Free Motion Quilting for Beginners/Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks

Note: The Giveaway is now closed. Thanks for stopping by!
 
Welcome to the blog today! Let's consider today a"series of fortunate events" for you, the reader. I am rarely on blog hops or book tours, but for some reason, beyond my control, I have both on the very same day.

Let's start with Molly Hanson first. Here is a funny back story. I was at spring quilt market in May 2013, walking down an aisle with my husband, Mark, when someone stopped me right as we came to Angela Walters' booth, and said, "Aren't you Cindy from Live a Colorful Life? I read your blog!"  I was pretty shocked that someone recognized me.  I have met blogging friends before, but always because we had prearranged it. Random recognition has never happened to me. It was really fun., so Mark took our picture and we chatted a bit. I instantly knew that Molly and I would be friends. She is warm and funny, and VERY talented.

When she told me about her book, "Free Motion Quilting for Beginners, and those who think they can't" I kind of felt like she had written it specifically for me. The only quilting I have done is straight-line/grid quilting. I love them both, but have felt ready to expand my quilting horizons, although feeling intimidated at the thought of actually trying something new.

 Photo Courtesy of Martingale, Brent Kane photographer

For some reason, I always thought that stippling was the first required skill on your way to free motion quilting. Imagine my joy when I read this,  "When I first sat down and tried free-motion quilting, I started with classic stippling, because I thought I was supposed to start there. It turned out that wasn't a good starting point for me because the movements were so foreign."

YAY!

After a lot of information on supplies, tips and tricks, and reminders, she starts with small projects, and with each new FMQ skill, you move to larger and larger projects until by the end you have the skills to move onto a quilt. I hesitate to show you my trial run, but everyone has to start somewhere. Once over I got over the freaky feeling that I was the one in control and relaxed a little bit, things seemed to go more smoothly.

The projects are cute and clever,  and I really want to make each and every one. Here are a couple of my favorites (all photos courtesy of Martingale, Brent Kane, photographer).

Aren't the initials cute in the woodgrain quilting? 

 

After the holidays, I plan to work my way from start to finish through the book, making each project. You can follow Molly's quilting adventures on her blog.


Molly's publisher, Martingale, has generously offered to give an e-book to one lucky reader. So for this giveaway, leave a comment and let me know if you are a free motion quilter, and if you started with stippling.

Also be sure to check out the previous stops on the tour, and the Thermoweb stop tomorrow.

1. Martingale http://blog.shopmartingale.com/ November 11th

2. Amanda Jean http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com November 13th

3. Amy Friend http://duringquiettime.com November 14th

4. Angela Walters http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com  November15th 

5. Juliet van der Heijden The Tartankiwi  November 17th

6. Lori Kennedy http://theinboxjaunt.com  November 19th

7. Cindy Wiens http://www.liveacolorfullife.net November 20th (you are here!)

8. Thermoweb http://thermoweb.com/blog/ November 21st

Next, I'm really happy to have a block in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, especially this edition, as it is the 10th volume, which means they have published 1000 block designs.

My block is #930, Wanderlust. It is based on a logo I saw on a website (logos are great sources of inspiration!). As always, Quilty Pleasures is featuring great giveaways during the blog tour and listing all of the participants for each day so you will want to make sure to stop over there.

I also made a mini quilt, shown in the magazine as well.

Quiltmaker Magazine has generously offered to give away one copy of this issue to one of you, so leave a comment and let me know if you ever work with solids, or prefer to stick with prints.

For all the  blog tour stops and more giveaways, hop on over to Quilty Pleasures blog.

I'll be picking winners for each of the giveaways Monday morning, November 24, so make sure I have contact information, and thanks so much for stopping by!