The Big Book of Strip Quilts (plus GIVEAWAY!)

I'm honored to have a quilt in Martingale/That Patchwork Place's new book The Big Book of Strip Quilts. All 60 of the quilts in the book can be made from 2-1/2 inch strips (aka jelly roll strips). Yes, that's 60 quilts for less than 50 cents per pattern!

You can learn more about this new book from Martingale/That Patchwork Place on their blog today. Just click the book image above to go to the blog. And you're gonna want to go over there because they are giving away a copy of the e-book.

And guess what? I'm also giving away a copy of the e-book. All you need to do is leave a comment below and tell us what your favorite pre-cut size is. I'll randomly pick a winner on Tuesday, April 25. So make sure your comment is added by midnight on the 24th.

My quilt in this great book is called Plaid and Pinwheels. 

It is from my book Triple-Play Scrap Quilting and is what I consider a "coordinated scrappy" quilt because it uses fabrics from a single fabric line. This quilt requires two jelly rolls, plus some yardage for borders, sashing, backing, and binding. 

The blocks are very quick to sew. In fact, it will probably take longer to do the pinwheel border than all of the blocks in the center of the quilt. I did the half-square triangles for the pinwheels using triangle paper, but one can use their favorite method.

I also did two other variations of this quilt.

This is the "planned scrappy" version which features a planned color scheme: pink and gray. I kept the blocks and sashing fairly subtle by using only medium and light fabrics, and I brought the darker fabrics into the borders to frame the quilt center.

And this is the "make-do scrappy" version. I emphasized the geometric nature of this quilt by piecing the sashing border and adding bold black inner borders. Although you could skip making the pinwheels entirely and use a single-fabric border, I still added pinwheels in only the upper left and lower right corners. It's a great way to use up scraps!

Good luck winning a copy of the e-book -- either from me or from Martingale's blog posting!

2015 That Patchwork Place Calendar and a Giveaway!

Edited to add:  Entries for the free calendar are now closed. Congratulations to Gayle! Counting chronologically -- from the first comment to the last, Gayle was number 18! Gayle, I've sent you an e-mail message for your mailing address so I can send you your fabulous 2015 calendar!

I'm so happy to announce that one of my quilts is featured in the 2015 That Patchwork Place calendar. That's right -- my Bull's Eye quilt is the calendar girl for February! Doesn't "she" look great? Or should that be "he"? I think the quilt has a nice masculine feel and is great for those guy-quilts we need to make now and then.

 

You can see all of Martingale's 2015 calendars on their StitchThis! blog post. Shops are ordering the 2015 calendars now so be sure to pick one up at your local quilt shop!

What's more is that Martingale/That Patchwork Place has given me an extra copy of the calendar to give away to one of you visitors to my blog. All you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post before midnight on Wednesday, July 23. I'll randomly select the lucky winner on Thursday, July 24.

The version of Bull's Eye that Martingale selected for the calendar is the make-do, totally scrappy version of the quilt. I was definitely cleaning out the scraps for this one!

But I made two other variations of the quilt for my book Triple-Play Scrap Quilting: a planned scrappy version and a coordinated scrappy version.

The planned scrappy version used fabrics in red, black, gray, and white only. 

Bull's Eye is a great quilt to feature the colors of your favorite sports team. (Believe me when I tell you that I've already apologized to my family members, who are huge University of Michigan fans, for making this quilt in Ohio State colors!)

The coordinated scrappy version is probably my favorite variation -- and not only because it uses thick, cozy, warm flannel fabrics (Maywood Studios' Woollies flannels and Moda's Wool and Needle flannels). 

Note that I swapped the blocks' center four-patches with hour-glass blocks and used the same fabrics for the alternate triangle corners of the blocks. I love how the small hourglass is echoed where the blocks come together with a larger hourglass. This is definitely a cozy quilt!

So be sure to pick up your own 2015 That Patchwork Place calendar. I got a sneak peak at the collection of quilts in the calendar -- and they are all fabulous! You can see them too by clicking the calendar image below.

Don't forget to leave a comment on this blog post because you just might be the lucky winner of the calendar I'm giving away. Remember that I'll need a way to let you know if you're the winner -- so if you have a "no reply" account, you'll need to include your e-mail address in your comment.