"Dwellings" by Rayna Gillman

Yay!! Can you see me doing a little happy dance over here? Rayna Gillman’s new book, Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts, is my latest obsession. I think the book’s subtitle says it all…A Stress-Free Journey to Original Design. Two things that really float my own creative boat are “stress-free” and “original design.” One of Rayna’s personal tenets of design is also my own artistic mantra…there’s no such thing as a mistake!

This book shows you how to use free-form cutting and piecing techniques to bring some spontaneity to your quiltmaking using commercial fabrics, hand-dyes, hand-prints, leftover stashy bits, or even those not-so-pretty blocks you made oh-so-long-ago that have been sitting in a drawer for who-knows-how-long.

Rayna’s improvisational approach removes the fretting over straight edges or matching seams; she really knows how to transform the wonky into the beautiful! I think every single picture in this book is pure eye candy…from the inspiring finished quilts that Rayna and her students have made right down to the how-to shots of unusual combinations of fabric strips. She also proves that you really can make the most out of fabrics you’re not so fond of.

By sewing bits and pieces of different fabrics together into units with larger elements, before you know it, your imagination will spark and evolve and voilà…you create a truly original quilt!

As with my previous book, Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth, this is a process book that will take you on a journey where you can play, experiment, and make some detours along the way. The destination will be a surprise, but you’ll know when you have arrived.  —Rayna Gillman

One lucky person will win a copy of Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts! To enter, leave a comment telling us how you might have turned a mistake into a design opportunity in your own quiltmaking, fiber art, or crafting.