Essential Quilting E-Course giveaway

Posted on May 25, 2012

Happy Friday! I have a great giveaway for you today from Deborah of Whipstitch Fabrics — a spot in her new quilting e-course and a fat quarter bundle of Vintage Modern! Read on!

Deborah has been teaching a successful quilting course at her shop for two years and is now making it available online as an e-course. This course is a four week online class which teaches the foundational skills of quilting using daily lessons, audio and video, lots of images and downloads that you can refer to later. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to receive feedback on your sewing during two live chats.

Over the course of the four weeks, you’ll learn all the important techniques and core skills of quilting and at the same time you’ll have a chance to make up 10 quilt blocks that you’ll be able to turn into a modern sampler.

You might wonder if this course is only appropriate for beginner quilters. Deborah emphasizes that it definitely is not – the skills range well into intermediate, even advanced as you learn about y seams in the tumbling blocks and sewing curves for the drunkard’s path block. You might check out the class description for full information on what techniques will be taught. I really think anyone who quilts or has interest in quilting would benefit from this course!

The course starts June 4th with daily lessons during the week for 4 weeks. Now how would you like to win a spot? Just leave a comment here (one per person, please!) for a chance to win a space in this great class. In addition, the winner will receive a fat quarter bundle of Bonnie & Camille’s gorgeous new line, Vintage Modern. If you’d like, let me know what quilting skill you’d like to learn and/or improve. I’ll select a winner sometime Sunday evening. Happy weekend!!

Comments are now closed! Thanks to all who entered. I’ll select and post the winner shortly.

Posted in Giveaway! | Tagged , , , , | 420 Comments

little liberty

Posted on May 23, 2012

While cutting squares for my upcoming Liberty patchwork quilt, I thought it would be fun to make up a baby quilt using a few of these gorgeous prints. (Instant gratification and all…)

I wanted this quilt to be pretty and girly, so I pulled out a few floral Liberty prints featuring pinks and purples. These were paired with a girly pink solid and a few neutrals.

The solids are all colors from Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture line, and I think they’re really, really nice. Not only are there tons of great colors, the fabric is so soft and smooth – just perfect for this quilt! I made up a patchwork piece using 3 1/2″ squares, then pulled a page from Heather‘s book and surrounded part of the patchwork piece with a nice stone colored solid. It worked to make this quilt a bit bigger, and also provides a little twist on a traditional patchwork square quilt.

I quilted it with straight lines on either side of the seams in the patchwork portion, and extended those lines out through the solid section. It’s backed with that light pink solid and bound in a slightly lighter stone color.

I’m really happy with how it turned out, and it was really fun to sew with some of my little Liberty pieces!

Posted in [search] Charm Quilts, baby, Fabric, Posts about Quilts, Quilts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

dreaming of greece

Posted on May 21, 2012

I got this one finished up the other day, and I’m quite pleased with it. Naming quilts can be hard, so I was excited to come up with the perfect name for it after making the quilt top –  Summers(ville) in the Greek Isles – and I’m still a fan. Morgan still thinks I’m a fabric dork…

Anyway, I love these Summersville prints by Lucie Summers, and I particularly love it in this lovely blue color. I paired them with a few other blue solids and prints, and just a little pop of orangy-yellow. This quilt was totally inspired by this one by Gail Baar, and I love how it all came together.

So the quilting…. once again I was inspired by the fabulous Angela Walters. I received an advance electronic copy of her (soon to be released!) book, and if I’m being honest, I’ll tell you that I tend to just keep it open on my computer. Slightly obsessed, maybe? I love looking at her designs, and I love that it gets me thinking about other types of quilting. I went with a square quilting design for this one.  I knew that I’d have trouble going with free motion quilting and not making rounded shapes (such a habit!) so I decided to use my walking foot instead. It required a lot of shoving the quilt through the machine though, so if it had been any larger it probably wouldn’t have worked so well.

I think the square quilting really complements this quilt design, and gives it really nice texture.

I used Lucie’s Alphabetty print for the backing (I’m a big fan! And in fact, Max has a pair of pants using this print in black, and I just bought the cutest ipad case from Amber in the blue Alphabetty print. A fan, for sure!).

The binding is mainly a turquoise solid, with a pieced yellow section. I lost some of the yellow on this side of the quilt when I squared it up, so I thought I’d add a bit in the binding instead.

And every time I see it, I think of Greece (and making this quilt was cheaper than flying to Greece, so win, win!)

Posted in [search] Wonky/Improv Quilts, Posts about Quilts, Quilts | Tagged , , , , , , | 28 Comments