Hi everyone! I’m so excited because my Modern Holiday Blog Tour starts in just a few hours right here and over at Stash Books. The theme is Christmas in July and each day one of many great bloggers will have a book to give away! (Winner inside the US will win a hard copy; outside winners will receive a digital copy.) They will all be mailed at the end of July, after the tour wraps up. The theme is Christmas in July and people will be sharing favorite quilts, fabric collections, cookie recipes, etc.

I’d like to start off by talking about the quilt on the cover of the book. It is called Holiday Forest and it is our daughter’s favorite.

I love it too but she was really convinced this one would be the cover quilt and she was right! I think the aqua and green color palette looks lovely on the cover, with all the presents in front and the big, fluffy rug on the floor. (For those who are interested, the fabric came from a collection called Ready Set Snow by Me and My Sister Design for Moda, and there are lots of Robert Kaufman blenders in it as well, including some by Patrick Lose.)  This quilt doesn’t have to be made in strictly Christmas prints – choose a color palette you love and go for it!

Holiday Forest features three different sizes of trees. The biggest is over 22″ in height, which means this quilt is sew-able in a weekend. I don’t know if you can tell but the snowflakes are appliqued with metallic thread for a little bit of sparkle. Of course you could use a Cutwork tool for snowflakes if you have one, or you could even cut them out by hand. There are 4 snowflake shapes included in the book.

They are also used in this pillow…

And in these coasters…

You could decorate the trees on the quilt with buttons or trim and keep it out the entire winter!

To enter to win for this first day of the blog tour, just leave a comment on this post telling me what whether you would most like to make the quilt, pillow, or coasters and what colors you might make it in. That’s it!  One entry per person and the deadline will be this Friday, the 12th, at midnight.

 Don’t forget to hop on over to Stash Books tomorrow to enter for another chance to win!

I’ll be posting a link to each blogger on their day, but just so you have them all, here is the lineup:

Thanks so much to all these talented people for helping me out!

 Happy sewing everyone!
Amanda

My Modern Holiday Blog Tour starts this Monday and I can hardly wait.  The theme is “Christmas in July” and I have a great lineup of contributors who graciously agreed to help me out and each will be giving away a copy of Modern Holiday, so make sure to enter on each site for more opportunities to win!

Until Monday, happy sewing!
Amanda

Well it is really warming up here in North Carolina, but my sewing is for the cold time of year instead!  Recently I sent out a couple of projects in Holiday Bouquet to magazines.  They will run them this winter but I thought I’d give you a sneak peek!

Unfortunately this is all that I can show.  I have two other projects that I’ll be able to show soon – one is a pillow version of O’ Christmas Tree, my class for the Charlotte Quilters Guild on July 11th.  The ornaments are REALLY fun to back with fusible, cut out, and applique.  Some SKUs of Holiday Bouquet are already selling out, so if you were planning on ordering, make sure to place your order soon!

On another note, I was SO sorry to miss speaking to the people at Quilter’s Loft in Mooresville on Thursdya night.  We will definitely reschedule.  I wouldn’t have dropped out last minute like I did but this happened about 1/4 mile from the interstate.

I know.  Apparently something hard and small punctured a hole on the inside of the tire and it completely collapsed.  Thanks to everyone at Quilter’s Loft for being so understanding.

On a more positive note, there is “new baby” in our house…

The Bernina quilting frame with Quilt Motion software.

Isn’t she something?  She needs a name, don’t you think?  Any suggestions?

I haven’t had a chance to play on her yet because I’m on my fifth day of upgrading Windows 7.  Really.  It just keeps going.  How many updates can one computer need?  Thanks to my dad for all his help.  (He set up this frame too!)

Hope you are escaping the heat and happy sewing!
Amanda