This is the last week of our anniversary celebration and I have something to give away that I hope you like. What is it? It’s the book, Bits and Pieces, that I used to do the May doll quilt for the swap that I’m involved in through Doll Quilters Monthly. This little quilt called Sweet Pea was fun and easy to make but did get a bit tedious when it came time to bury threads. You see, I had this bright idea. Don’t start laughing now!!! Instead of stitching around all those leaves I stitched down the center thinking that it would look like a vein and save me a lot of pivoting time. Well, it did look like a vein in a leaf, and it did save me time where pivoting is concerned, BUT it caused me to have to tie off and bury threads 96 times just for the leaves. It didn’t help any that I tried to be slick and not waste thread resulting in bobbin thread that was too short for tying and burying. Lessons learned: Don’t try shortcuts more than one time without checking to see if it works, and be sure that you have long enough thread tails to knot and bury with ease. Wasting a little thread is nothing compared to the frustration of trying to thread a one-inch piece of thread through a needle. You can bet I won’t make that mistake again.
I was told that this book is on the list to be retired by Martingale. At the time I was told this, at least three weeks ago now, there were only 200 copies left in their stock. If you don’t have this book already, and if you don’t win this copy, you will want to make sure you get a copy before they’re all gone. There are 18 great little quilts designed by Karen Costello Soltys that will not only use up lots of bits and pieces in your scrap basket but will allow you to have a sweet project done in a fraction of the time it takes to make a full sized quilt. They call that instant gratification I do believe. If you win the book you might want to consider joining the doll quilt swap. If you don’t win the book you might still consider joining because it’s fun and you get to meet people you wouldn’t even know existed otherwise. You might even get a quilt from Australia, Germany, or Sweden! Wouldn’t that be cool?!!!
Here’s the quilt that my May swap partner, Judee from California, made and sent to me. It’s 24” square and has some of those ‘30s prints I love so much. She used ric-rack for the stems on the tulips. How fun is that?!
I love this little quilt and see it every day when I walk into the office. I haven’t had a chance to test a theory that I have, but I bet that even on a gloomy and rainy day that little quilt is going to make the day brighter just because it’s so bright and cheery already.
Oh yes, here’s the quilt that I sent to Judee. Thankfully, she was a very patient swap partner because I was late in getting it to her. Of course, if she knew me like you do that wouldn’t have surprised her at all. I was late partly because of all that tying and burying I had to do but mostly because I couldn’t find my Kaffe fabrics that I’d bought from Kat. Judee loves Kaffe fabrics, and I’d planned on using those in her quilt. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, and I finally decided that if I didn’t back up and punt she’d never get her little quilt from me. I was worried that she wouldn’t like the fabrics because they are nothing like Kaffe fabrics, but after receiving it she assured me she did like it and had found a place on her coffee table for it to live. Now there’s a bit of me in California and another bit of me up in Washington state. And I claim not to get out much…
OK…back to the book and how to win it. Leave a comment, or send me an e-mail, answering this question. Is there a quilting technique that you would like to learn? If so, what would that be? I will draw a name from those who answer that question NEXT Wednesday, which just happens to be the Fourth of July. We can pretend all those fireworks that you see going off are in honor of the winner of this great book. Works for me!
We’ll be closed July 4th because you’ll probably want to be out on the lake or having a family picnic. If you don’t already have something like that planned you might want to look into the parade and celebration up in Sewanee, TN. It’s a lovely area and the architecture of the campus is what college buildings are supposed to look like, churches too for that matter. Well, at least in my world they are.