My Happy Place Row Along 2018 – Building Blocks

I am sew excited and extremely happy to be a part of this row along 2018 with the theme of My Happy Place. If you are like me, you might be new to a “row along”  but Marian at Seams To Be Sew is a pro! This is her 4th year for coordinating these type events. So, what are we doing? Glad you asked! Let’s get this party started!!

Row Along 2018

First of all, this is not affiliated with Row by Row Experience – this is an online blog hop with 47 bloggers/designers who wished to offer a free pattern during their week of the row along. AND YOU’RE IN LUCK! IT BEGINS TODAY!

Please note, there is a schedule below for links to all participants, including wonderful giveaways, where the featured designer will offer a free download of their row for that week only! Some may choose to charge for them after the time period has expired so please be aware of all the rules that are listed at the end of this blog post.

Getting Started

When I signed up back in February to participate I was excited to be creating a 30″ wide row with the length anywhere between 9″ and 12″. I loved the theme and immediately thought of so many happy places…my home, my family, my studio, being on a cruise ship, a walk on the beach, or just sitting under my palapas (tiki hut) in the backyard….I could have made enough rows for my own king size quilt! So many things make me happy as I like to think I’m generally a happy person.

We had a summer deadline to turn in our rows – including a private facebook page were designers were bouncing ideas off each other or sharing their creations. Oh my! I can tell you that you are in for a fabulous row along experience!

Well, I kept thinking, and pondering, and wondering just how I could do something that reflected my happy place…and I felt sorta limited to traditional piecing as I’m not an applique person. All my ideas needed to be appliqued, sigh…

Then I remembered the Keep It Simple Sista’ (KISS) line of thinking and …

Building Blocks

Okay, so you are scratching your head wondering how Building Blocks translates into My Happy Place. Well, sit back and let me ramble for a moment.

Do you remember playing with building blocks as a child, or with your child? I loved those wooden blocks! And since we are expecting our first grandchild (my sweet Reagan) around November 4th the thoughts of one day “playing blocks” with her just made me happy!

I am also a quilting teacher and I love nothing more than sharing my passion for quilting with my students. In keeping with the KISS thoughts, what’s simpler than a four patch! It’s like the building block of patchwork!

From Idea to Fabric

One of the sponsors of My Happy Place Row Along is Northcott who generously supplied fabric to any and all of the designers who requested. They have beautiful fabric. Unfortunately I did not develop my row design by the fabric request deadline so instead worked with my scraps. As you check out the other designers today and the following weeks I’m sure you will decide you need some Northcott fabrics for all your rows!

As a Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor I naturally turn to Deb Tucker’s tools for my block construction. Her Four Patch Square Up ruler was perfect for this project.

I played around with the setting solution and came up with a fun little row by setting the four patch blocks on point. This row can be used either vertically or horizontally to make a wonderful addition to your row along quilt. I imagine it either foundational at the bottom of your quilt or perhaps as an interlude row between very beautiful applique rows that I know are coming with this blog hop! Sorta a place to rest your eye as it moves around to take in all the spectacular designs that you will be choosing for your personal My Happy Place quilt.

My Happy Place Row Along 2018
Building Blocks by Karen E Overton, The Quilt Rambler

Free Instructions for Building Blocks 9″ x 30″ row

My instructions for piecing your building block row is available by clicking here Row Along 2018 Building Blocks There is no time restriction on the availability of this particular row. Being the first week of the blog hop I would suggest that you create a folder to download each row as they become available, as it may take a while for you to decide which rows you want to piece. As I mentioned, several designers will have time limits on downloading for free, I do not. I respectfully ask that you do not share the PDF with your quilting friends, either in digital or print format, instead please share the link to this blog which will include links to each of the designer’s rows as well as links to the giveaways.

My Happy Place Row Along Schedule

This schedule will also be available daily on Seams To Be Sew blog – you will also want to visit Marian’s blog daily for all the giveaways.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

The Quilt Rambler | Duck Creek Mountain Quilting | Cheryl LaPlante
Patti’s Patchwork

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Pretty Piney | Ms P Designs USA | Creatin’ in the Sticks
Freemotion by the River | Any Pattern

Be A Quilter |

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Barbara Dieges | Upstairs Hobby Room
Quilt Art | UlaSewing / SzycieUli

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Pumpkin Patch BC | Sew Incredibly Crazy
A Quilting Chick | Patchwork Breeze

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Just Let Me Quilt | Elizabeth Coughlin Designs | Quilt Fabrication
Renee’s Quilting Addiction | Made By Marney

