Week #7 SBS Giveaway

Sewcial Bee Sampler Giveaway Friday

It's week #7 of the Sewcial Bee Sampler and each Friday, throughout the sew-along which Maureen Cracknell and I are co-hosting, will be a Giveaway Friday. We've coordinated special giveaway prizes with some amazing sponsors. 

If you're just now joining us, welcome, it's never too late to start sewing along! Please take a moment to catch up by reviewing all my earlier posts, beginning with the January 30th, 2017 post The Start of Something Sewcial.

Aurifil      Circa 15      The Intrepid Thread      Fat Quarter Shop      Omnigrid      Llama Fabrics      Color Girl     Lady Belle Fabric      Needle in a Fabric Stash      Dritz      Knotted Thread    NeedleandFoot      Stash Builder Box

TODAY'S FEATURED SEWCIAL BEE SAMPLER SPONSOR IS THE FAT QUARTER SHOP!

The Fat Quarter Shop was founded in 2003 by Kimberly Jolly. An avid quilter, Kimberly began her shop as a side business while still working a corporate position, cutting, packing and shipping right out of her house during evenings and weekends. From the very beginning, she was committed to delivering top-notch service for every single order and customer. As the Fat Quarter Shop's reputation grew, Kimberly decided to make it a full-time operation. Her husband Kevin joined her not long after, and with his help, lots of hard work, and a tireless commitment, the store began to grow. Over the past few years a few more people have joined the staff! As a team, they continue to branch out with the best fabrics, exclusive kits, quilt clubs, BOMs, and more. And they will always be driven by the passion that Kimberly founded the store upon, which is always giving you the best products and service!

SHOP  *  PINTEREST  *  TWITTER  *  BLOG  *  FACEBOOK  *  YOUTUBE 

We hope you enjoy visiting Fat Quarter Shop! 

For this week's Sewcial Bee Giveaway, Fat Quarter Shop is offering to one lucky commenter these beauties from my Tapestry fabrics collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, the Winter Garden Fat Quarter Bundle! This prize includes TEN Winter Garden prints! You can find this bundle available at Fat Quarter Shop right 

{THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED}

CONGRATULATIONS TO Cindy M. FOR BEING THE WINNER OF THE SEWCIAL BEE SAMPLER Tapestry Bundle GIVEAWAY!

A BIG thanks to all joining the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew-along and to those who enter our Giveaway! 

♡ Sharon 

Sewcial Bee Sampler Block #7

Welcome to week #7 of the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew along! My co-host Maureen Cracknell and I are so happy you've joined us for this 26-week sampler quilt event. I get comments from new SBS Makers everyday that they're just starting their blocks and sewing along--that's wonderful! If you're newly joining and want to start the sew along in chronological order and benefit from the in-blog tips and tutorials I post with each block, start with the first SBS post and work your way to the present. Each week we continue to build on our patchwork skills and grow as quilt makers. Let's get started on block #7--Dove in the Window. You can download the free PDF pattern from my Sew Along page. 

Dove in the Window

This week's blog is all review and another opportunity to work on perfecting your patchwork skills. The two techniques used in this block are the 8-at-a-time HST units and the No-Waste Flying Geese units. Take a moment to go back and look at the tutorials for these techniques if you need a refresher. 

I still want to stress the importance of sewing with an accurate 1/4" seam allowance. This, and cutting your pieces to accurate size to start is the foundation of any good patchwork. Review here.

Each week when a new block is released,  I like to introduce ways for you to become a more independent quilt designer. Since this week doesn't require any new tutorials I thought I'd use it for what I like to call "Reading the Block". Many of you like to make your HST units larger and trim down, that's perfectly fine but it's important to know what size to trim down to or square up to--depending upon how you look at it. Review here.

Everything you need to know about what size the units are to be sewn or trimmed to can be found in the stand-alone pieces (not sewn into units). The 2-1/2" (cut size) squares and the 4-1/2" (cut size) center square are the clues in this block. Since the HST units need to be the same size as the square they are sewn to, then that means the HST units should measure 2-1/2" square once made and before sewing the block together. Same goes for the Flying Geese units. The short side is sewn to a HST unit or 2-1/2" square and the long side will be sewn to the 4-1/2" center square or next to another Flying Geese unit. So, the Flying Geese units should measure 2-1/2'' x 4-1/2'' before sewing the block together. 

To figure the finished size of this block you need to think about the units/pieces as finished sizes (without the seam allowances). 2'' x 4 + 4'' = 12" square (finished) or 12-1/2" square because we still have the seam allowances to add back in around the outside edge of the block until it's sewn into a quilt top to be considered finished.

I'm sewing two SBS sampler quilts, the first one's made using my new Art Gallery Fabrics collection called Bountiful. This collection is now available at quilt shops! Visit my Shop Fabrics page for online shops that carry Bountiful as well my other AGF collections. 

