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I told you last month that my new Innova longarm machine was arriving soon. Well a few days after that newsletter I said Farwell to Willie and hello to FloMo. FloMo is a dream to quilt on and I loved every minute of quilting my first quilt, Innova Angles. I pulled out all of my rulers and had a blast quilting without a real plan and just doing what felt good next.

It got me thinking that maybe some of us don't do that enough. Do you every quilt with abandon? Without a plan? Without caring if anyone else will like it? I learned a lot from this little quilt. I learned that I need to let go a bit and I reminded myself to have fun and stop worrying so much about what I'll get in the end.

If you don't quilt with abandon, I highly recommend it! if you want to see what I created when I quilted with abandon check out my Innova Angles quilt here.

What's Going On

<div align="center"><a href="http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/cross-the-drunkards-path-quilt-along/" title="Cross the Drunkard’s Path Quilt Along"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2946/15207024787_3e6fc963c5_m.jpg" alt="Cross the Drunkard’s Path Quilt Along" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

The Cross the Drunkard's Path Quilt Along is underway. If you've ever wanted to make a Drunkard's Path quilt now is the time! Join in at any time, make any project you want. Get all of the details here.

Recreating Antique Quilts Giveaway

There's a great new book on the market called Recreating Antique Quilts by Wendy Sheppard. It's a beautiful book with projects based on 5 antique quilts. You can have a chance to win a free copy by leaving a comment on this post.
I made a table runner from the book using 2 of my hand dyed gradients. I shared detail cutting instructions here.

Sugar Maple Gradient

Anole Shades

Wildfire Shades

Sienna Shades

Shop News!

Inspired by a stunning Sugar Maple tree in my front yard is my new Sugar Maple Gradient. The gradient has a lot of depth of color and texture and there are 3 coordinating Shades packs. Just click on any of the images above to see (or order) these fabrics.

Blogger's Quilt Festival and my Zombie Ball Quilt

Have you checked out all of the quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival? If not please take some time and look through all of the quilts. There's some great inspiration there. You can reach the links to every category on the home page.

My entry was my Zombie Ball quilt that I made for Benartex using Paula Nadelstern's newest fabric line. Check out Zombie Ball here and see just how simple this quilt is!

Facing Tutorial

Instead of a tip this month I have a new tutorial. To finish off my Zombie Ball quilt I chose a facing instead of binding. In this tutorial I demonstrated how finish a quilt with a facing. Get the PDF tutorial here.

Customer Gallery

Have you made anything from fabrics that you have purchased from me? If so, you have an opportunity to win your own personal 25% discount code on non-sale items for shopping in my shop! I have a Flickr group for customers to share photos of completed projects made with my fabrics. You are welcome to share any projects in process as well but only completed projects are entered into the drawing. Each month I draw a winner from the entries for that month. The winner receives a personal 90-day 25% discount for shop purchases.The winner will be announced here in the newsletter each month. You can see all of the customer projects in the Flickr Group. All other entries for the month will receive a 30-day 15% discount!

I have 3 great projects to share this month!

First are 2 projects by Lesie M. of MarvelesArt Studios blog and Etsy. She is known for her free motion quilting artistry. This table runner is made with the Navajo gradient and is beautifully quilted with winding feathers and dense background quilting that she is knows for.

This piece is also by Leslie. Admittedly you can't actually see the background fabric! She created Northern Lights for Superior Threads and you must go to her blog and see the close up photos.

Check out this great table runner made Pat F. She used Black and Redwood Shades Packs for this beauty. You can see more photos of this project and lots of other inspiring work at Pat's blog.

Be sure to check out the other great projects submitted by customers and add yours for a chance to win the discount next month.

I'm Sponsoring

Check out these projects that I'm sponsoring this year.

Fat Quarter Drawing

Each month I draw the email names of 5 current newsletter subscribers and post them here. As a subscriber you are automatically entered. If your email name is listed below Email me with your name and address and I will send you a free fat quarter of hand dyed fabric. I will not be sending any notification beyond this so if you miss it you miss the free fabric. You also must contact me from the listed email address.

The winners of this month's free fat quarters are:

lvs2quilt@____.net

belvassalsbury@____.com

balefire123@____.com

detta@_____.an

quilterwumon@_____.com

Inspiration

I am always drawn to meticulous forms of art. It's why I love Paula Nadelstern's kaleidoscope quilts and the machine quilting of Marilyn Badger. I recently discovered the work of a painter that falls into the same category. New York-based artist Shigeno Ichimura creates paintings with meticulously placed dots of paint. They are beautiful circular monochromatic canvases. Check them out on his blog.

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