Three More Exciting Stops!

Thanks for everyone following along the Make It, Take It blog tour this week. There have already been a few lucky winners and there are still a few chances for more free copies of the book.

I had the good fortune of an invitation to speak to the Whistler Quilt Guild last Tuesday night. I shared a presentation on Modern Quilting, showed several of my quilts as examples and then shared all of the projects from the book. I had a lovely evening with the friendly women of the guild and was thrilled that they gave me a bonus free lift ticket for the next day!  It was my first day on the slopes in two seasons and it felt great to feel the quads burn again.  Thank you to my friend (and retreat regular) Ellen and her boys for a lovely day and delicious lunch.

With all those mountain views on my mind and fresh air in my lungs, I forgot to post about the tour stops that day!! Tuesday featured projects from two of the loveliest friends I have through quilting, Leanne and Felicity. All of us have had the pleasure of hanging out together in Vancouver last time Leanne came to town on business. In fact, Leanne's trip happily coincided with both of my guild meetings that week so she came along twice!  Leanne was also witness to my first real-life encounter with Liberty of London fabrics IN LONDON (luckily she didn't have to catch me while I *almost* fainted). Read all about Leanne's unique project in the book, Half Moon Needlecase, here. It combines two of her favourite things: improv and matchstick quilting. While I was in Whistler, Ellen was excited to show me a 1/4 page ad in the latest Fons & Porter magazine featuring this project!!

Felicity is a super fun local quilting pal and the co-president of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. She's an excellent public speaker and very entertaining meeting host!  A couple of years ago, while sitting with Felicity at our  meeting, I noticed she was busy tacking down a binding on some interesting placemats. I offered to help out and while I was sewing a lightbulb went off. These would be a wonderful retreat project for my book! Her woven strip technique is so great; you could adapt this process to make a quilted base for so many things, like a table runner, tote bag or low-volume background for an applique quilt.  It's hard to find a great placemat pattern for a round table, so I'm stoked there is one in Make It, Take It!! I was loving the styling of this picture at the photoshoot (Yes, I devoured those raspberries and, uhm, I may have brought that candy with me for the long drive home from Seattle).

Photo: Brent Kane, Martingale Inc, all rights reserved.

Felicity also spent a fun afternoon at my dining table testing the Rainbow 'Round the Cabin group-quilting activity in the book.

Also joining in today is the sweet Ayumi of Pink Penguin.  I can't remember our initial online meeting but I know it was early on in my blog-following life. I was lucky to discover Ayumi's blog and all of her incredible free tutorials, many of which I've made over the years. She's an extremely generous designer who's aesthetic I admire greatly (check out HER amazing book) .  I have hopeful plans to visit her in Japan one day so that she can be my personal guide at the Tokyo Festival of Quilts. It was no surprise that her projects made the cover of the book (and the cover of Martingale's trade magazine released last November) as they were an instant hit with the staff at Martingale. I think the Big and Little Totes will be made and enjoyed by everyone who has the book. I used Ayumi's very own recently-released Lighthearted fabric (for Kokka) to make my version of the Little Tote.  Check out Ayumi's post and enter to win a digital copy of the book here.

Almost there, folks. The tour wraps up tomorrow with Christina and Kristie. Soon it will be your turn to show us all the great projects you've made from the book!