Here’s a mosaic of a lot of the sewing I did in 2011.

Things that I realize by looking at it all in one place: I’ve really moved away from using white as the negative space in my quilts, and I’ll never tire of improv pieced blocks that are just lotsa lil’ squares together. Actually, I shouldn’t say never. I used to sew wonky log cabins this often and I moved on from those! Makes me wonder what will be next!

In early 2011 I also finished sewing 20 more quilts that I can’t show you yet because they are all in Modern Minimal. Can’t wait to start showing them to you in the next couple of months when the book comes out!

2012 is going to be a big year for me! The next book comes out and I’m going to become a mother. Whoa. That last thing is a big one!

There are also big things in store for The Modern Quilt Guild! Did you see that we kicked off 100 Days of Modern Quilting? And there’s more – much more – coming down the pike for The MQG! What a great year it’s going to be. Hope that you’re all just as excited about it as I am!

I love my Horizon so I am super excited to be one of Janome America’s featured friends and I’ve contributed one of my books to that mystery bag of goodies!

It’s easy to enter. First, click over to janome.com where you can read a little about me and the MQG, as well as some of Janome’s other great sewing friends. Leave a comment on the article, and you are automatically entered to win. You can leave a new comment each day, increasing your odds of winning. Then, click to Janome’s Facebook page, give them a “Like” and encourage your friends to do the same. There are almost 18,000 now and the sooner they get to 20,000, the sooner they’ll draw a random winner from the janome.com comments for that amazing Friend-to-Friend prize bundle!

You can read more about it here. Good luck!!

But things are getting better now! I’ve been feeling better and have actually been able to get myself into the sewing room a bit more. We still have to wait about a month to know if it’s a boy or a girl and then the baby sewing is certain to start in full force!

And because I can’t post with no photo at all… Here’s a couple of ornaments I recently sewed up for an LAMQG swap.

Happy holidays to each and every one of you!!

Figured I’d would join in the fun of Sew, Mama, Sew’s giveaway day!

I’m giving away a fat quarter each of this rainbow of fabrics! And yup, the purple has to be a solid because I have no purple in my stash at all.

Leave me a comment and you’ll be in the running to win. I’m happy to mail internationally and the giveaway is open through this week. Check out all of the other giveaways over at Sew, Mama, Sew!

First off, this might seem odd, but I have to just comment on the actual physical feel of this book. It’s hardcover and has a pocket on the inside holding all of the templates you need for the included patterns. it’s just a solid, pretty book. Rare to come across a hardcover quilting book like this and I have to say, I really like it.

The focus of the book is patterns to use precuts with. Now if you read my blog and keep up with my quilting, you’ll know that I simply never use precuts. That said, any and all of these patterns can be used with your stash – either yardage or scraps!

There’s also 20 pattern in the book – a lot! There’s definitely something for everyone considering just how many patterns are included.

The book also contains loads of important info – all you need to know to make a quilt and so many resources and references as well. Along with being super informative, if I had to use one adjective for the book, it would be cozy. There’s just something about the photography and the great hand drawn illustrations that make reading the book a comfy way to spend some time!

Do you want to win a copy? Chronicle Books have been nice enough to donate one! Just leave a comment here and I’ll pick a winner on Thursday. U.S. shipping only (sorry!).

And follow along with the rest of the tour:

Tuesday, November 15 – West Coast Crafty & Foxy Art Studio
Wednesday, November 16 – Patch Andi
Thursday, November 17 – In Color Order
Friday, November 18 – Kristin La Flamme & Camp Follower Bags & Quilts

Monday, November 21 – Quilt Dad
Tuesday, November 22 – Pat Sloan & Pleasant Home

This photo shows less than half of it… It’s absolutely enormous and it takes a long time to walk the whole floor. Anything you can imagine that is related to quilting is there… From long arms to notions to fabric to embellishments. It can be overwhelming. I got home and realized I didn’t take enough photos and besides, I’m sure you’re seeing recaps on other blogs (and if not Katy took loads of great photos) and check out True Up for pictures of all of the new fabric lines coming out. There were the usual handful of booths I found pretty but it’s a big blur of STUFF.

Along with that, and less of a blur, are all of the people! It’s sorta like summer camp for quilters – all of your friends you saw last time are there again this time and you don’t get enough sleep and you have a ball. It’s really just so much fun. Everyone is also working hard, (it’s a trade show after all) but it’s a really good time to catch up with everyone in person.

Also released at Market is Quilting Arts’ Quilt Scene! A big ol’ magazine with lots of content.

I have a place mat project in there…

…and I knew my sewing space was being featured too but I was surprised to open up the magazine and find a two page spread on it!

So who wants a copy? Leave a message here and I’ll pick a winner early next week!

The title says it all really… 20 modern, minimal quilt patterns. Check out the cover:

Stash Books is releasing it and it comes out early next year. You can pre-order it now and see a little bit more here!

Now it’s not every day that I go bonkers for a fabric, but now and then, some comes along that makes me feel faint. These latest arrivals at Sew Modern, Yoshiko Jinzenji’s fabrics, are some of those!

The second they showed up in the shop I snagged two yards of each. They are so unique and gorgeous.

In celebration of launching their online shop, Sew Modern is giving away a half yard set of these three beautiful, sophisticated fabrics. Leave a comment here and I’ll pick a winner on Friday.

P.S. The winner of the copy of Modern Mix was Sam. Congrats and keep an eye out for an email from me!
P.P.S. I know it’s been giveaway central over here recently. Not on purpose – just a timing thing. I promise I’ll be posting some actual sewing at some point! Ha.

The mix that the title refers to is solid and patterned fabrics.  If you follow my blog at all, you know I’m a real lover of solids. Jessica’s book proves over and over that solids set off a project and give patterned fabric some room to breath and be appreciated.

The book is chock full of projects that use all different quantities of solid fabrics and each one is beautiful.

The projects range in size and complexity. Everything from big bed quilts to pillows and little pouches.  So many great projects here – you’re certain to be inspired to get to the sewing machine and sew some of them up!

And I’ll bet you seriously want a copy of this book, huh?? Well you get a chance to win one right now! Leave a comment on this post and one lucky winner will get a copy. I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday the 12th.

If you’d like to follow along, the remaining stops on the tour are:

Monday 10/10:  Stop Staring and…Start Sewing
Tuesday 10/11:  Quilting is My Therapy
Wednesday 10/12:  Stitch Magazine Blog
Thursday 10/13:  Oh Fransson
Friday 10/14:  Generation Q Magazine
Saturday 10/15:  Quilt Dad
Sunday 10/16:  Confessions of a Craft Addict
Monday 10/17:  Amy’s Creative Side
Tuesday 10/18:  Pink Chalk Studio
Wednesday 10/19:  Connecting Threads
Thursday 10/20:  Keepsake Quilting
Friday 10/21:  Juicy Bits

Good luck!

This book by Jenifer Dick is so cute! It’s filled with clear concise patterns, along with lots of encouragement form Jenifer about how to make the patterns your own.

But what really stood out about it to me was that it’s filled with appliqué. You don’t see a lot of appliqué in modern quilting, and it’s a nice change of pace to see it here. For example, check out the cover quilt, called Outside My Kitchen Window.

The book has so many detailed how to’s and tips and tricks for appliqué – so helpful for me since this is an area of quilting where I have so much learn!

And oh what’s that? You’d like to win a copy of Quilt Retro? Ok! Jenifer was generous enough to help make that happen!  Just leave a comment here and I’ll draw a winner on Wednesday.

This is just the start of the blog tour so tomorrow be sure to check out Quiltville for the next stop.