From cocktails to crime scene carpets,

Shawn has created some pretty incredible projects for mystery, thriller, and noir lovers. They range from the super-simple (Invisible Ink)

to the cleverly complex (Case-the-Joint Craft Caddy).

A few other favorites of mine include the Pulp Fiction Pendant

and the Instant Disguise Drink Bling.

Shawn will also show you how to hide a file in a cake, mix an absinthe cocktail, add a secret smuggling compartment to a vintage handbag, and stitch up your own voodoo doll. She is incredibly awesome, and I am so excited that we are teaming up for a book party at my favorite-favorite neighborhood bookstore, Murder By The Book, in a couple of weeks!

MBTB will be hosting an event for both of us on April 29 at 4:00 for snacks, drinks, craft projects to make (think invisible ink, ransom notes, and comics magnets) and a book signing. Along with Criminal Crafts, they’ll have copies of World of Geekcraft, Modern Log Cabin Quilting, and Button It Up on hand!

I will bring my most mysterious book projects along (like the Coraline mystery sewing box and Linda Permann‘s crocheted Tribbles) for folks to check out, and word on the street is that MBTB will be getting their very own Shawn-made Crime Scene Carpet to decorate the store. Speaking of decorating…

I was amazed to see a brand-new addition to my favorite part of the shop a few months back… Crafty Crimes! Jean set aside all the light-hearted crafty mysteries into a new mini-section and let me bring in lots of vintage craft supplies to decorate the shelf. It was so much fun and I LOVE stopping by and finding something new – I think crafty mysteries are very relaxing to read, and most of them have a free pattern or project included, which is a nice extra. For anyone else who’s interested, here are a few of my favorite series I’ve read. Monica Ferris is a prolific author whose amateur detective heroine, Betsy, owns a needlepoint shop in Minnesota called Crewel World.

Maggie Sefton’s detective heroine, Kelly, is part of a knitting circle who meet up at their Colorado yarn shop, The House of Lambspun.

Sally Goldenbaum’s Seaside Knitters series is set in a tiny town on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, centering on a yarn shop as well. (Are you starting to see a pattern here??) I really love reading this one, I love her characters especially.

My absolute favorite crafty mysteries series is Cricket McRae’s, which is beautifully done. It follows a multi-crafting (like me, she does all kinds of stuff) heroine named Sophie Mae, who lives in Washington State (PNW pride!). There are five books and counting in this series – highly recommended. I also really enjoyed Buttonholed, by Kylie Logan… a mystery about vintage and antique buttons, what’s not to like there?!

You can swing by Murder By The Book to pick up Criminal Crafts or any of these crafty mysteries (or they do mail-order by email – books@mbtb.com – or over the phone at 503-232-9995)! I love MBTB – well worth a stop when you’re in Southeast Portland… or in my opinion, a destination worth planning a trip to Portland around.

If you go:

Criminal Crafts + World of Geekcraft + beyond Book Party
Sunday, April 29 at 4pm
Murder By The Book, 3210 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland
Drinks, snacks, craft projects and book signing
Free!

PS – On another crafty note, I’m teaching my wool cross pillow class on Saturday, April 14 at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store (another SE Portland treasure!). The class is from 10:30-1 and $40 covers all the materials you’ll need to make a cross pillow in class, plus fabric to bring home for your next one. PMQG members always get $5 off classes… hope to see you over there too!

Alissa’s 20 designs are wonderfully simple and driven by line, shape and color (nearly all solids – I spotted one Katie Jump Rope print, one Lizzy House print, and a dots pattern in the entire collection). The book includes quilts of all sizes, from throws (like Mustard, the cover quilt, an instant favorite) to everything from baby to king-sized bed quilts as well. The scale of the piecing and colorwork varies considerably, so whether you’re drawn to huge, bold lines or a more delicate or intricate design, you’re sure to find a pattern that appeals to you.

The book is very nicely styled, including colorful shots of each of the quilts within a room as well as full flat images. I loved this one, Oddballs – probably my favorite of the whole collection.

The quilt above, Basket Weave, measures 90″ x 95″ and inspired me to imagine a smaller-scale take on Alissa’s pattern. I didn’t have time to work on anything before the meeting (unlike Nancy’s gorgeous throw and pillow from Sweetwater Simple Home – !) but I hope to try my hand at this one soon and will report back.

