MOP Monday - I AM back! :)

Hello everyone!
I am officially back! Did you miss me? ;)
I missed my sewing/blogging/designing time for sure!

I don't have much progress to report on my list of projects, but few are better than none!!
And I have few projects that I wanted to add to my list, because if you all know that they are in progress that put some "pressure" on me to actually go on with them and finish them (eventually).

-- MOP: The list --

1. As You Wish - no progress
2. Rainbow Starburst - no progress
3. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - one July block done! (see below)
4. Alice in Wonderland quilt - no progress
5. Happy Halloween wall hanging - no progress
6. Topolino quilt - no progress (progress last week)
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7. Blocks for Summer of Stitches (FiS) - designed 2... I need to go to the quilt shop to get some fabric... but I hope to have them done in the next couple of weeks :)
8. College Days Blog Hop blocks - there are few blocks that I ABSOLUTELY NEED to make :) still haven't decided which fabric to use :)
9. Crazy optical illusion - if the few initial blocks will work out, I will share more details, for now it's a secret
10. Reversible sewing machine cover - 8 blocks to make, 2 done (see below)
11. Iron board cover - because mine is ugly and old and if my sewing machine get a new cover, my ironing board may get jealous and we don't want that!!! :)

-- MOP: This week new blocks --
PPV block for June was not in my original design, so I am not running that much behind!
This is one of my July block (I need to make a second one... but this is a very quick block, so I will be able to make it by the end of July for sure!)

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I decided to make a cover for my sewing machine because I found some sewing-related blocks (most of them PP) that are just wonderful!
These are the one that I did until now

Designed by Joanna @ Shape Moth

Designed by HTaBQuilts  

I had a lot of fun making the Dresden Plate block... I still prefer PP, but the effect is very nice with this traditional technique as well!!

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And FINALLY I was able to sit down and finalize the Malecifent pattern (that was tested more than a month ago by not one but TWO amazing testers) see their amazing blocks!

tested by KellyLea

tested by Diane K

So you can find the final pattern of this Maleficent block on my Free Pattern page.

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And now, link YOUR own progresses below!!
Rules for the linky party:
1. You can link finished projects or WIP at any stage! Every step is worth sharing
   (A journey of thousand miles is made of single steps)!
2. Link to your specific post to make it easier for others to read about your progress!
3. Spread the word and post my button or a text link (code for the button on the side bar)
4. Comment on other links!! It's always good to support each other every step of the way!! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

MOP Monday, Off with your head!!

And here we are for the third week of progress reports!

My initial idea was to have a progress on each of the six projects below each week... that was a little bit too optimistic :) but the second part of my initial plan was to have progresses on each project in a sequential way, in the sense that once a step has been made on one project, before a second step can be made on the same project I need to advance each of the other ones... in this way I am "forcing" myself to make them advance at the same time... no project left behind!! :) And on that I am succeeding... so here they are!

-- MOP: The list --

1. As You Wish - no progress (progress done last week)
2. Celtic Solstice - no progress (progress done last week)
3. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - 3 chevrons blocks added to the tea towel! (see below)
4. Alice in Wonderland quilt - the Queen of Hearts is done! (see below)
5. Happy Halloween wall hanging - done "Do Bats Eat Cats?" block (see below)
6. Topolino quilt - cut pieces of next block (Scrooge McDuck) and selected fabric

-- MOP: This week new blocks --
The Queen of Hearts is ready to get some heads!!

The pattern has been tested and fixed and is now available in the Quilt&Stitch-TestAlong page.

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I've already shown this last Tue for my Tea Towel Challenge update, but this is the set of three chevron blocks from the Paper Piecing Vintage BOM.

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And finally, when I saw the new QAL that Melissa @ HappyQuilting is hosting I didn't really like it enough to make a full quilt with the blocks (I am not a big fan of "classic stars"), but suddenly looking at the block I didn't see stars and borders but I saw Cats and Bats! And how could I not make a block that has an Halloween theme merged with an Alice in Wonderland theme???

So I generated a paper piecing version of Melissa block because I needed a smaller version of the block and with different coloring... so here you can see my "Do Bats Eat Cats?" block!!

The inverse ("Do Cats Eat Bats?") is the next on my list for that project ;)
I will link this post in Melissa's link up party even if I don't know if my block will "qualify" for a prize for the QAL since I didn't follow her instructions... but I wanted to share it with the group because I really like that block now that I don't see it as a star ;)

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And now, ling YOUR own progresses below!!

Rules for the linky party:
1. You can link finished projects or WIP at any stage! Every step is worth sharing
   (A journey of thousand miles is made of single steps)!
2. Link to your specific post to make it easier for others to read about your progress!
3. Spread the word and post my button or a text link (code for the button on the side bar)
4. Comment on other links!! It's always good to support each other every step of the way!! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Tea Towel Challenge - February update

This is the state of my project for the Tea Towel Challenge, merged with Paper Piecing Vintage BOM :)

As I said before, I think I will change the top/bottom border to something more similar to the "greek" design that I put around the center of the tea towel... but for now here are my virtual design wall and my real one!

