Can you help me for a good cause? (and a link party)

Not much progress on old projects, because new ones rolled in (and if you can help with one, that would be nice) :)

The Ongoing Project List:

1. SYS2015 future projects - paused until September
2. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
3. Block Swap Adventure - blocks done (see below)
4. the SK project - no progress
5. Tiny Quilt Challenge (American Made Brand) - no progress - closing on Sept 15, need to spend some time on this!!!
6. Zipper pouches - paused for a while
7. the Ender project - no progress
8. Geese project - assembled panel, need to work on the applique!!
   This is my project for August, A Lovely Year of Finishes
9. Americana QAL - no progress
10. the 31000 Xs project - good progress (see below)
11. Ravenclaw Mug Rug - new project - first block done (see below)

The EverythingElse List:

1. Embroidery calendar - no progress
2. Charity quilts - new projects, here I need your help (see below)
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
10. B quilt - no progress

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This summer, I mentored a student and help her prepare and present her first poster! It was a fun and rewarding experience, and the last day I learned that she is a big fan of Harry Potter (and that she belongs to the Ravenclaw house). So, of course, I will make her a little mug rug as a memory of this experience! This is the first block.

Patterns by Jennifer, Harry Potter, Ravenclaw Crest

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The main panel of the Geese project is assembled! Not much work here, but better than nothing ;)

I bought the geese panel on Etsy and I designed the panel on the right myself on Spoonflower. I really like the fact that I could use all kind of font, sizes, alignment, etc. I would not be able to make it so clean using embroidery... plus it would have taken me forever ;) So a fat quarter from Spoonflower is a little pricey, but for a small project like this it's worth it! 

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This is the Cross Stitch month for my Stretch Your Skills series, so I started my next biiig project... I want to still keep it a secret, but can you guess what it is? Color "palette" and first section partially done :)

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These are the blocks for my August partner in the Block Swap Adventure.

 Flutterby pattern and Jacob's ladder

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And last, but not least, this is why I would love your help!!

I found out about this project, organized by Francel, to help the kids in the DC General Homeless Shelter.  You can find out more information about her quilt drive here.  The shelter has about 600 children there!!!  The current drive is looking for baby (40x40") and toddler (40x60") quilts and after that she will move to bigger quilts. After talking to her, I decided I could not NOT help!! :)

So I decided to make some quilts! As a start, I decided I will make 3 baby quilts, then few toddlers ones. And you can help me here!! Do you have some orphan blocks sitting in your sewing room for years? Or fabric that you bought and then you don't like any more? A strip in a jelly roll that didn't fit your project? A left over scrap that you don't know how to use? A couple of charm squares left from a project? An ugly fabric that was donated to you and you don't know how to use? Some HST that you cut the wrong size? If you are willing to mail them to me, I could use them to make more quilts for these kids!!! I have some material, but I don't have a big stash and you all know how much fabric is needed to make quilts ;) So, 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!! 

This is the first quilt top I made

Size: about 40''x40''

This is my first quilt using jelly rolls, and it shows what I like and what I "don't like" about them.

- What I like: they are precut (so ready for strip piecing) and they create a nice variegated look without too much effort. I actually used strips from 3 rolls, because I am not a "fabric line" kind of girl. But it was very easy to get a coherent look for the Bargello part.

- What I "don't like": the variety of the pieces in the roll means that if you use up one strip and you don't quite cover the area you planned, you have to use another color to finish up! This is what happened with the border: I wanted to test the BasiX ruler that I got in my Quilty Box, and I really liked the zig zag effect. Unfortunately one set of strip was not quite enough to even go all the way on one side!! So I had to assemble the remaining scraps in "weird" ways to get enough fabric to cover the corner. It actually creates a very funky and modern look IMHO... it breaks the regularity of the border. So it all worked out for the best... but still, that's something to consider, if you want more coherence (and you are not following a pattern ;) ). Also the two solid borders don't have the "exact" color I was looking for, but they work anyway.

This was also my first time trying the Bargello technique! I started with a super basic design just to test the technique... it's very simple... super simple... actually so simple that is borderline boring for me :) luckily it was a small quilt... and my sewing assistant helped me keep it fun (tugging strips and rolling on the pieced ones :) )

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up