Block #7 is our first of five blocks that will not have frames. That's because this block will be 12-1/2'' and not need any frames to get it up to size. Many of you are still deciding on what fabric to use for frame on your other blocks and I totally get that. I will make one suggestion when planning your fabric pull for Dove in the Window and the other four 12-1/2" blocks without frames. Remember, this is just a suggestion, but think about the outside edge of this block as a frame. By using the same fabric you'd normally use on the frame (especially if it's all the same fabric block to block) it floats the patchwork design like a frame would a block and helps to unify the sampler. One of the big reasons I purposely chose to make blocks of different sizes and add frames is this floating feeling to add movement and interest to the finished quilt design. Not to mention give you a little wiggle room to get the blocks to the proper size. Dove in the Window has no wiggle room built in so you will want to be extra careful to use accurate seams when sewing. 

The second SBS sampler quilt I'm making is from a curated selection of 20 prints pulled from my first four Art Gallery Fabrics collections: Gossamer, Sketchbook, Coastline, and Tapestry. For block #7, I decided to keep it light and airy and make the center of the block the same as the outside edges. To do this option, just roll fabric D cutting information into the fabric A cutting per the PDF instructions. 

I also remade a new block #6--The Seasons because my five fabric version option 3 from last week seemed to overpower the look of the other blocks and I love the new option 4 fussy cut kitties center of the remade block. 

My co-host Maureen Cracknell and I are continually amazed by the beautiful blocks being posted every week and the joy and excitement each of you bring to our virtual community. Thank you for making this sew along so special. Please visit Maureen's blog and see the progress she's making on her sampler quilts, she's making two as well using her beautiful AGF fabric collections. Be sure to use the #SewcialBeeSampler hashtag when posting your blocks to Instagram and tag both my @sharonhollanddesigns and @maureencracknell so we don't miss any of your beautiful work!

Aurifil      Circa 15      The Intrepid Thread      Fat Quarter Shop      Omnigrid      Llama Fabrics      Color Girl     Lady Belle Fabric      Needle in a Fabric Stash      Dritz      Knotted Thread    NeedleandFoot      Stash Builder Box

Stop back here this Friday for our weekly Giveaway Friday! I'll be hosting the giveaway this week and we have a wonderful fabric bundle of Art Gallery Fabrics Tapestry fabrics from our generous sponsor The Fat Quarter Shop! 

Week #6 SBS Giveaway

SEWCIAL BEE SAMPLER GIVEAWAY FRIDAY

Each Friday, throughout the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew-along, which Maureen Cracknell and I are co-hosting, will be a Giveaway Friday. We've coordinated special giveaway prizes with our amazing participating sponsors for each and every week! If you've happened to miss any of the Sewcial Bee Sampler posts, take a look back from the first post The Start of Something Sewcial to get caught up to the present. Feel free to start sewing with us at anytime--it's never too late to join in, and it's free! 

TODAY'S FEATURED SEWCIAL BEE SAMPLER SPONSOR IN THE INTREPID THREAD!

With over 15 years of experience in e-commerce, The Intrepid Thread is a family owned business employing five amazingly creative quilters and sewists. Julie, the owner, is dedicated to offering quality quilting fabrics at competitive prices and takes special pride in knowing her customer receive unparalleled service!

SHOP  *  BLOG  *  FACEBOOK * We hope you enjoy visiting The Intrepid Thread! 

For this week's Sewcial Bee Sampler giveaway, Julie at The Intrepid Thread is offering a $20 gift certificate to spend however you'd like at her shop!

ENTER TO WIN!

Here's how: Since Maureen and I are taking turns hosting the Sewcial Bee Sampler Giveaway Fridays, this week I'm sending you to Maureen Cracknell's blog to enter!

A BIG thanks to all of you who are joining the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew-along and to those who enter our Giveaway!  ♡ Sharon

Sewcial Bee Sampler Block #6

Hello Sewcial Bee Sampler Makers, it's time to start our second row of blocks!

Since this week's block will be using techniques we've already used in the first five blocks I thought I'd have a little fun and give you some construction options. Go ahead and download block #6--The Seasons from the Sew Along page.

Of course the PDF pattern download has everything you'll need to make the block but I like to add extra tips and hints into my blog post to support beginning quilters. If you're just joining the SBS sew along then you may want to start at the very beginning with the introduction post and work your way up to the present. 

Now that we're on our sixth block, you're probably realizing there's more than one way to make patchwork units. I want to take everything we've learned so far and show you four options to make this week's block using those different techniques. Please excuse my photos this week, I made these at the end of a rainy day yesterday (Tuesday) and the lighting was terrible!

