UFO and WIP Link Up for September

I'm joining at The Crafty Quilter this month's for the UFO & WIP Link Up.

I finished these Halloween themed coasters using some of my many fabric scraps. The embroidery file called Boo Coaster is from OESD. I enjoyed making these.

I have a few items in progress and am happy for the chance to show what I have been working on.

In early September, when I HAD to go through my sewing storage area and organize, along with purging some items, I found some UFOs in some storage tubs (overlooked for a few years-ok, maybe more than a few). I had put them aside, for whatever reason. (You know, life sometimes just gets in the way; none of them was ever for lack of interest, though). This is the first one I am working on. It was Christmas-themed and I would be ahead of the season by working on it!  I'm hand sewing this in the evenings. I think I will do big stitch quilting to finish it.

The Dresdens were already sewn down, machine appliqued. I added the circles with fabric I found in my stash. 

The background fabric is a velour of some kind. I remember choosing it, those many years ago, from my stash of clothing pieces thinking it would be unique to use. The binding will be the same as the circles. I plan on having it as a coffee table topper. 

Above, is the first Dresden quilt I ever made - in a class taught by Beth Ann Williams in the early 2000s. It hangs in our entrance way on a wooden quilt rack flanked by heart-shaped wooden shelves which I made in a woodshop class back in the day. It hangs there for most of the year, too.

Thank you for visiting. Leave a comment, I like to hear what visitors have to say. I try to reply to all comments (if I have your email) in the post. 

Happy Sewing!

Once Upon A Story Blog Hop with Free Quilt Patterns Continues

More lovely block patterns this week, with nursery rhyme or fairytale stories themes, were on the Blog Hop ONCE UPON A STORY, hosted by Marian of Seams to Be Sew. Take a look and gather these free patterns soon!

Beth, at Words & Stitches, posted her pattern for the nursery rhyme Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

The block measures 30" x 30" when finished and is another that could become a quilt on its own. I do like star blocks and this block could be made with so many color choices to fit the person or occasion.

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Debra, from Tuning My Heart Quilts, designed a pattern for Little Bo Peep.

She posted the nursery rhyme, I have heard only two verses. Oh, Bo Peep had a harder time than I thought finding those sheep!

Debra explained through many photos how different applique techniques helped her sew the various pieces of the applique block. I feel more able to tackle applique with her tips.

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From My Carolina Home, Carole offers us an applique pattern (applique method of your chosing) for Baa, Baa Black Sheep. And this black sheep sure is a cutie. Read how her choice of black fabric adds a wooly texture to the sheep.

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The Pumpkin Patch block illustrates one of my favorite stories from childhood, in a most delightful way!

The Bremen Town Musicians block measures 12" x 30" when finished and would make a great wall hanging by itself, and a wonderful quilt when joined with other blocks.

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And finally this week, we can sit and finish with a cup of tea as we view the pattern for I'm a Little Teapot. Cindy, from Stitchin At Home, designed a delightful 9" x 18" block that I think would make a wonderful placemat on the table at tea time.

And then again, perhaps I can combine it with A Tisket, A Tasket, and few other blocks that posses human personalities (Hey, Diddle, Diddle) for a child's quilt or a tablecloth.

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I hope you enjoyed the week and gathering the blocks available from this week's designers.
Remember to enter for the giveaways at the blogs you visit.

Electric Quilt is offering a 20% off discount to anyone who’d like to purchase there products during the Row Along. The code is ROWALONG20

We all like reading your comments on our blog pages! Thank you and here is the schedule for next week:

Tuesday, 1st October, 2019

Carol Andrews
https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/
Charlie's Daughter
http://www.charliesdaughter.net/
Mountain Meadow Designs
https://www.pg-mmd.com/blog1

Seams To Be Sew
http://www.seamstobesew.com

Duck Creek Mountain Quilting

http://duckcreekmountainquilting.com/

More Quilt Blocks You Don't Want to Miss During the Once Upon a Story Blog Hop

Again, the Once Upon A Story Blog Hop has quilt designers sharing amazing quilt block patterns with blog visitors. This past week the patterns were delightful! The patterns are free during the week the designers' blogs are posted. After that, the designers might have them available for a small fee. There are also Rafflecopter entries for giveaways at each of the designers' posts, although giveaways from the past weeks' posts have ended.

