Smash Your Precut Stash Blog Tour!

Good morning! It’s my pleasure today to be a stop on the blog tour for Kate Carlson Colleran’s and Elizabeth Veit Balderrama’s new book, Smash Your Precut Stash!

I am a tiny bit addicted to precuts, so when I learned there would be a new book devoted just to them, I jumped at the chance to review it. There is just something about having a piece of each design in an entire collection that deeply satisfies the collector in me. Although I love to mix and match fabrics as much as the next person, and that was indeed how I began quilting, I’ve come to appreciate how working within a collection gives you a chance to connect with the vision of the fabric designer. I love trying to channel my interpretation of their visions into a finished quilt. Precuts offer a perfect opportunity to do just that without having to spend a lot on yardage, and I enjoy the challenge of trying to create a design that plays well with one of the many formats that exist.

Kate and Elizabeth go one step further in their book, devising patterns that utilize popular precuts, but also encouraging readers to mix in coordinating fabrics. Many of the patterns include options for using different types of precuts–for example either jelly roll strips or charm squares–to cut the same patchwork components needed for the finished project.

The authors kindly provided a few questions for us to answer during our stops on the blog hop, and here are a couple of my answers:

What color do you have the most of in your stash?

This is an interesting question, because my favorite color is red, and I have almost no red in my stash. I guess I have trouble finding the perfect red when I’m shopping. Perhaps it’s easier for me to fall in love with other colors in fabric because I don’t hold them to the same impossible standard?

Of course, my other favorite color is white–which I use all the time for backgrounds–and I buy that by the bolt. :)

What is your favorite precut to use or what do you have the most of in your stash?

Charm squares are definitely my favorite precut, even though many of my applique designs require larger pieces. Charms are just such wonderful (and easy) impulse buys: a whole collection of fabric for the price of a couple of lattes? Yes, please!

What is your favorite pattern in the book?

I love many of the patterns in the book, and it would be fantastic to see them made up in various fabric collections (Elizabeth and Kate included a gallery of quilts that does a bit of just this). Two of my favorites are Down the Garden Path (above), which taught me a new way of making French braid units, and Bits ‘n’ Blocks, which seems like a perfect design to showcase a mini-charm pack (another tempting impulse buy for me…)

Kate and Elizabeth have generously provided me with a copy of the book to give away to a lucky reader. If you are in the US, you will receive a paperback copy of the book, and if you are outside of the US, you’ll receive an electronic copy. To enter, simply leave a quick comment below so that I will have a way to contact you; if you’d like, I’d also love to hear what your favorite precut is and why! Edited to add: I forgot to give a deadline for this giveaway-sorry about that! The giveaway will be open until midnight on Friday, May 1, and I’ll choose and a winner at random on Saturday, May 2.

Also, make sure to visit these other stops on the blog hop to learn more about the book and enter for a chance to win!

Tuesday April 21: C&T Publishing

Wednesday April 22: Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quiltworks

Thursday April 23: Linda Pearl of The Patchwork Pearl

Friday April 24: Debbie Grifka of Esch House Quilts

Saturday April 25: Me!

Monday April 27: Becky Jorgensen of Patchwork Posse

Tuesday April 28: Susan Emory of Swirly Girls

Wednesday April 29: Pat  Sloan

Thursday April 30th: Seams Like a Dream

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