Very unproductive week (and a link party)

Between being sick and a ton of snow to shovel, I didn't do much this week!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - many people keep sharing their projects!! (see below)
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - no progress
2. The SK project - no progress
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
3. Block Swap Adventure -  paused until Feb
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - no progress
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - no progress
6. Project Quilting (#3)- waiting for the announcement 
7. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL (Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles Mystery 2016) - clue 3 and 4 done! (see below)

The EverythingElse List:

1. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
2. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
3. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
4. As You Wish -  no progress
5. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
6. Memory quilt 2 - no progress

--
You may remember the story behind my AMB Tiny Quilt Challenge (Vincent), where I was inspired by the work of Adam Lister and we ended up setting up a trade: I made him this 'Pigeon' wall hanging and he promised me a painting from him. It arrived this week and I temporarily hang it without a frame next to my Konfettinsky. Isn't it beautiful??

Right: Adam Lister's Café Terrace at Night (after Van Gogh)

See a close up picture on his Instagram 

--
And speaking of my Vincent quilt... pictures of all the quilts entered in the exhibit have been shared!!

Check all the wonderful minis of the
Tiny Quilt Challenge Exhibit here!

Maybe you didn't get the chance to visit the Road to California show?

Here some highlights from the Road to California show!!

--
I am following along with a Mystery QAL on FB. This is my progress:

Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL, clue 3 and 4

As usual, I am following my own path. For clue 3 I kept the four colors theme with the brick being a constant Mickey Mouse fabric. For clue 4 I wanted to mute down the colors and I went all neutrals. However I wanted the transition to be more "interesting" so I added HST in the nine patch! I don't know if it is going to work in the final layout, but I like what I see so that's the path I am taking! It is a very fun mystery!

--

I also spend some time making some extra postage stamps 4x4 squares for the extra swaps in our Block Swap Adventure group.

I decided to play with the scrappyness and have some blocks that are neutrals and some that are dark.

I love this project because collecting 1.5'' squares and sew them up in such a simple pattern is very relaxing as it doesn't require much brain work :)

--

While I cannot share pictures of the quilted Feb block of my QAL (Play with Me), I can certainly share the fact that a pretty large number of people started sharing their completed January projects!

Please click this link to visit the page with the linky and check out the amazing work of these ladies!!!

It has been so fun to see how people mix and match colors! 

If you didn't join, it's not too late!

Visit the QAL page for more details.

--

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 here... so sad... but I plan to spend more time on this in the next couple of months. I have many pieces ready to be quilted, just need to find some inspiration!

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Art with fabric (and a link party)

Art projects keep coming! It's so fun!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - many people keep sharing their projects!! (see below)
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - 3 more blocks done (see below)
2. The SK project - 1 book cover block done (see below)
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - 1 block completed (see below)!
3. Block Swap Adventure -  paused until Feb
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - no progress
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - start planning final layout
6. Project Quilting (#2) - done (see below)
7. Art pillow - pillow done! (see below)
8. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL (Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles Mystery 2016) - Second clue done! (see below)

The EverythingElse List:

1. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
2. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
3. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
4. As You Wish -  no progress
5. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
6. Memory quilt 2 - no progress

--
After my artistic mini (called Konfettinsky) entered last week in the Project Quilting challenge, I am on a roll in trying to redecorate my home with all kind of "art" inspired quilted objects.

Size: 15''x15'' (now you know why I picked yellow and black ;) )

Inspired by "Yellow Composition" by Joseph Albers.

Read more about the artist and his wonderful contribution to art and color theory at this link.

--
(Project 2: 2016 Finish-Along, from the list in this post)

The second challenge of Project Quilting (season 7) was launched last week and I jumped right in.
As mentioned before, I have a double challenge for myself: follow the theme of the PQ challenge ("Seasons") and have a piece inspired by a "conventional" art piece (painting, sculpture, architecture, ...).

Let me introduce you...

Size: 21'' x 21''

"Cut out for the seasons".

Inspired by "Polynesia, the sky" by Henri Matisse.
If you want to vote for me (number 2 ;)) or any of the others follow THIS LINK 

I am trying to find pieces that are outside my comfort zone, both in terms of visual impact as well as sewing techniques. I don't do much raw edge applique and I usually don't like abstract art. But that piece really caught my eye and I could immediately see it using four different colors to represent the different seasons. If you wan to know more about the fascinating story behind the cut-outs Matisse worked on after he couldn't paint any more, read this interesting article!

