Very unproductive week (and a link party)

Between being sick and a ton of snow to shovel, I didn't do much this week!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - many people keep sharing their projects!! (see below)
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - no progress
2. The SK project - no progress
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
3. Block Swap Adventure -  paused until Feb
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - no progress
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - no progress
6. Project Quilting (#3)- waiting for the announcement 
7. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL (Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles Mystery 2016) - clue 3 and 4 done! (see below)

The EverythingElse List:

1. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
2. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
3. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
4. As You Wish -  no progress
5. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
6. Memory quilt 2 - no progress

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You may remember the story behind my AMB Tiny Quilt Challenge (Vincent), where I was inspired by the work of Adam Lister and we ended up setting up a trade: I made him this 'Pigeon' wall hanging and he promised me a painting from him. It arrived this week and I temporarily hang it without a frame next to my Konfettinsky. Isn't it beautiful??

Right: Adam Lister's Café Terrace at Night (after Van Gogh)

See a close up picture on his Instagram 

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And speaking of my Vincent quilt... pictures of all the quilts entered in the exhibit have been shared!!

Check all the wonderful minis of the
Tiny Quilt Challenge Exhibit here!

Maybe you didn't get the chance to visit the Road to California show?

Here some highlights from the Road to California show!!

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I am following along with a Mystery QAL on FB. This is my progress:

Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL, clue 3 and 4

As usual, I am following my own path. For clue 3 I kept the four colors theme with the brick being a constant Mickey Mouse fabric. For clue 4 I wanted to mute down the colors and I went all neutrals. However I wanted the transition to be more "interesting" so I added HST in the nine patch! I don't know if it is going to work in the final layout, but I like what I see so that's the path I am taking! It is a very fun mystery!

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I also spend some time making some extra postage stamps 4x4 squares for the extra swaps in our Block Swap Adventure group.

I decided to play with the scrappyness and have some blocks that are neutrals and some that are dark.

I love this project because collecting 1.5'' squares and sew them up in such a simple pattern is very relaxing as it doesn't require much brain work :)

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While I cannot share pictures of the quilted Feb block of my QAL (Play with Me), I can certainly share the fact that a pretty large number of people started sharing their completed January projects!

Please click this link to visit the page with the linky and check out the amazing work of these ladies!!!

It has been so fun to see how people mix and match colors! 

If you didn't join, it's not too late!

Visit the QAL page for more details.

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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!! 

No progress here... so sad... but I plan to spend more time on this in the next couple of months. I have many pieces ready to be quilted, just need to find some inspiration!

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

AMB Tiny Quilt Challenge!

No weekly updates this week because I have been designing a lot and sewing very very very little :(

HOWEVER... I have updates for you...

Because finally I can blog about the two minis I made for AMB Tiny Quilt Challenge!

The top entries will debut at a special Road to California (2016) exhibit!

I made two minis for the challenge... and... AND... ONE WAS ACCEPTED!!!
Like WHAAAAAAAAAAT????

It's the first time I ever enter anything in any exhibit and I got in!!
I am soooooooooooo excited.

"Piet-ite Blue" and "Vincent".

So let me tell you their story!

Everything started with my obsession about Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" and the amazing work of Adam Lister (adamlistergallery.com).

When I read about the AMB challenge, the use of solids (and just solids) didn't make me very excited (I don't like solids, don't hate me please :) ). However I thought that it could be the best excuse to finally put Van Gogh's painting down to fabric! But how exactly? I started googling around images of the painting and I came across Adam's wonderful "pixellated" reproductions of classic art and famous characters. As soon as I saw his version of the painting I had the moment "That's it! That's exactly what I was looking for!". I immediately got in touch with him and he was very kind and curious to see how his art would translate into fabric!

Now the difficult part: how can I reproduce this look and keep somehow the spirit of Van Gogh's irregular impressionistic look?
Raw edge applique and thread painting look the only reasonable option!
Of course I never tried any of these technique :) but luckily July tutorial of my series "Stretch Your Skills" was exactly that! So thanks to the wonderful tips and instructions by Kristel (wipgirl) I was able to make a little practice piece that gave me the confidence I needed to attach the big project!

A lot of designing, cutting, fusing and sewing later, this is what I had!

The irregular edges of the different pieces, combined with the irregular crossing of the quilting makes the piece really "impressionist" (IMHO).
I didn't want to add any distraction with the binding, so I used a pillow case method to finish it.
And this mini WAS ACCEPTED in the 40 (out of 230 submitted) minis for the Road to California exhibit!!

After finishing this piece, however, I had a lot of solids leftovers. One day I went to visit the Phillips Collection and I saw a painting from Piet Mondrian (Composition No. III) and I realized that I could make another mini for the challenge!

Since I didn't have white as leftover but blues, I decided to play with the colors and this was the result. It's very simple and the quilting is random straight lines to echo the simple shapes that Mondrian is famous to paint.

This quilt was not accepted in the exhibit, but I still think it's pretty and it balances the impressionistic look of "Vincent"!

So if you happen to be in Ontario, CA in January, stop to visit this fun exhibit!

And if you see my mini, please send me a picture!!