Don't miss the birthday sale-a-bration

One of our lovely sponsors, the Fat Quarter Shop, is having a celebration! 

Thirteen years in the making!

That's right, Fat Quarter Shop has been doing what they do so well for thirteen years!

The sale ends tonight at midnight (Central US time), so hurry over there! There are prizes to win, and a wonderful sale going on -- everything on the site is thirteen percent off!

Here is a link to whisk you over to their site, so that you can join in the fun!

Pardon my dust; I'm headed over there!

Love,

Save the date

Are you ready to check your calendars?

We always leave our Pets on Quilts Show linky party live for ten days -- this year we have scheduled the party to begin on August 14th, and go through the 24th!

So, we hope you are sewing and snapping photos!

Remember, if you have a pet, you can link a blog post or a Flickr page to our party. Show your pet on, under, or beside a quilt that you would like to show off.

If you don't have a pet, you can always borrow one. (Grin)

Or, enter a quilt that is pet-themed!

We're looking forward to seeing everyone's entries! Save those dates!

Love,

New Sponsor - Lara at BuzzinBumble

Do you like to applique? 

I sure do; it's one of my favorite ways to embellish a quilt block! 

Our friend Lara at BuzzinBumble blog is an author now, and her book is so cool!

She has a brand new way to applique! Check out Crafted Applique, New Possibilities!

Here are some of the projects in her book -- just to whet your appetite and get those creative thoughts going!

Cute table topper!

Look at this adorable needle case - I confided to Lara that I would make mine blue if I made this project . . . get it? How many fellow Who-vians are out there? (Grin)

Now, my jaw dropped when I saw this one:

Is that not awesome? A sewing machine cover . . . it looks so real, and her fussy cut flowers and architectural details are perfect -- her new process for applique is a real winner!

That one is SO on my project list! 

Lara has graciously offered a signed copy of her book to one lucky winner in the August show! 

I hope you will drop by Lara's blog or her Facebook page and tell her thank you for sponsoring! And if you just can't wait for the prize drawings, go to this page and get a copy of Crafted Applique, New Possibilities for your very own!

Thanks again, Lara!

Love,

A new sponsor for our August show

Are you looking forward to the upcoming Pets on Quilts show? We're finalizing the dates in August and will let you know soon!

We are so excited!

Are you snapping pictures? Sewing like mad? (Grin)

We have a brand new sponsor to announce -- I'm crazy about her cute quilt patterns, and I think you will love them, too!

It's Lorna McMahon from SewFreshQuilts blog!

If you follow Lorna like I do, you get weekly shots of inspiration in your inbox, showing wonderful patterns and ideas, like these:

Yep, I heard that "squee" from all over blogland! Aren't these hamsters cute?
How about this one -- raccoons!

(Many thanks, Lorna, for the use of your photos....your skills are awesome!)

I know that the dog lovers will love those puppies! Look at how those faces can be personalized . . . . make one to look like your furbaby!

And lest you think that animals are all that Lorna works with, check out this gorgeous pieced quilt. The pattern is available in her Etsy shop -- it's called "On Point."

Lorna is sponsoring not one, not two, not even three, but FIVE prizes in our drawings in August!

FIVE lucky winners will each receive one of her patterns! Hop over to her shop and start making plans, because you might be one of the winners!
Lorna has quilts for adults and baby quilts, too, so you will have lots of creative options!
Be sure to follow her at SewFreshQuilts! Leave her some comment love and thank her for her sponsorship. Or head over to her Facebook page and tell her thanks over there!

(Waving) Thanks, Lorna, for being a fabulous sponsor for our show! We can't wait till August!

Love,

Farm Girl Vintage Anniversary Hop

It's time for a victory lap! It's been a whole year of fun with Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage Sew Along!

Our friends at the Fat Quarter Shop asked us to help with the celebration, and sew up the cute Layer Cake block that Lori created!

Padsworth and DragonDrop wanted to help show it to you -- and they wanted to remind you that we used our favorite Aurifil thread to piece it!

I can see a lot of design possibilities with this cute block! Banners, a table runner, and more!

Around here, a birthday cake means a strawberry cake, so I switched up the colors on Lori's design and made this a cake we'd gobble up here!

The green cake stand is so cute; DragonDrop says this Aurifil 50 wt made it a "piece of cake" to sew up! (Grin) 

Be sure to stop in over at the Fat Quarter Shop blog, the Jolly Jabber, because you can get this cute layer cake block pattern for your very own! Be sure to stop by and check it out!

Then hop to see all of the other bloggers that are helping Lori celebrate! 

