Little sewing, but improving my sewing space (and a link party)

Not much sewing, but it's good to have an improved sewing space!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - everyone is having fun with PP (see below)
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - 2 blocks done (see below)
2. The SK project - no progress
3. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - no progress
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - 2 blocks done (see below)
4. Block Swap Adventure -  paused until March
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - no progress
6. Project Quilting (#5) - waiting for the next challenge (see below)
7. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL - paused, not liking where this is going :(
8. Splendid Sampler - block 3 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

----

Pat and Jane announced the Splendid Sampler and can I not join such a fun project? Of course not!! :)

But I had to find my twists to make my journey different than anyone else's.

Block 3

To see all my blocks, check out My Sampler Journey page

The crochet version is a little simplified (3 hearts instead of 6) but I really like how it turned out! It is so good not to have to think about what to design for the afghan and just adapt the very inspired blocks from so many talented designers!!

--

The first project in the WGACA list  (to read more about this concept, read this previous post). is my own Jane T: I completed two more blocks!

And this is the progress on the final layout

23 blocks done!!

My initial idea was to make the blocks in random order, but I think I find more motivating if I make them in order from the center out. So I will first complete the my WoaF blocks, then assemble the center medallion, then move on to the outer blocks. I think that being able to see the full center medallion may give me a great boost of motivation as well as a nice decorative piece for my sewing space...

Speaking of which...

I do all my sewing in the dining room area, on our kitchen table :)

When we moved here I didn't have much shelves or bookcases, but I thought that I could keep my things organized in boxes... however after a while my corner ended up like this

(my sewing corner, when it was nice and tidy O_O)

The piles of boxes kept it relatively organized, but taking a box from below meant to move everything else... then everything will fall on the floor, get super messy, and then if it was messy I would just throw things on top because when it's messy it attracts more mess :(

So we went to Ikea, and this is my sewing space now

LOOOOOVE my new sewing space!

First the entire bookcase is nice and sturdy so I can use the top to temporary put the project I am working right now (meaning today). Then I love the size of those square spaces! They are big enough to store a couple of plastic containers or a fabric box, but small and contained enough to encourage me to divide the space in a meaningful way!

Then the top row of shelves contains: my scraps fabric box, drawers with FQ+bigger cuts, the current projects (hiding behind an artistic mini) and tools+spools. The bottom row has a clear box with precuts, a space with my Play with Me quilt (used also as a kitten resting place), fabric donated to me and to use for charity and fabric "trash" and other less used tools and pieces. A metal cart holds boxes with tools, rules, best press, fusible web, and those kind of things.

The space is now soooooo much more functional! In addition to that I only have 2 clear drawers of fabric smaller than FQ but bigger than precuts, and that's it! 

Now I know where everything is, everything is easily accessible and it's easy to keep it nice and clean! I am very proud of my accomplishment, even if it is not a quilt!! :)

--

Early this month I shared the second block for my Play with Me QAL

Look at all the different color combinations that people used in their game boards! So exciting!!!

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!! 

Still no progress here... so sad... but as mentioned above, now this is in my WGACA list so I will for sure make progress in the next month on this!!! :)

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Again very productive week! (and a link party)

Today it is a long one! So much fun this week!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - everyone is having fun with PP (see below)
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - 2 blocks done (see below)
2. The SK project - 1 block done (see below)
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - 2 blocks done (see below)
3. Block Swap Adventure -  paused until March
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - no progress
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - no progress
6. Project Quilting (#4) - done (see below)
7. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL (Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles Mystery 2016) - paused, not liking where this is going :(
8. Splendid Sampler - first block(s) 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

----

Pat and Jane announced the Splendid Sampler and can I not join such a fun project? Of course not!! :)

But I had to find my twists to make my journey different than anyone else's.

Block 1

Fabric block pattern available at thesplendidsampler.com

I will make my blocks using selvages (on black background, idea from Riel Nason quilt) and I will use the same designs for crochet blocks for my "Mirror Mirror Afghan".

I will share all my blocks in the dedicated page "My Sampler Journey" so that I can post picture even in the middle of the week and I won't forget what I do :)

--

The crochet afghan is one of my three WGACA projects (to read more about this concept, read this previous post).

For the second project I designed and stitched a Stephen King's book cover

No pattern for my version of 11/22/63 book cover, 

because I just found some cool fabric and sliced it as needed :)

And the third project in the WGACA is my own Jane T: I completed two more blocks!

And this is the progress on the final layout

21 blocks done!!

--
Speaking of the WGACA project, I want to report the great success of the idea (to read more about this concept, read this previous post).

This is how the first page looked after was completely filled:

The fact that I had this piece of paper hanging next to my mirror and that I saw it every day multiple times a day it is the reason why I had the brilliant idea of using the Splendid Sampler designs in my Crochet Afghan project! If I didn't have that project on my wall (physically) for so long, I wouldn't have had that idea. So even some progress steps seem minor (like only making 10 crochet rows), it is still progress and it keeps the project running.

