SYS 2015 - Sneak Peek

Last time both the schedule and the contributors were revealed for our series SYS2015!

This time just a couple of sneak peek into future projects...

What is this?

And who are these?

And what are those??

Well... you have to wait just a couple of months and you will know everything about them! :) :)

--

That's it for today!

If you are intrigued and you have not subscribed to our email list yet, feel free to

stop by the SYS 2015 page 

and leave your contact information!

On the same page you will also find all the past information I shared about the series (schedule, contributors, ...)

See you next week!

Closing up shop

--
SHORT STORY:
I closed my Craftsy store!
I won't share anything on their platform neither for free or for sale!
I won't buy anything from their platform because I didn't like their attitude in dealing with the situation.
--
LONG STORY:
In a previous post I shared the concerns about Craftsy not stepping up to help designers/sellers/artists with the EU VAT issue. After the first inquiry (where they sent me the standard answer I saw already on many other blogs), they sent me an "additional update" in which basically they say:

1. we don't collect fees from you so we cannot collect taxes
2. we don't deal with payments so it's up to paypal to solve their part
3. we don't keep the information, but we can provide it for you in a spreadsheet and they you have to figure out yourself what to do.

This answer doesn't really make sense and I wrote a long reflection with reasonable arguments against all these "claims".

But then I decided not to share it here because honestly I think that if everybody close shop and stops using the platform, they may understand that the company strategy is not that great!

So I will just do my part, and won't drive traffic or attention or money to them.
Sorry for the designer friends that will lose business because of this!!

A last important note:
They never answered me about what happens if I delete from the store the patterns that someone already bought. So if you bought a pattern from me and you are not able to download it from the platform, please just send me an email at  tweloq [_at_] gmail [_dot_] com and I will send it to you by email.

See you tomorrow for a sneak peek in 2015 and the next day for my list of projects for the new year... much more fun posts than this one :) :)

SYS 2015 - Schedule and contributors

Last time we learned that the series is called SYS!

This time we are going to learn about the schedule and who are the wonderful artists involved in the preparation of the tutorials!!

Schedule (first Wed of each month):

• Feb 4th: foundation paper piecing
• Mar 4th: quilting
• Apr 1st: crochet (1)
• May 6th: pixelated quilt
• June 3rd: crochet (2)
• July 1st: applique
• Aug 5th: cross stitching
• Sept 2nd: knitting
• Oct 7th: embroidery
• Nov 4th: english paper piecing
  

You may be wondering: why is the series starting in February instead of January?

The answer is simple: in this series we want to fight UFOs!

Nothing against extraterrestrial entities ;) UFO in this context stands for UnFinished Objects.
I don't know about you, but I have several UFOs from the past year that are "carrying over" 2015. So to give yourself (and myself as well!!) the chance to work on those projects, to clear up the to-do list and be ready for the wonderful projects of SYS2015, I decided to leave January "free"! :)

So from February to November we will make together several amazing FO (finished objects) using all the different techniques listed above! And by December 2015 you may have a pretty big list of cute gifts ready to be handed to several lucky recipients!! :)

--
And who is going to teach you all these different techniques?
This is the lineup of amazing artists! (in alphabetical order, because we want to keep a little element of "surprise"):

• Alida - yours truly :) tweloquilting.blogspot.com
• Amber - ambers-originals.blogspot.com
• Bea - beaquilter.com
• Janeen - quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com
• Karen - theshtickido.blogspot.com
• Kat - katknapcrafts.blogspot.com
• Kristel - wipgirl.wordpress.com
• Lisa - squirrelystitcher.deviantart.com (facebook.com/SquirrelsCrafts)
• Susan - theboredzombie.com

Check out their websites if you want to have an idea of what is going to be their contribution. You may not be able to guess it right because many of them are very good in several of those techniques! ;)

That's it for today!

If you are intrigued and you have not subscribed to our email list yet, feel free to stop by the SYS 2015 page and leave your contact information!

See you next week!

MOP Monday - Just to say hello!

This week no progress for me because I have visitors for the holidays!!

So I take this opportunity to summarize all the Christmas presents I made in the last months.

They are ready to be enjoyed! 

Christmas present list: 

(linking up at Santa's Sweatshop!! )

1. Boxes of Rainbow Quilt

2. Topolino Quilt
3. Message in a Quilt

4. Ties pillow
5. Convertible Bag
6. Table runner with Eight coasters
(cannot share full pictures because they are for a secret future tutorial project :) )
7. Four pot holders & One zipper pouch

And here are the pictures!!

