish-Along!

Patterns by Jennifer, Harry Potter's Alphabet

I started with the easiest blocks just to get my momentum going... lol :)

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And last, but not least, I finished my Water Lilies

Water Lilies (68''x74'', with 2 colors scrappy binding)

Original design by Susan,

Color inspiration: Water Lilies Red, Claude Monet, 1914

You can click on the image to zoom in. And of course you can see my little helper enjoying some well deserved treats after the long hours of piecing, quilting and binding ;)

Project for Q3 finish-along (full list of Q3 projects here)!

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up