Red, White & Blue Blog Hop and Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway!

I'm posting a little early in the Red, White, & Blue Blog Hop.  You don't mind, do you?



Friday is my day to show off a red, white and blue block.  Be sure to check out my partners in Friday's blog hop. 

quilting by dawn
From this to That

Plum and June
Kathy H (I will host)

Sparrow In Flight

I want to show you a block I made for a partner in a block swap. My partner requested a block that would be appropriate for a Quilts of Valor quilt.  I found this block called "Patriots" which seemed just perfect.

"Patriots"

With those diagonal arrows coming in from all corners, I think this would be stunning made up into a quilt.  This is a 12-inch block (12 1/2-inch unfinished).

The instructions for the Patriots block can be found on Quilters Cache.  This is a paper-pieced block which accounts for all those nice sharp corners.  If you are new to paper-piecing, there are some excellent tutorials on YouTube.  I happen to like this one from Karen Johnson at Connecting Threads:

In the video, she is using the Add-A-Quarter rulers, and I wouldn't do paper-piecing without them.  They are very handy tools and make the whole process so much easier.

The Add-An-Eighth ruler is also worth having.  I like it for when I'm paper-piecing with very small pieces.

Finally, I like the Carol Doak papers as well.

The paper is thin, like newsprint.  I can run it through my laser printer and through my ink jet printer.  When I first learned to paper piece, I used regular computer paper.  I've switched to Carol Doak's paper simply because it makes it so much easier to remove the paper during the paper-piecing process. 

And Friday is my 2nd Blogiversary!

I'm so glad you stopped by because I'm having a giveaway to celebrate the day!  I'm giving away a fat quarter bundle of these great Riley Blake fabrics:

Would you like to win them?  Here's what you need to do.

This being my Blogiversary means I'm thankful for all of you who have followed along and left such kind and encouraging comments. So first, you must be a follower, new or well-seasoned.  This giveaway is for followers only.  Then, all you need to do is leave one comment (one comment only, please) telling me where you're writing from.

I will ship internationally.  Please be sure I have a way to contact you via email.  If I can't contact you, you can't win.  I'll leave this giveaway open until Monday at midnight, and I'll announce the winner on my blog on Tuesday, July 17th.  Good luck!