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, new projects (and a link party)

Finishes are rolling in, but the list doesn't get shorter because of new projects ;)

The Ongoing Project List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - dooooooone
   (this is my April project for a Lovely Year of Finishes)
3. SYS2015 future projects - blocks done, ready to be assembled in the object! cannot share
4. D wall hanging -  one little block done!
5. B quilt - no progress
6. Sewing machine cover -  doooooone!
7. Block Swap Adventure - nothing new for April
8. Spangled Stars Quilt-along - planned to join!

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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The Voting for the Marsala Quilt Challenge is open over @ onthewindyside! You should go there and check all those entries!! Mine is in the Mini (number 8), just in case you want to give it some love ;)

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The whole project started as the "Tea Towel Challenge" (@ sophie junction).
So I got the tea towel and I used it as the center piece. Then I reproduced the motif in the main design as paper piecing border around it.
And then the amazing Jen started her BOM (Paper Piecing Vintage). So I decided to merge the two and not following any of their rules I made my own ;)
So I didn't follow Sophie's deadline, nor Jen layout, but I really love how it turned out!!

Few notes on the finishing touches:

• I was super afraid of quilting it. Because I decided to do something I never do: use all-over designs not connected to the piecing. I was afraid that my bad skills in quilting and in picking desings would have ruined the piecing. But overcoming my fears I did it anyway and I realized that even if I used cream thread, it doesn't stand out against the blue! It just give a different texture! So fear of all-over designs is over!! :)
• I tried a nice and simple motif shared by Susan a few weeks ago. I used a simplified version and tried it with two different scales. I used my walking foot to quilt this and I really like how it's soft and subtle, but interesting. This is definitely something I am going to use again!
  
• Confident about the previous design, I wanted to try a more complex one in free motion. So I picked Deco Leaves by Leah Day. I hated the entire process! The stitching was super hard, frustrating, nothing was working, I kept getting stuck because of bulky seams, the stitches were super inconsistent, I broke one needle, I hated quilting, I hated my life, I hated everything while I was doing that :) ok, once I stop stitching this section, I went back to my normal status of loving my life and sewing ;) but I guess you understand the spirit. Despite the messiness of the process and my opinion on the design (too dense for my taste), it didn't turn out too bad after washing... I can barely see it, so this is just a lesson for me: never ever ever ever again try to FMQ on a pieced  block :) if all the seams are open or on a blank piece of fabric, maybe...
  
• Because I didn't want to repeat the same design that gave me so much trouble, I started doing some tangles borders on my notepad and came up with this simple design which I absolutely love! I stitched it with my walking foot, so a lot of turning, but not too bad since the design is pretty small and I didn't need to turn the whole quilt most of the time. This is another design that I will definitely use again!!
  
• I absolutely love the 2 colors (piped) binding but I struggled joining the sections at the end. Again Susan came to the rescue with a great tutorial! Absolutely perfect joining, if I didn't know where it is I wouldn't even being able to tell (hint: it's in one of the picture, but not in this one)!! ;)
  
• Finally, since this is a wall hanging that I wanted to hang on the wall I tried to put a sleeve on! First sleeve ever and, guess where I find help for that: right, Susan again with a simple hanging sleeve tutorial!

This is my finish for April for a Lovely Year of Finishes and the FINISH #1 for Q2 of the Finish Along!!

Oh, and because Susan really seams to be perfectly in line with what I need and what I like, she is starting a great Quilt Along! The design is very beautiful, however I think I will need to change the colors, because despite white being a wonderful background for that design, it doesn't seem to be appropriate for a quilt that I may want to drag around for picnics or on the beach ;) but we'll see!

Click the button for more information!!

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And speaking about the Finish along... I also have FINISH #2!! (wow, 2 finishes in one week!!)

(Patterns by Susanne @ Quilt it out, Amy @ Badskirt,  Joanna @ Shape Moth and by HTaBQuilts)

So I had these blocks for quite a while and I made them with the idea of covering my previous sewing machine (which didn't have a hard cover). But now the new sewing machine has a hard cover that I really like, except that is white and plain! So I decided to use those blocks to make a snugly cover for the cover :)
Since this is a little smaller than the original cover, the blocks are not perfectly centered, but I really like the way it turned out anyway! I did some straight line quilting to mimic the lines on a notepad (since the fabric is graph paper with equations and geometric formulae) :)
It was a very quick project, and it has been sitting there for months! Thanks to the incentive of the Finish Along I actually finished it!!

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Finally, I made the second block for the D wall hanging for my dad: second part of the fence!

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What are YOU going to link?

An InLinkz Link-up

MOP Monday - 2 new patterns and giveaway

Last week in my giveaway!!! Get your links in for a chance to win this fun bundle!!