Alissa’s book is neatly organized into several chapters: White Negative Space (chapter opener above), Colorful Negative Space, Improvisational Piecing, Monochromatic Quilts, and Baby Quilts. I particularly loved the simplicity of Boxes, one of the baby quilts in the book. As the mama of both a boy and a girl, I really love those kinds of striking gorgeous designs that work for any baby, and will be treasured well into childhood and beyond.

So, if you want to win a copy of the book, I’ll be giving one away at our PMQG meeting tomorrow night – 7pm at PNCA in downtown Portland. We have a lot of fun stuff planned like a special presentation and a fabric giveaway (check out this post for all the details), and we would love to see you there!

Speaking of Portland stuff coming up, this Saturday (March 17, St. Patrick’s Day) is also National Quilting Day. I got to write a little post about it for CrafterNews, and I’m so excited that the PMQG is organizing a little celebration here in town! We’re meeting at Bolt at 3:00 for fabric shopping, and then Modern Domestic is offering a sew-in from 4-7 ($10, register here or just show up). Hope to see you a couple times this week!

You can find Modern Minimal at the Stash website, Powell’s, or your favorite local or online shop. Congratulations, Alissa!!

For my first SIASL project, I decided to make a set of Brett’s beautiful Folded Flower Bowls in the small and medium sizes. (Update: Brett has a video showing how to make these, too!) I loved the wholecloth versions in the book, but thought it would be really fun to try them with a simple quilt block instead of a plain fabric square. I’ve been saving the jelly roll that Monica Solario-Snow kindly gave me of her lovely, colorful Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabric collection for something special… and this turned out to be the perfect (little) project for them.

I stitched a few strips together and pressed and top-stitched them, then paired them with a solid color for the other side of the bowl. Using Brett’s clear, nicely illustrated instructions, I backed the two sides with interfacing, sewed and turned them, and transformed them from flat squares to smoothly shaped three-dimensional rounds with a few well-placed seams!

I used Decor Bond for my heavy-weight interfacing, which gives the bowls a nice body and definition, but I had a hard time keeping the fabric from showing ripples and crinkles once it had been turned and folded a few times. A tiny iron (I borrowed this one from Amy after misplacing the cord of mine!) and steaming the inside of the bowl worked really well for shaping and smoothing the fabrics. I definitely recommend this trick!

I really like the small size (which starts with a 6.5″ square). Here it is in patchwork and plain versions.

These are the two bowls I made to keep – cross-hatches in a small-scale Heath red and a bolder navy print by Lotta Jansdotter.

What about the other two bowls? Well, I’ll be giving them away, along with a copy of Brett’s book, at the February PMQG meeting! Heather, Petra, Nancy, Ale and I are going to be posting new sewing and quilting book reviews on our blogs every month, and then giving away copies of the books at the monthly meetings. I’m up first, so here is mine!

February’s meeting is going to be fantastic! We’re lucky to have Kathy Miller of Michael Miller Fabrics coming to speak to our guild (thanks to Violet Craft).

And our own Michelle Freedman will be doing an improvisational patchwork demo for our 10-minute tutorial (these 2 photos are from her super fun improv demo/game at our All Day Sew on Saturday).

Thank you to Potter Craft for the book, and to Monica for the beautiful fabric. I’m excited to share them! Along with the book and patchwork bowls, we have some very special prizes to give away… hope to see you there, Thursday, February 16 from 7-9 at PNCA!

The first project I saw that was right up her alley was the O Christmas Tree soft felt ornaments. Our Christmas tree desperately needs more cute, unbreakable ornaments – Everett has just started walking and he’s very good at it! This project is not only very 3.5-year-old friendly, it didn’t require a single extra thing from the store (I have a crazy stash of felt colors). Perfect.

We started with the kids (Pearl and her buddy Kirin) choosing the felt color they wanted for backgrounds. I traced a large jar lid and cut the rounds out with pinking shears, then asked what kind of decorations and shapes they wanted to add to their first ornament. The rule that worked well was that they could pick all their preferred colors, shapes, and sizes of felt pieces, but that I did the cutting and pinking. Then, once they’d placed everything just so, I glued the bits down and we cut out new rounds to decorate. It worked super well, and in just an hour or so, they had made six ornaments together! Here are Pearl’s. Two are similar to the ones in the book, but I really love that free-form circle one – she had a great time digging deep into my button jar for favorites to arrange…

Kirin made these three. That giraffe is spectacular (a collaboration between him and his mom!).