Since I completed that page, I decided to reassess the list of project and replace the Mirror Mirror Afghan (that now doesn't need push motivation, since it's up and running) with another project that needs a push (Quilts 4 Francel, the charity donation quilts). By the end of this page I will for sure have made great progress there and I will be so happy about it.

If you struggle with some UFO, give the WGACA approach and ideas a try... you may surprise yourself about how good it works :)

--
One "spur of the moment" project was my new ID holder. I had a plastic thing that holds my work id but the badge doesn't slide in smoothly and corners started peeling off. The solution? Make myself a nice, colorful and practical ID holder with some Tula Pink Fabric!!

I was inspired by this tutorial by Brooke at Killer B, but I didn't really follow it, as I had solid fabric on the back and I had velcro and a ribbon. So basically it is completely different, but still I was inspired by the tutorial and it is so easy that is good to link to it ;)

--
For the Block Swap Adventure I receive my January block from Michell and I made some extra postage stamp blocks for our block lotto

--

Early this month I shared the second block for my Play with Me QAL

Look at all the different color combinations that people will use in their game boards!

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

Visit the QAL page for more details.

--

(Project 4: 2016 Finish-Along, from the list in this post)

The forth 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 ("Need a Vacation") and have a piece inspired by a "conventional" art piece (painting, sculpture, architecture, ...).

Let me introduce you...

Size: 21'' x 21''

"Vacation from reality".

Inspired by "Elephants" by Salvador Dali.

If you want to vote for me (number 21 ;)) after Sunday 2 CST or any of the others follow THIS LINK.

I really like the weird shapes and general compositions of Salvador Dali and Vacation to me means a nice sunset. I think I combined the two in an effective way with some applique, quilting and thread sketching.

Speaking of art and quilts... do you want to join a blog hop?

Read all the info in this previous post

--

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!! 

Still no progress here... so sad... but as mentioned above, now this is in my WGACA list so I will for sure make progress in the next month on this!!! :)

--

How about you? What are YOU up to?

Link it here and share it with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crochet, selvages and much more! (and a link party)

Today it is a long one! So much fun this week!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - everyone is having fun with PP (see below)
2. WGACA projects
1. Jane T - 3 blocks done (see below)
2. The SK project - 1 block done (see below)
3. Mirror Mirror Afghan - 3 blocks done (see below)
3. Block Swap Adventure -  done Feb block (see below)
4. Charity Quilts for DC General Homeless Shelter project - no progress
5. American Quilt (previous known as Americana QAL) - no progress
6. Project Quilting (#4) - waiting for next challenge
7. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL (Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles Mystery 2016) - paused, not liking where this is going :(
8. Splendid Sampler - found my twists! (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

----

Pat and Jane announced the Splendid Sampler and can I not join such a fun project? Of course not!! :)

But I had to find my twists to make my journey different than anyone else's.

Fabric block pattern available at thesplendidsampler.com

I will make my blocks using selvages (on black background, idea from Riel Nason quilt) and I will use the same designs for crochet blocks for my "Mirror Mirror Afghan".

Speaking of which...

New block added to my collection of tapestry crochet blocks

And these are all together! (before the Splendid Sampler blocks)

Colors seems all over the place, but I plan to mix and match them until it looks like a cool crochet sampler afghan!!

--
That afghan is one of my three WGACA projects (to read more about this concept, read this previous post).

For the second project I designed and stitched a Stephen King's book cover

Pattern available at alidatweloqdesigns

And the third project is my own Jane T: I completed three more blocks!

And this is the progress on the final layout

19 blocks done!!

--

I also completed my block for the Block Swap Adventure. Jen asked for a star in modern and bright colors. I hope she will like it!

Ribbon star (by Lee)

--
Early this month I shared the second block for my Play with Me QAL

Look at all the different color combinations that people will use in their game boards!

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

Visit the QAL page for more details.

Speaking of joining... do you want to join a blog hop?

Read all the info in this previous post

--

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!! 

Still 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 Blog Hop: Do you want to join us?

As quilters we make art every day!
Every quilted project is a unique piece of art, full of love, creativity and inspiration.

However, have you ever thought about how "traditional" art could be reinterpreted in a quilted piece?
(by "traditional" I mean anything that a non-quilter will label as art, like paintings, drawings, sculptures, architecture from all countries and all time periods).

To explore the endless possibilities of art-inspired quilted pieces I decided to organize a Blog Hop!
I invited some of my blogging quilty friends and we are going to present our unique pieces in May!