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 - no blocks this week (designed a couple of them but not completed)
2. Rainbow Starburst - no progress (progress last week)
3. Topolino quilt - 2 blocks doooone!!! (see below)
4. Reversible sewing machine cover - 1 block done (see below)
5. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - printed blocks for Sept.
6. the Z quilt - all the fabric is finally here!! ready to start it (will share it soon)
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7. College Days Blog Hop blocks for tote/grocery bag - no progress
8. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
9. As You Wish - no progress
10. Happy Halloween wall hanging - no progress
11. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
12. (NEW project) Convertible bag - printed the pattern (more info in the next few weeks) - this is my project for Sept. Lovely Year of Finishes

(Linking up at Let's Bee Social)

-- MOP: This week new blocks --

Last week I couldn't finish the block for my Mickey&Donald's series because my little helper wanted all my attention for her :) but this week I could finish that block and also a new one because my helper preferred just to take some naps on my ironing board ;)

So here are the new blocks:

Magica de Spell, flying around and dreaming about the Number One coin

The pattern is available in my "MickeyM, DonalD, Alice" page

Goofy Gone Fishing

The pattern is available in my "MickeyM, DonalD, Alice" page

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This week finally I was able to go back to the lovely blocks for my sewing machine cover and I pieced one of my favorite ones:

Pattern by Susanne @ Quilt it out  

The original one had a "chocolate" background that I thought was perfect for the block, but I wanted to use the same light background of all my other blocks, so I kept the chocolate reference in the fabric chosen for the word and the color of the thread for the embroidery :)

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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

Giveaway continued and a new SK block

Last week my giveaway was announced so let me remind you the rules!

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
- 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
- **forgot to say this last time**: the giveaway is open to everyone, international entries are welcome (as well as US ones)!!

And now, for My Own Progress:
First of all, I decided to change my list...
I have new projects and new priorities, so I decided to move things around...

-- MOP: The list --

1. the SK project - one more block done (and two more designed)
2. Rainbow Starburst - no progress
3. Topolino quilt - one block done!! (see below)
4. Reversible sewing machine cover - one block done (see below)
5. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - no progress (progress last week)
6. College Days Blog Hop blocks for tote/grocery bag - no progress
--
7. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
8. As You Wish - no progress
9. Happy Halloween wall hanging - no progress
10. Crazy optical illusion - no progress

-- MOP: This week new blocks --

(Pattern by Amy @ Badskirt)

I am not super-happy about the embroidery part... I used a different stitch and I didn't spend too much time tracing the letters before, so they didn't turn out very homogeneous... however I don't hate it enough to rip the stitching and redo it ;) so it is what it is and I will move to the next block

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Finally I went back to my Topolino quilt and I made a block that represent what I usually like to do during the weekends:

(pattern available on the Quilt&Stitch-TestAlong page)

relaxing, sleeping and dreaming about flying animals (isn't that fabric just perfect for the block??) ;)
The pattern had few little mistakes, so I will fix it and share it soon!! :)

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And now the block that I am most proud of... I think this is the best block I've ever designed and the best block I've ever embroidered (the picture didn't come out too good... but that's ok). I will share it again through Summer of Stitches (on Fandom in Stitches) for the theme "I <3 books" because this is actually the book I love the most by Stephen King... well technically I love the entire series (together a couple of other books "connected" to the series), but let's cut it here and let me introduce you to the opening line (one of the best opening line ever, IMHO) of...
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The Gunslinger!
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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 between July 23 and July 29 (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

MOP Monday - I AM back! :)

Hello everyone!
I am officially back! Did you miss me? ;)
I missed my sewing/blogging/designing time for sure!

I don't have much progress to report on my list of projects, but few are better than none!!
And I have few projects that I wanted to add to my list, because if you all know that they are in progress that put some "pressure" on me to actually go on with them and finish them (eventually).

-- MOP: The list --

1. As You Wish - no progress
2. Rainbow Starburst - no progress
3. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - one 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) - designed 2... I need to go to the quilt shop to get some fabric... but I hope to have them done in the next couple of weeks :)
8. College Days Blog Hop blocks - there are few blocks that I ABSOLUTELY NEED to make :) still haven't decided which fabric to use :)
9. Crazy optical illusion - if the few initial blocks will work out, I will share more details, for now it's a secret
10. Reversible sewing machine cover - 8 blocks to make, 2 done (see below)
11. Iron board cover - because mine is ugly and old and if my sewing machine get a new cover, my ironing board may get jealous and we don't want that!!! :)

-- MOP: This week new blocks --
PPV block for June was not in my original design, so I am not running that much behind!
This is one of my July block (I need to make a second one... but this is a very quick block, so I will be able to make it by the end of July for sure!)

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I decided to make a cover for my sewing machine because I found some sewing-related blocks (most of them PP) that are just wonderful!
These are the one that I did until now

Designed by Joanna @ Shape Moth

Designed by HTaBQuilts  

I had a lot of fun making the Dresden Plate block... I still prefer PP, but the effect is very nice with this traditional technique as well!!

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And FINALLY I was able to sit down and finalize the Malecifent pattern (that was tested more than a month ago by not one but TWO amazing testers) see their amazing blocks!

tested by KellyLea

tested by Diane K

So you can find the final pattern of this Maleficent block on my Free Pattern page.

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And now, link YOUR own progresses below!!
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