Then, a couple days later, Pearl’s friend Rowan came over for ornament-making part two. In the meantime, I’d made it to the craft store for googly eyes – Pearl announced that she wanted to make a Christmas present ornament that was looking at you. So she did.

Rowan made some great ones too – I liked the pipe cleaner hangers!

Holiday Crafting and Baking with Kids is an adorable book. Jessica mentioned in her introduction that she worked on it with her ten-year-old son Lucian, which I thought was so cool. They came up with 26 projects total, covering Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s – everything from table decorations, gift wrap and cards to garlands, cookies, and gifts. It’s so nice to see a book that’s meant for younger kids and bigger ones – so many of the kids’ craft books I have are still a ways out from my 3.5-year-old. This one is recommended for 4 and up, but many of the projects are very do-able for the preschooler. We want to try this one next:

Who knows how much Pearl’s snowflakes will look like the ones on the page, but I think they will be awesome – she was really excited to find special sparkly pipe cleaners at the store to bend and twist! The other projects she wants to make are the paper snowflakes, the brownie gift jar, and the happy New Year paper poppers.

Thank you to Chronicle for sending me this book! It has gotten a lot of love around here already. It looks like Powell’s downtown has a couple of copies if you are local!

Kathreen has designed 20 quilts that use standard sizes of precut fabric sets (charm squares, jelly rolls, layer cakes, and fat quarters – though of course, you can use your own stash fabrics instead). She also includes thorough instructions all the way from choosing fabrics to binding; advice on color and design; and paper patterns for many of the blocks. Once you learn these quilt-making basics, any of the quilts she’s designed is within reach. My favorite LBQB quilt is Prismatic, which uses layer cakes.

Here’s a closer look at the piecing, which I love, and the overall layout. Simple and striking.

Another instant favorite is Garnets and Gold, which uses fat quarters. This one is so lush and colorful…

But the one at the top of my list to make is Rhombus.

My PMQG guildmate and friend Monica Solario-Snow gave me and Daniela each a jelly roll set of her Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabric line, and I have been saving this amazing gift for a special project. The fabric makes me happy (the name couldn’t be more perfect!) and I’m picturing such a gorgeous HMYY Rhombus, bordered in a bright solid. Lovely.

Which brings me to my favorite part of Little Bits Quilting Bee – the bee. I love craft books that offer more than great projects – that tell a story or share history or resources we can all enjoy. Kathreen includes an engaging section at the front on the history and culture of community quilting, from traditional bees to online swaps and groups – I loved reading this part.

Of course Kathreen’s whip-up site has been a huge pillar of our craft community, and my whole life has been shaped so beautifully, and I have met so many people I treasure, through craft.

From my earliest days of learning to sew and getting a million ideas on getcrafty… to hosting naked lady parties and swapping tons of clothes and craft supplies… to our beloved Portland Church of Craft meetings, led by Sister Diane… to my partners in Portland Super Crafty… to Maker Faire… and now the amazing Portland Modern Quilt Guild I’m proud to be a member of, I am very fortunate to be part of our huge, beautiful craft community.

One of my favorite blog entries I’ve ever written, originally as a column for getcrafty in March 2006, was Start Your Own Craft Circle! – half fun details about a weekly knitting circle in North Carolina, and half tips on starting your own craft group. Except for a few links that could be switched out for their 2011 counterparts, it feels as fresh now as it did when I was interviewing the organizers five years ago! Thank you to my friends, everyone who inspires me with your crafts and projects, and to everyone who reads my books and stops by this little corner of the world, too. Now, I would love to hear about your favorite craft groups and swaps and bees!

Giveaway time! I’m happy to be giving away a copy of Little Bits Quilting Bee today – to enter, please leave a comment with your favorite experience in a quilting bee, craft circle, class, or guild, whether it’s with family, friends, online, a swap in the mail, or any other take on this vibrant community. Comments are open through next Tuesday, November 22, and readers in the US and Canada are eligible. I’ll ask Kathreen to choose a winner from the comments and Chronicle will send a book to him or her right away!

Check out the rest of the blog tour here, with lots more reviews, giveaways, and posts about this lovely book!

