I’m very excited to review Christina Cameli‘s wonderful new book, First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting, today! Christina is a lovely friend and fellow PMQG member (we are in the past-president-with-one-girl-and-one-boy club along with Jen) and an inspiring, encouraging quilt designer and FMQ teacher. I was so thrilled when she told me she was writing her first book… and now, getting to spend time with it is such a treat!

Christina gave a fabulous presentation at our PMQG meeting last Thursday and encouraged all of us to sketch and doodle leaves, lines, spirals, and other FMQ designs we might want to try in our quilting – using paper and pencil to get comfortable with the freehand stitching style she is such a master of. This was such a fun hour, and lots of us were still drawing at the end of the evening.

Her book introduces a whole series of clever, fascinating FMQ motifs and patterns and then shares tons of tips, advice, and techniques for creating your own. Here are just a few of the pebbles (one of my favorites) she’s sketched for inspiration.

And here is a perfect project to use them in – a simple, striking Pebble Pillow embellished with very cool diagonal FMQ sections!

The other designs I want to try first are her Quilt-as-you-go Quilt, which mixes 25 different FMQ patterns you create on smaller squares into one lovely project,

and her Scissors Skirt, which is just so cool.

Don’t miss Christina’s blog and the rest of her blog tour, including tons of giveaways. UPDATE: You can win a copy of this fabulous book (your choice of print or e-book for USA residents, e-book for international winners) by leaving a comment on this post by Saturday, October 5. I would love to hear about your quilting or sewing projects, so please share something fun.

Congratulations, Christina!!

First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting blog tour:

9/25: Allison Rosen at Stash Books Blog

9/26: Jessica Alexandrakis at Life Under Quilts

9/27: Monica Solorio-Snow at Happy Zombie

9/28: Susan Beal at West Coast Crafty

9/29: Kathy Mack at Pink Chalk Studio

9/30: Angela Walters at Quilting is my Therapy

10/1: Amanda Jean Nyberg at Crazy Mom Quilts

10/2: Megan Dye at Megs Monkey Beans

10/3: Victoria Findlay Wolfe at Victoria Findlay Wolfe Quilts

10/4: Katie Pedersen at Sew Katie Did

10/5: Christina Cameli at A Few Scraps