Let's start with the design from Barb (of b.dieges designs) who has a lovely paper pieced block: Two Little Dicky Birds, named Peter and Paul. 

I remember this little finger play as a child and later reciting it when my daughters were small tots. The rhyme dates back to 1765 when it was published in Mother Goose's Melody book. Originally the birds were named Jack and Gill! (Perhaps the change came to not confuse Jack and Jill going up the hill with the two birds!) I am so excited to get to work on this block for a Spring or Summer wallhanging. Thank you, Barb. 
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I giggled and smiled while reading the description Ms P Designs USA had about the block designed to illustrate another Mother Goose poem, Hey, Diddle, Diddle. Susan designed and arranged the illustrations of the cat, the spoon and the plate, the cow and the moon, and the little dog. This block could create a hilarious ruckus as you sew it. 

With a finished size of 30" x  30" it will be such a cute baby or toddler quilt all by itself; or add other story blocks collected during the hop and it provides nighttime stories and poems without the books. 

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Marian, of Seams To Be Sew, took a Christmas story from 1892 that didn't meet with much success all those years ago. But since about 1960, its popularity has been shown by children and adults alike. 
Have you guessed it? Here is a hint with one of the character blocks included in the pattern:

It is The Nutcracker! She also includes blocks for Clara and Mother Ginger. When these are sewn together they will make a finished 10" x 30" block. 

She also has a complete pattern available with 3 ADDITIONAL character blocks for a total of 6 blocks. This pattern includes instructions for the six blocks in 10, 12, 15, and 20-inch finished sizes.

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The block from Elizabeth Coughlin Designs is raw edge applique. Elizabeth used five Aesop Fables, illustrating the morals of the stories. Her pattern has directions for two different size arrangements, making either a 12" x 30"  or a 18" x 18" finished block to work into your quilt size. 

I learned more about Aesop by reading Elizabeth's post. Read her post to learn the moral illustrated for each of the blocks.

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Cynthia from Cynthia's Creating Ark created Rapunzel's block. It measures 9" x 12" when finished. I think this is a great take-along block for hand stitching. 

I can envision adding crayon painting or beads to this block.
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At Duck Creek Mountain Quilting, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the rhymes dilemma that arose from the theme of this blog hop. I am happy to report that a 12" x 30" block (when finished) featuring Little Boy Blue and Baa, Baa Black Sheep has been chosen and is available to us! 

The block fun and giveaways continue through October 3, 2019. Here is the list of upcoming blogs to visit.

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

Pumpkin Patch BC
http://pumpkinpatchbc.com/blog/

Stitchin at Home
http://www.stitchinathome.com/

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Thursday, 26 September 2019

From My Carolina Home 
http://frommycarolinahome.com/

Words & Stitches
https://bethstrand.wordpress.com

Tuning My Heart Quilts
http://www.tuning-my-heart.com

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Tuesday, 1st October, 2019

Carol Andrews
https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/

Charlie's Daughter
http://www.charliesdaughter.net/

Mountain Meadow Designs
https://www.pg-mmd.com/blog1

Seams To Be Sew

http://www.seamstobesew.com  

Duck Creek Mountain Quilting

http://www.duckcreekmountainquilting.com/

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Thursday, 3rd October, 2019

Clever Chameleon
http://www.cleverchameleon.com.au/blog

Sew Incredibly Crazy
https://sewincrediblycrazy.blogspot.com/

Miss Loreen’s Schoolhouse 
http://loreen.typepad.com/

Seams To Be Sew

http://www.seamstobesew.com  

Second Week of Quilt Blocks Inspired by Childhood Stories and Poems

The blog hop Once Upon A Story continued into its second week with more blocks designed from favorite childhood stories and poems. If you missed a day this week, here is a recap of the blocks. The patterns are available (see the links on each designer's post), free during their week of the blog hop (some during the entire blog hop) and for a small fee after that week. 

Linda B Creative chose to work with Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This story was written by Robert Southey in 1837 and over time, the story evolved from the original version. Linda designed a 30" x 30" block that can be a quilt on its own! 