Debbie Stoller (whose birthday is today – happy birthday Debbie!) and Laurie Henzel have rounded up hundreds of how-tos from contributors and editors alike and organized them into hefty chapters like “BUST-ier Homes and Gardens” and “Your Style, Your Way.” Along with craft projects of just about every kind, there are dozens (hundreds?) of recipes to try, plus tutorials on tuning up a bike, buying a house, polishing a resume, and just about anything else you might want to to figure out how to do. Here are a few of my favorites…

terrariums, by Lindsay Stetson Thompson

embroidered shopping bag, by Jennifer Reichert

living room string lights, by Heidi Andrea Rhodes

cassette coin purse, by Rachel Benefiel

I’m so happy that two of my articles for BUST made it into the book, too! I wrote “Chains of Love” in 2005, I remember making those three necklaces in our apartment in LA. I was so excited to see it on the page!

And I wrote “Get it Together,” a quick organizing guide, within a year or so of that one too. I could do worse than take my own advice when it comes to my craft room these days…

This Saturday afternoon, Debbie and Laurie will be at Powell’s here in downtown Portland for a signing and party – I would love to see you over there! Powell’s has a nice display of the book (sorry, the photo is blurry – Everett was in the carrier and really wanted to help) if you want to flip through and see some of the awesomeness for yourself.

The BUST DIY Guide to Life signing with Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel!
Powell’s, 1005 W. Burnside St. in Portland
Saturday, November 5 at 2:00
Free!

I have my heart set on making the Treasure Pocket Pants for Pearl (as a good hand-me-down for my little boy Everett), but when I saw the To-Go Artist, I knew that would have to be my first SFB project and the one to show over here with my book review. (It didn’t hurt that Daniela designed the airplane fabric for this one – love it.)

My nephew Julian turned 10 (!) this year and though he’s a little too big for the clothes size ranges here, I knew he would love a portable mini-art studio.

I did a few adaptations to make it more him – left off the shorter crayon holder in favor of a larger one just for colored pencils,

kept it to one main solid fabric with a bright peace-sign print instead of using three different ones, and added a 10 applique on the front.

I also did a few things that made it more me – made a quick handmade binding tape to edge the top of the notebook holder instead of top-stitching,

and used a snap (with a button cover) instead of Velcro since I didn’t have any handy. I also added this little tag, which resurfaced from 2000 or so when I moved my craft room. (This photo also shows the truest color of the solid green canvas I used, a home dec fabric from IKEA that I also sewed Pearl a set of curtains with.)

Here’s another look at the inside. The only thing I wanted to do, but didn’t, was top-stitch the whole perimeter to finish as the instructions mentioned – I love top-stitching, but with up to six layers of thick canvas layered in a few places, my universal needle was not happy. So I hand-stitched the opening with invisible thread and it worked very nicely, it’s not quite as defined but it works. It’s plenty sturdy with all that canvas, especially once I pick up a hard-covered sketchbook to add…

So, on to the giveaway! Wiley sent me my review copy and has generously donated another copy of the book for me to give away to a blog reader, and I’m adding a piece of the print I used (Alexander Henry’s “peace” from 2005, which I bought around then at Michael Levine in LA and just cut into for the first time for this project!). To enter to win the book and fabric, please leave a comment on this post by next Thursday, September 22 (midnight PST), mentioning your favorite craft project you’ve ever made for a kid, and I’ll let Shelly and Karen pick the winner then!

Even better, for locals: Shelly will be signing books at Modern Domestic tomorrow night, September 16, from 6-9, and at Powell’s Books on October 22. Don’t miss Wiley’s author blog and tomorrow’s stop on the blog tour, True Up!

Back to the craft room for a second, here is a “during” photo (I just couldn’t deal with the “before” stage) – my first swatch of Tropicana Cabana over the dingy old-band-aid-colored drywall downstairs! I left the wood as-is and just jumped in for a 1.5-hour painting session. I love the aqua so much.

I hope you’re having a very crafty summer! I have gotten into a couple of picnic-table terrarium sessions, and have been inching along on John‘s fantastic Oregon Trail cross-stitch project and totally enjoying it. I need to snap a new progress pic, but here it is on my Maker Faire trip:

Someday I will proudly be displaying the finished project in our rec room (I have a crazy idea to frame it, which may or may not work, but I’m trying it for sure!).

A few other book updates…

Yay, Etsy has shared Garth Johnson‘s fantastic Planet Commemorative Plates project on their How-Tuesday feature! You can get the full project instructions and details over there. I’d love to see yours if you make them, please add a photo to the WOGC flickr group.