--
I am following along with a Mystery QAL on FB. This is my progress

Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL, clue 2 (clue 3 is already cut and ready to be assembled)

Doing this QAL I realized that it is a brilliant idea to have a mystery that starts with the center and works its way out (at least that's the impression I have, we don't have the full design yet).
This strategy allows you to start with few blocks (instead of making 300 HST right away) and if you pick a different color combination and you don't like it, there is very little that you have to redo to catch up. I am loving it... it's so bright, so full of prints... it's really me :)

--

Third week of my WGACA project (to know more you can read this previous post).

This strategy proved to be extremely effective, as I had progress on each of the three projects!

*First on my Jane T quilt. 

Three new blocks

Progress on the entire quilt. 16 blocks!

*For the SK project, I decided to design a book cover. Initially my plan was to make them all with paper piecing. However they are super small, and making the text with PP is a total insanity (ask me how I know it ;) ). So I decided to use raw edge applique, because now, thanks to the wonderful tutorial share last year by Kristel in my SYS series, I am not scared of applique any more!

Few thread sketching details add the extra character to the block, and the piece is done in no time!!

Pattern available here

*The Mirror Mirror Afghan, I designed and completed a new small block

Tapestry crochet, my own design

I will have to make the reversed design (in terms of colors), but this is an easy to reverse since if you flip it you get the other one :)

--

While I cannot share pictures of the quilted Feb block of my QAL (Play with Me), I can certainly share the fact that a pretty large number of people started sharing their completed January projects!

Please click this link to visit the page with the linky and check out the amazing work of these ladies!!!

It has been so fun to see how people mix and match colors! 

If you didn't join, it's not too late!

Visit the QAL page for more details.

--

With the sad news of David Bowie passing, Jennifer asked the designers at Fandom In Stitches if they wanted to contribute a design for a tribute post on FiS. Of course I accepted and this is what I designed

Get the pattern and see more blocks on fandominstitches.com

--

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 on this from my side, but some quilting on the next project it's in the list for this coming week. Let's hope to have some inspiration!!

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Blogoversary to ME!!!

Today is time to celebrate!!

I am THREE years blog-old!!

This third year has been amazing! I learned a lot and accomplished enough to be pretty proud of myself.

Let's put it down in numbers and pictures!

Numbers (for the last year):
- 122 posts (more than 2 posts a week!!)
- > 70000 pageviews
- 422 followers (between GFC, Blogloving and Pinterest)
- 1 new website opened for all my patterns! (alidatweloqdesigns.blogspot.com)

And what about sewing projects?
So what did I made in this third year? Here are some pictures!
(click on the picture if you want to see it bigger!!)

If anyone is interested in pattern/instructions for a specific project, just drop me an email!! :)
All of them have been shared during the year, but sometimes it's hard to find things in blogs.

Mug rugs (Peanuts in a pumpkin, Nintendo console, Spring, HP). Christmas decorations, Sweet birds,

Zipper pouches (Sew Together bags, simple long pouch), Bags (tote bag, beach bag, tapestry crochet pouch), Crochet caterpillar, Card holder, Tree skirt, Knitted Hand warmers, Knitted scarf, Fabric box, Crochet Slippers, Cross stitching hoop art, Sewing machine cover, HST pillow, Squirrel pot holders, BW pillow.

Blocks made for the Block Swap Adventure + 4 blocks (bottom row) 

made for Jennifer @ Sewhooked for charity quilts.

Reversible Halloween/Xmas WH, Flying Geese, Rainbow Dresden with X stitch kitten, Mountain house, Piet-ite Blue & Vincent, Stained Glass, Color of the Year (2016, 2015), Teal swap, Paper Piecing Vintage+Tea Towel Challenge, Pigeon.

Water Lilies, Animal samplers (2), Bargello (2), Panels with squared dresdens

(all except Water Lilies were donated to charity)

--

And now let's stop looking at the past... and let's look at the future!!
I already posted the list of projects I have for 2016 (see the complete list here), but let me highlight the main project I will run through the year!

Check out the Play with Me QAL page for more information.

I also run a weekly link party (MOP Monday) and I post every Thursday about my weekly Tangle (in the My Tangle Thursday series).

So yes, this following year will be busier than the previous one!!

---
I want to conclude this post with an Happy Blogoversary to me... and a huge thank you to YOU ALL.
With your comments and support you fuel my passion for sewing and you gave me so much inspiration!! If you promise to keep the support going, I promise to keep sewing and sharing!!

