2015 Finish along - my finishes!

This was the status of the projects that I picked for the second quarter of the 2015 Finish-Along over at On the Windy side (link number 98, posted on my blog at the following link)!

My goal was actually to finish 3 of them and at least start putting together the forth project (for which I only picked the fabric and the pattern at that time).

I have to proudly report that I finished the 3 project I was planning, and I have about 80% of the forth project done as well!!

These are the finishes I will link in the finishes post:

- 1 -
Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM
Finished project shared on April 25, 2015
(but I am using the current post for the link party as the second project was shared the same day ;) )

- 2 -
Sewing machine cover
Finished project shared on April 25, 2015

- 3 -
SYS 2015 pixel project
Finished project shared on May 30, 2015

- 4 -
D wall hanging
This is not a finished project (it will roll over to the next quarter) but I will share it with you anyway ;)

Finishes and new beginnings (and a link party)

I am done with the pixel block with thousands of tiny squares! And started new projects too!!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - doooone!! Cannot share yet, but this is sooo cool!!
2. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
3. Water Lilies (Spangled Stars Quilt-along) - basted and ready to quilt
4. D wall hanging -  2 blocks done (see below)
5. Block Swap Adventure - paused until next month
6. the SK project - no progress
7. NEW - Tiny Quilt Challenge (American Made Brand) - designed one quilt, waiting for the fabric... I won't be able to share the final project (maybe more than one) until October, but I will show some sneak peeks as soon as I started putting the project together!!

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 - finished Stan!!! (see below)
10. B quilt - no progress

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Two more blocks for my D wall hanging: the tree is by Jennifer (Sewhooked), pattern called "Topsy-Turvy Trees", the sleeping cat is by Maureen

And this are all the blocks for the wall hanging! Only the panel block in the middle is missing (and some embroidery details here and there ;) )

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I finished Stan's block!!
If you don't know who Stan is, you MUST check out this video



He is the most hilarious pixel character ever designed ;) I absolutely love how he keeps moving his arms and the plaid jacket is static!! :) :) old school animation!!

Anyway, I made it following Susan tutorial for the SYS series (with my own twists, as I didn't want to cut the 1050 squares, 1 inch unfinished, that compose the piece).

Final size:17''x19'', 1050 squares... 

should I repeat that? One THOUSAND and FIFTY squares :)
and yes, there is a mistake: the two bottom rows are upside down :(
I won't fix it, I think I will let it go ;)

That is NOT a giant penny... those are tiny squares, about 0.5 inches finished!!

I absolutely love this block! And I am ready to make another one of the same size for another character from the Secret of Monkey Island...
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Finally, I mentioned that I will enter at least one entry in the Tiny Quilt Challenge (American Made Brand): I won't be able to show the quilt, but this is the bundle of colors I will be using!

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Pixelling on (and a link party)

A new pixel quilt is in progress... and it's tiny!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - started next project!
2. Mirror Mirror Afghan - next block started
3. Water Lilies (Spangled Stars Quilt-along) - backing pieced (see below)
4. D wall hanging -  4 blocks done (see below)
5. Block Swap Adventure - paused until next month
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 - new block started!! (see below)
10. B quilt - no progress

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Susan (quiltfabrication.blogspot.com) is hosting a fun Quilt Along (Spangled Stars)!!
Last week I finished the top, but I realized the piece of fabric I wanted to use for the back was just not wide enough :( So what did I do? I decided to use some of the blocks I received in my Block Swap Adventure swap and add them on the back! I picked the blocks that didn't fit too well with the others I have... nothing wrong with these blocks, but they are just not the right color or motif to play well with others... but they are great in a scrappy sampler pieced back, right?

--

Few more blocks for my D wall hanging! 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!

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And last, but not least I am making Stan for my Memory quilt 2!
If you don't know who Stan is, you MUST check out this video



He is the most hilarious pixel character ever designed ;) I absolutely love how he keeps moving his arms and the plaid jacket is static!! :) :) old school animation!!

Anyway, I made it following Susan tutorial for the SYS series (with my own twists, as I didn't want to cut the 1050 squares, 1 inch unfinished, that compose the piece).