Kerry from Very Kerry Berry

Vickie from Spun Sugar Quilts

Sedef from Down Grapevine Lane

Erin from Why Not Sew?

Kelly from Kelbysews

Pam from Pam Kitty Morning

Debbie from Happy Little Cottage

Greg from Grey Dogwood Studios

Renee from Sewn with Grace

Sinta from Pink Pin Cushion

Lisa from In the Boondocks

Connie from Free Motion by the River

Dana from Old Red Barn Co.

Barb from Me & My Sister Designs

Melissa from Happy Quilting

Sharla from Thistle Thicket Studios

Kim from Persimon Dreams

Marni from Haberdashery Fun

Happy one year anniversary of your book, Lori! Glad to be celebrating with you!

Love,

Aurifil thread winner!

Here at the Lilypad, this is our motto!

Today, we're excited to be able to announce the winner of the Maggie's First Dance block one giveaway!

And we have a winner!

Mr Random Number Generator chose Tonia!

Tonia blogs over at Allthingzsewn.  Congratulations!

Your yummy Aurifil thread will be coming your way! Thanks to everyone who participated...sure hope you are working on your Maggie's First Dance block, and we'll see your blocks on the Facebook page, or the Pinterest page!

Love,

Maggie's First Dance - Block 1 and a giveaway (Closed Now)

Today is the day!

Block One of the free Block of the Month, Maggie's First Dance, is released today! It's a Jacquelynne Steves design!

I can't wait to show you all the fun we've had here at the Lilypad . . . got your cuppa and a snack handy? (Grin) Regular readers know that means there is a picture-heavy post ahead!

The first thing you're going to do is decide: applique, embroidery, or focus fabrics in the center of these lovely blocks. I chose applique! I'm using one of the fabric palettes that Jacquelynne will show in her options; it's a beautiful line of fabrics called HomeTown Girl, by Pat Sloan.

Look at these adorable prints! Jacquelynne's instructions are always clear and easy to follow. I added a step at this point -- I starched these bad boys! You'll see why in a minute . . .

. . .  because we're cutting up those squares into triangles! I like how the starch keeps my triangles from getting weird on me.

That keeps me from going batty, which is what Padsworth and DragonDrop were convinced that these were supposed to be: bats. Nope, guys, these are building blocks, just wait and see.

See? I told you so. Those triangles get made into cute squares! (I've been told by a non-quilter that ours is a hobby distinguished by our taking perfectly good fabric, cutting it into pieces and then sewing it back together again. Works for me.)

Sharp observers will notice that DragonDrop takes his inspection job quite seriously. The points simply MUST line up, you see.

I LOVE the fact that Jacquelynne has us make the squares just a little bit over-sized, and then we cut them down to perfect size.

Then we sew all the sections into the finished block!

These fabrics are playing together beautifully!

My applique skills are getting better!

And just look at those points! (See, DragonDrop, they match!)
I used two tools that proved to be essential to these successes: 

I was provided with some Heat and Bond "LITE," and I love how it worked for these flowers and stems. And my trusty Aurifil thread made the stitching a breeze!

A big Lilypad THANK YOU to Julia Sandvoss and the folks at ThermoWeb Inc! Be sure to check out their site and consider this product for your own blocks!

This is my favorite stash of thread . . . the Simply Color collection from Aurifil. These colors go with everything!

The Boyz take thread selection quite seriously!

All right, let's talk about this month's block activities and our giveaway! It's going to be so much fun to see everyone's blocks!
You can get started by visiting the other feature bloggers to see what they did for their Block One:

http://greydogwoodstudio.com/

https://farmhousequiltsblog.wordpress.com/

http://thecraftyquilter.com/

http://www.evapaigequiltdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://gogokim.blogspot.com/

http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com/  (You are here!)

https://thequiltingnook/wordpress.com 

Then you can hop over to the new Facebook page, and also to the linky party!

Be sure to drop by Jacquelynne's blog and say "howdy" and "thank you" for this fun Block of the Month project!

There is even a Pinterest page for more colorful and creative inspiration!

Now, to enter the giveaway, answer this question: Which of the collections on the Aurifil "Collections" page do you like best? Which colors make your heart go pitty pat? 

Also, you don't have to follow (it's not required, but we appreciate it!) but if you do, you can add a second comment to tell me -- easy peasy, you have another entry in the drawing!

And here is what you have a chance to win:

I know, gorgeous, right? Exciting! 
May the commenting begin! We'll leave this giveaway open till midnight on June 12, and then we'll announce our winners as soon as we possibly can! Bear with us, you know it's not easy for a froggie and a dragon to get this done!

Good luck!

Love,