More coming soon, I promise (and a link party)

There is a lot of planning for events, hops, QAL etc that I am going to announce in the next few weeks. This means again very little sharable crafting, but again something small and cute...

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - finished Sept board, will be shared next week. This is the last of the QAL :( but I am already planning 2017 QAL, so stay tuned
2. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - new top started (see 3.)
3. Summer Solstice QAL - no progress
4. Minion QAL - no progress... SERIOUSLY?? I just have the final few lines of quilting to add, but I cannot make myself do it... ufff.....
5. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
6. Hello Block Swap - paused until Sept
7. Splendid Sampler - no progress, lost interest :(
8. Road Home Row-A-Long - finished row, finished post. Ready to be shared soon!
9. Secret event (January 2017) - started designing
10. Secret event (February 2017) - few blocks ready to stitch!
11. Secret event (August 2017) - button designed
12. Secret event (Feb-Oct 2017) - sketching started!
13. Gift Bookmarks - second one done (see below)
14. Teal Mini Swap - STILL FEW DAYS TO JOIN, link from EvalPaige Quilt Designs
    I got my partner info, the fabric and I picked the design. Now just need to implement it

The EverythingElse List:

1. 70273 Project - no progress
2. Jane T - no progress
3. The SK project - no progress
4. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
5. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
6. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
7. As You Wish -  no progress
8. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
9. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
10. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL - no progress

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Ok, so basically this is the only picture I can share... cute bookmark.

3.5'' x 9.5''

I designed it in Google Spreadsheet and stitched it up using cross stitching!
It went together super fast. I then just used a decorative zig-zag stitch around three sides, slided in a piece of thick paper and then I  stitched the top close. In this way if it bends, we can just change up the cardboard inside and the bookmark will be like new!! :)
The other fun thing is that on the two characters I used 2 strands of floss and 1 strand of glow-in-the-dark thread... when you turn off the light, Snoopy and Woodstock light up! I think they needed their own light because they want to read when they are closed in the book ;)

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

And the winner is...

ME!! :)

No, I am not going to give myself the prize for my own giveaway, LOL :)
The winner for that is announced at the end of this post... but since we are talking about winners, I feel like a winner when I have the chance to share with you some amazing blocks done by other members of the quilting community using my patterns!
So here is a little show off and a new pattern tested and released!

Kysaundra finished the Sword in the Stone top!! Isn't it wonderful!!??!! so perfectly matching all the colors of the cartoon!! and soon she is going to share with me the quilted finished work so I will share it here with all of you because I am very very excited about this quilt!!! :)

And here a great complete wall hanging by Vivian: isn't it super cute?? Looove it!!

And finally more blocks (some that I shared already, some are new).

Great job ladies!!!! :)

(by Audrey)	(by KellyLea)
(by Diane K.)	(by Inez)

And here is a new pattern (tested)

Tested by Inez, you can find the pattern on my Quilt&StitchAlong page

And since I received some requests for additional Snoopy characters, here they are, ready to be tested!!
They are available on the Untested patterns page

And now... the winner of the MOP Monday, 100 squares giveaway is...

Kathy @ Qreative Quilts!! 

I guess that karma wanted to return the favor (I won one of her giveaway in the past ;) )
Congratulation Kathy!! Your stack of squares will be on its way to you very soon!!
And thanks again to all the people that reach out to me to show that my patterns are used by someone other than myself!!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Original Design - Snoopy & Friends!

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If you are new here WELCOME to my blog!

If you are returning visitor SORRY I keep changing the look and pages of my blog :)
I am in the process of "beautifying" it loosely following the "Beautify your blog" @ Sew at Home Mummy so things will keep changing until I am happy with it (or tired of making changes... whichever comes first ;) )
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I am not sure if this quilt will "qualify" for the Blogger's Quilt Festival this year... because I entered it last year too but since I didn't win any prize and since this year category is a better fit (I think) I will enter it and let's hope for the best ;)

This is the second post (the one for the category "Original Design").
You can find the first post (for the ROYGBIV Quilt category) here.

But for the Original Design category, this is my entry!

