A quilt along and a GIVEAWAY!

Does the world need another quilt along? I say YES.

Have you noticed that most quilt alongs assemble a quilt top over several weeks and then address the quilting briefly at the end? I have, and I want to do the exact opposite! I want to briefly assemble a top and then walk you through quilting it, with patterns that are interesting to you.

There seem to be lots of quilters who want to practice free motion quilting - but not on a quilt top they've worked hard on. This quilt along gives you a quilt you don't have to worry about ruining - you could even make it out of fabric that you hate if you want. Or, if you don't want to assemble the top, that's fine too. You can just quilt along with scraps.

If you've never free motion quilted before, I'm going to show you how. If you're stuck in a meandering rut, I'm gonna help you break free. If you're already free motioning your little heart out I might at least give you a few new designs to try. I'm no expert, but I've had some success teaching other quilters to free motion quilt and I want to spread the good news far and wide: you can do it! On your home machine! It's not magic. (But it does feel magical!)

So to generate a little interest in this thing and to start some lucky quilter off on the right foot, I've got a little free motion prize package to give away. The lucky winner will receive:

• Craft size Warm and Natural packaged batting (perfect size for this project!)
• 50 curved Dritz quilt basting pins
• Fons and Porter grippy gloves
• A package of Schmetz size 90/14 quilting needles
• One spool of YLI machine quilting thread in white

Since the giveaway is an unabashed attempt to publicize the quilt along, you have three ways to enter. You should leave a separate comment for each entry.

1 - leave a comment on this post telling me something you hope we cover in the quilt along.
2 - become a follower of this blog
3 - blog about the giveaway or quilt along and leave the URL to your post below

The giveaway will be open through August 21st. Good luck and stay tuned! If you'd like a button for the quilt along, here it is (for some reason this looks fine on my home screen and sideways everywhere else. I'll do my best to fix it!):





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Lucky Ducky

Tomorrow I'm buying a lottery ticket. If you're reading the same blogs I'm reading you might be getting a little irked at me because I keep winning the giveaways. it's bizarre. The first was the book City Quilts from the blog tour stop at Jaybird Quilts. I am heartily enjoying this quilt porn.

The second was the book Whip Up Mini Quilts from the wonderful Liz Harvatine who I probably pissed off before I even won because I don't know the difference between a unicorn and a pegasus. Alas.

And then today I scored a copy of the "Strips and Bricks" quilt pattern from Malka at A Stitch in Dye. How is this possible? I have no idea, but I'm pretty much glowing with all the quilt gazing I get to do. What sweet surprises!

Which reminds me, I entered the giveaway at Oversewn for the Featherweight that she is raffling to support a cause close to my heart: a birth center. I hope my streak holds up for that! If I win the machine it is going to my grandma who mentions Featherweights in nearly every conversation I have with her. I would love to see the look on her face if she finally got one!

Thread winner

Winner is number 3: Karen! She said:

"Free motion quilting is one of those places I dream of going with profound success, but when the time comes, I am completely overcome with fear. I am self-taught, but watch videos online to see "pros" in action. Quite intimidating! I know it's practice, practice, practice, but I'm not so diligent. Thanks!"

Thanks for all of your responses! I appreciated reading your thoughts on free motion quilting. Get ready for LOTS of free motion talk around these parts in the coming weeks! Some of you mentioned that you feel uncertain about trying free motion and I am here to help you through that. I am a midwife after all, it's what we do best.

Can I interest you in some thread?

Wait, not that thread. But it sure is pretty, huh?

There we go. What you see here is three spools of YLI variegated machine quilting thread. I had to wind two of them back up but I don't recall ever using any of them and they appear to be full spools. The color ways are California Poppy, Caffe Romano and Rio de Janiero. I really like this thread. It is thicker than most other threads, which means it rarely breaks. And, the colors are rich and beautiful.


I just have too much thread and wanted to offer a little giveaway for my regular blog readers. To enter, comment on this post regarding free motion quilting. If you free motion quilt, what resource (website, book) has been most helpful to you? If you don't free motion quilt, what concerns or questions do you have about free motion quilting? I'll leave this up for a few days at least.

Giveaway Day!

**The Giveaway is over, comments are closed** Thanks for stopping by my first ever giveaway! It's Giveaway Day hosted by Sew Mama Sew and I'm giving away an Omnigrid cutting mat. The cutting area is 8 inches by 11 inches. This is for someone who needs to cut some small stuff!

To enter the drawing just leave a comment before noon PST on May 20. Additional entry: I am also trying to help a friend find someone who does HAND quilting (no machine involved!) for hire. Earn one additional entry if you email me a phone number (and any other contact info) for a quilter who does hand quilting for hire in your area. Click on my profile link above to see my email address. Winner will be chosen by random number generator. I'll post here and email the winner. Thanks again and happy giveaway day!