And my awesome publisher, Chronicle Books, is giving away a copy of WOGC to commemorate the end of the epic Harry Potter movie series.

Just leave a comment on their post by 8/11 with your suggestions for coping in a post-HP world, and you could win the book and craft your own tiny HP costume for your favorite baby or toddler. Love the ideas so far – my favorite is “Immediately leave your house, find puppies and kittens (accio them to you if need be), and frolic with them in a field full of flowers and rainbows.”

I’m excited that a feature on the Star Wars Terrariums will go up on CraftFoxes soon too. For now, you can see some lovely preview photos from our terra-crafting session on Katelyn’s Creo Photography blog. There’s some other good terrarium news to share soon too, I’ll keep you posted!

Finally, WOGC has gotten some nice reviews lately! Special thanks to Jane Ritter of the School Library Journal for her post last month. I loved making things in high school, and it is so cool to imagine my book on a school library shelf.

Beal’s introduction declares, “We’ve come a long way since ‘geek’ meant a carnival sideshow freak,” which sets the playful tone of this book. To celebrate the geek in all of us, the author has pulled together 25 projects from a variety of crafters organized by difficulty starting with “Not a Jedi Yet” (easy) to “Warp Speed” (advanced). Each contributor includes a “best geeky memory” that often highlights a video game, Star Wars or Star Trek, or an early computer memory. Each project lists the necessary items and includes clear, detailed instructions. Accompanying photos add to the fun.

And my favorite book review of all time is courtesy of Andrew Mouet, 13-year-old expert of awesome and cross-stitcher extraordinaire (check out his take on the Mario Magritte project):

According to Charlie McConnell, a geek is made up not only of flesh and blood, but of awesome. I agree with this. Geeks are awesome. So is this book, World of Geekcraft. It has lots of awesome projects. Some are difficult and need time and effort to complete but if you use time and effort, the projects will come out beautifully.

Get this book if you want to be awesome.

“After” craft room photos soon!

Each project, as Diane pointed out in her review, is broken into three sections so there are natural stopping points and kids can take a break before diving back in the same afternoon. The emphasis is on recycled and reclaimed materials and meaningful, personalized projects, and Kathie and Bernadette offer some intriguing thoughts on sparking and supporting kids’ creativity without overwhelming them or taking over.

I got to talk to them about a few of their favorite projects and their process in creating this book. Check out their Future Craft Collective and Slow Family Living sites for much more, too!

How did you two collaborate on the book? Did each of you create certain projects independently, or did you team up on most things as a pair/with families?

Bernadette: For pretty much all of the projects we came up with the list together – we knew we wanted to really stay focused on things that worked towards building family connection. Then Kathie would sew and I was sitting right there writing. Writing up the instructions as she called them out and writing the text as well. It was a really nice process and a good way too for us to make sure we kept from getting too sanctimonious. We’re both good about calling each other on that one!

How old are your kids now?

B: Kathie’s kids are 7 and 10 and mine are 13, 11, 8 and 4.

Wow, that’s a great range for doing all kinds of projects. I’d love to hear your suggestions on the ones that are the most accessible to younger kids – my daughter is 3 and loves to make things, but some of the more advanced projects are obviously further out for us.

B: I’d say the napkin rings would be a good one to do with littles. Or, you could do the flags as a toddler project as well and let your little one do the embellishment on the white fabric. And in some of the others, perhaps have her sit on your lap and do some of the sewing? That’s how my kids all started sewing – by starting first on my lap. And of course, any of the burlap projects are good because you can do the hand sewing on the burlap, which is a really simple fabric for littles.

Do each of you have a favorite project from the collection?

B: I love the appreciation banner. To me this is one tool that can really transform family dynamics. If we are getting too cranky or overwhelmed, the appreciations are a great way to turn that around. Also, if I feel I, or someone else, is getting too “poor me” the appreciations can really bring us to a whole new attitude. AND, I also like the appreciations because it can help me as a parent get more of what I actually do want.

Kathie: My CURRENT favorite project (I’ve had many over the couple years this has been coming to fruition) is the game board and caddy.

I always forget what an amazing tool simple board games and card games are for just being with your family. Summer reminds me of these simple pleasures – and about the evolution of my own parenting skills as I learn to sit with a frustrated child who is losing a game instead of making it a “teachable moment”… plus checkers and backgammon (a game that Bernadette introduced me to) are just damn fun.