Linda illustrated the characters from the story, which can be used for thread sketching for the block, appliqued, or colored with crayons. She gives ideas of how to do each of those processes. Watch Linda's great tutorial on how to do the thread sketching using washaway stabilizer sheets. ( After embroidering, I have large pieces of these stabilizer sheets that I save. I think I could use a washable glue stick to join the pieces and get a large enough piece to do the thread sketching and not waste the excess from my other projects.)
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Humpty Dumpty was the nursery rhyme Marlene of KISSed Quilts chose. The poem focuses on Humpty, who fell from the wall. As with most nursery rhymes from bygone eras, we speculate as to an underlying meaning. HERE, I found interesting theories about its origin. But, I like the idea that it was a riddle for children to solve-What was Humpty? and now we think of it as an egg!

I think Marlene came up with a wonderful idea for her block--Humpty Dumpty's Wall! She really has us looking at the construction of that wall which looks so much sturdier than Humpty. I'll tell you, this block could be so useful in so many quilting projects! 

Marlene designed the pattern in 5 Sizes! (vertical and horizontal in 18" x 9", 12" x 30" and a BIG 30" x 30") Just look at the fabrics she used from Northcott and how they really look like bricks and mortar. Visit her post where she shows the block using other colors of fabrics. 

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Here, at Patchwork Breeze, I chose the poem by L. Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat. I have enjoyed the nonsense of this poem since I was a child. I designed a 30' x 30" block, which could be a toddler quilt by adding some borders. 

I think it would be fun to add a border around my block showing some of the items included in the poem: honey, money, guitar, ring, a pig, turkey, and of course, a runcible spoon!

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The nursery rhyme block Hickory, Dickery, Dock, was designed by Becky at Bobbin in Quilts. She included some piecing, applique, and drawing (if you'd like) to create this fun block. 

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The Pied Piper is an old story that was chosen by Ursula Prandtstetter from Austria to design into a quilt block. Ursula's post is being hosted on the blog of Clever Chameleon Quilting. This is the first pattern she has designed. I must say it is clever and very appealing. She included the river, the pipe, and the rats, of course! How fun. 

Do read Dione's introduction to Ursula's guest post on the blog! Dione, it seems, has a great talent for writing. Ursula shared photos and information about where she lives and its relation to the story of the Pied Piper. 

I looked up the definition of "pied" and see it means multi-colored, variegated. I thought that was so fitting a word to relate to a quilt block! Have fun with this block.

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Paula, at Mountain Meadow Designs, designed a block for another of my favorite childhood rhymes, A Tisket, a Tasket. 

The flowers in the green and yellow basket are beautiful. The flowers are cut from a Northcott fabric and sewn down. Just gorgeous! 

Remember to enter for the giveaways through the Rafflecopter entries on each designer's page or at Seams To Be Sew.

And Electric Quilt Company has a discount code: ROWALONG2 

that you can use on any product you order from their website. I personally think the Cotton Lawn Printable Fabric Sheets are wonderful. 

Quilting a Poetic Adventure of an Owl and a Cat

My Blog Hop Day is finally here!

Thank you for visiting. I hope you enjoy sewing up the block I designed.

Many thanks Marian, of Seams To Be Sew, for organizing this wonderful blog hop. This is the 5th year she has had a blog hop and I am happy to have designed a pattern for each of those years. HERE  is a link to the past years' Row Alongs, and some of the patterns are still offered for free (including all of mine during this special 5-year celebration)!

She has gathered generous sponsor donations for giveaways. Each designer has a featured giveway, so visit all the blogs! Electric Quilt Company  has the grand giveaway--an EQ8 program for one lucky person. Enter for a chance to win a giveaway(s) by using the Rafflecopter boxes on each blog post. On my post, they are found after my block. There are so many wonderful blocks to collect - for FREE - during the week of each designer's post date! 

JUST ADDED!

Electric Quilt Company was kind enough to give us a 

Coupon Code YOU can use for 20% off EQ products!

The code is ROWALONG20 

and Expires October 8, 2019. 

Visit the Electric Quilt Company website 

to see what they have.