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Clever Chameleon | Adventurous Applique and Quilting | Heleen Pinkster
Cynthia’s Creating Ark | Seams To Be Sew

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Songbird Designs/Brenda’s Blog | Powered By Quilting | Kissed Quilts
Happy Sewing Room | Sew Joy Creations

Thursday, September 27, 2018

BobbininQuilts | Daydreams of Quilts | The Quilted Snail | Scrapdash

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Words & Stitches | True Blue Quilts | Miss Loreen’s Schoolhouse
Meanderings Along Lizard Creek | Creativeblonde

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Quilt In Piece | Jaded Spade Creations | Mountain Meadow Designs
Masterpiece Quilting | Pamela Quilts

My Happy Place Giveaways

There are so many sponsors for this Row Along!

The giveaway specific to my blog post is a $25 gift certificate from The Fat Quarter Shop! This giveaway begins today September 4th and ends September 11th.

The great news is this is delivered via email for your online shopping experience!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

In addition, The Electric Quilt Company is sponsoring a giveaway for their EQ8 computer design program, valued at $239.95. There will be a coupon code via email to the winner of this prize!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Rules and Guidelines For Giveaways:

Please take the time to read all the rules as they apply for the entire Row Along hosted by Seams To Be Sew.

Giveaways offered by sponsors are assigned to the various bloggers for their featured day.

There are no prior announcements on who is doing which sponsor except to the sponsor themselves.

You’ll have to visit the blog or the featured blog to enter the giveaways.

Not all giveaways can be entered at Seams To Be Sew, many are on the individual blog post only.

Seams to Be Sew will begin announcing winners on September 11, 2018, and finish announcing winners on October 10, 2018.

In most cases, the blog where you won will also announce their winners.

You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaways, any email returned automatically loses the ability to win.

With the exception of Show and Tell Day, all giveaways run for approximately one week.

You are given 3 days to answer the email, if you do not answer within 3 days a new winner will be drawn. Check those spam/junk mail folders, you may miss that winning email if you don’t do so because there are no exceptions to this rule.

If you are notified that you are a winner, in most cases, you will need to provide your name, address, city, state, zip code, country, telephone number, and email address.

In some cases, you will be asked to comment on the blog to enter the giveaway… do the right thing and thank them for the time it took to create the pattern, thank them for the pattern and…

Thank the sponsor by buying their products for the giveaways. This helps them continue to offer great prizes for these types of events. You can also comment on their social media pages. Even if you don’t win, letting them know you love their products is a huge incentive and they really do love hearing from you.

No purchase whatsoever is necessary.

You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.

You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win. Prizes valued at $500.00 should be claimed.

All winners are chosen at random.

All winners will be announced on the blogs via the Rafflecopter entry form and/or post by the blogger at the site where they won and the host blog, Seams To Be Sew. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.

Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of rafflecopter entries during each week and in total for all giveaways.

This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.

Participating bloggers may enter any of the giveaways.

The word giveaways in the rules and guidelines are also known as sweepstakes.

Most of the giveaways are international shipping this year in some cases, you will be asked to pay for shipping your giveaways.

Sponsors are not asked for money, they provide prizes only.

If they shipped the prize to Seams To Be Sew, you will be asked to pay for shipping from that location to your location.
All giveaways that are in the possession of Seams to Be Sew will ship within 48 hours of the response of the winner.

An invoice will be sent to you via Paypal, and shipping will take place via Paypal, so your Paypal email will be needed to send the invoice. You will receive a tracking number except for overseas shipments. All shipping will either be first-class postage which averages out at 2.77 to 4.00 up to 13 ounces. Paypal fees are added to that amount to cover that fee. All fabric bundles from Michael Miller, Hoffman, and Moda will be shipped via Priority Mail to protect the fabric itself.

Please note, every effort is made to protect the prizes. They go into a plastic bin when received covered by an airtight cover. There are a  dog and a smoker in the home studio of Seams to Be Sew who does everything possible to protect the prizes.

Most companies are very good about getting prizes off to customers quickly also, but some companies are overseas, so please allow all sponsors a 2-week time period before you report to Seams to Be Sew that you still haven’t received your prize. When the company is overseas, it can take 6 weeks to 90 days for an item to also arrive.

Whether or not you read the above, the rules for giveaways are in place to protect everyone. They will be posted on Seams To Be Sew blog daily during each featured day. There is no excuse for not reading them.

Because I’m Happy!