My favorite has to be the lunch tote, a hiking-ready bag with lots of compartments and cool bits and pieces. It’s at the top of the dream-project list for when Pearl’s past the burlap and safety scissors stage – I think she would rock out with that one.

Thank you to Kathie and Bernadette for the interview, and be sure to head over to Rachel’s blog for a book giveaway today! Also, they have some cool events coming up, including this one right here in Southeast Portland:

Cafe Au Play Portland, OR July 19th 10:30-noon

Kathie’s heading to Portlandia with a little crafty book signing at Cafe Au Play. Which looks like an amazing family place! Play, craft, eat and childcare all in the same place? Heaven. And even heavenlier with Kathie there signing our book!

See you there! I’ll be the one in the black and white Ramonster dress, which I snapped up the first time I met Kathie (we were booth neighbors at a way-back craft fair in LA… I think 2005?).

I got to ask Alissa a few questions about their gorgeous book and hear a bit more about how it all came together!

How did the Block Party bee get started?

Kristen and I were the original hosts of the Block Party bee that we started after she emailed me asking if I’d like to co-host. We had both seen all of the virtual quilting bees popping up online so we were eager to take part in one ourselves. We figured starting one on our own was a good idea because that way we were able to pick the members and make sure we all had a similar quilting aesthetic.

Did you think it might become a book?

Not at first! We were a couple of months into our bee when Kristen emailed me again saying very casually that she thought there was a good book idea here… structuring the chapters around the months of the bee. I wholeheartedly agreed with her and said “Let’s do it!” We were then off and running with the idea and putting together a proposal.

That’s so cool! Had you met anyone in person, or was it all online?

None of the bee members had met before the bee. We are spread out all over the country. Since the bee and book have happened I’ve met quite a few of the members in person. It’s always so great to feel like a friendship isn’t starting from zero when you meet, but that you already know each other through your quilting, blogs and the fun times had in the bee!

And how did you and Kristen collaborate on the book project together since you live in different places?

Loads and loads of emails and gmail chats!! We also talked on the phone a lot but really, mostly we communicated a ton online. We divided the work up in two and just worked away, consulting with each other when we had questions, ideas or what have you. It really went quite smoothly considering we had never met each other in person! Now we’ve met a couple of times and we’re fast friends!

I really love Alissa’s work – here is one of her photos of a gorgeous baby boy quilt she made for a friend, which she graciously let me include in Modern Log Cabin Quilting as an example of random piecing in a very modern style.

And of course log cabins are dear to my heart (plus my birthday is in January), so her month’s quilt, “Once Around the Block” was an instant favorite!

All 12 quilters’ improvisational log cabin blocks draw the eye so beautifully, and Pearl Bracelet by Lizzy House is one of my favorite prints ever, especially in those gorgeous aqua and orange colorways from Red Letter Day (I’ve used both in a bunch of different projects, and have some precious pieces left in my stash). I love that she also included serene gray and white as elements of the whole lively color story, and the finished 25-block quilt is fantastic.

Her co-author, Kristen, created “Sliding By,” a gorgeous wonky Roman Stripe Quilt in a calm and sophisticated color palette. She included one of my favorite Hope Valley prints by Denyse Schmidt, a botanical pattern in the Piney Woods colorway (Denyse also wrote a lovely introduction for the book on quilting bees and community).

I asked Kristen if her quilt had made it to many picnics so far this summer…

Turns out my quilt was destined for somewhere super special instead – my bed! My husband’s constant complaint is that I have never made us a quilt, yet make quilts for everyone’s else babies. I chose the fabrics for this quilt with him in mind, thinking that I would need the help of fellow bee members to make a quilt large enough to fit a queen bed. I’ve always loved citron and grey together, and aqua seemed to fit right in. Luckily, he loves the final product!

Now – a giveaway! Stash has generously offered up a copy of Block Party to a reader here, so if you’d like to enter to win it, please leave a comment on this post by Friday, July 1 at midnight Pacific time, sharing what your favorite fabric to quilt or sew with lately is. I mentioned my beloved RLD Pearl Bracelet and Hope Valley prints, and I’d love to hear yours…

Thank you to Alissa and Kristen for the mini-interview and to Stash for the book to give away! You can follow along with the whole blog tour right here, and tomorrow’s post will be at Connecting Threads.