Thanks to Northcott Fabrics for their generosity in supplying each designer with up to 1 yard of fabric to use in their block. I chose half yard cuts of Stonehenge #39300-71 (green) and Out of This World #39156G-49 (deep blue with stars) shown below:

Once Upon A Time stories and poems was the theme for this blog hop. Each designer chose a story or poem(more like fairytales) they liked. The blocks are different from in the past. They don't make a row effect quilt. Different size blocks were designed for you to combine into a quilt size to fit your needs without that "row effect." Marian will be posting some layout designs to help you in your quilt layout. One designer even has filler blocks for you to use between your blocks.

My "Once Upon  A Story" Block

I enjoy piecing quilt blocks more than appliqueing, and I wanted a block that was going to help illustrate my literary choice. I created a 30" x 30" block for Edward Lear's nonsense poem, The Owl and The Pussycat, which was published in 1871. I've liked this poem for as long as I can remember - because it's nonsensical!

Facial details of the owl and the cat. The owl's eyes are small black buttons sewn on top of 1/2" diameter white buttons. The cat's mouth and whiskers are sewn with 6 stands of black embroidery thread.

Here is the entire sewn block photographed before I added facial features. 
It measures 30" x 30".
The faces and talons are paper pieced. 

This block could be a small quilt or wall hanging all by itself.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

BY EDWARD LEAR

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea   

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,   

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,   

And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,    

What a beautiful Pussy you are,         

         You are,         

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day, 
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, 
His nose, 
His nose, 
With a ring at the end of his nose. 

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." 
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill. 
They dined on mince, and slices of quince, 
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, 
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon, 
They dance by the light of the moon. 
  
**** Get My Pattern HERE****

I appreciate your comments and look forward to reading them. 

Now I'll tell you about my featured giveaway and the
2 Rafflecopter Giveaways. 

I do not have this lighting system. I have seen it at quilt shows. It really does give lots of light on the machine bed for the needle. After reading about the company and their lighting, I'll order one for my machine.

CLICK HERE to get more information about the 
Inspired LED Lighting System Kit for your sewing machine. 

This is a $30 value, can be shipped internationally, with shipping paid for by the winner. 

Please take time to read the rules and guidelines for the giveaway at the end of my post.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

EQ8 Program Giveaway

The grand giveaway is the EQ8 program from Electric Quilt Company. I upgraded to EQ8 after having used various versions of EQ programs since 2005. I really like EQ8. And there are online groups for those who own EQ programs, where quilter share what they are doing, ask questions, and get answers. So here it the Rafflecopter for the EQ8 giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

The designers featured this week are:

Tuesday, 9/10/2019

Linda B Creative 
https://lindabcreative.blogspot.com

Patchwork Breeze (you are here)
https://patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com

KISSed Quilts
http://kissedquilts.blogspot.com

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Thursday, 9/12/2019

Bobbin In Quilts Blog 
https://www.bobbininquilts.com/blogs/news

Clever Chameleon
http://www.cleverchameleon.com.au/blog

Mountain Meadow Designs 
https://www.pg-mmd.com/blog1

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Giveway Rules:

