I’m thrilled to be participating in Pat Sloan’s Focus on the Center Book Tour. There are 10 quilters participating in the tour this week and we each have two copies of Focus on the Center to give-away to our lucky readers. See below to enter my give-away and for the links to the other participants.

Plus, visit Pat’s blog as she’s asked each of us some fun questions and her publisher’s blog too:

• Our hostess: Pat Sloan
• Leisure Arts blog

Focus on the Center features seven medallion-style quilts. Confession, I have never made a medallion-style quilt before, but I’m really tempted by this one called Lucky Charms:

I just adore the scrappy-ness of this quilt and the unique on-point borders around the center appliqué followed by rectangular borders. There’s lots of interest in this quilt! It finishes at 61″ square, but you could easily make it larger or smaller by adding more borders or removing some. I also love that it has flying geese .. I really need a quilt with lots of flying geese for myself.

I’m not really big on making Christmas quilts that only get enjoyed for a month, so I would do the alternate center that’s included in the book for this quilt, here it is:

For the center appliqué, I’d use solid white and then scraps of my other fabrics. I’ll also continue the white into the large half square triangles/flying geese units around the appliqué. Here are my fabrics:

The colourful fat quarters and yardage prints are Treasures and Tidbits by Piece O’ Cake Designs for Robert Kaufman fabrics. The black and white prints are a fat quarter bundle put together by Jodie of Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

The red yardage will be used similar to how Pat used red in her sample: inner thin border and triangles around the white appliqué, for the wider border around the entire on-point layout and for the binding.

For the green used in the sample, i.e. the setting triangles in the center and for the flying geese sky units, I’ll use the black and white prints. I’ll alternate between black on white vs. white on black prints for the flying geese sky units. It’ll still be very scrappy, but the black and white will add some calm to the wild colours in the prints… I think! The prints will be used for the flying geese body units, the two scrappy outer borders and the rectangles inside the on-point layout.

Can you picture it?? I really wish I had time right now to start something new as this quilt is calling me! Maybe later in the summer.

See that fabulous yellow flowered print beside the red one above, well I have a few yards of it and there will be enough fabrics left over from the above quilt to make a coordinating one.

I love this one from the book, Antique Mist, and would use that flowered print in place of the large blue aqua flower print that Pat used for the middle border. Black and white prints would replace the pinks and the coloured fabrics would be used in place of the off whites. Not sure if I’ll have quite enough red yardage for the pink striped borders, but if not, a solid from my stash would work well too. This medallion quilt finishes at 57″ square.

One of the things I love about Pat’s book, is that she’s included quick piecing methods such as making four flying geese units from squares of fabric.

I find when I’m browsing new books at the local quilt shop, I’m disappointed when I see authors not using the quicker methods we’ve all come to love from quilting tutorials from our blogging friends. Please tell me I’m not alone in this!

Give-Away

I have two copies of Pat’s Focus on the Center book to give-away. Leave a comment below answering:

Have you ever made a medallion-style quilt? If so, how many rounds did it have? If not, are you encouraged to do one now after seeing a few from Pat’s book?

Winners will be randomly chosen on May 7th.

Be sure to visit the other quilts in the tour too and enter their give-aways:

Tuesday

• Our hostess: Pat Sloan
• Carrie of Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co.
• Vanessa Christenson of V & Co.

Wednesday

• Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville
• Michele Foster of the Quilting Gallery – that’s ME!

Thursday

• Victoria Findlay of BumbleBeans Inc.
• Rachel Griffith of p.s. i quilt

Friday

• Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quiltworks
• Dana Bolyard of Old Red Barn Co.

Saturday

• Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber
• Faith Jones of Fresh Lemons Quilts

P.S. Here’s a flying geese tutorial from my friend Bradie. It is similar to the one Pat has in her book.

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Winners:

Congratulations to #149 quiltmom anna and #138 Pam. Emails have been sent to you from Pat Sloan.

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Please join me in welcoming today’s guest blogger, Valerie from Pastimes Online. Many of you might remember her as a sponsor for this year’s weekly quilt contests. Today Val’s sharing a bit more about her quilt boutique and her wonderful Block of the Month Clubs. Plus, if you’re interested in joining her upcoming mystery BOM, leave a comment and your name will go in the hat for a draw to win your FIRST month FREE. See below for more info.

Hi Every Bunny, I’m Valerie from Pastimes Online and I’m so excited to be here as a Guest Blogger today. Pastimes Online is a venture I started a few years ago because I wanted to offer quilting in a boutique style. We only carry the BEST in products like the pins I carry are the thinnest, sharpest and with glass heads and I only carry one brand of these. The Gingher Rotary Cutter is the only cutter I carry because I believe, it’s the best cutter. It’s stylish and ergonomic and has an easy change blade system.

I was also always frustrated by Block of the Month clubs out there and how you’d get part of the materials you’d need but not all of them, so once you got your first kit in the mail, you’d have to buy things so you could complete it. We do things a little different here – well a lot different actually – we include EVERYTHING for the top in our monthly kit price. I also wanted something that appealed to everyone, so ours include simple patchwork, hand embroidery and appliqué raw-edge or needle turn – something for everyone. So you can do some sewing with the machine and some in front of the TV or take it with you and complete your stitching.

We include pins – the best high quality silk long thin pins with glass heads, embroidery needles in a variety of sizes (because you just don’t know what size you’ll like the best), sewing machine needles (because we always need a new sharp needle for our machine), floss to get you started (Weeks Dye Works, hand dyed floss, it’s so beautiful), step by step blog postings (to show you our way to construct a block and feel good about it) as well as tips and tricks and some videos along the way.

Since Block of the Months is our forté, we’ve shipped to our club members all over the world: Japan, Saudia Arabia, Netherlands, Germany, Yukon, all over the USA and Canada, and many more locations. It’s super easy to sign up and for us to ship to you – wherever you might be. We also – as incentive – offer a prize each month. You complete your block by the end of the month and email me a picture, your name goes in for a prize that month and each month!! How fun is this?

I wanted to offer an awesome giveaway, even though we don’t have to have a giveaway….I have one!!

So, with Easter just passing us, I’ve put together our first Block of the Month Quilt with an Easter theme…it’s called “Every Bunny’s Welcome” a nice easy collection of stitching, patchwork and raw edge appliqué, with eggs and chicks and bunny’s of course. There is also a special spot to personalize this quilt for yourself or for a friend. I’d love for you to join. This first launch will be a MYSTERY…

Here’s a sneak peak at some of the blocks – which will be in Easter colours, so super cheery and fun and ready in time for Easter 2013. The embroidery will be simple yet special in cheery colours and easy stitches. This will be a wall hanging size and in 12 parts, plus finishing.

So leave a comment below if you’re interested in joining as it’s set to start really soon, and your name will go in the hat for a draw to win your FIRST month FREE for this MYSTERY Block of the Month, Every Bunny’s Welcome.

Our block of the month clubs are so jammed packed with all of the goodies you’ll need, floss (to start), pins, needles, all of the cottons for the top, step by step blog postings to help you out along the way and more…check out our other Block of the Month Clubs for details.

Here’s what’s included in this year’s Vintage Miniature Sewing Machines Block of the Month:

Or this one Butterfly Garden Block of the Month Club. The first block will be mailed out any day now.

Please also sign up for our Newsletter, “The Times” if you’re curious about what Pastimes Online is up to or check out our Blog: Val’s Quilting.

Thanks so much for checking us out…and stay happy and creative,
Valerie