I’m so happy you joined me today – I know it’s been a long ramble but there’s just so much going on! I almost neglected to mention that at the end of the blog hop there will be a show and tell session so you will want to follow along at Seams To Be Sew’s blog to keep up with everything! I’d like to personally thank Marian for all her hard work “behind the scenes” coordinating this for all of us!

I do hope you will come back to visit me here at The Quilt Rambler blog and take a little time to look around my website, see my pattern line, perhaps schedule me for an upcoming lecture or workshop, or just follow along with all my rambles and quilting adventures. Did I mention that I love comments! Sometimes it takes a bit to answer back, but I promise I read each comment and will get a reply as soon as possible. Be sure to post your row photos across social media using the hashtags #MyHappyPlaceRowAlong2018   # MyHappyPlaceRAL and when you make Building Blocks as one of your rows be sure at tag #TheQuiltRambler so I can do the happy dance!

This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, thanking you for joining me in my happy place here among quilting friends! Let’s Talk Quilts!

 

129 thoughts on “My Happy Place Row Along 2018 – Building Blocks

  1. Susan the Farm Quilter says:

    Your blog and pattern are the perfect place for me to start this blog hop! I love your row and I am so glad you don’t have applique since I don’t like to do it either!! Thank you for sharing your pattern. I followed your excellent suggestion and created a folder for all of the patterns I collect during this blog hop.

  2. Happy says:

    I love this row! Putting the 4 patches on point, and having them different sizes, is so creative. Great look!

  3. Ronelle says:

    Thank you for sharing all your happy places and especially your building block row pattern – I love it.
    Ronelle

  4. Carol Andrews says:

    What a great Building Block for a Row Along. This will be my first! Following you now. Really enjoyed reading your blog.

  5. Susan Earnhart says:

    I love your block, as I look at it I am thinking of your blocks and am happy. What a great way to start the week.

    • TheQuiltRambler says:

      So many happy places that we all share – from birds outside the window to something simple like playing with blocks with a child. I’m so glad you joined us on the My Happy Place Row Along – can’t wait to see what you stitch up!

  6. Elizabeth says:

    Your building blocks row would be perfect on the top and bottom (and middle) of any row quilt! Thank you for sharing it and your lovely blog with us.

  7. Bea says:

    Such a simple and fun row! Building blocks are great toys, also Legos which is a combination of leg godt which means play well!

    • TheQuiltRambler says:

      I love legos! I had a really nice photo of them for the blog post but wasn’t sure about copyright – I’d forgotten that you told me on our visit earlier this year the meaning of lego – such a beautiful language, your first language – but so glad you are now a dual citizen! Happy quilting Bea, so glad we are online friends who became personal in-person friends! Keep inspiring me!!

    • TheQuiltRambler says:

      I’m glad you like it, sometimes the simple things can be the most dramatic – things like sunrises or sunsets that we tend to take for granted yet each one is unique and to me a personal gift from God – that He allowed me yet another day!

  8. Phyllis trousdale says:

    How exciting….my first time to participate in an online row by row….add the fact that rows reflect everyones happy place lookingd to seeing all the patterns and interpertations of that special spot

    • TheQuiltRambler says:

      This is my first time too Phyllis – I plan on “collecting” all the patterns and I hope after we get settled back in that I can limit myself to just enough to make a quilt – I have a feeling that the choices are going to be difficult! Wouldn’t it be great if someone made every row!!! Could that be you?

  9. Carla says:

    Your row is a beautiful statement and a great stop for opening day of the hop. Your row is perfect for using in so many ways. Thank you!

    • TheQuiltRambler says:

      Oh thank you Carla, I’m so glad you have started the Row Along with us and I do hope you can find a way to work my row into your personal row along quilt! I can’t wait to start seeing photos across social media!

  10. nancy seitz says:

    Love your row. This is one I will definitely do. I have lots of scraps and will just have to make in different sizes. I have already many, many 4-patches and now have an idea on how to use.
    Thanks

  11. Daniela M. says:

    I love how you put the blocks on point. This is such a flexible row. It can be used as a border in my quilts. Beautiful design. Thank you.

  12. Diana Allen says:

    It would be hard to narrow down all our “Happy Places” into just one idea, and I think that you did a great job!

  13. Debby P. says:

    I love your row! One of my first projects was Seminole piecing blocks in a row. I did not have the imagination to change the sizes. Thank you for the chance to win!