The Seasons

The Seasons block is made up of (4) 2-1/2" squares and (12) 2-1/2" half-square triangles (HST) units for an 8-1/2" block (unfinished and before frames). There's a lot of seams in this block. With that said, I will continue to sound like a broken record each week, and stress the importance of a true 1/4" seam allowance. If your seams are off, even a fraction, that will amount to a big discrepancy in the end because of all the seams involved. If you need to review my tips on how to check your seam allowance refer back to the Perfect Patchwork post. Also remember that if you're not comfortable cutting the pieces to the exact sizes needed per the instructions and would rather square up your units after sewing to size, refer to the SBS Extras post. Just note that if you are adding 1/8" to the squares on the Flying Geese units from block #5, be sure to add 1/8" (.125) to the large square as well to keep everything in porportion.

Option 1:

To make the block as written in the instructions with two different fabrics, follow along with the 2-at-a-time half-square triangle tutorial and make according to the instructions.

Option 2: 

To make the block look more like a compass I decided to add additional fabrics and visually divide up the center of the block in a checkerboard effect. To achieve this I used the 8-at-a-time HST technique from block #1 and the 2-at-a-time HST technique from Block #2.

Cut:

(1) 5-3/4" square fabric A

(1) 2-7/8" square fabric A

(1) 5-3/4" square fabric B

(4) 2-1/2" squares fabric B

(2) 2-7/8" squares fabric C

(1) 2-7/8" square fabric D

This will yield 8 matching HSTs (2-1/2" square unfinished), 2 matching HST units (2-1/2" unfinished) of one combo (mine are navy and weave print) and another 2 matching HST units (2-1/2" unfinished) of another combo (navy and peach) for the center of the block. Assemble the block in the same way as given for block #6 in the PDF.

The Seasons block made with my new Art Gallery Fabrics collection Bountiful and Pure Element solids. Here's what all six of my Bountiful fabrics sampler looks like so far with PE-433 Snow Pure Elements solid frames.

Option 3:

The third way I wanted to play with dividing the four points into four different fabrics. To achieve this look I used the 2-at-a-time HST technique as given in the PDF instructions for this block and from Block #2. 

Cut:

(2) 2-7/8" squares fabric A

(1) 2-1/2" square fabric A

(2) 2-7/8" squares fabric B

(1) 2-1/2" square fabric B

(2) 2-7/8" squares fabric C

(1) 2-1/2" square fabric C

(2) 2-7/8" squares fabric D

(1) 2-1/2" square fabric D

(8) 2-7/8" squares fabric E

Note: This options will leave 4 unused HST units. Sew units and pieces together as given in PDF.

The Seasons block made using fabrics from my Gossamer, Sketchbook, and Tapestry fabric collections for Art Gallery Fabrics. Here's what my Tiny Dancer sampler quilt looks like with all six blocks that also include fabrics from my Coastline collection and the two newly re-colored Gossamer prints in the new AGF Fusions fabrics. These blocks are framed with Speckled Lapis from my Sketchbook fabric collection. Again, sorry about the terrible photography!

Option 4:

This is for all those fussy cutting lovers out there that may want to have a solid center block for to showcase a special print. This option uses the Flying Geese technique from block #5 and a variation of the Quick Corner units from Block #2.

Cut:

(1) 5-1/4" square fabric A

(1) 4-1/2" square fabric A (for center square) Note: This fabric could be a third print (fabric C)

(4) 2-7/8" squares fabric B

(8) 2-1/2" squares fabric B

Make four matching Flying Geese units that measure 2-1/2" x 4-1/2". 

When adding the Quick Corners to the 4-1/2" square, work on diagonally opposite corners when adding fabric. Stitch the small square to the corner of the fussy cut square, trim, and press corner open before adding additional corners. 

To sew an Option 4 block, arrange the Flying Geese units, center square unit, and (4) 2-1/2" squares into 3 rows of 3 units/squares each. Join the rows.

The Seasons block made with my Tapestry and Bountiful fabrics for Art Gallery Fabrics. This is a bonus block and I don't have a third sampler quilt going so this orphan block with get put into something down the line.

I hope with wasn't too confusing?!? I just wanted to show you that the power of knowing different patchwork techniques can help you customize your sewing experience on this sew along. Each week you will have the chance to continue to perfect those skills and grow as a quilter. My co-host Maureen Cracknell and I are continually amazed by the beautiful blocks being posted every week and the joy and excitement each of you bring to our virtual community. Thank you for making this sew along so special. Please be sure to visit Maureen's blog and see the progress she's making on her sampler quilts, she's making two as well using her beautiful AGF fabric collections. 

Aurifil      Circa 15      The Intrepid Thread      Fat Quarter Shop      Omnigrid      Llama Fabrics      Color Girl     Lady Belle Fabric      Needle in a Fabric Stash      Dritz      Knotted Thread    NeedleandFoot      Stash Builder Box

Also, don't forget that Friday is Giveaway Friday and this week Maureen will be hosting the giveaway from her blog. We've got a great giveaway planned from Intrepid Thread I know you'll not want to miss!