A super-week! (and a linky party)

So much progress this week!! Kudos to me :)

Last week I shared a "yearly" list, but this is the "weekly" list of progress to put projects from that long list in a less overwhelming group ;)

The List:

1. Xmas tree decoration for 2014 - done! (see below)
2. Pumpkin's play mat - no progress
3. the SK project - 1 block done, 3 other traced (see below)
4. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - 1 block done (see below) and printed all missing blocks
5. Bonnie's Hunter Grand Illusion - dropped (see below)
6. Color of the Year challenge- 2/36 border mini-blocks done (cannot share)
7. Zoo Animals BOM - done (see below)
8. Block Swap (January) - done! (see below)
9. Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches - first block done! (see below)

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Let's start with a block that is not mine!! ;) The wonderful Jan tested this Daisy and Donald pattern.

Pattern available in my MickeyM, DonaldD, Alice page

Aren't they super cute? And don't you love the choice of the wood floor? Perfect for the ballroom dancing!! :)

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I made my 2014 Xmas tree decoration using this great snow flake crochet pattern by Sarah @ sarahndipities. I slightly changed the pattern to add an extra row of single crochet around to make it more stable and then I used it to make a fabric template for the back: I think the snowflakes stands out more against the red background!
(this is my project for the "Lovely Year of Finishes - January")

Pattern by Sarah (sarahndipities)

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When I saw this fun BOM by Kristy @ QuietPlay I immediately decided to jump right it! Her patterns are always fun and I have already a Kangaroo that I tested and that is pretty lonely in the drawer :) so I decided that I will add all those friends and make one (or maybe two) quilts for charity! I have also several owls blocks and those would be perfect for this project!
My rules in doing these blocks are simple: 1) I will only use things from my stash (no new fabric... if I have to make a blue bear because I don't have the right fabric, so be it ;) ); 2) I will only use scraps from my small&weird scraps bags for the animals and I will touch the other big pieces of fabric only for the background (if necessary).
With these rules I ended up with a very fun Flamingo!

Doesn't that background print scream "flamingo!!" to you?

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I hope that you won't hate me... but I will say something that may rub people the wrong way...
I don't like this year mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter.
Ok, I said it! :) Sorry everyone!
There is nothing wrong with the design obviously... but I have very very specific likes/dislikes when it comes to scrappy quilts that uses traditional shapes (like HST, 4 patches, etc).
In order for me to be visually interesting, the overall pattern needs to make some kind of curves or circles; if the design makes just traditional stars, pinwheels and other linear things, for me, it's not interesting.
So last year mystery (the Celtic Solstice) was one of the best design I have ever seen! because it didn't just have "circles" but the circles were interlocking! And all done just with traditional and linear shapes (triangles, 4 patches, HST, ...).
So I was very excited about this year mystery, but I didn't have the chance to start it... and now I am happy about it because I would have been disappointed if I made all that effort and then didn't like the final layout! Now instead I've already seen 3 ideas on Pinterest that I will combine and I will make a quilt with "curves without curves" as I like it!
I will work on that idea later this year, but I wanted to mention the reason why the Grand Illusion mystery will be dropped from my list so soon :)

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Ok, another thing that may make you hate me... I don't like 12'' stars blocks!
Ok, I said this one too! Sorry everyone again! :)
Again it comes down to the fact that those big blocks, to me, don't make visually interesting quilts. They can be beautiful but too traditional for my tastes ;)
However I have been doing many traditional blocks for my Block Swap Adventure partners.
Luckily this month my partner told me that she is looking for star blocks but in 12'' or 6''.
I may be a weird person... but I really like 6'' stars ;) I don't know, they are cute!
So I decided to make her one 12'' star and four 6'' ones! All of them different and scrappy.

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While I cannot share the 2 mini blocks that I made for the Color of the Year wall hanging, I can show you the fabric I am going to use. It's going to be scrappy as usual... with the cream batik as background and the wine fabric as backing. The others are not all great representations of the Marsala color (one probably is) but since it's going to be scrappy, the approximated colors (with some more towards the red, and others more towards the orange) should make the overall wall hanging look "Marsala" :)

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Another of my "duplicate" blocks for the Tea Towel challenge/PPV BOM is done.

Points are not extremely perfect but I didn't want to use any pins and I didn't want to use the seam ripper either :) I think that in the overall design it wouldn't matter too much!!

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And I bought a new sewing machine!! Yeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
And to test it I made this block from the QAL Project of Doom 2015 @ Fandom in Stitches!

I am still playing around with the stitch length to find the perfect length to be good for both piecing and seam ripping ;)

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Another block for my SK project is ready.
Opening line of "The Dark Half"

You can find the pattern on my The SK Project page.

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As a final last note, let me mention that I receive another (useless) email from Craftsy where they basically say that the only way to deal with the VAT issue is through Paypal, but that Paypal system doesn't work properly and that everything is outside Craftsy control. They suggest to either deal with the issue on our own or remove the patterns from the marketplace. Very very helpful! (sarcasm). Since that was just a "standard" email they sent to everybody, I replied that due to their inability to support small independent designers I already deleted all my patterns and that I was not planning to buy anything any more from their platform or even use it to share things for free. I then said that they didn't even answer to my initial question about what happens to people that bought my patterns once I delete them from my store. They answered that whoever bought the pattern will have it in their account and that's it... not even a "we are sorry that we couldn't help you" or "we are trying to work on the issue to give better answer" or "we are doing our best, and we are sorry to lose you as customer", nothing... wow, I guess that since they have so many people "hooked" with the "free platform" illusion, they really don't care if they lose some people/business. 

I guess many people chose the "blue pill"... I just took the "red pill" and now I see "how deep the rabbit hole goes" (citation) :)

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And now what are YOU going to link?

An InLinkz Link-up