(front)

(back)

All these blocks were designed by me... and since it was a present for a friend of mine (and she is Italian), the quotes from the different characters are in Italian :)
Please ignore my wonky/irregular/weird quilting... I am still very new to the quilting process and I do my best... but I stopped trying to reach perfection before sharing things... I think that's a nice project even with all the imperfect lines ;)

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If you are new to my blog, look around and feel free to leave me comments ;)
I am a paper piecing addicted and I share all my patterns (mostly Disney or cartoon related) here on my blog!
I have patterns to be tested (Simpsons, Alice in Wonderland, Mickey Mouse & Friends, Donald Duck & friends) and many pattern tested and ready to be enjoyed by other great quilters!!
For any question about my patterns (or if you would like to have a block of a specific character) don't hesitate to contact me (all my contact information are available in my About page)

And now drop by Amy's blog to check all those great projects!!!
On May 23rd voting will open... Mine do not stand a chance against the wonderful ones that I already spotted there... but still, it's fun to share my love for quilting with so many talented people!!!

A big show off! :)

About two months ago, I had a "sad" post where I was complaining about the fact that I didn't feel that my effort in putting together the pdf patterns, color them, share them, etc. was worth it...
because I was the only one actually sewing my patterns...
at least that's what I thought...
But I was WRONG :)

Many of you reached out to me after that post and really cheered me up... and shared with me fabulous blocks that you made with my patterns!

So this is a "happy-dance" post that collects all the pictures that has been shared with me in the last couple of months (and one of the pattern is tested, fixed and released in its gigantic beauty ;) )

So without further ado, let's start this wonderful-blocks-parade!!

Betty Boop - pattern designed upon request, and pieced by Sarah 

Minnie Mouse - not one, but two very cute Minnie blocks, pieced by Lois

Minion (short) - pieced by HerbMyst

Minion (tall) - pieced by Tiffany

Snoopy & Woodstock - pieced by Jan (FB)

Sally, Linus and Lucy - pieced by Jaclyn (Pinterest, Craftsy)

SNOOPY QUILT - a complete QUILT featuring some snoopy fabric and my blocks, pieced by Tabitha

Sword in the Stone - Kysaundra is making another full "Sword in the Stone" quilt... using colors that are from the original movie... aren't those block gorgeous???

and last (but not least)

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland title, pieced by Raven

And thanks to Raven's comments and advice I fixed the pattern and now it is available in Quilt&Stitch-TestAlong.

And as a conclusive word, if you are thinking about testing one of my patterns (or the many more that other FiS designer have), join our new Facebook group. Pattern Designers and potential Pattern Testers! You can see sneak peek of patterns that will be available soon on FiS ;) and you can grab this fun button and put it on your blog ;)

Snoopy and Friends

And finally the group of friends is complete!

The last addition to the group are Snoopy and Woodstock

All the patterns are now available in the Free Patterns section.

And now that the group is complete, I can share with you the entire wall hanging:

Each character has his/her own quote (in Italian...)... I will quilt the cartoon bubbles as soon as I get more familiar with free motion quilting :) 

And if you try any of the blocks, please leave me a comment below, or send me a picture of the block or publish the block on the FiS Flickr Group (or all of them :) ). I would love to see them!!

Surrounded by ... Linus Van Pelt

This week I almost forgot to post my progress on the Star Surround QAL! But here they are

The Block Surround.

I put the surrounds next to the star but I didn't sew them together... that's next week task I assume :)

The directional prints is kind of weird somewhere but I didn't want to fix that :) it's a scrappy quilt after all... and also the fabric in the surround is somewhere mixed up... but I like the final effect anyway!

As last week I can say that I am pretty happy about the points... they are not all super-perfect, but many of them are and the other are pretty close I think.

And as usual, let me introduce a new member of the Peanuts/Snoopy family: Linus Van Pelt

I am so excited that the next block of the Peanuts series will be the last... and then I will share with you the final layout of my wall hanging and all the patterns!!

Star between the stars: Sally Brown

And the task for another week of the Star Surround QAL is done!

The Center Stars.

And this time no particular life lessons... everything went smoothly... actually I did the first star alone and then the other three chain stitching them all together... this time the "assembly line" process worked perfectly... maybe because Melissa in her tutorial said that she does not sew more than one center at the time... so since I always have to do something in the opposite way, my brain worked perfectly doing that this time... I don't know... I don't understand my brain either ;)

I am pretty happy about the point... they are not all super-perfect, but many of them are and the other are pretty close I think.

And as usual, let me introduce a new member of the Peanuts/Snoopy family: Sally Brown

And let me remind you about my "cry for help" :) (click the button for details)

Flying with Charlie Brown (and more life lessons)

And the task for another week of the Star Surround QAL is done!

Flying geese.

