Make It, Take It Blog Hop (and giveaway!)

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who commented.

 

Photo by Brent Kane, Martingale, all rights reserved

I remember specifically where I was when I received an email from Krista, asking whether I wanted to be part of a book with projects related to quilting retreats--Mark and I were at the central coast of California for a weekend, walking into the theater to see a movie one afternoon. I could hardly wait to reply to that email. Yes, yes, yes!! Krista and I have been blogging friends for quite a few years. I was this close a few years ago to being able to attend her famous Loon Lake retreat; it was so disappointing when it didn't work out.

We finally met at QuiltCon in February and I was able to meet several other contributors as well. It was one of the biggest highlights of QuiltCon.

So. Retreats. I LOVE going to them, and attend several each year, ranging in size from about three of us (at a friend's cabin) to 70-90 (sponsored by our local quilt shop). Even for an introvert who happily sews alone most of the time, retreats offer the time to work on lots of projects, visit with friends who love doing the same thing, eating, laughing, recharging....

My contribution to the book was a little sewing mat for under your machine, with pockets to keep items handy when you are limited on space.

Not surprisingly, it is made from selvages! There is also a little story about my most memorable retreat experience.

This week it was fun to make a couple of other projects from the book. First up was Ayumi's tote bag. I have been sewing from my stash as much as possible this year so it was really fun to finally use this Alexander Henry fabric that has been on a shelf for a couple of years. Just waiting for the right project to show it off in all its glory, I guess. :) Strip piecing is used for the bags in the book but it was really easy to make it from a single fabric.

Naturally I couldn't resist adding the selvage at the bottom.

Next, I made Amy's scissor keeper. And learned a new skill--a magnetic snap. Easy peasy, especially using this tutorial.

 

Krista did a fabulous job with this book and some of my very favorite people have contributed projects. There are projects that will keep you and your supplies organized, along with more projects to make during a retreat or when sewing with friends.

I really hope you will take the time to visit all the stops along the way.

Blog Tour Schedule 

Friday, April 3 Blog hop kick-off: Krista at Poppyprint.
Monday, April 6: Berene at Happy Sew Lucky and Amy at During Quiet Time
Tuesday, April 7: Leanne at She Can Quilt and Felicity at Felicity Quilts
Wednesday, April 8: Martingale Inc. at Stitch this!
Thursday, April 9: Krista at Spotted Stones and Krista at Krista Withers Quilting
Friday, April 10: Lynne at Lilys Quilts and Cindy at Live a Colorful Life

Saturday, April 11: Ayumi at Pink Penguin and Krista at Poppyprint
Sunday, April 12: Kristie at OCD: Obsessive Crafting Disorder and Christina at Sometimes Crafter

And now the exciting part: you can win your very own copy of Make It, Take It! Two books will be given away: one digital copy (courtesy of Martingale, the book's publisher) and one hard copy (courtesy of me).

The rules are simple:
Just comment on this blog post. And let me know if you have ever attended a retreat (make sure you aren't a no-reply commenter, because if I can't reach you, then the Random Number Generator will have to choose someone else). I'll close this post to comments on Monday at 6 p.m. Pacific time. International entries are welcome.

Good luck, and happy sewing!

ETA: The winner of the digital copy is lindawwww who said: I haven't been on an official quilt retreat but I went away with two friends for a quilting weekend and had a great time.

The winner of the hard copy is Terri who said: Congratulations on having a project in this book! I love love love your project, which would be very handy to make for taking to retreats. I only go to one retreat a year, and this will be my 6th year with those same ladies!

Also, since it's Friday and I finished two projects this week, I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF. :)