As a last note: I won't be posting next week because it's my birthday! :)

So we will be back with MOP Monday in 2015. I am ready to put together a new list of projects to work on weekly! How about you? Are you ready for the 2015 resolutions??

But stick around because on Wed 24th and Wed 31st posts about the series of tutorials for 2015 are going live... and there may be a little sneak peek of one of the projects!

Remember to subscribe to our mailing list if you don't want to miss out of any of our future posts! You can leave your contact information on the main page of the event. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Sad announcement (maybe)

Disclaimer: I am not sure how much of these is accurate and applies to my case (Craftsy shop) however I don't have time now to investigate (family time :) ) so I will put this announcement here and if someone has more information you can add a comment below and I will read it and publish it when I come back on-line.

--
SHORT STORY: it looks like they are changing the regulations for items sold on-line (patterns in my case) and because of the enormous amount of work I would have to do to keep track of VAT for sales done in EU, it makes more sense for me to shut down my little online shop and stop selling my patterns on Craftsy (from 1/1/2015).

--
LONG STORY:
I came across this blog post by Beth @ evapaigequiltdesigns where she explains her experience about the changes in the VAT regulations in Europe and how that would affect her small business. She also mentions that she contacted Craftsy but didn't get much help or support (unlike Ravelry that found a way to manage the situation, see links below).

My situation is even simpler than Beth's.

• I have very few patterns for sale, and very few sales (but still I like the idea that I can buy few extra crafty goodies without affecting my finances).
• I don't have time (nor desire) to keep track where my patterns are sold.
  I am supposed to collect 2 non-contradictory pieces of  evidence to determine where the customer is located, and keep a record of that for ten years O_o o_O
  I don't even know if that is possible from Craftsy... especially because I need 2 pieces of evidence so even if out get the address from Paypal, where do you get the second one? the IP? O_o 
• I don't have time (nor desire) to register myself for VAT and to submit taxes money to other countries.

So since this new regulation seem to have no minimum threshold in terms of sales, only one single pattern sold to an EU customer would force me to do all these crazy things!! for few cents?? are we insane??

I guess that then the solution is to close my pattern shop!

I don't know if by the end of the year Craftsy will address the issue, and I hope it will (for the sake of many people that uses this as a way to have an additional income).

If you have any information about this issue and you want to share it with me, please add a comment below! I am going to be off-line for a while so the comment will not be automatically posted, but they will be stored safely in my inbox for when I come back!!

If you want to know more, these are few interesting links I found (again, not sure about the accuracy of the information, but they look reasonable).
If any information that you find here, I am sorry, I am not a tax expert!! Plus I don't have time to further investigate the situation, but it looks a pretty serious issue that will become reality very soon so I think it's better to share! :)

1. Beth's post about her situation
2. Similar issue for other e-services
3. EU VAT rules (from Nov)
4. Impact of these regulations on small businesses (Etsy is also mentioned there!!)
5. Ravelry and Loveknitting solution for the selling pattern issue!

ETA: I contacted Craftsy and this is part of their response " Our team is activity discussing how these new laws affect Craftsy and thus you. We'll be meeting next week to discuss how this will affect us going forward and what actions we can take". That's the exactly same response I saw on other blogs and I doubt that they will meet for Xmas to discuss this ;) but maybe they will... let's wait and see.

Tutorial Series 2015 - Name revealed!

As we start unraveling the mystery around the series, where is the best place to start?

From the name of course!

The series will be called "Stretch Your Skills" or SYS (SYS2015).

What does it mean? Well, it means that we are going to learn new skills, try new techniques, hear about tips and tricks that we may not have known about!
We will push ourselves outside our comfort zone.
There will be plenty of things to learn for everyone (beginners and experts)!!

This is going to be our button!
If you want to spread the word, feel free to grab the code and include it on your blog!!

<div align="center">
<a href="http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/p/tutorial-series-2015.html" title="Stretch Your Skills @ tweloquilting.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNVm5DZuThyphenhypheniiZIvP_4NY_0hLUg9Js0BIjmEgxrBymUxzlK87mLmPPHb0FUXgx1fIk5f0Cg7Sj5UKfcamWRE1v-zULjk_xNuWK8ERXNAcC1_XMtGxa72GUnTn-h8UMtfVoHTgAp96kKVk/s320/ButtonSYS2015_small.png" alt="Stretch Your Skills @ tweloquilting.blogspot.com" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

But who is going to teach us all these new skills and techniques?
And which techniques am I talking about exactly?