That is NOT a giant penny... those are tiny squares, 0.5 inches finished!!

I am very excited to see this block completed!!

--

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Playing catch up (and a link party)

I am baaaaaaaaaack!

Visitors in the house are fun... but they leave no time for sewing :) so I am a little behind with several projects, but I am catching up!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - done the next object (cannot share)!
2. SYS2015, current project - bag done (see below) this is my project for A Lovely Year of Finishes - May
3. Block Swap Adventure - April and May blocks done (see below)
4. Mirror Mirror Afghan - 2 blocks done, started the 'main panel' but will share that next week
5. Water Lilies (Spangled Stars Quilt-along) - done with this week task (see below)
6. D wall hanging -  no progress
7. B quilt - no progress
8. 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.

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Susan (quiltfabrication.blogspot.com) is hosting a fun Quilt Along (Spangled Stars)!! I wanted to join but the QAL started exactly during my time off-sewing so I need to catch up with them! But I completed this week task!

As I don't have a design wall here in my living room, I tried to use my sewing helper as a design wall ;). It worked out fine, except that a couple of times I had to chase my blocks around the house :D :D

After that incident I decided that maybe a virtual design wall is a better choice ;)
So below you can see the overall design and my progress!

So this is my current plan

Original design by Susan,

my current draft: modified layout for colors/size

I named this quilt "Water Lilies" because it reminds me of Monet's paintings of Water Lilies (the one below in particular). I hope the final effect of gradient and scrappyiness will work... we'll see!!

Water Lilies Red, Claude Monet, 1914

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And I just received the two prizes I won in Sew Mama Sew giveaway days!

From Leo

From Stacey

The green fabric has already put to good use in the Water Lilies quilt ;) the clothing book is something I will read and see if I am brave enough to try some of those pieces (they look all very cool)

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Progress on my Mirror Mirror Afghan (using the tapestry crochet technique)

I really like this project, it is the perfect activity to do at night watching tv! And since it's going to be a sampler afghan, I can really play around with colors and designs!!

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Blocks for the Block Swap Adventure are flying in and out :)
Top: the ones I received from Debra (left) and Kerry (right)

Bottom: the ones I sent to Debra (left) and Kerry (right)

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And last, but not least... I finished my Pixel Bag!! YEEEEEAH!!! My goal was to finish it by the end of May and I made it!! I am soooooooooo in love with my new beach bag!!
Of course, I couldn't simply follow the instructions that Susan gave us for the SYS2015 May project. I made a single strap (instead of two) and I made it adjustable because when we are carrying thing to the beach sometimes two hands are not enough, so cross body may be easy to have!
And the thing I hate in bags is when you cannot close them! so I added a recessed zipper: first time ever, I am pretty happy with the result... I followed a tutorial, made few mistakes but I think it turned out just fine!!

The bag is really big!! (20''x20''x6'')

Top: the two sides of the bag

Bottom (left): inside you can fit two bottles, a little lunch insulated box, towels and there is a lot more space to get a quilt inside too!! 

Bottom (right): the recessed zipper and the adjustable strap. The lining is home decor fabric.

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

An InLinkz Link-up

SYS 2015 - Concluding remarks on pixel quilts

At the beginning of the month Susan shared an amazing tutorial for a pixel bag to stretch your skills in stitching small squares :).
You can find the tutorial on the SYS2015 page!

So have you been enjoying this technique?

I absolutely love it! And I already planned a couple of future project that will use this approach.

I will go down to 1'' square UNfinished (meaning 0.5'' finished! yes! isn't it crazy!?! stay tuned to see how it turns out) ;)

So get your squares together and add YOUR projects to the link party!!

Remember that in this link party only projects belonging to the SYS2015 series should be added 

(I reserve the right to delete any non compliant link). 

This link party will be open all year long and you can add as many finished projects as you want! 

The same link party will be shown on the SYS2015 page.

Each link will give you a chance to win one of the monthly prizes.

For this month in order to be eligible for prizes, you are asked to make a pixel project of any size and any design!

