Sunday, August 10, 2014

McTavish Review Winner!

Many thanks to all that participated in the Book Review and Giveaway of Karen McTavish's "Mastering the Art of McTavishing - 2nd Edition - Expanded and Revised" book !
Your feedback and excitement about learning to "McTavish" was amazingly uplifting and encouraging.

Machine quilting is one of my favorite things to do -- and this stitch is so very forgiving -- even if you "think" you can't do it I would love for you to give it a try.

The best tip I would share would be to use a thread that matches your background color, and that is  very fine, so that your backtracking and mistakes are nearly invisible.

Next, use the same color thread in the top and bobbin so that slight variations in tension do not show.

I always turn to Aurifil Mako Cotton 50wt thread for my top and bobbin.  Quilts like a dream!

Use a panel as a practice piece -- if you like it when you're done -- turn it into a wall hanging or Envelope Pillow (as shown below -- see the tutorial here). 
Dense McTavishing makes applique pop -- so it's an awesome background filler on applique quilts.  You can see before and after shots of Winter Apple (by Blackbird Designs) here.
And the movement that McTavishing provides in a quilt cannot be topped.  I love the way it worked out on my Redbird and Berries Mini Quilt -- a free recipe you can download from the Moda Bake Shop (click here).
So don't be shy about giving McTavishing a try -- it's versatile, forgiving, fun and just beautiful!
Now -- on to the winner of the book....   Rafflecopter chose the winner randomly and came up with
Marly !!  Congratulations Marly - I've sent you an email and will ship your book and DVDs out as soon as I hear from you.

** Many thanks to Karen McTavish and On-Word Bound Books for providing a copy of Karen's new book to review and giveaway **

You can order your copy of the book at On-Word Bound Books by clicking here.

Thanks again all for participating -- stay tuned for another upcoming giveaway and more fun!

Have a wonderful week.

Karen

13 comments:

  1. Thanks, Karen, and thanks to all the well wishers. I can't wait to get started!

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  2. An inspiring post Karen - and congratulations to Marly. It seems I might have to track down my own copy of the book now!

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  3. this book sounds just what I need and want, not available in the UK yet but it is on my wish list

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  4. beautiful and I love that winter apple ...the colors, stitching, everything :)

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  5. Your quilting is stunning. Your're certainly inspiring me to learn to fmq :)

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  6. Yes congrats Marly....thanks for the info too Karen...I need to check this book out!

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  7. Congratulations to Marly. Thank you for the encouragement to stop drawing and start sewing. Hopefully the sewing will look better than my sketches. Your work is beautiful.

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  8. WOW!! LUcky Marly...this book looks fantastic!! Karen, your quilting looks out of this world!! WOW!! I NEED this book!
    P

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  9. Those quilts are so inspiring. Thank you for the photo sharing

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