More on that next week!!

If you are intrigued and you have not subscribed to our email list yet, feel free to stop by the SYS 2015 page and leave your contact information!

See you next week!

MOP Monday - Christmas list completed!!!

The Christmas list is COMPLETE!!

-- MOP: The Xmas presents list --

1. Topolino quilt (MPB) - DOOOOONE (this is my project for Lovely Year of Finishes (Dec))

2. convertible bag (IG) - DOOOOONE (see below)

Extras:
1. the SK project - no progress
2. block swap Dec - planning to work on this today!
3. Bonnie's Hunter Grand Illusion - no progress
4. Color of the Year mini - no progress

(Linking up at Let's Bee Social)

-- MOP: This week updates --
Finally my Topolino quilt is completed!! As you can see below, using a sheet set for the background (and backing) gave me a cute matching pillow case for "free"!! :)

Topolino - 60''x76''
(the light in the picture is terrible, but I don't have time to take better pictures for now... it needs to be wrapped and ready to be gifted soon ;) )

I absolutely love the look of the multi-color binding!! And I love the way in each corner one color ended up "wrapping" the corner! No math, no calculations, just luck!!

--
And the last Christmas present was another of those fun 4-bags-in-1

(pattern by Sarah @ Cozynestdesign.com)

I have to admit that my bag has some issues because I was not super careful in some steps so there are parts that are not perfectly centered or perfectly smooth... but considering the rush and the fact that this is my second bag ever made, I am ok with the results and I think the recipient will like it anyway!!
--
And the last thing that I want to share is this little project that I actually made few weeks ago with the hope that would be accepted in a magazine, but was it was not :( but this means that I could add the pattern in my Craftsy shop and I can share it with you!

Pattern available on Craftsy

The symbol itself is 10'' square (finished) and the border makes it 12'' finished, a perfect size for a traditional symbol with the modern touch of the inverted border!
I have big plans for the quilting so you will see more of this!!

--
And now, what are YOU going to link?? :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Some numbers and a winner!

Wow, another Sew Mama Sew giveaway week is gone and I survived ;)

I managed to get through all your wonderful comments and also enter myself in many giveaways.

Some numbers before announcing the winner:

- 130: is the number of giveaway I entered myself! pretty impressive!
- 150: is the number of comments I received on my post and I answered every single one of them! If you didn't get a reply from me, then you are one of the...
- 27: is the number of comments from no-reply blogger and with no email address! it's about 15% of the total!! if you happen to read this and you never win anything in these giveaways, I suggest you to spend 10 minutes checking if that's your case!!!
- 51: is the number of people that subscribed to the "Tutorial Series" I am going to run on this blog for 2015! So exciting!! In few days you will know more... if you didn't subscribe to the mailing list and you want to, just go over the tutorial series page and leave your email address.

- AND THE WINNING NUMBER IS...

Congratulations Ramona!!! I hope you will love my little bundle!!

And she left her address right there in the comment (using an anti-spam strategy)!! 

That's the way to do it if you want to win around here!!! :)

Tomorrow I am going to share my weekly progress (big finishes!! so excited to share!!).

Giveaway and a secret revealed

Giveaway closed

It's that time of the year again!!

The time of the amazing Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Week!!

If you are new around here, welcome!

If you have been here before, I am glad that you came back!!! :)

If you are new here feel free to look around and you will find tons of FREE paper piecing patterns of very famous cartoon characters! :)

But let's get down to the giveaway business :)
I will give away 5 fat quarters and some embroidery floss!!