This is the current line-up of inspiring artists:

~ May 9th, 2016 ~

• Maartje (http://quiltinginamsterdam.blogspot.com)
• Lee Anna (http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/)
• Andrée (http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com)
• Renee (http://www.quiltsofafeather.com/)

~ May 10th, 2016 ~

• Kathy (http://qreativequilts.blogspot.com/)
• Nina-Marie (http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/)
• Chris (http://chrissquiltinguniverse.blogspot.com/)
• DeAnna (http://southernbellessewcreative.blogspot.com/)

~ May 11th, 2016 ~

• Beth (http://www.quilterbeth.blogspot.com/)
• Judith (http://www.frimart.ch/)
• Yanicka (http://yanickahachez.blogspot.com/)
• Heather (http://www.heatherquilts.blogspot.com/)

~ May 12th, 2016 ~

• Cynthia (http://cynthiasark.blogspot.com.au/)
• Janeen (http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com/)
• Wendy (http://www.kwiltkrazy.com)
• Afton (http://www.quiltingmod.blogspot.com/)

Do YOU want to join the blog hop and present your own project?

If so, there is still time to join! Please get in touch with me and I will send you all the information and technical details so that we can extend this blog hop past one week!!
You can either send me an email at tweloq(at)gmail(dot)com or leave a comment below (with your email address) so that we can start exchanging information.

And if you know someone that would be interested in joining, please share this information with them! The more we are the better!

I am so excited to see where all these pieces take us! I started myself to make some minis inspired by famous art pieces and, to be honest, is absolutely addictive so approach at your own risk!! :)

Back in productive mode (and a link party)

Two projects completed, from start to finish this week!

The Ongoing Project List:

1. Play with Me QAL - shared Feb block!! (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) - done! (see below) 
7. Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL (Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles Mystery 2016) - paused, not liking where this is going :(
8. Splendid Sampler's folding block station - 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

--
(Project 3: 2016 Finish-Along, from the list in this post)

Project Quilting, Challenge #3 was "All about that Thread".
My approach to PQ is to add a second theme, and this time I wanted to take inspiration from ancient Egyptian paintings.
So I was talking to my boyfriend about the piece I was planning and he told me "I like Anubis" so that's what I did! The choice has a perfect connection to thread, as one of Anubis's prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife, so that's why I named the piece

"Life is a delicate thread" 

8'' x 12''

You can vote for 5 of your favorite pieces here

Mine right now has less votes than the two "do-not-vote-for-this" entries :(

oh, well, I am really proud of the piece and I learned a lot of things making it...

If people don't appreciate my kind of art I guess it's fine! :)

I designed and appliqued the main pieces, thread painted some details and then did some microstippling in the background to create the shapes of the crook and flail.

I played with the threads, as I used Aurifil (40wt) for the details on the applique, but polyester Isacord for the microstippling. I really love both, the shine of the polyester is great for this  piece, but I like the colors of the Aurifil.

I used a envelope biding and I cut the piece with a funky shape, to mimic an ancient papyrus.

I had a lot of fun with this piece and I am looking forward to the next challenge!!

--

What don't I need? Another project to add to the list, another sampler for the year.

But then Pat and Jane announced the Splendid Sampler and can I not join such a fun project? Of course not!! :)

Well, as a bonus project before the beginning of the QAL, they released a folding block station.

I loved the project and I changed all possible things from the pattern, while keeping the project the same: as the ribbon says, I am a Free Spirit :) :) :)

Block pattern: by Jennifer @ Sewhooked (My Favorite Things BOM)

Folding block station pattern: by Jane (thesplendidsampler.com)

Fabric (most of them): Tula Pink

The project is supposed to be a pressing station + mini design wall.

I don't need a pressing station, I need a mini design wall. So I decided to turn the block so that I can hang the piece permanently next to my sewing station.

The second thing I did differently is picking a different block: I really didn't want to use the same block as everyone, and Jennifer's sewing machine block was the exact size I needed and the perfect theme!

The third thing I did differently is that I didn't use the fabric that I will use for the sampler... I just used fabric I love to see in my sewing space! :) 

I was so excited when I find the ribbon in my stash! It says "Free Spirit" and if that's not describing me and my style I don't know what is! And did you notice that the words are exactly placed right below the tiger/pocket? I didn't plan that, it happened by chance (or by fate) :) The tiger is also the exact size I needed for the pocket! Isn't it exciting when these things happen?!?!

I already planned few more versions of a similar project but bigger... stay tuned if you are interested!! :)

--
I am following along with a Mystery QAL on FB. This was last week progress:

Gyleen's BCP Mystery QAL, clue 3 and 4

I cut all the pieces for clue 5 and clue 6 has also been released... but I don't like where this mystery is going :( I saw many people using many different color combination and none spoke to me... I don't completely dislike mine, but I think that squares and rectangles are not so interesting by themselves!
So I will now stop and see how the mystery is going to be completed and then decide what to do with my pieces!

--

Last Monday I shared the second block for my Play with Me QAL

I am looking forward to see all the different color combinations that people will use in their game boards!

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!! 

Still 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