Welcome to Day 4 of the blog tour for the best new book to hit our crafty book shelves.

Presenting...

Cultural Fusion Quilts, 
A Melting Pot of Piecing Traditions  
15 Free-Form Block Projects
by Sujata Shah 


Sujata is one of my very favourite quilters so when a bird told me she was writing a book to say I was excited was an understatement. The book certainly lives up to my expectations and more!

Let's start with a quick summary of the plot – Sujata has been making quilts for a long time starting with traditional quilts but along the way she has drawn on influences from her colourful childhood in India, a degree in Graphic Arts, American Gees Bend style quilts, and African textiles and weaving. She has gathered these ideas and developed her own free, joyful style. Now, in Cultural Fusion Quilts, she is sharing her free form, curvy, colourful techniques with us.


When I was writing notes about this book I found I soon had a long list of reasons why I think Cultural Fusion Quilts is a 'must have book'. You'd be here reading all day so I decided to narrow it down to 6 reasons beginning with the letters of Sujata's name.

1. Special memories. Sujata begins each project by introducing the inspiration for the quilt. These include memories of times in India, her family, special moments in a day and so on. I'm usually the kind of person that flicks through books to look at the pictures, but Sujata's observations had me captivated and I found myself flipping the pages to read her next description. It gives the book a personal touch, as though we're being told stories over a cup of tea.

2. Understand, that is, Easy to Understand. Sujata's experience as a quilt teacher shines through in the book.The projects and patterns are simply laid out, with clear step by step instructions and accompanied by coloured diagrams.

3. Jump to it !! That's what these free form quilts and projects make you want to do.Truly, As soon as I'd looked through the book I went to my sewing room and started cutting fabric for one of the quilts. As I've been sewing the Rocky Road to Kansas blocks I'm already thinking about the Endless Mountains quilts or the beautiful Winter quilt. It could be tempting to make one of each quilt, but it wouldn't stop there because for each project there are further Possibilities included, which brings me to the next point.

4. Abundance of ideas, There are 15 wonderful inspiring projects that each include a pattern for a quilt. In addition to each project there are pictures of other ways of using the blocks, inspiration photos, and sometimes more than one quilt using the same block. With all the different possibilities and inspiration photos there seems to be a lot more than the 15 projects provided.

5.Time efficient – The projects include instructions for stacking fabrics for quick cutting. Easy breezy!! This isn't something I have done much in the past. Not only was my cutting time minimised but I spent less time dithering over which fabrics to use in individual blocks, as long as I had a good contrast with fabrics the combinations worked perfectly.

6. Accessable - The book has something for everyone, for beginners and experienced quilters alike. For beginners, the clear instructions will have you sewing up blocks in no time. For more experienced quilters the book has great tips and tricks.  For everybody there's inspiration galore with awesome fabric and colour play. I love that because the blocks are free form, those wonderful irregular shapes are desired and not frowned upon by quilt police.


This Giveaway is now closed - Thank you to everyone for your wonderful comments. I can highly recommend buying this book if you aren't one of the winners, and follow along with the rest of the blog hop or visit the past blogs to read their reviews. 
The lucky winners are Jeanne, and Iris G, both of whom have been contacted by email. 


Okay , Enough of me raving – It's time for a giveaway.
C&T Publishing are giving away a copy of Cultural Fusion Quilts to US residents and Blue Mountain Daisy, that's me, is giving away a copy to an “International”. 
For a chance to win simply leave a comment about what You think sounds good about the book. And let me know if you're a US resident or International. 
I'll be randomly picking the 2 winners on Saturday 13th December ( Blue Mountains/Sydney, Australia time)
Good Luck!!

There are plenty of chances to win a copy of Cultural Fusion Quilts by following the Blog Tour. You can also have a chance to win a quilt made by Sujata by visiting her blog The Root Connection. 
It's a great line up of wonderful blogs to visit each day so join in the fun and follow along.

Tuesday December 2 Sujata Shah @ C&T Publishing

Wednesday December 3 LeeAnn Decker @ Nifty Quilts

Thursday December 4 Victoria Gertenbach @ The Silly Boodilly

Friday December 5 Rachaeldaisy @ Blue Mountain Daisy  - You're Here!!

Saturday December 6 Lori Dejarnett @ Humble Quilts

Sunday December 7 Casey York @ The Studiolo

Monday December 8 Malka Dubrawsky @ A Stitch in Dye

Tuesday December 9 Sherri Lynn Wood @ daintytime

Wednesday December10 Bonnie Hunter @ Quiltville's Quips and Snips

Thursday December 11 Jake Finch @ Generation Q

Friday December 12 Jan Burgwinkle @ Be*mused

Saturday December 13 Janet Treen @ Quiltsalott

Sunday December 14 Lindsay Conner @ Lindsay Sews


Yippee Yay For Cultural Fusion Quilts!! WooHoo!!! Lots of cheering!! :)

This Giveaway is now closed - Thank you to everyone for your wonderful comments. I can highly recommend buying this book if you aren't one of the winners, and follow along with the rest of the blog hop or visit the past blogs to read their reviews. 
The lucky winners are Jeanne, and Iris G, both of whom have been contacted by email.