Guest post from Susan aka Canadian Abroad + Giveaway!

**GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED**

First off, a huge thank you to Lucy and Nat for asking me to do the guest post for the first Le Challenge month. I think they came up with a brilliant idea starting this blog, though the fact that they both have young babies stymies me to when and how they even have the time to feed themselves let alone be so actively involved in their crafts and blogs still. I am sure I didn't string together a legible sentence for the first three years of my children's lives! 

Geometry - the study of points, lines, shapes, solids, etc.  

In my mind quilting is geometry. You take shapes and make them fit together, from the simplest design using squares or triangles...

... to more complicated shapes like lozenges, diamonds and hexagons (or half hexagons too).

As long as you have the angles correct so that joining pieces of fabric can be sewn together to form a flat surface the possibilities are endless.

When the patterns get complicated paper piecing is usually involved. Whether you like freezer paper piecing, foundation paper piecing or English paper piecing doesn't matter. Utilising the techniques involved in these methods of piecing allows you to increase the possibilities in your quilting designs. I have used English paper piecing (epp) as a means to demonstrate how simple geography can lead to interesting blocks. The best tools to start out with are pencil and paper. If you have graph paper all the better. A ruler helps too. Below you see two simple blocks I drew out. The block on the left was inspired when I saw a drawing for the Pythagorean theorem whilst preparing for this guest post. What I love about it is that I can already see further possibilities based on this design, taking it to another level for me. The design on the right was just me doodling and seeing what I could come up with. 

I shall not go into how to English paper piece. There are plenty of good tutorials online if you would like to learn more, or feel free to ask questions. I will help to the best of my ability. Suffice to say, I took those drawings above, cut them up into their individual shapes and sewed them together again. The resulting blocks were quick to make and good fun.

Inspiration for quilt design is found everywhere. Look around you as you go about your everyday life and you will see geometric design in wall tiles, floor tiles, wood floors and modern art. The more you look, the more you discover, and the more you will find that the world provides a constant stream of inspiration. Take a camera with you, or use your phone if you have one with a built in camera, and take photos when  you see interesting design. Open your mind to how colour and fabric design can completely change a simple design into something amazing.

All photos taken from Google images.

Geometry - points, lines, shapes and angles. You couldn't quilt without them, could you? As shown above I made two small epp blocks using geometric shapes. Having made the blocks I thought it was best that I turn them into something useful. So using the wide mouthed pouch method of inserting a zip (tutorial here and it is an excellent one) I made two pouches.

I am giving away both pouches to one winner. As a bonus, I will cut a bunch of paper hexies of various sizes and put them in one of the pouches for the winner. You have two chances to win. 

**GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED**

• First up, just leave a comment on this Le Challenge post. Any comment will do, or you could tell everyone else who reads this post where you find inspiration for the craft of your choice. 
• For a second chance to win, leave a separate comment letting Nat and Lucy know that you are a Le Challenge follower and the method which you use to follow - GFC, Bloglovin', etc.

Lucy and Nat will choose a winner randomly on the 15th of April at approximately noon British time. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for the first Le Challenge. I love that this can involve all sorts of mediums besides quilting. Don't forget to link up your geometrically inspired project.