Rules are simple: Giveaway closed

• leave a comment below answering a simple question:
  Do you have a strategy to "attack" all these wonderful giveaways?
  Do you choose to click only on few of them or do you try to get to all?
  I use a systematic approach: I have a spreadsheet where I list the ones I want to visit and then I check them off once I do that :)

Important notes:

• the giveaway will close on December 12, and winner will be announced by email no later than Sunday, Dec 14.
• this giveaway is open to anyone (US and non-US)
• comments are going to be moderated, so they will not be published immediately. But in 24h I promise that I will approve all the comments that are not spam :)
• if you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email in the comment because I will NOT publish comments by no-reply bloggers without the email (I need a way to contact you if you win). Please please please... take 5 minutes of your time to check if you are a no-reply blogger!! There are tons of tutorial that shows you how to check and how to stop this terrible thing that is preventing you to get new friends, replies to your comments and prizes!!!
  A simple step-by-step tutorial can be found HERE:
  http://www.flusterbuster.com/2013/02/are-you-no-reply-blogger.html
  It has pictures and detailed instructions...
  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, do that now!!! It's NOT HARD... :)
  I didn't make you jump through hoops to get in the giveaway, 
  so do make ME jump through hoops of fire just to find a way to contact you!!!

And finally, I promised to tell you more about a secret... well...

ETA: I received SIX comments until now, and FOUR of them are from NO-REPLY BLOGGERS!
I will not publish comments from no-reply bloggers nor enter them in the giveaway! Sorry!!
If you don't add your email in the comment and you are in that situation, I am sorry but you are not going to hear back from me!

ETA2: If you don't see your comment below and you think you entered, 99.9999% is because you are a no-reply blogger and you didn't leave your email address in the comment. If you think you are in this situation, just leave your email address :) can be something like name (at) something (dot) something if you are worried about spam :)

Giveaway closed

MOP Monday - the list is shrinking

The list is shrinking!! almost invisible ;)

-- MOP: The Xmas presents list --

1. Topolino quilt (MPB) - all sections quilted, start joining them (this is my project for Lovely Year of Finishes (Dec))

2. the Z quilt (CO) - DOOOOOOONE - off the list

3. convertible bag (IG) - cut the pieces!
4. something (SZ) - potholders done, pouch done!! - off the list

Extras (because if I have tons of projects to finish I need to add some extras anyway O_o):
1. the SK project - designed 3 patterns
2. small project for magazine - the block was not accepted for the magazine :( but this means that I will have a new pattern soon to share in my shop!! :)
3. block swap Nov - done and in the mail! cannot share but off the list
4. block swap Dec - decided pattern and fabric
5. Bonnie's Hunter Grand Illusion - put aside some fabric for this, but no time to actually sew anything so maybe I am going to wait until the mystery is revealed to start it :)
6. Color of the Year mini - the color of the year 2015 has been announced! I designed my yearly mini, more on that after I am done with the Xmas presents ;)


(Linking up at Let's Bee Social)

-- MOP: This week updates--
And finally I can share the finished Z quilt... its official name is actually "Message in a Quilt" and you can read below why.

"Message in a Quilt" 63''x84''

The quilt contains a message in each "element", from the design, to the color/fabric choice, to the quilting! These are the messages:

1. (easy to see) the three symbols are Fu, Lu and Shou, the symbols for Happiness, Prosperity and Longevity
2. (easy to read, at least in person) the word "Love", my name and the name of the recipient are quilted using a "text quilting" method shown by Jacquie Gering in the class "Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot" 
3. the color chosen represent the colors of the Chakra and they are arranged following that order
4. the size of the blocks (22) and the size of the strips (3) have special numerology meaning (Number 3 resonates with the energies of optimism and joy, inspiration and creativity, speech and communication, good taste, imagination and intelligence, sociability and society, friendliness, kindness and compassion (from here),The Master Number 22 symbolizes the principle of precision and balance (from here) )
5. the fabric used is Stonehenge (from Northcott) and the different colors have names connected to elements of nature (Stonehenge is a mystical place in UK, you can read more about it here)
6. the quilting around the symbol is similar to the traces in the sand of a zen garden
7. finally (since me and the recipient are scientists) the vertical quilting around the text is arranged following the Fibonacci sequence :)

So this is a quilt full of mystical power, and I am sure it's going to bring good energy for the recipient and for our entire house :)
--
I finished the other two pot holders and I made the zipper pouch! I really love the way they turned out... they are not perfect, but the design has been customized for the recipient and I am sure that she will like them :)  I will send the package next week so I hope to be able to show them off soon (right side up ;))!!

--

All the sections of the Topolino quilts have been quilted and I tested few more times my cheap and quick basting method (you can read more in last week post)!

I think this is the first time that I don't have even a single pucker in my back!! I love this method.

And as you can see, my helper gave her contribution as well, even if for her this is kind of booooring.

"Basting is so yaaaaaaaaaawn boring"

--

And now, what are YOU going to link?? :)

An InLinkz Link-up