    • TheQuiltRambler says:

      Hadn’t thought of it, but it is a Seminole design – I’ve always wanted to do some of those design elements and I guess without realizing it, I have! Best wishes on the contests! Don’t forget to visit each blogger as the giveaways are spread out for the entire event!

  14. Beth T. says:

    Thanks for your advice to the first-time Row Along-ers. It can be a little overwhelming, and it’s good to get off to an organized start.

  15. judys says:

    Congratulations on your new granddaughter to be! you and her will have so much fun making and playing with the blocks and more!

  16. Pam Reim says:

    A lovely row & this QAL looks like fun! My Happy Place is just sitting on my deck watching all the birds playing in the fountain.

  17. Elizabeth N Balcom says:

    Thanks for the row. It is very unique, i look forward to making. I love your header very colorful.
    Elizabeth, in Silverdale, WA

  18. Michele Nelson says:

    Thank you for your pattern. I think it’s going to be very useful in many quilt situations not just for the row along. I can see using it as a sweet border for a baby quilt or piece two end to end for a modern look. Well done!!

  19. Lynn McIndoe says:

    What a great start to the Row Quilt. Rows like this are so useful to separate other rows or to place ar either end.

  20. Audrey says:

    I love the graduation of block sizes in your row. As you commented it will definitely give the eye an interesting break between other rows. Thanks for sharing. I can envision your row, or repetitions of your row, becoming a border to various quilts.

  21. Janet T says:

    Thank you for the pattern. I really like the way it goes from small to large to small. I like being in front of my machine, quilting. Your pattern will get me there.

  22. Roseanne says:

    Hi Karen! Aha, Reagan – love that name. And that picture of the blocks, with those cute little chubby legs. It won’t be long until you’ll see some kicking around, kissing each little toe. Thank you for the row! I can’t imagine how many designers and rows are being offered! This really sounds like a fun project. ~smile~ Roseanne

  23. Terri Drake says:

    Love your blog and your creativity. Think your building blocks are perfect for the Happy Place Row Along. Right now, thinking of having them at the top, but may change to breaking up segments. Thank you for sharing your time, your talent and your creativity.

  24. Mary Ann Noone says:

    Thanks so much for your row. Thinking outside the box! A new twist on a traditional block. Love it.

  25. Karen Brown says:

    Excited to be included in this. New for me but loved all the first designs and a wealth of knowledge.

  26. Vivian Oaks says:

    Love, love, love these RAL’s!! Thanks so much for all the time and effort you put into this endeavor! Everything I’ve seen so far is beautiful and I can’t wait to see the rest. Blessings!!

  27. susan says:

    Thank you so much for a wonderful and very do-able row! congratulations on your first grandchild. Maybe this row will wind up in her baby quilt, too!

  28. Karen says:

    Thanks so much for your row. And I agree, it IS the perfect row to rest the eye, make a separation of busier rows, a perfect top or bottom or even vertical like a decorative ornament used in literature. And you thought you rambled ☺️Thanks for the fun!

  29. Delaine says:

    The saying Ïnspiration is all around us” is true and your inspiration turned out to be awesome! Thanks!

  30. Cathleen says:

    I seem to have missed what to put in the bix when you have visited the sites for the giveaway.
    I love that your block can easily use scraps!

  31. Linda Williamson says:

    Thanks for sharing your row. Great way to start off the blog hop. I saw a posted picture of your studio the other day. Glad to see you’re getting back up and running.

  32. Cherie Moore says:

    I so remember stacking blocks for my much younger brother and sister to knock down……what a fun row!

  33. Thunder says:

    Playing with blocks with my grandchildren are some of the happiest moments of my life. Thank you for such a wonderful block .

  34. Kathy E. says:

    KISS is the only way to go! Sometimes racking your brain only complicates things and nothing productive happens! Your block row is very pleasing to the eye and is just perfect!

  35. Joyce P Schroeder says:

    I love this row! Simple, effective, and would make a great outside border for any quilt! What a great way to show off some of my favorite fabrics, too! Thanks!

  36. Joan says:

    Fun row and these bright colors…well, they do remind me of you! Congrats on getting into your home finally! 🙂

  37. Susan says:

    Thank you for a non-applique row. I don’t mind needle-turn applique if it is not complicated and doesn’t have lots of little pieces. I like what you did with your row.

  38. Marian says:

    I think is one of the only blogs I didn’t see on Tuesday, however, as I’ve said before I love the dimensional aspect of this row and how the building blocks just make it work wonderfully. I look forward to seeing what you do with this row in the future and following your blog. Thank you so much for participating in the row along this year.

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