As a last note, please be patient with me in these first few months of the year as I am moving patterns and pages around. All of the patterns will be moved to alidatweloqdesigns.blogspot.com and here I will try to keep a more organized record of what I make over the year(s).
As usual, if you are looking for something and you cannot find it, just leave me a comment or send me an email and I will help you.

Piling up new projects (and a link party)

My list of projects was too short, so I had to add a few!!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - quilted Feb block, but did you see how many people shared their project??? (see below)
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - 2 more blocks done (see below)
2. The SK project - moved all my patterns (see below)
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - 70 rows and block completed (see below)!
3. Block Swap Adventure -  paused until Feb
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - no progress
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - no progress
6. Project Quilting (#2) - waiting for the new challenge
7. Art pillow - top done! (see below)
8. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL (Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles Mystery 2016) - First clue done! (see below)

The EverythingElse List:

1. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
2. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
3. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
4. As You Wish -  no progress
5. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
6. Memory quilt 2 - no progress

--
After my artistic mini (called Konfettinsky) entered last week in the Project Quilting challenge, I am on a roll in trying to redecorate my home with all kind of "art" inspired quilted objects.
I bought two pillows in a department store because their combined price was lower than buying just pillow forms or polyfil (weird logic of the retail business?).
Of course I didn't like their style but I was planning to cover them anyway so I didn't really care :)

This is the first art pillow (just the top)

Size: 15''x15''

Inspired by "Yellow Composition" by Joseph Albers.

Read more about the artist and his wonderful contribution to art and color theory at this link.

I wanted something "simple". It took me about one hour to put it together... but 2 nights to design it, since I did everything myself in Inkscape.
I learned a lot by sewing this piece, as the narrow strips (and my "organic" seams and cutting) made the piece look less precise as I hoped. However this is going to be a pillow, so it wouldn't have been flat anyway ;) but it's good to experiment and learn from the experience!

--
I saw this post on FB about a Mystery QAL with scraps.
What attracted me to do it was that the designer said something like "the scrappier the better", so she encouraged completely uncontrolled scrappy...
Of course to save my life, I wouldn't be able to follow instructions on how to use my scraps! :)
If a designer tells to use certain colors/values in certain areas, I will make it fully scrappy ignoring that.
If a designer tells to make it fully scrappy, my brain goes "nope, can't do, you have to make it controlled scrappy" :) I hope this works out, for now I really love it. It is scrappy and not a single fabric repeats: welcome to my stash!

Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL, clue 1

--

Second week of my WGACA project (to know more you can read this previous post).

This strategy proved to be extremely effective, as I had progress on each of the three projects!

*First on my Jane T quilt. 

Two new blocks from my WoaF series

Progress on the entire quilt. 13 blocks!

*For the SK project, I didn't have tangible progress, but I was able to conclude the moving of all the patterns to my new website! It's a process that takes an enormous amount of time but it will eventually be very beneficial to keep all my personal sharing post here, and my patterns there!

Patterns available here

*The Mirror Mirror Afghan, I completed about 70 rows of this pretty big block and I completed it!!

Tapestry crochet, my own design, 14'' x20''

 I will have to make the reversed design (in terms of colors), but I think I may design a smaller block first because this was a bit too much for my current liking of crochet

--

While I cannot share pictures of the quilted Feb block of my QAL (Play with Me), I can certainly share the fact that a pretty large number of people started sharing their completed January projects!

Please click this link to visit the page with the linky and check out the amazing work of these ladies!!!

It has been so fun to see how people mix and match colors! 

If you didn't join, it's not too late!

Visit the QAL page for more details.

--

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 on this from my side, but some quilting on the next project it's in the list for this coming week. Let's hope to have some inspiration!!

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Let's start with a finish (and a link party)

Finishing and good progress are a great way of starting the year!!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - worked on finishing Feb board
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - 2 more blocks done (see below)
2. The SK project - 1 block done (see below)
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - 10 rows completed!
3. Block Swap Adventure -  block done for January partner (see below)
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - great donation arrived (see below)
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - reassessed what I want to do with this
6. Project Quilting (#1) - done! (see below)

The EverythingElse List:

1. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
2. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
3. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
4. As You Wish -  no progress
5. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
6. Memory quilt 2 - no progress

--
List of projects for my Q1 list

1. Project quilting, challenge #1 - using my scrap bin, art related piece (current status: done this week)
2. Project quilting, challenge #2 - using my scrap bin, art related piece (current status: not started)
3. Project quilting, challenge #3 - using my scrap bin, art related piece (current status: not started)
4. Project quilting, challenge #4 - using my scrap bin, art related piece (current status: not started)
5. Project quilting, challenge #5 - using my scrap bin, art related piece (current status: not started)
6. Project quilting, challenge #6 - using my scrap bin, art related piece (current status: not started)
7. American Quilt - several blocks done, need to put them into a layout
8. Spirit Cross stitch - started, very little progress
9. Floral charity quilt - top, back and batting ready, need quilting!

