Pinwheel Quilt Giveaway!!!

It's 12 days until Christmas and I am feeling generous, so I'm giving away a quilt!

Specifically, the Pinwheel quilt from my book A Month of Sundays. A bold yet soft design. Quilted by Angela Walters, no less.

Here are the details:

... Quilt is 76'' x 76''. Made with 100% cotton fabric and 100% cotton batting. Designed, pieced, and bound (hand finished) by me, quilted by Angela Walters.

... All you have to do to be eligible to win is sign up for my newsletter. Scroll down to the bottom of the page here and the sign up is there. Don't worry, I don't share or sell my newsletter list. And now you get a biweekly newsletter full of tips, the exciting and interesting things I find online, and personal musings that I don't share anywhere else. Current newsletter subscribers already entered.

... Bonus entry if you repost the photo on Instagram with the hashtag #slowdownandsewgiveaway. It has to have the hashtag to be eligible.

... All international entries are welcome.

... I will make the draw on Christmas Day and ship the quilt by the end of the year. 

That's it! Nothing fancy. I just want to share my love of quilts, via a quilt, with you all. You think you are getting a present, but my husband thinks he is winning in the big picture - one less quilt in the house. 

Thank you so much for being here, for supporting my ramblings, for buying what I'm selling, and generally being awesome people. 

This giveaway is not sponsored, promoted, or administered by Instagram or Squarespace in any way. Each entrant releases both Instagram and Squarespace from any responsibility of a missed prize.

The Quilt Show, Improvisational Piecing, and I

Back in August I had the pleasure of a trip to Denver (with my favourite Evil Genius as assistant) to film an episode of The Quilt Show. Alex Anderson, Ricky Tims, and all of their staff were amazing! The behind the scenes action and prep work were so well organized and it was a fantastic experience. And now the show is live!

If you are a member of The Quilt Show you may have already seen the episode (number 1911). If not, The Quilt Show has generously opened up viewing for my special readers for one week only. Free viewing lasts only until December 4.

UPDATE: Link now works. Apologies if you tried an earlier version.

On the show I demo making Slabs and a brief overview of Improv Curves. It's a totally free class! And that's on top of an interview/mini trunk show.  More of me than you might want! Or, because I have limited ability to travel, a snippet of me in your home.

It was a total thrill to bring my Evil Genius with me. A truly special experience for us both. And The Quilt Show treated her like a star! She stepped up and went to work on set while I was filming, helping set up and processing sales in the shop. A huge thank you to the show for welcoming her as well. Here she is with me backstage for cuddles and a bonus interview.

I've been a quilter for over 18 years now. Ricky Tims' book, Convergence Quilts, was one of the first ones I ever bought. And Alex Anderson is a super star quilter, with a career to envy. I never could have imagined that I would end up a guest on their show! What a strange journey life can be. Now that I've had another onscreen experience I can honestly say I need to make this a more regular part of my life. I even told Alex that when she wants to retire, that she can feel free to consider me for her replacement. Just sayin'.

Quiet Rainbow - A Low Volume and Colourful Quilt

Quiet Rainbow

34'' x 34''

To be honest, I've never made a rainbow quilt before. I know! (Rebecca Bryan would probably understand, probably.). To be really honest, I started this quilt 4 years ago. All of you can probably understand that. 

The top was made when A Month of Sundays was released. I used it as a promo piece and sample on using colour and low volume fabrics - it isn't just for backgrounds. It came around with me to events and classes. I'd planned on finishing it then, but new fabrics! New quilts! Summer!

Low volume is so much more than soft prints, black and whites in the background, and totally scrappy. You can have colour work, order, and control when using them as well. Just as you would for a deeply saturated rainbow of fabrics, you can with low volume. All of these fabrics have white backgrounds and a full range of colours. Let me tell you this, if you think it is hard to find good purples in general, try finding low volume purples that aren't just lilac.

Strips sewn together, sliced in half, flipped around, and back together again. Then the two shades of grey to show what can happen when you change the bordering colours. Super simple. Totally striking. 

In January I booked a few hours on the long arm to get some quilts closer to finishing. I had one to get done for sure but an additional hour of time meant I could put a little one on the frame too. This was the little one. I just went with the turquoise Wonderfil Konfetti 50w that was already in the machine with a wavy sort of stipple. Quick and easy and adds great texture. 

There is a little bit of sadness with this finish, however. I recently learned that A Month of Sundays will be discontinued. Simply put, that means it isn't selling well. I won't lie, that stings. This book, I am so intensely proud of it. It really is the resource on using low volume fabrics effectively, but I don't think people really got that the info was there. Not only that, it is really personal - with my family and friends modelling for me and all my writing. I'm sure that personal touch is what made it unattractive to some, but I stand by everything in this book. From the words to the projects to the lessons to the photography by my friend Kate Inglis. I am still thrilled that Stash Books, my publisher, took a chance on this format.

So this means that if you haven't got a copy of this book yet now is the time to get it! Now, before it is gone forever and you can only find it at the guild sale when someone else is cleaning out their library.

Sherbet, Take 2

Last month I had the privilege of teaching at Quilt Canada. This is the national event of the Canadian Quilters' Association. I've already spoken about

my amazing experience in my Improv class

, but I also had the chance to teach my Sherbet quilt.

Sherbet is a quilt from

A Month of Sunday

s

. It is a straightforward quilt design, but it takes a few steps to get there. Strip piecing, cutting, sewing together, long strips. A day wasn't nearly enough to get the whole top together, unfortunately. But my students sewed and sewed and cut and cut. I pressed for them and cut for them (I'm a hands on teacher!). And we chatted all day. I had a lot of fun, I hope they did too.

The quilt that I cut is destined for one of my nephews. He's a bright, energetic kid who loves colour. So we went quite the opposite of low-volume for him. Not to toot my own horn, but this just goes to show that just because the quilts in the book are low-volume, it doesn't mean you have to stick to low-volume fabrics to make them yours. Turn it up!

Check out the fabric choices and work of my students.

This one is destined to be a king sized bright and pretty version. We played with the math of the pattern to size it up, making the columns a bit longer and adding some. But I can't wait to see a finished top from this!

My modern quilter in the group had an amazing fabric selection for her quilt, paired with this grey. The longer I am in the industry the more excited I get when I see people using friends' fabric in quilts. She had so many fun fabrics and the purple, navy, pale blue, and grey combo was dreamy.

Bright fabrics in candy colours with a pale blue background. This comes very close to my original inspiration for this quilt. I saw a store window from a cab. I couldn't say exactly what was in the window, but the bright colours hanging down are what caught my imagination.

I am a total sucker for a green and white quilt. That's why there is one in

Sunday Morning Quilts

and one in

A Month of Sundays

. Needless to say I was thrilled when this student started her quilt! What a great version of the design.

Sherbet is a bold quilt. It isn't difficult so you get great impact for straightforward techniques. But it takes a bit of time. Now that I have all my fabric cut, I just need to sit down and sew. That's the best part anyway!