I’m so pleased to be part of Kathreen Ricketson‘s blog tour for her new book, Whip Up Mini Quilts, published by Chronicle Books.

I enjoyed this book right from the very beginning. While I typically breeze right through introductions and info about sewing techniques, the information in the front of this book grabbed my attention, especially the stitch dictionary (I know nearly nothing about handsewing!). Kathreen also provides great information about the history of quilting, how to select colors, a bit about various quilt designs, and a section on applique and other decorative elements. I love that she provides a nice overview of all these topics all in one place. I can see myself using this as a great reference.

And how about those quilts? This book contains a number of beautiful quilts, contributed by some very talented quilters. There’s such a great variety of quilts and I’ve been enjoying just flipping through and admiring the photos of these gorgeous quilts. I love that there are many different techniques used – applique, curved piecing, improv piecing, Shibori dyeing – as well as different types of quilting, and even many different methods for binding, including a piped binding, which I’d really love to try!

I haven’t made too many mini quilts (even when I’m trying for a small quilt, it always ends up being larger than I expected!), but this book inspired me to give it another go..

Inspired by this quilt above, which uses a single shape, some linen and a bit of hand stitching (something way out of my comfort zone!) I pulled out some small scraps of Far Far Away II left over from my last quilt.

I used a nice Essex cotton/linen blend for the background and appliqued (something else out of my comfort zone!) 2.5″ squares of the Far Far Away and a few corresponding solids. I used some perle cotton to do a bit of hand stitching – some Sashiko stitches (I learned that from the stitch dictionary!) around a few of the squares.

My handsewing still needs some work, certainly, but I’m so happy that this book encouraged me to actually give hand stitching a try! I’m not sure I see myself hand quilting a larger quilt, but maybe another mini. And this photo of a wall full of beautiful mini quilts definitely has me inspired to make a few more (Morgan doesn’t like quilts on the wall, but maybe he won’t notice?!)

(photo from WhipUp.net)

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Anyway, would you like to win a copy of this book? Chronicle Books has generously donated a copy for one lucky commenter. Please leave a comment here to be entered. It’s not necessary, but if you want to, maybe you’ll let me know what you think of mini quilts. Have you made any? How do you display them? And if you have made any, do you wash them? I’m curious…(and trying to figure out if I should wash the one I made!)

I’ll select and post the winner on Friday.

Edit: Comments are now closed. I’ll select and post a winner shortly!

And here are the other blog stops – be sure to check them out for additional information about the book and about mini quilts!

6/1 – Craftzine – essential quilting tools
6/2 – Crafty Pod – book review & giveaway
6/3 – Chronicle Books – Behind the making of the book
6/4 – Indie Fixx – Designing your own mini-quilts
6/7 – Craft Sanity – Piped binding tutorial
6/8 – Handmade by Alissa
6/9 – My Love for You Background on Mini Quilts
6/10 – Film in the Fridge
6/11 – The Haystack Needle Decorating with mini quilts
6/12 – West Coast Crafty