I really like the scrappy look and the colors... unfortunately when I take pictures is either night or rainy so the colors in the image are not the real ones... but I hope that by the end of the project I will be able to take a picture in a sunny weather ;)

Tea Towel Challenge, PPV and Celtic Solstice updates!!

It has been a quite productive holiday time for me! At least from the point of view of crafty things :)
I delivered all the Christmas presents (all handmade item) and I will share them with you later on this month... because now I have to update you on 3 QAL that I joined: Tea Towel Challenge, Paper Piecing Vintage BOM and Celtic Solstice Mystery!

** Tea Towel Challenge update**
As mentioned before, my tea towel will be the center piece for a wall hanging and it will be surrounded by blocks from the PPV (see later). January would have been the "fabric selection" time for this challenge but I actually already finished my center piece and it looks like this:

The fabric that I will use is going to be scrappy... in dark blue, white and aqua (see later for the whole design). I cut out the main design on the tea towel and I reproduced (in paper piecing) the little geometric motif in the lower band. I increased that in size and I put them on the side of the tea towel. I added some blue and white strips to reach the right size (12'' x 18'') to be coupled with the 6'' blocks of the PPV.
I am pretty happy about this center block, even if I doubled the white fabric (because it was too much "seeing through" for my taste)... this made the little pieces a little bulky and not "perfectly matching" but I like them anyway! :)


** Paper Piecing Vintage update **
The first pattern was released few days ago!! And this is my block:

And I needed three of them, because of my Tea Towel Challenge design :) so this is how the PPV and Tea Towel Challenge looks right now:

I am pretty sure that I will change the greek top/bottom border... and I will probably replace it with a bigger version of the motif I already put on the sides of the tea towel... I think that will be a more cohesive choice... but we will see... I have one year of blocks to make before adding that border... I may change my mind a thousand times more :)


** Celtic Solstice Mystery update **
And the Celtic Solstice was revealed on Jan 1st!! :) I still didn't complete step 5 at that time, but now I not only completed that but I also put together my blocks!!!
Step 5 picture (again I created the paper piecing pattern for the split triangle unit) :)

And these are the finished block on my design wall:

I have just few blocks because for each part of the mystery I just did one fourth of the small quilt blocks... I will add the missing one later on, since I want to make this as a baby quilt... but let me tell you: I really like this design!!! I love patterns that made circles appear without any curved seam!! :) I love the color I choose, they are very bright even if I cannot take a good picture of them now because it's cloudy :( I will when the top will be done! And I love the scrappyness!!

As a final note: the official name of this quilt will be "The perfectly unmatching points"... so if you are a member of the quilt-police, let me tell you that every unmatching point is a design choice against the search of perfection that causes nothing but stress :) during the assembly process I decided to put pins here and there to force some points to match, but not everywhere because I prefer to admire a finished block than stressing about points and using my seam-ripper all the time :)
And Pumpkin (who has been recently being spayed :( this is the reason for the cone) checked them and she gave me her approval, as you can see below:

So if SHE approved them, who can tell me that they are not ok???
And if you want to check everybody else's progress, you can find the link-up party here!!

And that's it for now...
I wish you all a crafty 2014!!! :)

P.S. Actually I also made some progress in the As You Wish QSAL because I am one of the designers so I have access to some patterns before the official release ;) I did one PP block and two embroidery blocks!! I am very proud how the embroidery blocks turned out because I never did "serious" embroidery work (i.e., with stitches different from back stitch) before... but I think my blocks are pretty good for being my first experiment using stem stitch, satin stitch, brick stitch, french knots and lazy daisy stitches ;)
I am sorry but I cannot share pictures of the blocks because they are still secret :) but I will do it as soon as they are officially released on Fandom In Stitches!! ;)

Tea Towel Challenge and Paper Piecing Vintage BOM

I decided to fuse two different QALs and design this wall hanging:

This is my initial layout, but I am not sure if it is going to be the final one too. :)

I will start working from the tea towel (center) out and see how it looks in fabric.
It's still very hard for me to see how things are going to look from a drawing on the computer...
Probably the Greek border (top/bottom) will be smaller and thinner than the one shown above... but for now I will leave it like that.
The little motifs on the side of the central image are paper piecing reproduction of the motif that is in the lower band of the tea towel. I designed those little motifs myself. All the other blocks are part of the Paper Piecing Vintage BOM by Jennifer. I just mixed the colors and duplicated the blocks few times. Each block will be 6''. A couple of blocks from the BOM are missing because I couldn't visualize them in my layout. They will be probably included in the back.

Do you have any comment about my layout? Anything that you would change?
I will make each block scrappy, but I hope to be able to keep the white/blue/aqua palette of that layout because I really like the combination.

Now I hope to be able to finish the center of the wall-hanging before the year ends, so that I will be ready to add the blocks for the BOM as soon as they are released!!