Piecing Makeover: Simple Tricks to Fine-Tune Your Patchwork
A Guide to Diagnosing & Solving Common Problems
By Patty Murphy
143 pages
C&T Publications $29.95 Hardcopy, $20.99 E-book
Here ya have it, a teacher from a quilt shop giving those tips that quilt shop teachers all give. While these tips and hints aren’t necessarily trade secrets, it’s this kind of quilting knowledge that tends to get passed down from quilter to quilter, getting tweaked and refined, perhaps worded a little differently as time (and teaching) goes on.
Patty offers a few words about irons, cutting mats, rotary cutters, needles – and how often they should be replaced. She also tackles oiling your machine, what types of pins to that work for different types of projects and offers great tips for checking the quarter inch on your machine. (And yes, stop the presses, there is more than one way to skin that scant measurement.)
My personal fave are the options Patty demonstrates for borders. Look carefully at the quilts shown in this entire post. The body of the quilt is the same, but the borders are different. Simple, but dramatic. (As if the q-niverse needed more drama lately!)
She takes things even farther, though, with specifics that turn this book into a perfect resource book for quilters of varying skill levels. It’s perfect for beginners and the quilting veteran who might just need reminders of the finer points. (You know, that nifty trick the gal at the local quilt shop told us that we would use every single day and thank her for. And then we used that trick, reinvented our quilting and promptly forgot her name!)
So, would you like to win a copy of this book? We can help you with that. You have an opportunity to win a hard copy (for U.S. readers) or an e-book (for readers outside the U.S.). Just comment below with what name you’d give your unicorn or your dragon, either one. Name them both if you’d like; we are equal opportunity fantasists. But be quick about it! On Sept. 24, we will randomly choose a winner.
UPDATE: Congratulations to #25 – Hueisei! You’ve won a copy of Patty’s book. We’ll be contacting you by email shortly.
P.S. As often happens with these blog tours, there are a few more stops along the way. Check out these amazing blogs:
Quilt. Sew. Live. Breathe.
COMMENT #1
I think I’d name my dragon Henderson. It’s the name of the street where I grew up and I just think it’s a great name for a dragon.
COMMENT #2
Dilly Dally the Dragon…and Mr. Rainbow Sparkles the Unicorn …
COMMENT #3
Wow!! thank you for chance to win this AWESOME Book!! I would love having this info & help!! 😀
If I had a Unicorn..think I would name her Sparkle Plenty. If had a Dragon…could only be named Nike ( looog story…but my daughter knows…giggle)
COMMENT #4
My unicorn would be named Ozzie!
COMMENT #5
I would name my dragon – Othello. Well I would name my dog that to if I had one.
COMMENT #6
Quiltsalot – that would be my dragon name.
COMMENT #7
Sriram ha or “Racha” for short for a dragon. Elmore for a unicorn. I would REALLY love to win this book. It’s all those little things that really make a difference.
COMMENT #
Definitely Pete the Dragon– and I would love to win this book. Soooo much info that could help me out here !!!
COMMENT #
Definitely Pete the Dragon and I would love to win this book!! Soooo much information that could help me out here!!!!
COMMENT #8
Awesome looking book!! Looks like a fabulous resource!!!
COMMENT #9
My unicorn name is Orchid Rainbow!
COMMENT #10
I think Fluffy would be a good name for a dragon.
COMMENT #11
Hi, my Dragon is named “Lazy” ! Book looks neat>Thank YOu!
COMMENT #12
Well, if it were a white dragon, I would name it Ruth, after the one in Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Permanent series.
COMMENT #13
I’d name my dragon Tangles
COMMENT #14
I’d name my dragon Kron and my unicorn would be Sparkler! (Okay, I had a little help from my 7 year old daughter! 😉
COMMENT #15
Unicorn-Shine. Dragon-Fire
COMMENT #16
My unicorn would be named OpalMoon..;) The book sounds fantastic, looking forward to checking it out.
COMMENT #17
Tough one- Hot Bessie is what came to mind!
COMMENT #18
Hmmm. My dragon would be named Parsifal! 🙂 My unicorn would be Penelope! Love this book!
COMMENT #19
Hmmm, let’s see – if I had a dragon, I would name him Fireball (because of course he can breathe fire!) and if I had a unicorn his name would be Silver. This looks like a great book! Thanks for the chance to win…
COMMENT #20
Penelope would be my unicorn’s name.
COMMENT #21
Unicorn – Frederick
Dragon – Puff (of course, even if he isn’t magic).
COMMENT #22
I would name my unicorn Hornelius.
COMMENT #23
My unicorn would be Bubbles.
COMMENT #24
Electra is a great Unicorn name and sorry I’m going to show my age and say Puff for your dragon.
COMMENT #25
I will named my dragon “Dalton”
COMMENT #26
For a dragon my choice would be Max. For a unicorn it would be Prudence.
COMMENT #27
Unicorn: Tasha, Dragon: Tiara, named after my first two Shelties who were just about as magical.
COMMENT #28
Hello from Germany!
My dragon would be a “Tabasco” like the hot sauce. And I would call my unicorn: Lilly. That’s the name, my granddaugter calls every lovely animal or doll.
Birgit
COMMENT #29
I feel like Bob the Unicorn would be a solid choice.
COMMENT #30
I would call the dragon Pinsandneedles and the Unicorn Seamripper
COMMENT #31
My dragon would be Frodo and my unicorn would be Sparkle 🙂
COMMENT #32
Thanks for the chance.
I would call my dragon OWO – my kiddos know what that means!
COMMENT #33
My unicorn’s name would be Luna. Her colors shine in the moonlight!
My dragon would be Chipotle because I love anything with that fiery, smoky flavor!
COMMENT #34
Chocolate for my dragon and spot for the unicorn
COMMENT #35
Unicorn would be named Sally Sparkles
COMMENT #36
My unicorn’s name would be Anastasia and my dragon’s name would be Ubiquity. I would love to be flying around on a dragon about now.
Watch out Daenerys, here I come.
tushay3 (at) yahoo (dot) com
COMMENT #37
I think I would name my unicorn rainbow, just seems like a happy name
COMMENT #38
Abelard the unicorn and Sigridur the dragon. What a fun contest! Great idea for a book!
COMMENT #39
I’m not good at naming animals – I named my dog Zeus, God of Thunder, but he is terrified of thunder! Let’s see, the dragon would be Ragoo, and the unicorn would be Kaus.
COMMENT #40
I would name my unicorn Dreamy, a dragon Sirachi.
COMMENT #41
My first thought was Sebastian, a very dignified name, so I’m going to stick with that, although I think the dragon name chosen by Beverly who commented above me is the absolute best: Sirachi. What a perfect choice!
COMMENT #42
Not all of the tour stops have named a winner yet?