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,