Make It, Take It Blog Hop

Hello Everyone and welcome to the kick off post for the  Make It, Take It blog hop! I'm so happy that the time has come for all of my wonderful contributors to share the inspiration behind their projects. Many of these talented designers have previously published patterns and their own books, but for others this was a new experience.  I'm grateful to each and every one of them for trusting me with their ideas and supporting this project. I think I speak for all of us that, along with Martingale/That Patchwork Place, we are very proud of this book!

A personal truimph for me is the fact that there are 5 Canadian blogger-designers featured, including Berene, Kristie, Felicity, Leanne and me. Plus the Krista triad is fully represented (myself K1, Krista Withers K2 and Krista Fleckenstein K3). We all met years ago in Flickr swap groups because of our first name and we've become great friends, retreating together once a year. My husband numbered us by age to keep us straight in conversations - I'm the oldest ; ). This book has a lot of friendship within its pages; in fact I've been on retreat with all but 3 of the contributors.

K2, K1and K3 at Loon Lake retreat, Nov.2014

I've already written about my inspiration for writing the book and explained how the contents are organized here. Today I wanted to share some of my patterns in the book. The first one you will recognize; it is the most-often requested pattern/tutorial on my blog ever since I started posting them over 5 years ago. There are several ways to make these and tutorials abound on the interwebs, but I like my construction method, materials and little features.  I think you will, too.

All photography in this post is by Brent Kane, copyright Martingale, 2014.

Here's my handy Big Mouthed Threadcatcher

The next project was a joint effort by Krista Withers and I. She had a beautifully simple design idea that she sketched for me; I made the table runner, and then she quilted it using her Ghost Quilting technique. Read more about it on her blogpost later this week! The runner is charm pack-friendly and a great project for a confident beginner, or level 2 quilting class (teachers and shop owners - every one of these projects is great for classes! I hope you'll introduce your students to the fun of Make It, Take It. Have a look at the copyright info below).

Stepping Stones table runner

In keeping with the idea of sewing together, I wanted to come up with a group sewing activity that could be enjoyed on retreat, at a guild sew-in, or at home with your stitch group. It would also be a fabulous and supportive way to introduce quilting to a friend who is curious and eager to try!  If your group is in need of emergency charity quilts, gather 5 friends to help you make 6 six quilt tops in about two hours. Check out the Martingale stop on the bloghop to see how the the staff enjoyed their sewing afternoon making 12 versions of this quilt.  Thanks to my friends Andrea, Felicity, Jo Ann, Sindy and Berene for testing this concept one afternoon with me around my dining table over two years ago! Four of our 6 quilts are shown below (I'm holding mine). 

Rainbow 'Round the Cabin 

I'm going to save one more project of mine in the book for later next week!

A little more about the book...

General Sewing Info

From the very beginning, it was decided that a general sewing section would not appear in Make It, Take It, in favour of more projects. So many books include great information on basic quilting/sewing techniques, colour selection and finishing instructions and you can also find everything you need on the Martingale site.  What I did include are helpful technical tips for most projects as well as information on sourcing unusual materials and incorporating some of these projects into your retreat plans. In addition, each of the contributors has shared a retreat-related story, or thoughts on quilting retreats that you will find humorous and helpful!

Copyright

There is a unique copyright statement in this book. I worked with Martingale to write a statement that would allow personal crafter-scale production of the projects. So many times I've seen cute gift ideas in books, only to see that copyright prohibits production for sale. Well, if you want to sew up 20 threadcatchers for your next guild show boutique, go right ahead! All of the contributors agreed to the statement; we just ask that the individual project designer is credited along with the book title on your labelling or listing. I think that's pretty great.

If you would like to teach any of the projects from the book, you have our permission and encouragement. We just ask that every student purchase their own copy of the book for class.

Sharing

I hope that you enjoy making these projects as much as we have. Along the hop, I'll also be posting photos of the projects I've made from the contributors' patterns. I'm working my way through all of them and thoroughly enjoying myself.  If you make any of the projects, please tag photos on IG with #makeittakeit or tag me in Facebook, or upload your photos to the Make It, Take It Flickr group - there are already lots of people busy sewing and I cannot tell you how happy that makes me! 

Giveaways!

Everyone on the tour will be offering a digital copy of the book as a giveaway, some may also offer a hard copy if they choose. I'd love to share a hard copy with you! Simply leave a comment below letting me know what would be your first make from the book. Followers get a second entry (just tell me how you follow Poppyprint, be it on IG, Bloglovin', or email subscription).  The giveaway is open worldwide, but your  comment MUST link to your email, or your email addy appear in your comment, otherwise I'll chose another winner.  I'll pick a winner Sunday night, April 5th. COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED, thank you!

Blog Tour Schedule

Don't miss a thing!!  We're doubling up so this doesn't go on forever and winners can get the book into their hands (or onto their devices) sooner. Here's the schedule, starting Easter Monday:

Friday, April 3 Blog hop kick-off: Right here!
Monday, April 6: Berene at Happy Sew Lucky and Amy at During Quiet Time
Tuesday, April 7: Leanne at She Can Quilt and Felicity at Felicity Quilts
Wednesday, April 8: Martingale Inc. at Stitch this! (check out their Rainbow Round the Cabin staff party!)
Thursday, April 9: Krista at Spotted Stones and Krista at Krista Withers Quilting
Friday, April 10: Lynne at Lilys Quilts and Cindy at Live a Colorful Life
Saturday, April 11: Ayumi at Pink Penguin and Krista at Poppyprint
Sunday, April 12: Kristie at OCD: Obsessive Crafting Disorder and Christina at Sometimes Crafter