Welcome to our stop on the blog tour! We’re super excited to be a part of this!!! (And winning free stuff is always a fun little incentive for keeping up, right!?!?) So, let’s dive into some questions!

When did you start quilting? Tell us about your first quilt.

The year was 1999. My two good friends (Connie and Vicky) and I decided we would each make a quilt before the new millennium arrived.
Connie, being from Iowa, and already knowing how to quilt, became our teacher and mentor. She took this role very seriously! When Vicky and I showed up for our first lesson, Connie presented us with a goody bag stuffed with a quilting frame, thimble, wax, quilt needles, quilting thread, and safety pins. We decided on the Ohio Star design. Every week we had to complete 3 identical Ohio Star blocks made from our own sewing stashes, and then swap out so that we all had the same blocks in all varieties and themes. And since we never do anything in a small way, this first quilt was queen sized.

When we finished all of our blocks, Connie sent me and Vicky to the fabric store for sashing and backing fabric. (She had a conflict, but she said she trusted us.) Vicky and I calculated and crunched numbers for over an hour. We checked and rechecked our work before making the purchase.
At our next lesson we told Connie that her share was $180.00. Her mouth hit the floor!!! Anyway, we did learn how to layer and hand quilt. I have loved and used that quilt for 14 years now. Memories of the laughter we shared in the process is priceless to me!

This quilt became “Rudy’s Window Quilt”… once it was complete, it was never used by anyone but him. Because of it’s size, it folded up nicely into a moldable cushion that I would put on top of our reck-room couch. It was at the perfect vantage point for Rudy to do what he loved most… guarding our house from mailmen, trash collectors, and other potentially dangerous foes. I really really wish I had a picture of Rudy in action… because it was quite a site.

Oh wait wait wait… I found one in a previous blog post!

On a depressing side note, we lost our best boy this past year. He’s left a really big hole in our lives, that we’re finding difficult to fill. He also made many appearances in our blog over the years, so I’m sure he’ll be missed from here as well.

What is the best part of your design process?

Sketching. I love gridded paper and colored pencils!!! Lauren or Carrie make me a gridded sketch book for each new fabric line that we produce. In it I jot down thoughts, draw fabric ideas, diagram patterns, and write directions. I take it everywhere I go.

A fun side note… these sketch books were so popular among my friends, that we decided to include them in our new book!

Now for the big project!

Here’s another big quilt… this project is featured on all the other blogs, so make sure you check it out. This project really allowed us to get creative! (We missed that “get creative” notation, when the instructions were sent out… and instead, we followed the quilt instructions to a tee.) This project features a layer cake,charm pack or mini charm, but what is your all time favorite moda precut? The directions for this pattern can be found here.

I love jelly roles (2 1/2″ strips from selvage to selvage of each fabric in the line). They can be cut into smaller pieces to become parts of quilt blocks.

But I like to use them in pattern designs where they remain in their long strip state. You may be familiar with Angela Yosten’s Princess And The Pea quilt (found on the moda bake shop site). Each jelly roll strip represents a mattress layer. Soooo cute!!! That inspired me to design our Pencil Box quilt pattern, which is featured on the cover of our new book, Sweet and Simple Sewing with Martingale Publishing.

And then our latest fabric line, Pedal Pushers, features our Wet Paint pattern which also uses the long jelly roll strips.

So for the giveaway…

We’re giving away three prizes! Yay! See below…

Here’s how to enter : Just leave one comment… it can be about whatever you want… If you want to tell us about your first quilt, that might be fun!

And then… If you want to get entered a SECOND time, you can do one of the following things :
1. follow us on Twitter. Here’s the link!
2. follow me on Pinterest. Here’s the link!
(And then just leave a second column telling us which extra entry you did.

We’ll draw the three winners in one week, so be sure to check back!

The giveaway features our newest and most favorite line Pedal Pushers! Hope you guys enjoy!

… And because I wasn’t super excited with the coloring in that last photo… here’s a better shot of the colors. They’re super nice! Kind of sherberty!

Make sure to check out everyone else!! Everyone is awesome!

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014   Amy Ellis   Eric +Julie Comstock   Stephanie Ryan Design Studio

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014   Malka Dubrawski   Blackbird Designs   Lauren + Jessi Jung   Lella Boutique

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014   Basic Grey   Fig Tree and Co.   Pat Sloan

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014   April Rosenthal   French General   Minick and Simpson

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014   Cotton Way   Sandy Gervais   Primitive Gatherings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014   Bunny Hill   Deb Strain   Kansas Troubles

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014   Kathy Schmitz   Laundry Basket Quilts   Zen Chic

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014   Me and My Sister Designs   Jan Patek   Sweetwater