MATH Quilt Pattern - Free Paper Piecing Pattern featuring Geekery Fabrics

This Free MATH Paper Piecing Pattern makes a great Mini Quilt or Throw Pillow or could be added into a larger quilt.  I tend to collect math and science themed fabrics, and this was a great way to show some of them off.  With Pi-Day coming up soon, I really wanted to do some Math-Geek sewing.

Many thanks to RJR Fabrics for providing me with a bundle of their Geekery Fabrics by Sue Marsh to play with.  And thanks as always to Fairfield World for providing me with batting and compensating me for this post.  This pattern was designed using EQ7. All opinions, ideas, patterns, and enthusiasm are 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Our oldest daughter has never really liked math despite being reasonably good at it.  We pressured her a bit to join math team last year.  (As in...you want us to drive you to volleyball games every weekend...then you'll do math team at lunch.)  Thanks to her wonderful math teacher/coach last year, she signed up more willingly this year, and now thanks to two years with some excellent math teachers/coaches, she says math is her favorite class.  It makes this math-loving-mama super happy.

So when math team ended this year, we wanted to do something special for her teacher...so we whipped up a little math mini-quilt.  It could also make for a great quilted pillow.  We wanted it to be small enough she could display it in her classroom where she has another quilt hanging.

If you're just starting out with foundation paper piecing, this is a GREAT pattern for beginners...nice big pieces and not very many of them...and each block is a single pattern piece.  I've got two sizes for you to choose from.  I used the 9.5 inch blocks which just requires you to tape the paper pieces together to make the paper big enough. Or if you don't want to hassle with that, you can use the 7.5 blocks that print out on a single piece of paper.

If you're not already familiar with paper-piecing there are lots of simple tutorials online to help with the process.  I like this tutorial.

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

• Fat Quarter Bundle of Geekery by Sue Marsh for RJR Fabrics.  I used By the Numbers in Black, Scientifically Speaking in Black, Atoms in Red, Atoms in Green, Atoms in Blue, and Germ * Amoebas in Yellow for my blocks.  
• 5/8 yard backing fabric (SCIENTIFICALLY SPEAKING - MULTI ALBUS)
• 1/4 Yard Graph Paper in White for binding.
• 2/3 Yard or 1 pacakge crib sized Nature-Fil™ Bamboo Blend Batting 
• Coordinating Thread
• Sewing Machine
• Printed Pattern Pieces

You can download the MATH QUILT Pattern Pieces here.

A Few Notes about the Pattern:

Pattern pieces each have a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  They're in PDF form.  When you go to print them be sure that your printer is set to print them ACTUAL SIZE.

Paper- Piecing Patterns are always mirror-imaged...so when you print them, they will looked "flipped" from how the block appear in my quilt.

To round out the gift we also slipped in our favorite Math Book.  Despite the title, This is NOT a Math Book really IS a math book, but it's also a really neat art book that shows connections between art and math and doodling and has some fun activities.

(Below is a sneak peek my sister-in-law from Bond with Books put together.)



For other fun math and Pi-Day Activities, you can check out this post...

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Simple Zipper Pouch Tutorial

Zipper Pouches make really fun gifts are so easy to personalize to the recipient depending on your fabric choice and embellishments.

There are about as many ways to make a zipper pouch out there as there are sewists, so I thought I'd share my favorite method.  Thank you so much to Fairfield World for supporting my creativity by providing me with products to try and compensating me for blogging for them.  All thoughts, ideas, opinions, and enthusiasm are 100% my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

My favorite pouches are lined and have some support material (batting or foam).  You'll want to choose will depend on how much support you want the sides to have an what you want your quilting to look like.  My favorite is using Support Soft Foam Stabilizer, but my husband prefers the batting.

You can also make pouches in just about any size depending on your wants and needs.  The photos in this post show two different size pouches with two different support materials.  I love the support foam filler because it gives a bit more protective padding to the contents and makes the pouch less floppy, but both will work well.

The small pouch measures approx. 5" by 8 1/4", finished.  The large pouch measures approx. 5" by 10" finished with the inner dimensions of each just slightly smaller.  You can choose any dimensions you like.

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

Pi-rate (pirate) Shirt - Freezer Paper Stencil Pattern

Katie needed a new Pi shirt this year since she'd outgrown the one I made her two years ago.  I had a couple ideas and was about to go for just a plain Pi symbol when I did a quick google search for "pi puns."

Happy Pi-Day 2013!

I'd meant to get this post up yesterday, but we were so busy celebrating Pi-Day that I didn't have much time to blog about Pi-Day...which is really as it should be.  We snapped this picture at the end of a long day.  Becca didn't want to be out in the wind and was trying to run back in the house.  Seth was being goofy...but this proves we are nerdy enough that we all were wearing Pi-shirts for the big day.

We made round Pi cookies this year instead of the mini-pudding pies.  The mini-pudding pies are a little more fun...but I didn't feel up to making enough for two classrooms of students.  We celebrated with Katie's second grade class and then went straight down the hall to Seth's kindergarten class for some marathon math parties.

The kids (mine and their classmates) had a lot of fun, and Becca always enjoys getting to go to school for an hour or so whenever I got help in their classrooms.

The second graders played with fractions of pies to make whole pies, measured round objects to calculate pi, and did a clock worksheet that ultimately gave them the decimals of pi when they decoded their answers.