And again these are the lessons I learned from this task:

1. lesson from last week: between the different steps of the tutorial do something else :) this pushes me to have good progress also on my Peanuts/Snoopy wall hanging (!!!) so let me introduce you Charlie Brown

The pattern will be available here as soon as his friends are ready to join the party :)

2. lesson from last week: try the steps with one unit first. Which worked perfectly! I made my first 4 flying geese in a very fast and efficient way... so I got carried away by the thought "maybe I can follow the assembly line process"... and a voice in my head screamed "noooooo, don't do it, go on with this approach"... did I listen to that voice??!?... obviously no... I took 4 big squares, aligned the small squares, pinned and sew all of them... great... then I cut the them apart, I cut the diagonal line and HORROR OF HORRORS, I realized that I sew the small squares on the wrong side of the big squares!... I looked at the chain of the others squares and 3 of them were wrong in the same way!! only 1 of them was ok... and I already cut one apart!!

Have you ever had one of those moments when you want to bang your head against the wall because you didn't listen to yourself?? I had one of those... because now I had to rip 6 longs seams and two of them on triangles pieces that I had to reassemble in the right way later on...

Luckily I remembered this wonderful block

http://suleon.blogspot.de/2012/03/sew-out-loud-qal-keep-calm-block.html

I took a deep breath, I ate a small piece of chocolate and I had all those "fast" seams undone :( luckily the voice in my head was not completely ignored, and I chain-pieced only 4 squares... it could have been much worse :)

So the lesson for this week is: listen to yourself! your instinct is (most of the time) right :)


And now, I need your help!! Please!!

I just recently found some selvage blocks that I would really love to make... and I realized that I have very few nice selvage in my stash :( so I thought to organize a "Selvage for Block swap".

These are the rules:
1. if you have some nice selvage pieces and you are willing to send them to me, just drop me an email at tweloq at gmail dot com (the parts of the selvages I am looking for are the parts with the text and the ones with the circles with the colors used in the fabric... also the colorful parts of the selvage without text are ok, but I am trying to keep the look of my block uniform :) and if there is at least 1/4 of the fabric above the strip of selvage itself that would be even better... but if not, that's fine too :) )
2. in exchange for the selvage you send me, I can send you a finished block! any block you want (pretty much) :) you can choose one of my blocks, any of the Fandom in Stitches blocks, or even some more classic blocks (max size 12 inches)... I am more comfortable in doing paper piecing blocks, but I am willing to try more traditional ones too :)
3. we can agree on the block/fabric choice/etc. by email... and as soon as I receive the selvages I will make and send you the block.

I hope many of you will help me realizing my dream of a selvage quilt :) :)


Just a concluding remark about the Flying geese task: the no-waste-method is pretty quick and easy but it does not allow you to trim and straighten the final block... which means that some of mine look kind of wonky... not too much, I hope... I think some of my points will not match perfectly, but I guess it's fine. And another thing is that (as you can see in the lower left corner of my picture above) directional fabric get cut half with horizontal and half with vertical orientation... I don't know if I messed up something with the instructions but I couldn't figure out a way to do them all one way... not that it matters for my scrappy/whimsical design... but it's good to keep that in mind for my future designs (if I want to obtain a specific effect with the direction of the fabric :) )

HST and life lessons

And the task for another week of the Star Surround QAL is done!

Half Square Triangles.

And I learned few things doing this task:

1. I conquered the HST... the first time I tried them (quite a long time ago) I didn't follow such a nice tutorial, so I didn't know that is the final trimming  the magic trick that makes them perfect!! :) after I pressed them open, I saw them all wonky I panicked... but then I kept reading the tutorial and I learned that I need to trim them down and now each of them is perfect! :) I am sooooo happy!
HST you don't scare me any more! :)

2. I may have some problems counting up to 10, because I found out I had two extra green squares ;) well, it's better two extras than two missing :)

3. I don't like the "assembly line" approach... don't get me wrong, the tutorial Melissa put together is great, but my body (and mind) doesn't like to do the same movement for more than 3 times in a row (any movement/task)... the assembly line approach maybe saves time, but after each part (chain sewing, cutting, trimming, pressing) one part of my body was sore :) this is why I prefer paper piecing! because it involves a good mix of designing, printing, cutting paper, piecing small parts, putting together pieces, taking off paper, pressing, and embroidery... a good variety of tasks for my body ;)

And on that topic, let me introduce you Lucy Van Pelt, my first Peanuts/Snoopy paper piecing pattern :)



The pattern will be available here as soon as her friends are ready to join her :)

But for now, my job for the QAL is done and I am looking forward to conquer another classic that I never tried (Flying Geese) :)