Play with Me QAL: link party, month 1

Let's share our blocks, cheer each other up and inspire the quilting community!

If you didn't hear about the QAL before, please visit the Play with Me QAL page! 

Visit the QAL page to find all the quilt layout, all the future boards and rules to participate.

I recommend you to subscribe to the QAL announcements via email, so you don't miss out on future posts! You find the subscription form on the same QAL page.

Now let's get down to some details.

This month game board is the Checkerboard, 

and the skill used to make it is Bargello!

Remember that the pattern for the Checkerboard is shared for free via email.
If you subscribed for the updates, you already got it!
If you didn't, please send me an email at tweloq(at)gmail(dot)com. I will send you the pattern and add to the list of subscribers.
To get the next pattern for free you need to share a picture of the current month block.
For full rules and explanation on how/where to share your projects, please refer to the post listing all the QAL rules!

Few administrative issues:

1. I had few people getting in touch with me because they didn't receive the pattern.
   Two of the main issues were: 
• not being subscribed to the right mailing list. The specific one for the QAL is the one in the QAL page. This is the mailing list I (personally and manually) use to get in touch directly with you for updates, share patterns, etc. General updates from my blog(s) that get into your inbox may come from readers, bloglovin, etc... those are NOT the mailing list I use as I don't have control over those things. If you want to get updates directly from me, leave me your email on the QAL page, by using the Google Form on the main page (NOT the subscribe in the right side bar). You can leave your address multiple times, I check for duplicates :)
• the attachment was "lost" somehow. This is not something I can control, as it depends on your email provider. The file was relatively big (5.3MB) but I couldn't make it smaller if I wanted to keep the quality of images, pictures, links, etc. I will try to keep them as small as possible, but if you find this issue, having a gmail account may help you. It's free to get one and their limit is 25MB. In general 10MB is considered safe for the maximum size of an email (that's what wikipedia says!) so I will not go above 10 but with pictures it could be hard to make it smaller than 5!
2. the next pattern will be sent only to people that share their pieced checkerboard and leave me their contact information (either through the linky or as listed in the rules linked above). However all people subscribed to the QAL mailing will still get updates and reminders, so it's good to be there even if you don't follow along and you don't get the patterns.
3. I had few people asking me about the sashing of the boards, if I can provide guidance on alternative layouts, etc. I put together this document and I hope it can help
   
   Click here to download the PDF version of the document

Fun "administrative" news: the Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring the event and they offer a $25 gift certificate for a lucky winner each month. There will also be a surprise grand prize at the end of the QAL!!!

And to make the beginning of the QAL even more interesting, Green Fairy Quilts offers a $15 gift certificate for a second lucky winner!!

Show some love to these wonderful sponsors, and browse their great selection of fabric and tools.

If you show them some love, they will love you back with more prizes!! Wink wink :) :)

I will draw the random winners between all the people entering a pieced checkerboard.

I will announce the winners when I share the next month pattern.

So, let's link up our checkerboards, friends!

** You just need to have the board pieced, no sashing, quilting or finishing is required **

An InLinkz Link-up

Next week I will give you some quilting ideas for the board, and the following week we are going to work on Checker's game pieces!

So are you excited about this QAL?

I surely am!! Grab my button and share the love (button on the side bar)!
The more people join in, the more fun it will be!!

Until next week,

Happy Stitching!!

Remember: all the details about the series are collected in the QAL web page.