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Saturday, August 19, 2017

Puzzling times (and a link party)

While I have been crafty and creative, it is difficult to share these fun projects when heartbreaking hate is celebrated, justified and supported by some people with powerful positions.


This is why today I want to focus on one particular project that is sadly very relevant.
a project to "commemorate 70,273 voiceless, powerless people who were so callously and casually murdered by the Nazis because physically or mentally disabled – men, women, teens, boys, and girls"



For the people that think that "many sides" have to be called out...
For the people that think that "they had a permit, the others didn't have a permit"...


I want you to remember that the paperwork to murder 70273 disabled people between January 1940 and August 1941 (before the Holocaust began), was absolutely legal...

They had a permit...

Check out these pristine and beautifully calligraphed documents that list thousand of people that are legally killed because they were physically and mentally disabled (document from https://www.ushmm.org/).

They had a permit for many years to work on their idea to exterminate the Jewish people (doument from https://www.ushmm.org/).



If you are one of the people that buried your head in the sand by believing there was violence "from many sides" and that it's all good if "they had a pemit" (document from https://www.ushmm.org about the permits people had in 1930s)...

I hope that the event that will open your eyes on what is happening, won't be...
... the filed paperwork to murder your son because a threat to genetic purity ...
... the filed paperwork to murder your daughter because "useless" to society ...
... the filed paperwork to murder your mother because "unworthy of life"...
... the filed paperwork to murder your father because physically handicapped ...
... the filed paperwork to murder your spouse because considered "mentally ill" ...

...
...
...

I hope I will get back to share fun and cheerful quilting projects next week...

My heart goes out to people that are trying to spread love despite the sorrow and pain we see around us...
I will try to do the same!!

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How about you? What are YOU up to?
Link it here and share it with me!!


Saturday, August 5, 2017

Progress that I forgot to document (and a link party)

I forgot to share projects and blocks completed in the past few weeks


The Ongoing Project List:
  1. Growing Up QAL - completed more blocks (cannot share) :)
  2. Starry Bright Sky QAL (2018) - announced and started planning! (cannot share) :)
  3. Art with Disney QAL (2018) - no progress
  4. Splendid Sampler - no progress
  5. Charity quilts - no progress
  6. SK project - no progress
  7. Molli Sparkle's "The Honey Pot Bee" - one tiny July block done (see below)
  8. En Provence QAL - no progress
  9. Journaling into my new Leuchtturm 1917 - loooove it, shared July review last week!
  10. the 70273 Project - 12 blocks done (see below)
  11. Book binding - no progress
  12. Twilters! Bee - completed July blocks, but forgot to take pictures :)
  13. Face scrubbies and other crochet sponges - completed a set, but pictures next week :)
  14. Pencases and zipper pouches - several in progress
  15. Goofy Lister - second version done (see below)
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More blocks for the the 70273 Project. If you are curious to see some of the beautiful quilts made with all these blocks check out this Pinterest board!
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About a month ago I shared a Goofy block I made for my Art with Disney quilt. I sent a link to the artist that the piece was inspired by Adam Lister, and he asked me if I was interested in making him a copy of that block in exchange for one of his painting! Of course I said yes... and this is the piece I completed for him.

Goofy Lister # 2 (17'' x 17'')

The quilting design is inspired by the work of Agnes Martin, an artist that Adam said he loves! :) Isn't it fun to mix and fuse so many different artistic point of view (mine, Adam's, Disney's, Agnes's) ?!? :)

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Then I finally completed one of July's block for the The Honey Pot Bee (mushroom challenge).
I am keeping the Disney/Alice/Cartoons theme so that all the blocks will make a coherent quilt (one day in the far far future :))



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Last week I announced the 2018 QAL I am running on my other website!!
I will be sharing more information in the next several months, so subscribe to the email list (at the link below) to be notified about future announcements!! :) :)


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How about you? What are YOU up to?
Link it here and share it with me!!


Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Journaling and planning: July 2017 update

I think I finally converged to my ultimate journal!

My planning journey is like my quilting journey: from the first weeks I immediately know what I like and what my overall style is. However the more I plan, the more tools I want to buy and the more experiments I want to run! This month, off again to a new journal!

For disclaimers about how I personally use this Journal/Planner system, please refer to these previous posts: Mid-year reviewMay reviewApril reviewMarch reviewDecember review (evolution of a Quilter's Planner), November reviewOctober review, September review.


As mentioned in my May review, while I liked the blank pages in my pink journal (and the thick paper that allowed me to color in without ruining the back of the page), I needed some kind of structure, and the dot grid of the Emerald Leuchtturm 1917 provides the right amount of space and structure.

Before jumping into the monthly and weekly pages, since this is a new book I needed some general project and event trackers

(click on each picture if you want to see them in more details)


So I created a tracker for my packages and cards (to send and receive) so that I can know in a glance what is missing and what's coming up.
I created a "Rubity, Scrubity, Sweepity" tracker to record things that I need to do regularly but not too often (like washing quilts, color my hair, change the air filters).
I created a "Brain dump" where I pencil in things that I should not forget but they don't have a space or a time just yet. Then I started a reading list, to keep track of the books I read.
And finally I creatd a page where I record the blocks I make for the 70273 project.

I kept on with the practice of selecting an artist each month and using her art to decorate my planning. Since this book has many pages, I decided to start making "month cover pages" and this is my July page, inspired by the work of Agnes Martin.



Each week now is on two pages, and this gives me space to be creative (by integrating the artist style into the decoration of the days) but also to be practical (by listing daily taks, ideas for meals, exercise practice and even some new recipes or plans for quilting projects!)


Below you can see the daily tracker, with my weight tracker and my steps/water mandala. I stopped tracking my water intake, so I will change it up for next month! :)

These trackers/collections are also great to keep big project under control: for example I am running a short Quilt and Stitch along on Fandom in Stitches (Long live the King, Stephen) and I need to understand which patterns have been tested, which ones are in PDF format, if they have been added to the blog post, etc. A simple table on a single journal page is all I need to have a clear idea of what's coming next!! :)




I kept it up with the Free Motion Daily Doodle spread: each day is a different design from Leah Day's blog... it is very interesting to practise all these designs in small spaces and see if I like making them or not: no thread or fabric wasted :)  I also added a coloring legend to remember which designs I love, like or don't like: that's essential for times when I want to pick a quilting designs and I don't remember which one I enjoyed and which was frustrating to draw!!


Last but not least...

Few words about the Leuchtturm1917 dotted journal

  • it may look like an "expensive" journal, however consider that it has 250 pages and for the first month I used about 20... which means that the journal will last me about a year! If you divide the price for this amount of use, I think it's totally worth it.
  • the quality of the page is kind of "weird" for me: it's smooth, off-white and I love writing on it! and I think that the dotted grid is the perfect balance of structure and freedom. However pens ghost (which means that you can kind of see what it is on the back of the page. The weird thing is that the ghosting does not bother me at all!! Actually it's very nice because it helps when I need to reproduce the same spread (like every week) and it's a metaphor of life (as everything we do is affected by what happened before and it will affect what happens next :) ).
  • Ghosting is different than bleeding... and I didn't have any ink bleeding in those pages! Even if my August cover page is heavily colored with black markers, no ink is visible on the other side (just the shadow of the coloring itself)
  • The rigid cover is so fantastic to take the journal on the go and use it anywhere! I made full spreads and collections on a chair waiting for a doctor appointment and I didn't have any problem at all!!


I am all set up for August: I changed up few things that I want to track, dropped some, added others: this is the beauty of this planning style, you can change it up to suit your mood and style!

If you have any question about my planner, my spreads, my comments, etc, don't hesitate to comment below. Also please share planning, tracking and productivity tips, as those are always welcome!!!!

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