An "Out of the Box" Giveaway!

Among the many blogs and quilt artists I follow is Mary Lou Weidman who I have been following for quite a while. I love her colorful style and admire her free spirit. So a while back when she contacted me to write a review for the new book, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks, which she co-wrote with Melanie Bautista McFarland, I said "Oh yeah, I'd love to do it!"

The book arrived the day I got home from my lake vacation and I couldn't wait to sit down and check it out. But as I read, I began to think she picked the wrong girl to review this book. What was she thinking! I am a mostly traditional quilter who doesn't step out of the piecing box too often so frankly I was a little scared. But I kept reading and felt I could use her methods to make any block my own. The basics of free form piecing are de-mystified and pretty soon I felt like I could probably do this-probably. But I'm the kind who has to actually do it myself before I fully understand the process so I decided to make something myself. So as I usually do before I start a quilt, I looked for inspiration.

I fell in love with the quilt, Caffeine Anyone, which is in the book, and thought I could make something that would mean something to me using her methods so this quilt was my initial inspiration.

When I was on vacation I bought this little tea pot and since I'm a tea drinker, not a coffee drinker, I thought this could also be my inspiration.

And this is what I made! Trust me, if I can do it you can do it too. I found it liberating to construct blocks this way. It was much easier than I thought and it was fun.

So for a giveaway I am giving away a copy of this wonderful book autographed by both authors. Along with the book I am also including the tea quilt I made. I know everyone out there is making mug rugs so I think of this fun little quilt as a teapot and tea mug rug! All you have to do is leave a comment and I will pick a winner on Saturday, September 10th. That's all you have to do although I encourage you to become a follower of Mary Lou here. It is a delightful blog with tons of inspiration so go visit and tell Mary Lou Chris sent you! Good luck.