--
This is my piece for Project Quilting, Challenge #1: Confetti.

Konfettinsky, 15'' x 15''
Made in Maryland (MD), USA

This is the story behind my work.

"One day, last spring, I went to visit The Phillips Collection, in D.C. I admired all the paintings and art pieces and I was even inspired to make a piece for the AMB Tiny Quilt Challenge (that's another story, you can read it here if you are curious).
In the gift shop, I was browsing the magnets and I kept picking up the magnet for the piece by Kandinsky called 'Succession'. I am not usually particularly attracted by abstract art and honestly I don't even remember if I saw the piece in the exhibition :).
But the fridge magnet was attracted to me and I didn't know why.
I didn't know why, UNTIL I saw the PQ challenge! When I read the word "Confetti" I immediately visualized that magnet and how I could take some pieces from it and make it in a mini! So now I know why the Universe wanted me to get the magnet!!
I fused all the desired pieces in place and added very very little quilting on it. Why? For three reasons: 1) some pieces are crazy small, so it's not good to add stitching on them; 2) this piece is never going to be washed, so as long as the pieces stay there, I am happy; 3) I wanted to keep the simplicity of the original work."

If you are curious, this is my magnet :)

More info about the original work is available at this link.

Few more details picture, just for fun :)

--

First week of my WGACA project (to know more you can read this previous post).

This strategy proved to be very effective, as I had progress on each of the three projects!

*First on my Jane T quilt. 

Two new blocks from my WoaF series

Progress on the entire quilt. 11 blocks!

*The SK project (paused for several months) got back in the making and I finished this embroidery quote

Pattern available here

*The Mirror Mirror Afghan, doesn't have progress to show, as I completed only 10 rows, but since the project was abandoned for at least 6 months, I see 10 new rows of crochet as a great progress!! 

--

For this month block for the Block Swap Adventure, my partner said she likes 30's fabric on white background. I don't have much of those colors in my stash, but I hope she will like this block.

--

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!! 

This week, I have to report a HUGE donation from Dolores and her friend Marg!

Early this week I found a package on my door step... I tried to lift it and I thought: "why would someone send me bricks?" :) yes, it was that heavy :) and full of fabric goodies

Scraps, strips, pieces, blocks and few big pieces. Let me make a special note about 60''x60'' cheater panel that will be so perfect for the back of one of the tops that I have ready!!

As you can see, my sewing helper inspected the donation and she verified the extreme good comfiness of the different pieces! :) :)

Now I'm off to basting and quilting. Maybe soon I will have another finish to report!! :)

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Resolutions and announcements :)

Today I announce two events: Play with Me QAL (first block) and the WGACA project!

The first board was shared today to people subscribed to the Play with Me QAL over at alidatweloqdesigns.blogspot.com. If you are interested, check out the latest blog post and follow the instructions to get your free pattern!

--

The WGACA project is my idea of organizing projects to get them from UFO to FO :)

The concept of "What Goes Around Comes Around" reminds me of "completing the circle" and this made me think that if I "connect" projects with each other, they may carry each other to completion. 

The idea took its final shape when I heard the latest podcast by Sandy from "Quilting for the rest of Us". 

In this episode she mentions that someone choose "Three" as her word of the year for 2015 because three is the maximum number of projects she could work at the same time. 

When I heard this, something clicked in my mind :)

I cannot work just on 3 projects at one time, because I need many more projects to keep my creative juice going, to be inspired and to be happy :)

However, 3 seems to be the perfect number for the WGACA idea and this is how it works:

• I lock 3 crafty projects to WGACA, which means that I can work on them only by following WGACA rules.
• I need to make some progress on each of them before going back to one that had already some progress done in the past week.
• the progress will be tracked in the planner below (copy printed and hanged in a prominent place in my house).
• the progress tracked need to be "concrete". Concrete means anything from "I picked the yarn out of the box and put it in my to-go bag", to "I completed 10 blocks", to "I designed the next block". However it needs to be done in a single session.
• I can work on all my other projects without rules, but those three are locked with these rules!
• once I am done with one page of the planner, I can decide to print another page, to lock different projects, to continue with these projects or to wait until next month to start a new planner

This is the planner I developed. I hanged this right across my mirror so every time I get ready I see it and I know what I should work on ;)

Download the PDF HERE!

