Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew - Free Pattern & Giveaway!

Welcome to my stop on the Ho Ho Ho and on we Sew monthly tutorial and link up party hosted by Fiona @ Celtic Thistle Stitches and Paula@ Mud Pies and Pins.  Yes it is only June and Christmas in July hasn't even started yet, but some of us are making gifts all year long.  Holiday makes don't have to be just for the holidays or even from Christmas themed fabric.  Today I am showing you how to make flying geese 4 at a time and so you can make this free pattern I designed for my stop on the hop, called So Frosty!  (I used Tula Pink Acacia with some pale blue print and solid Kona Snow for my version.) 

Included with today's tutorial/pattern, at the bottom of this post, is a giveaway from Fat Quarter shop for a mini charm pack of your choice and the Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew Linky party where you can enter and link up all your holiday makes or hand made gifts.

The linky party is open until the end of the month and random number generator will choose a winner!

So Frosty is a big block quilt, making a 72" x 72" lap quilt.  It's a quick make and perfect for a gift.  Fabric selection makes a big difference to this block.  Even though this fabric comes from a Christmas collection doesn't this one look very 4th of July?

Downton Abbey anyone?

Or maybe a child quilt for a special birthday?

I have to include at least one more traditional holiday though don't I?

The block is made up of squares and flying geese.  As there are so many geese I wrote the pattern (Download Here) using the no waste method which makes 4 flying geese at a time.

Flying geese are traditionally twice as long as they are tall.  There are a number of ways to make them.

The no waste method uses a large square for the Goose fabric and 4 smaller squares for the Sky.

To start with you need a square the finished length of your goose +1 1/4".  For the Sky squares you need the finished height of your goose +7/8".

So Frosty being a big block quilt uses 12 1/2" x 6 1/2" Flying Geese unfinished (1/2" for seam allowance) or 12" x 6" finished.  So I've used a Goose fabric (white) of 13 1/4" x 13 1/4" square and placed 2 of my Sky squares (pale blue) 6 7/8" on two opposing corners.

1. Mark a diagonal line from corner to corner.
2. Sew 1/4" on either side of this line.
3. Cut into two pieces along your marked line.
4. Press open.
5. Take your remaining 6 7/8" squares and place on the corners of one of your pieces as shown.
6. Mark a diagonal line and sew 1/4" on either side
7. Cut along your marked line.
8. Press open and you should have 2 identical flying geese.
9. Repeat for the remaining piece to make 4 flying geese units!

Here's a summary image  if you should ever want to refer to this method in the future! Large flying geese blocks like these make this pattern a very quick make.


So on with the linky party.  Please link up your gifts and holiday makes and the winner of the mini-charm pack will be selected at the end of the month by Random number generator.

Thanks for visiting my blog on the hop and I hope you have fun with So Frosty.  If you do make your own version of this quilt I'd love to see it - please get in touch (email and social media buttons are at the top of the page!)
 

Results are in–Favourite Quilt Rulers

Thank you everyone who entered the giveaway for the set of Creative Grids Circular rulers and shared with us your favourite rulers you use on a regular basis.  Instead of replying individually to all the entries I thought instead I'd compile a list of the answers so we could all see a summary.

But first we have a winner!  Congratulations to entry 121 from Zizophora.  I'll be in touch by email for your address so I can send you your prize!

It seems that I'm not the only one loving Creative Grids Rulers.  They were the most mentioned by far and as quilters our favourite sizes to use, are not surprisingly, the 6.5" x 24" and 12.5"x12.5" square ruler.  Other really popular sizes are 6.5 x 12.5 and 8.5 x 24.5 which sounds like a really good ruler to have on hand.  There was only one metric ruler mentioned!

Quite a lot of us use a speciality ruler of some sort but not as many as I had thought with 47% saying yes and 53% no.

Favourite speciality ruler is the Hex 'n More by Jaybird Quilts, followed by Bloc Loc and Dresden wedges.

Interesting don't you think?  I hope you found your favourite ruler in here!  I know I am off to learn more about the Striplolgy ruler from Creative Grids.  That could be just the ticket for cutting binding strips!  Thanks everyone for sharing your favourites with us!

Giveaway day!

It's that time of year again - the Sew Mama Sew giveaway has come around again!  A warm welcome to all new visitors.  My name is Ruth and I share my quilty makes, design ideas and things I've learned here in this space.  The dogs make an appearance from time to time too!

Recently I've been making these and playing with fabric design doodles!

I hope you will stay and have a look around!


For last years giveaway I asked how many people listen to music, watch tv, sew to the hum of the sewing machine and the results were really interesting:

This year, I'm giving away a set of creative grids circular rulers.  Creative grids are my favourite brand and I would be lost without my 14" x 4" ruler.  It is my go to and I use it all the time for cutting strips and small patchwork pieces.

To enter this year's draw for the Creative Grids set, please answer the following question:
I'd love to know if you guys use specialty rulers, if yes what's your recommendation for us to buy and if no what's your favourite ruler you do use?