For the first entry, you can enter the piece in the stage of a finished top piece (so just with all your squares assembled). For a second entry, you can enter a completed object: it can be a bag (as suggested in the tutorial) or any other object. For example you can use Janeen's tutorial to turn your pixel project into a pillow, or the tutorial I suggested to turn it into a fabric box!). 

Get creative and have fun!!

You can still link up blocks and projects from the Foundation Paper Piecing, Quilting and Crochet tutorials!!

For rules about what will be accepted in those cases, please refer to this previous post (Tutorial 1), this other post (Tutorial 2) and this other post (Tutorial 3).

This month the prize is offered by me and it is...

Mystery! Surprise ;)

It will be something related to crafts that we did or we will do in the series. 

Things that the winner could put to good use!! 

I will draw a winner (using random.org) on June 3rd between all the new entries in the link party. 

International participants are welcome!!

An InLinkz Link-up

SYS 2015 - New prize announced (kind of)

Last week Susan shared an amazing tutorial for a pixel bag to stretch your skills in stitching small squares :).
You can find the tutorial on the SYS2015 page!

My project is almost done, and I have few other tips, learned after we put together the tutorial ;) 

I will share those with you next week (with maybe also my finished project... not sure, let's see)!

But what are YOU making? Let's get the party started!!

Remember that in this link party only projects belonging to the SYS2015 series should be added 

(I reserve the right to delete any non compliant link). 

This link party will be open all year long and you can add as many finished projects as you want! 

The same link party will be shown on the SYS2015 page.

Each link will give you a chance to win one of the monthly prizes.

For this month in order to be eligible for prizes, you are asked to make a pixel project of any size and any design!

For the first entry, you can enter the piece in the stage of a finished top piece (so just with all your squares assembled). For a second entry, you can enter a completed object: it can be a bag (as suggested in the tutorial) or any other object. For example you can use Janeen's tutorial to turn your pixel project into a pillow, or the tutorial I suggested to turn it into a fabric box!). 

You can still link up blocks and projects from the Foundation Paper Piecing, Quilting and Crochet tutorials!!

For rules about what will be accepted in those cases, please refer to this previous post (Tutorial 1), this other post (Tutorial 2) and this other post (Tutorial 3).

This month the prize is offered by me and it is...

Mystery! Surprise!

It will be something related to crafts that we did or we will do in the series. 

Things that the winner could put to good use!! 

I will draw a winner (using random.org) on June 3rd between all the new entries in the link party. 

International participants are welcome!!

An InLinkz Link-up

SYS 2015 - Tutorial 4, Pixel quilt

Let's get back to our sewing machine friends!!!

This amazing fourth tutorial is brought you by the great Susan (theboredzombie).

This is the ultimate tutorial if you are interested in making any design or object with this technique.
Susan describes all the steps of the process: from which images to choose, how to make the pattern, how to calculate the fabric requirements and how to assemble your project!
As a specific object, she also guides us step by step in the construction of a wonderful bag!!

The pdf (links below) contains instructions, pattern and additional links to resources that can help you planning on your own designs. Make sure to read the full tutorial before start stitching because there are several tips and tricks that may help you along the way!

Click here to download Tutorial!

The link up for SYS2015 is still open for your Syndrome blocks, FPP projects, free motion quilting/tangle stitches pieces and crochet projects!
You can link also your pixel projects, and next week I will tell you more about the prize for this month and what kind of projects are accepted to enter for the prize.

And speaking of prizes...
Today I was supposed to draw a winner for last month giveaway...
however the are NO new entries to draw from :( :( :( :(
neither crochet projects, nor previous projects entered in the past month :( :( :( :(
Oh, well... I guess that the winner is me since the prize is going back in my stash ;) :)

All the information about the series (as well as all the previously published tutorials) will be available at
the SYS 2015 page.

If you have any question about the series, don't hesitate to contact me via email or add a comment here on my blog (and if you want an answer, make sure you are not a no-reply blogger!).

So now let's go and Stretch Our Skills!!! :)

Until next time
Happy stitching!!