Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop - Giveaway

And so the Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop Blog Tour kicks off on the blog of their newest member, me!  If you want to see all the dates and places of the tour, with more chances to win this book along the way, go to the end of this post for more info.  And for a chance to win a copy of Shape Workshop for Quilters, please leave a "top tenuous" comment on this post.  Now a "top tenuous" comment comes from a UK radio show where people have to phone in with their most tenuous link to a famous person, eg, my Mum's dog has her hair cut by Katy Jones' next door neighbour.  So your most tenuous links to any of the five Fat Quarterly team members, the more absurd the better.  One comment per person to win the book.  Mr Random will pick the winner in a week but I will be entertained along the way by your comments!

And for my stop on the blog tour, I have decided to host an interview with the most eccentric member of the team, my real life friend Katy Jones, known online as I'm a Ginger Monkey.  Although she is as tall as a giraffe, has many tattoos, wears outlandishly stylish clothes, has a designer haircut and cinema 3D type glasses, you'd think she would be a scary person in real life and in fact she is as nice as pie.  And here is my interview with her, interspersed with photos from the book.

1. Firstly can you tell us a little bit about each of the four of you who have written this book.

Tacha is the glue that holds the rest of us together. She's organised, focused, determined and looks quite serious. I say LOOKS quite serious because Tacha can reduce me to a fit of giggles with a single look, she has a dry sense of humour that is actually a little bit naughty. John is our big brother - both in stature (he's 6'4" or something huge) and personality. He's a complete whizz with words, and having the male personality in the group keeps us grounded (although truth be told, John is as much of a girl as the rest of us). It's a running joke amongst ourselves that John and I are the eye candy - everyone else makes these crazily complicated quilts and we stand around batting our eye lashes. Try to imagine John batting his eye lashes and looking all pretty, it's quite funny. We all feel crazily protective of him, because he's our brother. Brioni likes to make complicated quilts. If there's an easy quilt to make she won't be doing it, or she'll make the block teeny tiny just to make it harder. She once made a fussy cut english paper pieced quilt in 6 weeks - completely finished in 6 weeks. Brioni is from Yorkshire and those familiar with Yorkshire will understand what I mean when I say she's a true Yorkshire woman - she has a fantastic, dry, cutting sense of humour. And then there's me. Um. I'm not good at talking about me. I like cats. *bats eyelashes*

2. How did Fat Quarterly come into being?

We had all met through various swaps on flickr. It was Tacha that finally brought us together as a group though.  Tacha contacted us individually and asked if we would be interested in doing something together. The initial idea was quite different to how FQ is now, more of a few patterns together and less of a magazine. It has evolved into a magazine that we like to think showcases new and emerging talent, both in fabric and quilt design - a kind of stepping stone into the industry for people that might not have had anything published before. Our main focus is on the community we are part of and championing it.

3. What is Fat Quarterly (the e-zine) all about?

The basic idea for Fat Quarterly was for a more modern quilting magazine that we felt wasn't really represented in the more traditional print magazines available at the time (I think we are still quite unique). We knew we couldn't do that in a printed form without a massive cash injection that none of us had, so we went down the digital road. We were clear in our minds about what we wanted to see in a magazine, and have stayed true to that focus. Fresh, modern, up to date projects using designer fabrics for a variety of skill levels and demonstrating a variety of techniques. We have a theme for each issue (the latest issue is set around the theme of Kids - creating with and for them) and the projects are all related to that particular theme. The magazines have no advertising in them (the only exclusion to that is the special issue we are releasing to coincide with the Fat Quarterly retreat in June), so within the 90-odd pages you get pure content. We are unique in that way, and consequently we don't have a big old pot of money to play with as most magazines draw revenue from advertising, but for $8 an issue, the price of a single pattern, you get practically a book.

4. And how did the idea for doing a book come about?

Within the magazine or on our website we have designer challenges - either a shape, a block, or a fabric and designers that we pick from our readership or twitter make something using whatever the challenge is on that particular occasion. The book came about from that same idea but expanded - each chapter is a different shape, and within that chapter there are 10 different blocks (a mix of traditional blocks and modern interpretations of traditional blocks, and new blocks), and 2 quilted projects (1 large, 1 small). It's always great to see how different peoples' minds work out the solution to a problem or challenge, and I think the book's premise shows our own personalities and strengths within the blocks and projects.

5.  Who is the book aimed at?

The book is aimed at any quilter - there are projects that are aimed at each level of quilter, from absolute beginner right through to the experienced quilter. We would like to think there is something for everyone within the pages. It's also a perfect book for someone thinking of joining a quilt bee - the 60 blocks are all 12" finished which is the general size used for the online quilting bees we have been part of over the years. I guess the idea isn't just about the patterns and the projects but hoping that it might encourage you to think about how you can use the different shapes in your own projects and as you develop as a quilter.

6. What makes your book different from any of the other modern quilting books being published at the moment?

Unlike most other quilt books that are mainly projects or quilt blocks we have both. The chapters are clearly separated so that all of the blocks in each chapter use the same fabrics/colourway, for example all of the polygon blocks are made using kona solids in blues and greys. We hope that the book becomes a reference book in every quilter's library that they can pull out every time they need some fresh inspiration.

