Geared for Guys Book Tour

I'm so excited to be kicking off the 30 days, 30 blogs, 30 books tour to announce the release of a fantastic new e-book of 8 original quilt patterns called Geared for Guys.  OK, so I'm a bit biased -- author & fabric designer Emily Herrick (of Crazy Old Ladies fame) asked me to be a featured contributor ... and my quilt made the cover!

First off, if you're not familiar with Emily and her work, you really need to check out her blog.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

OK, glad you're back!  I'm sure you saw that not only is Emily an accomplished pattern designer, but a successful fabric designer with Michael Miller Fabrics.  (After the success of her first two lines -- Going Coastal and Hall of Fame -- Emily is all set to release her third line, A Shore Thing.)  And now, Emily can add author to that list.

Several months ago, Emily contacted me to see if I would be interested in collaborating with her on a new book project she was working on.  Of course, once she shared her idea of a e-book focused on quilt patterns  with "guy appeal", I was all in.  I was so happy to design a new original pattern to be featured in the book, and was excited to make my quilt with the Curious Nature line by David Butler.

We decided to call this quilt "Urban Decay", and here's how I describe the pattern in the book:

This quilt, with its decidedly masculine colors and prints combined with a design with structural and architectural overtones, should appeal to a wide variety of men in your life. Equally suited for the dorm room or den, Urban Decay is sure to be a conversation piece for years to come. 

I purposely designed this quilt to be fairly straightforward in its design; however, the mix of primary and secondary shapes combine in a variety of ways to make the quilt visually compelling. At first you might just notice squares and rectangles with some triangles mixed in; then, a secondary pattern of octagons begins to emerge; and finally, you can begin to see a very modern take on traditional quilt blocks like the churn dash and spool blocks. 

As a play on the overarching structural and architectural themes of the design, I decided to let the pattern begin to “fall apart” towards the bottom of the quilt. Simply by swapping out some printed blocks for solid counterparts, I created the illusion that this structure isn’t quite as sound as you might think. Whether it’s still in the process of being built -- or in the process of (not literally) coming apart at the seams -- this unexpected design element gives the quilt some movement as well as some visual interest. 

Of course, these elements of “decay” are optional -- you could choose a more straightforward construction approach. (If you do, be sure to adjust your cutting directions accordingly.) And, although I’ve included the directions and diagrams to make your quilt exactly like mine, feel free to play around and customize your “Urban Decay” element as much as you’d like.  Have fun, and make the design your own.

Urban Decay was quilted by my homegirl, the supremely talented Angela Walters!

I am, of course, excited to reveal my own quilt project from the book, but the other 7 patterns are really, really great as well.  I am confident in saying that there's something for every guy in this book, and Emily's patterns are so versatile that they would look great with many different fabric and color selections.

I sure hope that you want to get your hands on this great e-book, and I'm glad to be giving away the first free copy of the blog tour!  If you'd like to enter to win, simply leave a comment below and let me know if you're planning on making any quilts for the men in your life.  I'll randomly select a winner and announce it here on the blog shortly.  And be sure to follow along with the tour for 29 more chances to win.  Tomorrow's stop is at the Jolly Jabber, blog of the always fabulous Fat Quarter Shop.  Say "hi" to Kimberly for me!

If you simply can't wait to see if you've won, you can order the e-book (in PDF format) through Emily's Etsy shop.  You can also find all of Emily's standalone quilt patterns there, too.

** NOTE: GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR PLAYING! **