Natalia's Beginner's Guide to Free Motion Quilting - giveaway closed

Hi!
Welcome to the next stop on Natalia's Beginner's Guide to Free Motion blog tour!

I don't really remember when I first "met" Natalia, but she was one of my first bloggy friends.  Since that time, we have been in a couple bees together, added new babies to our brood (our kids are just a little bit apart in age, only she had her girl first!), and emailed back and forth about new projects, questions, ideas, and life in general.  She's definitely busy, but a real sweetheart.  I imagine many of you are probably familiar with Natalia from Piece and Quilt already, but have you seen her new book that was recently released?

Aptly titled the Beginner's Guide to Free Motion Quilting, this book includes photos, diagrams, pointers, and tips on how to use free motion quilting designs on your home quilting machine.  There are also some fun quilt patterns thrown in there.

Natalia's theme on her blog tour is "It's a Family Affair."  

My very, very first little quilt was when I was pregnant with this little dude, and in honor of him.  My first big quilt went to my husband.  My second to my niece.  My third went to my mom.  When I first started quilting, I didn't really understand that you could do the quilting yourself, other than hearing of this thing called "in the ditch" quilting.  "In the ditch" quilting didn't really appeal to me, and so I sent one of my early quilts, which was for Steiger, out to Natalia for her to long-arm quilt.  

Oh sweet boy!  You are too cute!

She free-motioned beautiful swirls all-over, and Steiger still loves this quilt to this day.  I remember wanting to do that kind of quilting, but still felt a bit intimidated.  I have since ventured in to all-over stippling, some loops, and even did a holly-leaf pattern on one quilt, but my free motion repertoire is severely lacking.  And I generally resort to straight-line quilting, but would like to try new things.  This book is going to help me do that!

So here's what I love about this book:  

• Tons of basic free motion designs broken down in to their steps to show how they link and flow (Go click on the "Click to Look Inside" on amazon to see some more of what I'm talking about -- it doesn't show all the examples, but does show some of the all-over free motion ideas and how to make them).
• Examples of how to incorporate designs to use all-over (like that one above), in borders or sashing, on a block, or in combination... I love this feature of the book.

• there are frilly/foofy (more feminine) designs, as well as more graphic/sharp (masculine) motifs
• She has some really fun quilt patterns included that incorporate the quilting designs, thus making the concepts even more tangible
• it is very approachable, and makes you want to grab some blocks and go for it!
• It has given me an idea for how to quilt my next Linky Love Quilt I make. :)

"Amazed" quilt pattern from Natalia's book

See?  Natalia has a design in her book that is very similar to Linky Love  (though the construction of the blocks is a bit different), and I just love this quilting design!

I was hoping to have some new quilting to show you with this blog post, but alas, I just finished basting the quilt I want to use the new techniques on; nonetheless, I'm really excited to try out some new ideas from her book...come back to see my expanded free motion skills! ;)
Thank you for the inspiration Natalia!  I just wish I could sit with you in person to quilt it.  And maybe accidentally load the quilt on to your frame and then watch you work your magic. ;)

Here’s the rest of the “blogging family” Natalia has invited to help her celebrate the birth of her book! Check out their posts, too!

Amy Webb – October 6

Melissa Corry – October 7

Melissa Mortensen - October 8

Stash Books – October 9

Amy Ellis - October 10

Kimberly Jolly – October 11

Vicki Christensen – October 12

Candy Glendening – October 13

Angela Yosten - October 14

Generation Q Magazine – October 15

Here! – October 16

Vickie Eapen – October 17

And then Natalia wraps it up on Oct. 18 back at her blog, www.pieceandquilt.com,  with one final giveaway.

If you'd like to win a copy of Natalia's new book, Beginner's Guide to Free Motion Quilting, then please comment on a free motion design you really want to learn!  It might sound cliché, but I am hoping to learn feathers! :)
*International folks -- you'll win an "e-book"

Good luck, and thank you for stopping by!