It's Giveaway Time!!

Snowblowing the first two feet of snow.

This past weekend, we experienced a huge blizzard, with high winds and over 30 inches of snow. Depending on where you live, that might not be such a big deal, but here in Maryland, that much snow can be a bit paralyzing. It takes quite a while for all the roads to get plowed, and ours was among the last to be cleared, so we were snowed in for four days. Both Kara and I (Teri) got a lot of stitching done though, when we weren't shoveling our respective driveways and sidewalks. Kara was working on some baby quilts and a wool project. I finished a model for a beginning appliqué class we will be teaching and worked on the appliquéd baby blanket for my new granddaughter.

Blizzard stitching: model for our beginning appliqué class

Fortunately, we experienced no power outages, so our time was pretty productive. I can be perfectly happy staying home for several days, unless I CAN'T go out, and then that is all I want to do. Instead, I enjoyed the beauty of the snow falling outside my window, and I watched movies, stitched, made soup, and read. And shoveled the front porch and sidewalk. Twice. But I digress.

For the past two weeks, we have written about a Baltimore album-style quilt that we helped to make for a dear friend. (See Here's the Story of a Lovely Lady... and Zooming in for a Closer Look.) We love Baltimore album-style appliqué, and we hope you have been inspired by some of the blocks from that quilt. To further inspire you, we thought it would be fun to do our first giveaway. We would like to offer you a copy of Elly Sienkiewicz's 30th Anniversary Revised Edition of Spoken Without a Word. 

Book cover, with cover pattern stitched by Bette Augustine

Remember the pineapple block from last week's post? Its pattern was also included in Elly's first book, printed in 1983. It is one of 25 patterns included in the book, most of which were drafted from antique Baltimore album quilts. (The butterfly pattern on the cover was drawn by Elly's mother.) The original book has been reprinted within this edition, along with many pictures of contemporary models of the patterns.

I worked as Publication Manager with Elly on this book. The best part of the job was communicating with so many of the lovely ladies who stitched blocks or quilts using these patterns. I was blessed to have "met" stitchers from Australia, Canada, and many states in the U.S., learning some of the stories of their quilts. The needlework is stunning and inspiring. And we'd like for you to have a copy! If you already own the book, it would make a great gift, so we hope you will still enter.

Kara and I teach a couple of classes using patterns from the book. The blocks we've made are pictured below.

Eight-Pointed Star With Sprigs of Berries, by Kara

Eight-Pointed Star With Sprigs of Berries, by Teri

Rose of Sharon, by Kara

To enter for a chance to win this book, Spoken Without a Word:

1. Leave a comment on the blog. (If you are reading this in email, just click on the title to head to the blog site.)
2. In your comment, tell us what your favorite fairy tale is.
3. To be entered in the drawing, your comment must be in by Monday, February 1, at 12 noon, EST. 

We will be choosing a name from the entries at random and announce the winner next week. Please be sure that we have enough information about you to identify you. For instance, if you don't want to include your last name, tell where you are from so we know which "Mary" likes Cinderella, such as Mary from Timbuktu.

Thanks for visiting! It's always a pleasure to hear from you, and we can't wait to learn what your favorite fairy tales are. And just so you know, there is more to come about fairy tales in the future. Stay tuned!