The kindergarteners did pretty much the same activities that Katie's class did two years ago.  I have to say that this years circle pictures turned out extra awesome.  I need to go back to school in the next day or so and take some pictures of the circle pictures out in the hall.

Cow Pi T-shirt - Freezer Paper Stencil

We're getting ready for Pi Day around here.  I've been wanting to make a Cow Pi shirt for a couple years and finally got around to it.

Time for Pi - Second Grade Math Worksheet for Pi-Day

I've been getting some activities ready to help celebrate Pi-Day with my kids classes at school.  Since we celebrated it when Katie was in Kindergarten, I've already got materials and ideas for Seth's class (like our Pi Patterns Worksheet here).  Now that Katie is in second grade, though, we need something new.  I talked to Katie's math teacher about the skills they're working on already.  That way we can have fun celebrating Pi-Day and still keep the kids focused on the standards they're working on.  They'll be going to several different stations or "centers" as they call them.  This will be probably be the least "fun," but we needed something for one of the centers the kids can do independently.

They've been working on telling time for quite a while, so this is review.  I came up with a worksheet where after they fill in the times, they copy some of the numbers from their answers down to the bottom of the worksheet and they get the first 14 digits of Pi.

If you'd like to print off a copy of this worksheet, you can download the PDF version of the Time for Pi Worksheet here.

If you're looking for additional inspiration, you can see my full collection of Pi-inspired projects here.

And be sure to enter my current giveaway for a Pi Necklace from Boutique Academia.  The giveaway is open until March 18th at 12:00am.

Fresh Baked Pi Onesie (Cutting Files for Silhouette Now Available)

Pi Day is just a couple days away.

Here's Anson's little onesie he wore last year when he was just over a week old.

I LOVE freezer paper stencil for making near professional quality personalized T-shirts...but cutting out the designs by hand can be a pain.  Still I haven't been lucky enough to get my hands on a Silhouette yet, so I keep cutting my designs out with a razor blade.

New Pi Necklace Giveaway from Boutique Academia

It's that time of year again.  Pi-Day (as in 3.14...March 14th) is right around the corner.  Maile from Boutique Academia has come out with a new Pi Necklace just in time.  Love this!  And it comes in your choice of a gold or rhodium plated.

She also still offers her other Pi pieces as well, like Pi to 35 Digits...

...or her Pi Tie Bar.

All of Maile's pieces are classy enough that you can celebrate your geeky side anytime...not just on Pi-Day.  You can dress them up or go casual.

If you're not familiar with Boutique Academia, Maile sells all sorts of unique math, science, engineering, and geek culture jewelry designed with style in mind.

Mocking Jay Necklace, Onyx Big Dipper Necklace, and Doctor Who TARDIS Necklace

It's stuff for geeks with taste, and there are all sorts of pieces to show off your love for math as the biggest math holiday of the year approaches.

The Infinity Bracelet

Black and White Fibonacci Necklace

Q.E.D. Necklace

Maile is giving away one of her new Pi Necklaces to one lucky Helping Little Hands reader.  The winner can choose between gold and rhodium plated.

And we're going to try out using Rafflecopter for the first time to keep track of entries and give you a few more options to enter in ways that work for you.  This giveaway will close March 18, 2013 at 12 am.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


I'm linking to:

14+ Creative Ways to Celebrate Pi-Day

Pi-Day is coming up in less than two weeks!  I'm not sure exactly how we'll be celebrating this year, although I've been talking to Katie's and Seth's teachers about doing something fun with their classes.  Last year, we managed to do a little celebrating, even though Anson was only a week or so old.  He's changed a bit since then, huh?

If you haven't heard of Pi-Day, it's March 14th...as in 3.14159...  It's a day to let your inner geek shine as you celebrate all things Pi, math, and circles.

 I figured it was time to update my collection of Pi inspired ideas.  Click here for 14+ fun ideas to make your Pi-Day fun and nerdy, updated with all the Pi inspired fun that's show up on Helping Little Hands this year.

Also, be sure to enter my current giveaway for a Pi Necklace from Boutique Academia.  The giveaway is open until March 18th at 12:00am.

Please show my sponsors some love...

Southern Cross Necklace from Boutique Academia

Fibonacci Necklace from Boutique Academia

Pi Necklace from Boutique Academia

Pumpkin Pi Onesie (Free Pattern)

With Pi-Day coming up here in a few weeks, I thought I'd update my list of Pi themed crafts and creative fun.  (Never heard of Pi Day...google it.  It's a day when you get to celebrate all things math and circles.  It's on March 14th of every year because 3-14 are the first three digits in the never ending number Pi 3.141519....

I shared Anson's Pumpkin Pi onesie several months ago at Everyday Art as part of their Pumpkin Palooza celebration!  I realized that I never got around to reposting it here.  So here goes...

I'm a former math and chemistry teacher and I married an even nerdier high school science teacher, so we're turning our kids into super nerds and they don't even know it.

Here's Anson, sporting his new Pumpkin Pi Onesie.  (Amazing how fast they grow.  This is him a couple months ago and he already looks totally different.)

He's outgrown his other Pi themed onesies, and this was a perfect one for Halloween and Thanksgiving...because what's more Thanksgiving than Pumpkin Pi?!?  (Hahahaha...5 months later he can still wear it, although it's considerably more snug on him now.)