My friend Mandy Leins of Mandalei Quilts and Bill Volckening teamed up to write a book – Inspired Free-motion Quilting. When Mandy reached out to me to see if I would join in the blog tour I was happy to. I absolutely LOVED her first book Wanderlust Quilts. Mandy and Bill have a shared love for antique and vintage quilts and they combined their knowledge of that with quilting to create this fabulous book. Just a few pages in I knew this was more than a “how to quilt” book, but also a lesson in how to take something from history and make something new.
With this book we were asked to bring our unique skills to the table. Mandy and Bill wanted to see how this book could inspire us in what we already do. Before I show you what I do I have to show off a quilt that Many quilted for me. She quilted this just after she had finished writing the Inspired Free-Motion Quilting Book and you will notice that many of the designs are very inspired by the book.
I sent Mandy my “Bella Solids Sampler Quilt” to do her magic on. And magic she did!
Each block/section of the quilt is uniquely quilt in such a gorgeous way!
And now that I’ve read Inspired Free-Motion Quilting Book I can see exactly what inspired this beautiful, unique quilting.
This solid sampler was really the perfect place to play with these vintage designs.
I have a solid large scale Ohio Star mini quilt that has been in my “to quilt” queue for quite a few years now. I thought this would be the perfect quilt to play on.
I decided that I wanted to work in the Double Lines and Orange Peel design to the light blue triangles. In the book it’s done on squares but I thoguht it would interpret well into triangles … really it would work in any geometric shape.
I thought about doing the Double Lines and Orange Peel with some of the other fun ideas in the book but before I went with I scanned all the patterns again. The Diagonal Flowers pattern caught my eye and I knew I was going to use that in the corners.
Once the corners were done I tweaked it and added it to the center dark blue square as well.
And just like that the Ohio Star Block is quilted (just needs a binding now). It was really fun to give these new designs a try and the book explains how to do them and what inspired them in such a great way. I can’t recommend it enough.
Now that you’ve seen what the book inspired myself (and Mandy) to quilt … check out what the other group of makers on this blog hop thought of the book!
January 7: C&T Publishing, Bill Volckening
January 8: Amanda Murphy, Kim Lapacek, Stephanie Palmer
January 9: Lynn Harris, Teri Lucas, Debby Brown
January 10: Robin Koehler, Patty Murphy, Mary Abreu
January 11: Joanna Marsh, Mandy Leins
Don’t miss your chance to win! Keep reading along and follow the links to the blog posts! To win today’s eBook prize from this blog, PersimonDreams, simply leave one comment in the comments section (below), and a random drawing on Saturday, January 12th will determine the winner. When commenting, please make sure to leave a way to contact you, and/or check back tomorrow to find out who won. Thanks for reading along. Enjoy the blog tour and enjoy the book!
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Update! Winner Chosen!
Congratulations!!!!!!
Marla says
I’ve been working on fmq for the past year. This book looks like an interesting approach to the subject!
I need to work on domestic machine quilting– it is my goal for 2019
Books looks amazing- always looking to improve my quilting skills. This would be a great resource.
my goal for 2019 is to improve my free motion skills on my domestic machine
Great and it looks like you had fun doing it too. I find it so hard to see a black slate (fabric space) and I also find it hard to see a busy quilt like the one Amanda quilted for you, to figure out how to start. These are great!
I am a neophyte to machine quilting Thinking this might be a perfect book to sink my teeth into. Thank you.
Cool! I look forward to getting lots of ideas for free motion quilting.
This book looks great, I love being inspired by quilts of the past!
I recently entered a table runner contest. I FMQ my runner on my domestic machine with an edge to edge design that complimented the fabrics in the runner. The winners were all quilted on Long arm machines with more intricate details. I learned I need to improve my FMQ skills.
You give me confidence that I should try some of these designs.
What a great book, I would love to win it!
I love what it inspired you to do! I am very new to FMQ and would love to win the book to see lots of inspiration for my projects ❤️
Wow! Love your quilts. They are amazing!
I need to practice my fog!
I really need to learn how to do free motion quilting. So ‘inspiring’ to see you work in your sandbox. Maybe I need to start small!
What a great concept for a book, thanks for sharing it
I love the premise of this book. Looks super inspirational.
Fantastic book full of inspiration for a budding FM quilter. Thanks so much.
djcutting2(at)gmail(dot)com
I’ve been working on fmq for the past year. This book looks like an interesting approach to the subject!
Looks like a great book for quilting inspiration! Ndfromsd at g mail dot com.
Nice!! I need to put Mandy’s book on my list! I’m looking forward to learning FMQ on my domestic this year 🙂
This book looks like an awesome way to plunge into free motion quilting. Thanks!
Both quilts look wonderful. I am hoping to get over my fear of FMQ this year. A book like this would help.
I really enjoy all the info that you share. Hoping I can be a random winner! Yes, some men quilt. 😉
I would love to win, because I’m taking my first class in free motion quilting next week.
I got a long-arm machine a little over a year ago and I’m still a sponge seeking out as much quilting design inspiration as I can! I’ll be sure to check out this book, sounds great!
I love the take on the vintage designs for todays quilts. Yours turned out great. Thanks for sharing a chance at the giveaway as well!
It’s always nice to find some inspiration to finish a wonderful quilt. This book looks like it will be very helpful.
Thanks for telling us about your experience with using this new book. Sounds like it’s a great resource.
The book sounds great, and I love the look of your free-motion flowers.
Looks like a great book!
this looks like a fantastic resource book – I always need a kick in the pants to start quilting!!!
I just found your blog and how fortuitous that there’s a giveaway! This book looks very good. I have done limited machine quilting so far and could use the design inspiration.
Looks like an awesome book. Thanks for the opportunity to win. Cshelleyqbq (at) gmail (dot) com