If you want to participate, you can download the pdf above.
And this is a little visual reminder about the rules :)

The successful strategy in picking the projects, for me, is to have a project that I really really like to work on (that will be the driving force), one that I am less enthusiastic about but that I still like a lot and one that has been a UFO for to long and that I just want to get it done. In this way the happiness of working on the first project will drag the actual actions needed to make the other two.

So what about you? Do you have strategies to tackle your UFO? Is a simple list enough for you?
Let me know in the comments below!!

Allietare with Serenity (and a link party)

Finishes and good progress, great kick off of the year!!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - worked on finishing Feb board
2. Jane T - 4 more blocks done (see below)
3. Block Swap Adventure -  no progress
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - finished a new top (Allietare)
5. Americana QAL - no progress
6. Allietare QAL - finished the top!! (see below)
7. Pantone Color of the Year 2016 - finished and pattern ready for others to enjoy (see below)
8. The SK project - no progress

The EverythingElse List:

1. the 31000 Xs project - no progress
2. Spirit cross stitch project - no progress
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - no progress
4. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
5. As You Wish -  no progress
6. Crazy optical illusion - no progress
7. Memory quilt 2 - no progress

--
Pantone's Color of the Year for 2016 are actually two colors.
Serenity (light blue) and Rose Quartz.
They wanted to make a statement about gender blur, balance, tranquil tones.
I heard/read all kind of "negative" comments about those colors (like they are too "baby", dated, etc...) and even if I don't particularly like them either, they spoke to me in some way and I was able to finish my traditional wall hanging before the year even started!

Let me introduce you "Serenity"

Serenity - 17'' x 17''

Pattern available in my shop

This is inspired by the Firefly ship (Serenity) and a quote in the movie "I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar." I appliqued the word Serenity as in the movie posters (I hope it's right, if it's not, please don't tell me ;) ) and I appliqued a leaf, surrounded by a echo of its shape done by quilting. It reminds me of ripples in the water, which is a good match with the color and the theme, I think!

I bound it with the same color as the background, with some pink accents. I never used the same color for the binding and while I think it worked here, I don't particularly like it. I think my eyes prefer to see a definite border around a quilt!

And, just for fun, here is the line up of all my past Color of the Year wall hangings!!

--
The sixth and final clue of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery QAL is out. I decided to follow along, but I made 1/4 of the units because I don't need a big quilt and I was not sure if I liked the design :)

Now that I see the overall quilt, my thought is: I am happy I followed along! I like the design!!!

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

I was so worried about not following the instructions in term of scrappyness: I didn't have a constant grey, I didn't have sets, I went scrappy all the way. And I am super happy I did!!

If you check the layout, you may see "sets" because I had about 5/6 fabrics for all the units so repeats happened and I used them to make few blocks less scrappy. I really like how it turned out, bright and cheerful as hoped. The scrappyness of the greys and black adds interest when you look at the quilt close by, without distracting too much from the overall design from far away!
This is my first design on point, and it was quite confusing, but I pulled it off.
The most difficult thing was to try to convince my sewing helper not to run on the units as I was trying to figure out where each piece should go :)

Sixth clue of Bonnie's mystery QAL... 

Linking up at the Monday Link-up party!

ETA: I added a piano border!

Size: 46'' x 60''

--

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 purple one is a Farmer's Wife block. I don't know the name of the block and I won't call it with its name, because I read super-weird stories about copyright battles from the author of that book with people sharing information for QALs and such. IMHO this is very discouraging since they are all pretty simple designs and I think if people sharing QALs where linking to her book, she could have been happy for the endorsement and free advertisement. Apparently that's not the case... 

I am drafting my own patterns I don't want to get in troubles :)

I am not sharing neither the patterns nor cutting directions, 

but from now on I will call them the WoaF blocks :)

Progress on the entire quilt. 9 blocks!

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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!! 

This week, I will count the Allietare quilt as progress. I will probably add a top/bottom border to make it a toddler size,  but for now I count it as a great progress for the week!!! :)

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How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

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