Quick & Easy Quilts Giveaway Winner

Thank you all for entering Lynne's giveaway. Unfortunately there can only be one winner...

"Love the quilt! I love so many of the quilts I've seen from this book-- some are hard to believe are quick and easy (love when they look so hard, but really they aren't!) Thank you!"

by Sarah J...congrats Sarah! Please email me and I will arrange for the book to be sent to you.

Thanks to all for your kind comments about the quilt I made from the book. It is now complete and ready to go back to Uni with No.1 son on Saturday.

Don't forget to follow the rest of the blog tour. There are more giveaways so go try your luck at one of them!

Sister Sampler Quilts Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Sister Sampler Quilts Blog Hop!

I was delighted and honoured when AnneMarie of Gen X Quilts asked me to be on her blog hop for her new book. If you have arrived here from AnneMarie's blog then welcome!

This book ticked so many boxes for me that I couldn't wait to dive in.

I am a big fan of sampler quilts. I love a quilt where your eye roams around it taking in all the different details but, being a bit of an enigma, I like a quilt to be balanced and work as a whole. All 3 of the sampler quilts have such a clever way of achieving this.

The Vice Versa Sampler includes 2 blocks that are the negative of each other, switching the colour placement from one into the background space of the other producing 2 very different but totally complementary blocks. You can see this in the Shoofly block above. Such a clever and unique idea.

In her second sampler quilt, Bonfire Sampler, AnneMarie has taken components from curved blocks and string blocks and constructed them in new and exciting ways, as you can see in the Friendship Star block above. The whole quilt has a strong border of HSTs giving the overall effect of a giant detailed Bearpaw.

The third sampler is the Sisters' Ten Sampler which incorporates 10 blocks each done in 2 varying ways, giving the quilt unity in design but added interest by not repeating them in the same fabrics...just like sisters...the same but different. Having a sister, and both being very different, this quilt really appealed to me.

The sign of a good quilting book is that I want to dive straight into it and start making. It actually took me ages to get started but only because I wanted to make everything...all at once...

I eventually settled on trying out the Button Block, mainly because I have a current love of curves and wanted to choose a block with curves. I so nearly went for the Time and Energy block so I guess I will be doing that pretty soon.

AnneMarie's instructions are clear and concise and the added diagrams make assembling the blocks very straight forward. I am definitely a visual learner and to be able to assemble a block simply by looking at the diagrams is a real plus for me.

If you haven't seen this book yet I really urge you to. There is a lot of mileage in it. There are so many options for doing the quilts in so many different ways which is another big tick for me when choosing a new quilting book.

Thank you for visiting my stop on the tour. Do go click on all the other stops for some great reviews, block and quilt making, along with some great giveaways of the book.

Sister Sampler Quilts: 3 Modern Sampler Quilts with Paired Sister Blocks

By AnneMarie Chany

Fons & Porter/F+W; $19.99

http://www.sistersamplerquilts.com

Monday, January 18  

AnneMarie Chany / Gen X Quilters - Introduction

Sara Lawson / Sew Sweetness

Tuesday, January 19 

Leah Day / Free Motion Project
Brenda Ratliff / Just A Bit Frayed

Wednesday, January 20

Faith Jones / Fresh Lemons Quilts
Angela Pingel / Cut To Pieces

Thursday, January 21

Lynne Goldsworthy / Lily's Quilts
Amy Friend / During Quiet Time

Friday, January 22

Christa Watson / Christa Quilts
Violet Craft

Monday, January 25

Lee Heinrich / Freshly Pieced
Melissa Corry / Happy Quilting

Tuesday, January 26

Karen Lewis / Karen Lewis Textiles

Amy Gibson / Stitchery Dickory Dock

Wednesday, January 27

Sherri McConnell / A Quilting Life

Melissa Mortensen / Polka Dot Chair

Thursday, January 28

Amy Ellis / Amy's Creative Side

Heather Valentine / The Sewing Loft

Friday, January 29

Cindy Wiens / Live A Colorful Life 

AnneMarie Chany / Gen X Quilters - Wrap Up 

The Paper Pieced Home Blog Tour

I am thrilled to have been invited on the blog tour for Penny's new book The Paper Pieced Home.

I am a recent convert to the joys of Paper Piecing and was delighted to be given the chance to have a play with the patterns in this wonderful new book.

Preparation...not my forte...is paramount with paper piecing and so once I had allowed myself to get organised paper piecing is so much fun and Penny's patterns such joy.

I have always been a fan of Penny's quirky style and so the designs in the book sucked me right in.

The block I wanted to immediately try out was the striking Mid Century Modern pattern, The Couch. 

This pattern was relatively straight forward and like any paper pieced patterns as long as you slow yourself down...something I don't always readily do...and follow the instructions carefully you can't go far wrong.

Not only are Penny's block instructions clear and concise but the book has excellent tips and general helpful How To's and What To's.

I was thrilled with my finished Couch blocks and can't wait to dive in to other blocks in the book.

Whilst all the individual projects in the book are such fun, I am tempted to make a quilt out of all them. Watch this space!

Check out the rest of the tour here

3/16       McCall’s Quilting / Sewing Machine Block

3/17       Love of Quilting / Review

3/17       Sandi Sawa Hazlewood  of Crafty Planner / Watering Can Block

3/18       Quilty Pleasure (Quiltmaker blog) / Review

3/18       Imagine Gnats / Rotary Phone Block

3/20       Verykerryberry / Lion Block

3/21       Artisania / Cast-Iron Skillet Block

3/23       Where the Orchids Grow / Lamp Block

3/24       Katie Blakesley of Swim Bike Quilt / Layer Cake Block

3/24       House on Hill Road / Oven Mitt Block

3/24       Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced / BBQ Grill Block

3/26       Pink Penguin / Allie-Gator Block

3/26       A Happy Stitch / Giraffe Block

3/27       Bijou Lovely / Jar Block

3/27       Two Little Banshees / Saucepan Block

3/27       Charise Creates / Espresso Mug Block

3/30       Karen Lewis Textiles / Couch Block

3/31       Poppyprint / Clawfoot Tub Block

3/31       One Shabby Chick / Stack of Books Block

3/31       During Quiet Time / Sleeveless Dress Block

4/06       Pat Sloan The Voice of Quilting / Author Podcast Interview

...and for further information about the book 

and grab a copy for yourself click on the links below...

The Paper-Pieced Home: Quilting a Household One Block at a Time

By Penny Layman

Interweave/F+W; $26.99

http://bit.ly/1zClNAv