Monthly Small Quilts Update - Where to Buy the Book

Some of you have e-mailed me asking where to find the book we'll be using for the monthly small quilt challenges - The Civil War Sewing Circle. Last fall, we talked about it in our Facebook group and decided to work on quilts from this one.  And then shortly after I sold out of any copies I had left.  It's out of print now but you can still find some copies floating around on the internet. Unfortunately, the price is often marked up drastically by some who are selling copies (Not me - And I wouldn't buy from someone who charges more than the retail price.)

A good alternative to a hard copy of the book is to get an e-book from Martingale, my publisher. You simply purchase the book for $16.99 and download instantly to your computer or iPad. A good (and relatively affordable) solution for international members of the Facebook group as well. You can purchase all of my books this way and save on shipping.

Here's the link to buying an e-book

Print out the specific pages for each quilt as we work on them. We'll be making six quilts from the book this year and that comes to about $3.00 per pattern. Cheap, if you ask me.

Here are a few tips on downloading the e-books

Monthly Small Quilt Challenges for 2020

Kick off this year with a bang by making one of my favorite small quilts for the January 2020 small groups, small quilt challenge. Civil War Stars. Yes, it's an oldie but still a good one. There are many who are new to my groups, my blog and my books who haven't made any of the quilts that were made in the earlier challenges. (We've been doing these challenges in groups since about 2008.) Since my next book won't be out until later this year, some asked to make quilts from a different, earlier book and the suggestion was The Civil War Sewing Circle.  If you have the book, follow along and make the quilt why don't you?  If you make it now it'll be ready to display on the Fourth of July. If you'd like to join in and need a book, I have a few copies available on my website.

Here are some of the other quilts from The Civil War Sewing Circle book that we might be making this year -

We'll be alternating projects every month. Odd-numbered months will be a quilt from the book and even months will be a small themed quilt that will be a free pattern or perhaps just a suggestion to be creative in some way without using a pattern. Stay tuned for the quilt for February. I'll bet it will be something like - "Use red or pink fabric to make a quilt . . . ."  Ha ha.  Okay, maybe I'll try to be a little more specific than that. 

Have a good weekend! If you haven't started the first block of my Mystery quilt yet, time's a wasting.

Mystery Quilt Sew Along 2020

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a good Christmas. The holidays were hectic, as usual, but very nice.

Good news - Today I started a new Mystery Quilt Sew Along for 2020 in my small quilt groups. Here are the first couple of blocks. You'll find the pattern in Files in the Facebook group or on the Mystery page on my website (see links below) -

Every month I'll post a free pattern for a block (or blocks) to make another part of the quilt. I'll be sewing along with all of you and, if you keep up, all the parts of the quilt should be finished by summer 2020. When the "Mystery" is finally revealed,  you can spend the rest of the year putting it together and finishing it up. Sew along with us! Just go to the Facebook group files or the Mystery Quilt page on my website to download the patterns. Join in the fun. Details and block directions can be found in the first step -  Welcome to the 2020 Mystery Quilt..

We'll still be working on making small quilt challenges this year as well. Some in the group have decided that they wanted to make quilts from one of my books - The Civil War Sewing Circle - and so we'll be using that book for our projects during the odd-numbered months. You will need the book for the patterns if you wish to join in these challenges. I'll post the name of that first quilt in the Files on January 2. During even-numbered months, we'll try making small quilts with a theme. Still working on how we'll do that.

Beginners are welcome to join the Mystery. Most of the blocks are fairly simple. This is a no-pressure, do-it-at-your-own-pace project. There will be plenty of time. Pick your own colors and fabrics from your stash or scraps. I am making mine scrappy using some of my favorite colors, like BLUE, red, black and tan but you are welcome to make your quilt any way you please.

This is our fourth annual Mystery. So far it's been great fun to see everyone's progress posted in my Facebook group. Here are some of the quilts from our previous Mysteries -

2017

2018  (uh oh, mine is still in progress . . . )

2019

Hope you are able to get some quilting done this year. Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy and productive new year!