• All giveaways can also be entered at Seams To Be Sew. You must have commented at each of the blogs post to enter at Seams To Be Sew, 
• Winners who win from entering at Seams To Be Sew will be checked for the comment. When you enter a give away that asks you to answer the question asked on the entry form, you do need to fill in that box. No answer means your winning entry will be ignored and cancelled.
• You are only allowed to enter once at each of the featured day sites. Giveaways are different at each site, thus you can enter those giveaways. On the Electric Quilt giveaway, you can enter once each day of the row along, new sites to click on are assigned to this giveaway you need to visit each site to be credited for the entry.
• I will start announcing winners on September 10, 2019, and finish announcing winners on October 13, 2019
• You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaways, any email returned to me, loses the ability to win automatically.
• All giveaways run for 1 week with the exception of the Electric Quilt giveaway which runs the full course of the event.
• You are given 3 days to answer the email, if you do not answer within 3 days a new winner will be drawn. Check those spam/junk mail folders, you may miss that winning email if you don’t do so because there are no exceptions to this rule.
• If you are notified that you are a winner, in all cases except for the Fat Quartershop, and C&T Publishing winners, you will need to provide your name, address, city, state, zip code, country, telephone number, and email address.
• No purchase whatsoever is necessary.
• You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.
• You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win. Prizes valued at $500.00 should be claimed.
• All winners are chosen at random.
• All winners will be announced on the blogs via the Rafflecopter entry form and/or post by the blogger at the site where they won and here at Seams To Be Sew. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.
• Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of rafflecopter entries during each week and in total for all giveaways.
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
• Participating bloggers/designers may enter any of the giveaways.
• The word giveaways in the rules and guidelines are also known as sweepstakes.
• Additional Notes About Giveaways From Our Sponsors
• I am not rich and I do not ask sponsors for money, they provide prizes only.
• If they shipped the prize to me, you will be asked to pay for shipping.
• All giveaways will be shipped that are in my home on each Saturday of the event.
• An invoice will be sent to you via Paypal, and shipping will take place via Paypal, so your Paypal email will be needed to send the invoice. You will receive a tracking number except for overseas shipments. Depending on the weight of the prize, first class is always my first choice, but priority mail will be done where needed. Paypal fees are added to that amount to cover that fee.
• Please note, every effort is made to protect the prizes. They go into a plastic bin when I receive them, and it is covered by an airtight cover. I have a dog in my home and I have a smoker in my home, so I do everything possible to protect the prizes.
• Most companies are very good about getting prizes off to customers quickly also, but some companies are overseas, so please allow all sponsors a 2-week time period before you report to me that you still haven’t received your prize. When the company is overseas, it can take 6 weeks to 90 days for an item to also arrive.)

Thank you for reading all the way to the comments section. Have a wonderful day and I wish you happy quilting adventures!

WOW! What Do You Think About the First Week of Quilt Blocks?

Wow! Have you seen the great blocks from this past week's blog hop designers? This was the first week of the Once Upon A Story Blog Hop and I can't wait for the coming weeks!

• I want to make the unicorn that Marney of Made by Marney, designed, as well as read the story, The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle, that inspired her block. Even though this fantasy novel was published in 1968, I have never heard of it. And there was an animated fantasy film made in 1982 based on the book. With my two girls growing up about 1990, they never watched this as a video! 

• The Three Little Pigs story becomes 3 sweet blocks sewn together. Becca of Pretty Piney designed an easy block to sew. I love the idea of using scrap strips, I have so many!  I can see using up many of my scrap fabric strips, making it into a multi-colored toddler size quilt! 

• Then, The Wizard of Oz, a book written by L. Frank Baum and published in 1899, has a beautiful block designed by Renee, of Renee's Quilting Addiction. She used some lovely Stonehenge Gradations Ombre fabrics. She shows how one cut of fabric can be used to create quilt pieces that vary so much.  She also has a nice tutorial on using the EQ Inkjet Fabric Sheets. The main block she designed would be useful as a background for many quilted projects. I am thinking a great background for flower cutouts. 

• And who hasn't jumped (or wanted to) on a bed? Well, the fun block Carol has on her blog, Just Let Me Quilt, would make a humorous wall hanging in a child's room (although it might give the little one a mischevious idea). The classic finger play, nursery rhyme, Five Little Monkeys, (with origins unknown, was first published as an illustrated book by Eileen Christelow,) was the inspiration for her block. As a kindergarten teacher, my students loved doing the finger motions for this rhyme. 

• Pamela of PamelaQuilts has an interest in European history and has found nursery rhymes rooted in historical events. She has thoughtfully interpretted the rhyme, "I Had a Little Nut Tree," into a quilt block based on some historical naming of quilt blocks that is quite nice.

• Marian, of Seams To Be Sew, posted about the 5 Years of Row Alongs that she has planned out and hosted for all of us designers. She has a special gallery link so you can see all that the designers have done in the past five years. Some of the patterns are still offered FREE, others are available at reasonable prices. It was fun to look down memory lane. (I have participated all 5 years.)

Join us this week for the next group of designers who present their blocks and giveaways! We all appreciate your visits and your comments. Thank you, you encourage our designing.