Every Jane-ourney starts with one block (and a link party)

Or five! :) This was the most productive week of the year!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Block Swap Adventure - paused until 2016
2. Charity quilts - no progress 
3. Americana QAL - big star done (see below)
4. Play with Me 2016 QAL (secret) - all January posts are ready!!
5. Allietare QAL - fifth clue done (see below)
6. Jane T - not one but FIVE blocks done! (see below)
7. Pantone Color of the Year 2016 - no progress
8. My knitted hand warmer - done and in use! (see below)
9. Final Xmas present (credit card holder) - done (see below)

The EverythingElse List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
3. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
4. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
5. the Ender project - no progress
6. Embroidery calendar - no progress
7. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - paused for a while
8. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
9. As You Wish -  no progress
10. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
11. Memory quilt 2 - no progress
12. B quilt - no progress

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I finally made the big start of the Americana QAL.

I think it turned out ok, but it's not my favorite block. The construction is pretty weird and it doesn't look like the one Deana had in her original design. Of course she said that she would change some patterns to make them simpler or cuter, but I really liked her original block and that star block was one of the main reasons I joined the QAL. Oh, well, I have a nice group of block for a quilt that I will gift to my dad in 2016, so that's all cool!

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Last two Xmas presents for this year!
One for my boyfriend and one for myself (because I deserve an handmade gift too :) )

Following the tutorial by StyleNovice

I changed it to add a second row of pockets.

Pattern by weezalana (knittywhipped.blogspot.com) 

I really like how they look so different because of the self-striping yarn!!

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The fifth clue of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery QAL is out. I decided to follow along, but I will make 1/4 of the units because I don't need a big quilt and I am not sure if I will like the design :)

I decided to go with brighter colors: cyan/aqua/teal (instead of red) and bright yellow (instead of gold). I will probably donate this quilt to charity as a baby quilt, so I want it to be fun and colorful!

I think the all-scrappy approach will work... I like what I see, so that's what matter to me.

Fifth clue of Bonnie's mystery QAL... 

Linking up at the Monday Link-up party!

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I said that once my Xmas presents were done, I could start working on my Jane T, and so I did!

I decided to draft all the pattern myself for two reasons: 1. I am sewing everything by machine, but I want to honor the "slowness" of the original Dear Jane... so by drafting myself all the patterns from pictures, I can add the slow attention to the blocks, while sewing them up fast on the machine. 2. while I found patterns online for the blocks, they use up a lot of paper as each pattern is separate. Drafting several block at once, I can optimize their placement in Inkscape and save paper!

So this is my progress 

The color palette of the quilt, and 5 of the blocks done!

Progress on the entire quilt. Five blocks!

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I have been working ahead for the 2016 Play with Me QAL!

check out this post for more information

All the posts for January are done, board 2 and 3 are ready, I just need to write up the posts!

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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 for this week, but I sorted a box of fabric, so I am ready to piece some backs and complete some quilts in the next few months!!

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up