Welcome everyone to....the first Quarter of the 2016 Finish-A-Long - I have to say that the Finish-A-Long has been a huge help to me in getting things done that I hope you will join in too!
Adrianne from On The Windy Side has done a magnificent job of hosting the 2015 FAL - thank you, Adrianne! Thanks also to all of you who participated in 2015 and welcome to any newcomers - if you have any questions, please shout!
As revealed in an earlier post, the 2016 FAL is going global - a community of bloggers across the world will be jointly hosting the FAL, and the hosts are:
Nicky - Mrs. Sew and Sow -UK - that's me!
For those of you who are new to the FAL, it is a place to find motivation and encouragement to complete those unfinished projects which are hanging about becoming UFOs. At the beginning of each quarter, you post a list of projects you hope to finish in the next three months, and then at the end of the quarter, you post a link from your blog, Flickr or Instagram of each successful finish from your original list. You don't have to sign up for every quarter (although I'd recommend it as it's really helpful in moving those WIPs/UFOs along!), you can dip in an out as you wish. You must have linked up a list of proposed finishes at the start of the quarter in order to be eligible for linking up your finishes (and prizes!) at the end of it.
Each finish is an entry for wonderful prizes from our sponsors. There is no penalty for not finishing a listed project, so feel free to make your list as long or as short as you wish (I tend to prefer the long version, that will come as no surprise, I suspect!). The 2016 Schedule and the Rules for the FAL are on my All You Need to Know About FAL page, let me know if you have any questions.
Here are the fantastic and generous sponsors for Q1 of the 2016 FAL - you can see each of their prizes listed under their logo:
For the 2016 FAL, we will have the return of a tutorial week at the end of each quarter, between the opening of the link for finishes and the day that link closes - watch this space. If you have a tutorial that you would like to share, please let me know.
It's time to round up the projects you want to finish over the next three months: take a photo of where you are now and make your list. Please ensure that you have at least started your projects (pulled fabric with a pattern/plan count as started) and remember that it's finished projects that will count, so while we love to see your bee blocks, the "finish" is when they are a completed, quilted quilt. (It doesn't have to be just quilting projects, though, knitting, embroidery, etc. are also welcome - I've linked up several 'non-quilting' projects in the past and it's nice to see a variety of crafts across the FAL.)
The 2016 Q1 link for your list of proposed finishes is now open below, on my blog and on each of the hosting blogs. You only link your list once, on one blog, and that link will show up on all of the hosts' blogs. If you are using Flickr or Instagram, link a mosaic and put your list in the description. Katy of The Littlest Thistle has a great tutorial on how to link-up if you need it.
We also ask that you become part of the FAL community: please check out the links of others and visit and comment on their lists. We all need encouragement to get those finishes done, so please share some of your own, too. (I should get back to blogging about each one as I finish as this time around I wrote up 11 blogposts in one day!)
I am posting my new FAL list in another blogpost as it is quite a long one! Nothing new there! I will also post it on a page too - much easier for me to find it that way than scrolling through posts!
Now it's your turn. Get those lists together and get linked up. The Q1 linky party will stay open until midnight EST, 16th January - as we are global, you might want to check your time zone to determine your last possible time to link. (The link closes at 4am, 17th January for those of us on GMT.) If in doubt, there's a little count down on the bottom right of the link up telling you how long you've got before it closes. When I'm cutting it fine, I like to keep an eye on it, just in case I've got the time conversion wrong!
Remember: you only need to link up on ONE hosting blog and it will automatically show up on all hosting blogs.
Good luck!!
And we're off!
ReplyDeletehello Nicky, I arrived here while i was blog hopping and have had a lovely time looking round. I enjoyed seeing all your quilts and have signed up for future posts.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes Kath in Somerset
Declaration made, now I;m committed! Thanks for the push! x
ReplyDelete