Finishes, new projects (and a link party)

Finishes are rolling in, but the list doesn't get shorter because of new projects ;)

The Ongoing Project List:

1. the SK project - no progress
2. Tea Towel challenge and PPV BOM - dooooooone
   (this is my April project for a Lovely Year of Finishes)
3. SYS2015 future projects - blocks done, ready to be assembled in the object! cannot share
4. D wall hanging -  one little block done!
5. B quilt - no progress
6. Sewing machine cover -  doooooone!
7. Block Swap Adventure - nothing new for April
8. Spangled Stars Quilt-along - planned to join!

The EverythingElse List:

1. Embroidery calendar - no progress
2. Animal blocks for charity quilts - paused for a while
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.

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The Voting for the Marsala Quilt Challenge is open over @ onthewindyside! You should go there and check all those entries!! Mine is in the Mini (number 8), just in case you want to give it some love ;)

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The whole project started as the "Tea Towel Challenge" (@ sophie junction).
So I got the tea towel and I used it as the center piece. Then I reproduced the motif in the main design as paper piecing border around it.
And then the amazing Jen started her BOM (Paper Piecing Vintage). So I decided to merge the two and not following any of their rules I made my own ;)
So I didn't follow Sophie's deadline, nor Jen layout, but I really love how it turned out!!

Few notes on the finishing touches:

• I was super afraid of quilting it. Because I decided to do something I never do: use all-over designs not connected to the piecing. I was afraid that my bad skills in quilting and in picking desings would have ruined the piecing. But overcoming my fears I did it anyway and I realized that even if I used cream thread, it doesn't stand out against the blue! It just give a different texture! So fear of all-over designs is over!! :)
• I tried a nice and simple motif shared by Susan a few weeks ago. I used a simplified version and tried it with two different scales. I used my walking foot to quilt this and I really like how it's soft and subtle, but interesting. This is definitely something I am going to use again!
  
• Confident about the previous design, I wanted to try a more complex one in free motion. So I picked Deco Leaves by Leah Day. I hated the entire process! The stitching was super hard, frustrating, nothing was working, I kept getting stuck because of bulky seams, the stitches were super inconsistent, I broke one needle, I hated quilting, I hated my life, I hated everything while I was doing that :) ok, once I stop stitching this section, I went back to my normal status of loving my life and sewing ;) but I guess you understand the spirit. Despite the messiness of the process and my opinion on the design (too dense for my taste), it didn't turn out too bad after washing... I can barely see it, so this is just a lesson for me: never ever ever ever again try to FMQ on a pieced  block :) if all the seams are open or on a blank piece of fabric, maybe...
  
• Because I didn't want to repeat the same design that gave me so much trouble, I started doing some tangles borders on my notepad and came up with this simple design which I absolutely love! I stitched it with my walking foot, so a lot of turning, but not too bad since the design is pretty small and I didn't need to turn the whole quilt most of the time. This is another design that I will definitely use again!!
  
• I absolutely love the 2 colors (piped) binding but I struggled joining the sections at the end. Again Susan came to the rescue with a great tutorial! Absolutely perfect joining, if I didn't know where it is I wouldn't even being able to tell (hint: it's in one of the picture, but not in this one)!! ;)
  
• Finally, since this is a wall hanging that I wanted to hang on the wall I tried to put a sleeve on! First sleeve ever and, guess where I find help for that: right, Susan again with a simple hanging sleeve tutorial!

This is my finish for April for a Lovely Year of Finishes and the FINISH #1 for Q2 of the Finish Along!!

Oh, and because Susan really seams to be perfectly in line with what I need and what I like, she is starting a great Quilt Along! The design is very beautiful, however I think I will need to change the colors, because despite white being a wonderful background for that design, it doesn't seem to be appropriate for a quilt that I may want to drag around for picnics or on the beach ;) but we'll see!

Click the button for more information!!

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And speaking about the Finish along... I also have FINISH #2!! (wow, 2 finishes in one week!!)

(Patterns by Susanne @ Quilt it out, Amy @ Badskirt,  Joanna @ Shape Moth and by HTaBQuilts)

So I had these blocks for quite a while and I made them with the idea of covering my previous sewing machine (which didn't have a hard cover). But now the new sewing machine has a hard cover that I really like, except that is white and plain! So I decided to use those blocks to make a snugly cover for the cover :)
Since this is a little smaller than the original cover, the blocks are not perfectly centered, but I really like the way it turned out anyway! I did some straight line quilting to mimic the lines on a notepad (since the fabric is graph paper with equations and geometric formulae) :)
It was a very quick project, and it has been sitting there for months! Thanks to the incentive of the Finish Along I actually finished it!!

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Finally, I made the second block for the D wall hanging for my dad: second part of the fence!

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What are YOU going to link?

An InLinkz Link-up