There is no need to follow me but I would appreciate it you do!  The giveaway closes on Sunday at 5 pm and the winner will be chosen by Mr. Random Number Generator.   As I live in Ireland it is open to International shipping.  Good Luck and thanks for entering!

Post number 225 and a Crafty Class giveaway!

My 200th blog post came and went and I didn't even notice!  This is in fact my 225th.  I've published 212 posts on my blog and guest posted 13!  A lot of advice given to new bloggers is to be featured or write a guest post for another blog.  Partly because it pushes you to create your best content and partly to talk to new readers who might not know you.

I've been writing for the Modern Quilters Ireland (formerly Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland) for about 7 months now and I've enjoyed it a lot.  It's been a really fun exercise to think of topics I wouldn't normally write about on my own blog, maybe for fear they wouldn't be read or of sounding like I know a lot more than I really do about quilting!  I'm still learning lots myself and like to share this aspect of learning by doing on my blog. 

Trying to think of topics that would appeal to people who have been quilting for a while and attract beginners too, in addition to people like myself, who like to play with colour and design has been quite different.  I've been thinking of them as explorations rather than articles to be written and in the exploring I have learned quite a bit.

I've learned that there are more than 10 ways to make Half Square Triangles and had great fun playing with layouts with just 16 of them!  I learned the Dutch Rose/Swoon block is over 100 years old and that the Log cabin block is probably the most versatile block there is!

So to celebrate 225 posts, 22 months blogging, just under 3 years quilting and the fact that I'm still 40 not 41 for another 3 weeks, (no I'm not having an age crisis - went through that when I was 25!)  I'm having a giveaway!  In keeping with the love of learning and exploration theme, I am gifting a Craftsy class of your choice from Designing Modern Quilts by Weeks Ringle or Amy Gibson's Twisted Irish Chain.

I've chosen these two as Weeks Ringle's class encourages explorations in colour & composition and I really loved the lesson titled Beyond the Block.  Plus my cousins in Chicago live near week's Studio and gifted me some of her fabric and Week's husband Bill wrapped it up in a fabric bag with a hand written note! 

I was gobsmacked when she gave the bundle to me and so was she when I pulled two of their books from my bookshelf!  Perfect present.  So I am paying it forward by selecting Week's class as an option for the giveaway!

I love Amy Gibson - I learned much of what I know about quilting through her Craftsy Block of the Month class in 2012.  She has a block of the Month club too called Sugar Block Club that I subscribe to and has a lovely friendly website in Sticherydickorydock.com.

So to win either of these two, please leave me a message telling me which class you would love to receive.  No need to follow my blog but if you do that's great!  The giveaway will stay open until midnight Irish time next Wednesday and then random number generator will pick the winner.  Good luck and thanks for entering!

We have a winner!

Mr Random number generator has chosen a winner!

Congratulations to Afquilt who left comment number 92 and won the 10 Low volume Fat Quarter Bundle for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!  I've sent you a mail for your postal address.

Thanks to all for entering.  Apologies to anyone I've not been able to respond to by email.  With over 400 entries it was wonderful to read about everyone's favourite sewing music, TV, sound of the machine humming, birds singing and sound of kids playing. 

This might be the engineer coming out in me but I went ahead and tabulated the responses (Yes I did read every single one and grouped them together as best I could!)  I thought you might be interested to see the breakdown of our likes.

We have 4 people who like to sing while sewing, 6% listen to audio books, 17% like the quiet and rest of us love the radio/music and TV.  The most mentioned TV program was NCIS (my fave!) and we seem to enjoy lots of Crime dramas, Science Fiction, some reality TV and Downton Abbey was mentioned a few times!

Thanks to all for taking part, have a wonderful weekend and congratulations again to Afquilt.  I hope you enjoy your new fabric bundle!

Giveaway Day! 10 Fat Quarters of Low Volume fabric!

It's Sew Mama Sew giveaway day today!  If you are visiting for the first time you are most welcome.  This year I'm joining in the party and giving away this fat quarter bundle of prints.  My first giveaway!  I've picked these guys from the Westwood Acres monthly bundle of low volume fabric that I subscribe to.  There are 5 white based fabrics and 5 warmer fabrics in this bundle, that I hope you will like.

Do you watch TV or listen to music/audio books when you sew?  To be in the draw to win these please leave a comment telling us what you like to watch or listen to!  I love watching NCIS and Person of Interest with Jim Caviezel.  Though I have to confess I'm quite partial to Grimm & Supernatural too!

The giveaway is open until 5pm May 16th and the winner will be chosen by random number generator.   As I live in Ireland the giveaway is open to International shipping so all are welcome!

If you are a no reply blogger please leave your email address so I can get in touch with you later for a postal address.  If I am unable to get in touch with the winner within 3 days I'll choose another winner.  Thank you Sew Mama Sew for hosting another great giveaway day.  Hop on over to their site for more giveaways today!