Patchwork Breeze: @sewincrediblycrazy

10/04/2019

Once Upon A Story Blog Hop Ends Week with More Amazing Free Patterns

This was the final pattern release week for the Once Upon A Story Blog Hop.

A Show & Tell on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, will give us a look at how some of the designers used these patterns in projects. I can't wait to see the ideas and projects! And, to entice you, visit on Tuesday and enter the giveaway for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate for C&T products!

Through October 8, 2019, Electric Quilt Company is offering a 20% discount products ordered from their website with the code: ROWALONG20

The block patterns this week were as amazing as all those since the blog hop began.

I'll start with the block from Marian of Seams To Be Sew. She is the organizer of this blog hop (and others during the past 4 years). She has a darling gorilla representing the story, The Jungle Book. The block measures 9" x 18".

And to extend the block into a larger quilt project, later in October, 2019, she will have a pattern you can purchase, with a fun group of jungle animals for us to sew. Do visit her website to see the entire group of animals in the large quilted project.
************************************************************
Clever Chameleon Quilting chose the story of Puss in Boots for her block. And what a great block! I got a kick out of her summary of the traditional story of Puss in Boots, that I encourage you to read.

Dione gave us some ideas as to how we can use her 9" x 18" block in various sewing projects as well as a very good tutorial of how she constructed the block. I hope you enjoy her post.
************************************************************
At Miss Loreen's Schoolhouse you will find the block for the nursery rhyme, Four and Twenty Blackbirds. And what a block this is! It measures 30" x 30" with all those squawking blackbirds.

I think this looks like a very fun block to make. These blackbirds have such personality.

************************************************************
Sew Incredibly Crazy has a block pattern with a dog, a musical cat, a jumping cow, and some items from the kitchen. This is an adorable block and measures 10" x 30" finished.

************************************************************
If you have an embroidery machine, Marian from Seams To Be Sew, created embroidery files with names of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. These were designed to use as fillers between rows. She has 5 designs in 3 different sizes. The letters are stitched as outlines. I think these would be fun to color in with fabric markers or crayons.

Cinderella is just one of the five story and rhyme files.

************************************************************
Carole of Quilt Schmilt brings us a different block version of Rapunzel that measures 9" x 18 when finished. I liked the way she designed the sky, forest and water.

************************************************************
Lydia's (of Charlie's Daughter) block post is hosted by Just Let Me Quilt. Her story of designing the block for Hickory, Dickory, Dock, shows her imagination and humor in changing up the rhyme. The 18" x 30" finished block looks so fun. Just look at these michievous mice!

************************************************************
Mountain Meadow Designs has patterns for filler blocks and rows. These are paper pieced patterns that will add fun throughout your quilt. I have only a small sample picture of them here. You'll also find out a few ways to include words on your quilt project when you visit.

************************************************************
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting has a most humorous post for us to read! And after you finish reading about Sue's journey in designing her block, you'll be ready to begin working on this delightful quilt block.

************************************************************
I hope you enjoyed visiting all the designers during the weeks of this blog hop. And visit Seams To Be Sew on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, to see the projects in which the designers used the blocks.

5/09/2018

X-Block Blog Hop & Giveaway

Welcome to my day on the X-BLOCK Blog Hop!

Amy, of Sew Incredibly Crazy, posted on Instagram that she was hosting a hop for her friend Doris, of Quilting Queen Online, who is the new owner of the X-Block Templates.

The simple requirement was that we had to use the Xblock Rulers/Templates. I purchased the 6 inch X-Block template about 8 years ago and hadn't used it yet. This would force me to use it. I emailed Amy right away to tell her I wanted to participate!

I chose to work with some bright fabrics that coordinated with a stripe. I wanted the striped fabric to be prominent and form a zig-zag on the quilt top. The pamphlet that came with the template gave the directions for cutting strip widths and seam allowances (not a scant 1/4" but a full 1/4"). There was a coloring sheet that could be copied for designing one's quilt.

I chose to use what was the simpler block. All strips were cut the same width. Three strips were sewn together on the long edges. (These are some leftovers.)

These were subcut into units using the same cut width as the strips. The units were sewn into 9 patches.

The designs of the quilts are created when the grid on the template is aligned with the seam lines of the 9 patches. The trimming of the 9 patches creates skewed blocks. When half of the 9 patches are cut with the template facing up and half with the template facing down, more quilt designs become possible. I used my revolving cutting mat which made it much easier to cut.

I definitely recommend coloring the design patterns. I placed the striped fabric in the corners which only gave me a bit of that fabric in the quilt design.

I played with the block placements. Glad I took photos of the arrangements. I referred to them for the design I would make. Believe me, one can get in a real tangle to remember which arrangement was the favorite.

I even thought about making matching table runners for my 2 daughters and myself.

In the end, I selected the second layout above for my 36" x 36" quilt. Here it is on the deck outside on a sunny, warm day (finally).

And the backing is the stripe fabric that I wanted more of on the front.

The pamphlet suggested keeping the cut offs as they can be used for borders or other projects. I can't toss usable pieces. I sewed the triangular cut offs into rectangles. Trimmed them all to 2-1/2" x 5" and played with a layout.

sewn together:

Below is the table runner I made with them. You can see that the striped fabric is predominant in this small project--maybe a little too overwhelming! But I like that I have bright table runner.

I had fun with the template and will use it again. I have many ideas to try using striped fabrics. And what if I use 4 different 9 patches? What about surrounding solid 6 inch blocks with the X-Blocks? I am sure there are nearly endless possibilities!

A GIVEAWAY!

X-Blocks is offering this great prize package