7. And now some quick fire questions:

Fave all time quilt you've made:

At the moment my favourite is probably Hexy MF, although orange soda from the book comes a close second.

Worst quilt you've ever made:

There have been a few. The worst one in that the one I am most disappointed with was probably a hexagon quilt I made for Leo, my son, that doesn't look bad at all but I had ideas above my station and thought I could hand piece something amazing (the piecing is ok) and then hand quilt it with a fine cotton thread. I managed to hand quilt one hexagon flower before giving up, and tying it with buttons. It's lumpy (I used a wool batting) and wonky and although does it's job of keeping him warm it reminds me I failed.

Fave quilt someone else has made

A double wedding ring quilt that Erica Ray made and I found on flickr. I absolutely adore this quilt - everything about it is pure perfection, I look at it quite often and just sigh. It's my one day, when I'm a grown up quilt.

Fave quilt you made in the book

Orange soda. I love it. I love love love love love it so much.

Fave other quilt in the book 

This is tricky. Probably Tacha's Nordic Star quilt because her use of dresden plates is genius, although I also love the simplicity of John's flickering stars pillow and the design of Brioni's saw blade quilt.

Fave fabric line ever

Ever ever ever? Building blocks by American Jane. It was that line of fabric that first got me thinking I might want to make a quilt. I still love her fabrics, they are timeless and perfect for everything. I would still go out and buy up every print from that collection now, and it's about 5 years old now.

Fave fabric designer ever

Sandy Klop of American Jane. I buy her fabrics, I hoard them, I love her. She has a style that is undeniably hers and immediately recognisable.

Fave colour

Red. I don't necessarily use it all that much but it's my favourite and I'm always inexplicably drawn to anything red. Including nail polish and shoes.

Fave drink

A really cold bottle of corona, with lime. I actually drink very little but a corona always makes things better, more relaxed, more fun, and just makes me feel happy inside.

Fave food

I am constantly craving really good pulled pork sandwiches or barbeque food. In fact I have some pork slow cooking in the crock pot now for pulled pork sandwiches tonight. With a smoky barbeque sauce. Yum. Apparently Kansas City (where Spring Market is this year) is a great place for barbeque - I'll be dragging the others around trying to find me some ribs and pulled pork.

Fave place in the world

I love the size of the US, the fact that it sprawls, that the sky is so huge and everything is bigger there than in the UK. Food portions are huge (I like to eat), everything is cheaper than it is here (don't get me started on the price of gas in the UK), but I don't really know if I could live there.  So I think my most absolute favourite place in the world ever is London. If I could move there right now I would, I'd live in the hustle and bustle of East London close to my brother and one of my best friends and my kids would grow up way more streetwise and independent than there are being in the Countryside and getting driven all over the place.

Tell us a joke
This horse walks into a bar.
The barman says 'why the long face?'

Hmm, rubbish, isn't it?

Tell us an embarrassing story about yourself
The most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me without a doubt was last year at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. We had a booth for the first time and taught some classes. Everything was wonderful....except for a lecture on Social Media and Blogging that Tacha was supposed to take but had been ill (quite seriously, in the hospital and it had been touch and go as to whether she would come to FoQ at all) and at the last minute I said I'd do it for her, thinking the class would be about 5 people and I could grab coffees and we could have a bit of a chat about twitter and the like, all round a table and passing the ipad round. I had absolutely no prep, because I hadn't expected to do it and I hadn't expected anyone would actually go.
In fact there was a large room, set out lecture style with mic and lectern and me stood at the front thinking 'oh crap no'. By the time everyone arrived there were over 30 people and they all sat there looking at me like I was going to tell them something interesting, informative and worth the money they had paid. 3 walked out. You know the day is bad if people walk out of your class. I just wanted the floor to open and swallow me up. It was terrible. The rest of the weekend involved people coming to the booth to tell me how bad the lecture was, I needed a drink after that.

OK so a quick reminder (i) leave a top tenuous comment for a chance to win a copy of the book and (ii) visit the rest of the stops on the tour for reviews, giveaways and block tutorials from the book:

5/24  Handmade by Alissa: www.handmadebyalissa.com/
5/29  In Color Order: incolororder.blogspot.com/
5/31  Comfort Stitching: comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/
6/4  Generation Q: generationqmagazine.com/
6/7  Sew Mama Sew: sewmamasew.com/blog2/
6/12  Pat Sloan: patsloan.com/
6/14  WhipUp: whipup.net
6/18  Sarah Fielke’s The Last Piece: thelastpiece.typepad.com/
6/22  Fat Quarter Shop: fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
6/26  Diary of a Quilter: www.diaryofaquilter.com/
6/28  Amy’s Creative Side: amyscreativeside.com/blog/
7/3  A La Mode Fabric: alamodefabric.blogspot.com/
7/6  It’s Sew Kiki!: kiki-itssewkiki.blogspot.com/
7/10  Craft Buds!: www.craftbuds.com/
7/12  Craft Foxes: www.craftfoxes.com/
7/16  {sew} Allegorical: www.sewallegorical.com/
7/18 Wrap-up Party back at FatQuarterly.com!