Projects rolling in and out, and I need YOUR help again! (and a link party)

Last time I asked you to help me, you gave me great suggestions so I will ask you one more question (see end of the post)

The Ongoing List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - no progress, needs quilting!!
3. SYS2015 future projects - waiting May project ;)
4. Embroidery calendar - no progress
5. Color of the Year challenge - dooooone (can share only sneak peek)!!
   (this will be my March project for a Lovely Year of Finishes)
6. Mug Rug Swap - doooooone (can share only sneak peek)
7. Animal blocks for charity quilts - one block done (see below)
8. New project: ironing board cover - dooooone (see below)
9. New project: crochet slippers - one foot done 

The EverythingElse List:

1. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - no progress
2. Reversible sewing machine cover -  no progress
3. College Days Blog Hop blocks for tote/grocery bag -  no progress
4. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
5. As You Wish -  no progress
6. Happy Halloween wall hanging -  no progress
7. Crazy optical illusion -  no progress
8. D wall hanging -  no progress
9. B quilt -  no progress
10. Memory quilt 2 - no progress.

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Let's start with my two new projects: one finished and one in progress.

The finished one is this

My small ironing board needed a new cover... badly :)

This is a super quick project, I followed Melissa's tutorial to put it together but I used only one fabric instead of piecing the rainbow. The fabric I used is special because we found this big scrap of cotton in the house of out previous landlord's mom. She passed away right before we moved to our house. At that time I didn't even know what sewing meant... but for some reasons my boyfriend picked up this piece of fabric that stayed in our closet for two years. Now to honor her memory, I have a wonderful ironing board cover and soon I will use the rest for some other decorative item for my sewing space: in this way we will always remember her!

The second project is a pair of crochet slippers. It's the first time I try to make this kind of object! And I was inspired by next month's tutorial for Stretch Your Skills (spoiler alert: it does NOT have anything to do with slippers ;) but it's crochet, so it encouraged me to get my crochet hook going and to use up the extra yarn I have on hand). The foot part turned out great... I will post pictures and more details when both feet are done! ;) but I am so excited about these new small projects that are inspired by the SYS adventure! 

This is why you should try to follow along: you never know what the SYS tutorial may inspire you to do!! :) :)

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Now for the finishes that I cannot share:

Color of the Year challenge:
(this is my March project for a Lovely Year of Finishes)
I promise... it's completely done (and washed with some issues, hence the question below ;) )
But I don't want to show it just yet... waiting for the challenge to actually start!

Spring Mug Rug Swap:

I joined this swap on FB and it was super fun! Again I can only share a sneak peek because I want to be a surprise for my partner... but I used a technique that I never tried before, and I think it tuned out pretty cute! ;)

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And finally, something I can share: one more animal block for my charity quilts project!

Lion King, by Jennifer @ Sewhooked 

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Oh, and I received the blocks from my March partner from the Block Swap Adventure (Zuzana from Ireland). Aren't they cute?

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My question to you:

How do you clean color bleed stains? I soaked my Marsala mini into water to get the washable markings that I used to trace the quilting off, and some of the "marsala" fabric start bleeding! I had a color catcher in the container, but I think that those things work best in the washing machine (where the water moves around) but as the piece was still, not all the bleeding color got caught :(

It's not too much and maybe if I put the entire piece in the washing it will go away... but I was wondering if you have any trick/product to apply on the stain or in the water to help fixing the issue!

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What are YOU going to link?

An InLinkz Link-up

100, 100, 100 (with giveaway)

I am 100% back and this is my 100th post!!
So we should celebrate with a 100 squares giveaway!

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)
- each link added will give you one entry
- links must belong to a specific range of dates (I will post exactly the date range in each post, for example in this post I will count entries with dates from July 15 to July 22, included)
- 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)
- you can link more than one blog post (as long as it is in the range of the current week)
- the giveaway will be running for 4 MOP Mondays and the winner will be announced in the post on Aug 16 or 17
- 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 prize are the 100 charm squares pictured above. Not all prints are shown and they belong to different charm packs and/or random fabric from my stash

And now, for My Own Progress:

-- MOP: The list --

1. As You Wish - no progress
2. Rainbow Starburst - no progress
3. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - second July block done! (see below)
4. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
5. Happy Halloween wall hanging - no progress
6. Topolino quilt - no progress (progress last week)
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7. Blocks for Summer of Stitches (FiS) - one block done!! (see below)
8. College Days Blog Hop blocks - no progress
9. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
10. Reversible sewing machine cover - one block done but embroidery missing, printed next block
11. Iron board cover - DOOOONE (see below)

-- MOP: This week new blocks --
This is the second version of my July block from the PPV BOM.

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As usual, I couldn't follow exactly the instruction for the iron board cover because the original design called for 8 fabric, but I couldn't narrow down my choice to 8 :) It was already hard to pick the 10 I used... so I reduced the size of the rows to include more variety and this is what I have now in my sewing room...

Two of my great helpers are also in the picture (Hokie-Dokie and Pumpkin... Hokie-Dokie holds my sewing essentials, that otherwise will get lost every 5 minutes, Pumpkin was just walking by to do a quality check on my new cover: it has been approved :) )
I just looooove the "bold fabric-colorful rainbow" style of my new ironing board!! And it was pretty easy to do (the hardest part was to put it on actually ;) )
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And now, last, but not least, Jennifer is running a Summer of Stitches (on Fandom in Stitches) that encourages people to keep stitching and submitting new designs all summer long!

Few weeks ago, the theme was "I <3 books" and as soon as this theme was out, a giant project just appear in my mind! :) It is a long-term project that probably is going to take years to finish... but one block at the time, I will get there!! And I will share it here with you.

Books for me means Stephen King... I have an insane passion for all of his book and I read my first SK book when I was 9 (yes, I don't think that was exactly age appropriate, but I grew up pretty well anyway I believe). Between 9 and 12 I think I read about 50 of his books. I was going to the library with my mom and since SK books obviously were in the "Grown up" section where I couldn't go by myself, I "used" my mom to get there and to check out his books (but I was generous with my mom... I was used to tell her: you are allowed to take ONE book for yourself on your library card... the other 3 of your card are mine ;) and they were all SK).
So as soon as the theme "I <3 books" was out, I pictured a giant quilt with all (or many) of SK book covers and quotes!! :) So the first one in this long journey is not technically my favorite book, but it was one of the easiest covers, so I decided to start with this! So here IT is! :)

Pattern available on "The SK project" page

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And now, link YOUR own progresses below!!
Links for the giveaway: dated between July 15 and July 22 (included)
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