Mary Lou and Melanie Write a Book!

The internet is a wonderful place and I've met such kind and talented people.  Mary Lou Weidman is one of those people.  She and Melanie McFarland have written a book and Mary Lou asked me to tell you about it.  These ladies have bottled the joy of quilting and put it in a book.  When I read in the introduction, "Who wants to do things like everyone else?....Be a stray once and awhile!" I knew they were my kind of quilters.

I'm a self taught quilter. I like to learn on my own and I'm always looking for new ways to do things. When I looked at the quilts in the book I told myself, I know how to do that. Then I read the technique section.  These ladies have shared some interesting, unique techniques for making the blocks and shapes they use in their quilts.  I learned new improvisational techniques that I can and will apply to my own work.  I love a book where I actually learn something!

Mary Lou and Melanie are into letters and word in their quilts.  It's such a great way to personalize a quilt and again, more good technique information here!

This book is about making quilts, but for me it's also about attitude, doing your own thing, stepping out of the box, and viewing quilts from an artist's perspective.  Mary Lou and Melanie provide instructions for projects to make, but more importantly they offer great techniques that you can learn and use in your own original creations.
My favorite project in the book is this purple cow.  It's funny I don't like purple, but when I saw this cow I thought about the cow that blocked the road as I drove home the other day.  I just may have to make a giant purple cow, hang it in my new apartment to remind me of Kansas.

Mary Lou and Melanie have given me a signed copy of their book to give away. Just leave a comment and tell me your thoughts on improvisation...do you do it? Would you like to?
I'll draw a winner on Thursday! Don't know what time, so comment early!