Beyond Neutral Book Tour Stop + Giveaway!

When John Adams, aka Quilt Dad, asked me to be a part of his blog book tour for his new book, Beyond Neutral, I didn't hesitate for a moment. I instantly knew I absolutely wanted to be a part of it as soon as I saw the cover of the book. I know you should never "judge a book by it's cover," but I can't fight love at first sight when it comes to quilts. It's just not possible for me.

Initially, I had misread the title of the book and for a hot minute I thought it was titled, "Beyond Nature," and a few of the images inside kept me thinking that was the title until I took a second, longer look at the cover. And it's definitely titled Beyond Neutral.

Katmai quilt image courtesy of Martingale. Photographed by Brent Kane.
The quilts are so beautifully presented in a coordinating natural environment, it's hard not to love all of them.

Cayucos quilt image courtesy of Martingale. Photographed by Brent Kane.
This book is full of stunning quilts that look incredibly dynamic, if not challenging, but John's instructions on how to use standard piecing methods, good design elements and out of the box fabric placement make all of these quilts far more approachable to the average quilter than you might think they are when you first look at them.
He even makes room to show you how the quilting can really set a design apart and be the star, not just the pattern design or the fabric choices.

Pinnacles quilt image courtesy of Martingale. Photographed by Brent Kane.
I am still totally head over heals for book cover quilt, Pacific Crest. It's my favorite quilt in the entire book, and there are some great winners in here.

Pacific Crest quilt image courtesy of Martingale. Photographed by Brent Kane.
And then I spotted the Triton Cove quilt and I found my favorite fabric combination that John put together.

Of course, out came my Tula Pink Neptune scraps.

I bugged John to find out what the greenish shot cotton was that he used in the Triton Cove quilt. It's Kaffe Fassett's Woven in Spruce. John is a master at mixing designers and fabric collections. I tend to stick with making my quilts from one fabric collection, but John really challenged my standard process here and it was a nice break from the norm for me.

I pressed my Neptune scraps to see what I had on hand to work with.

The sewing was quick. In no time I had a pile of HSTs (aka Half-Square Triangles) ready to go onto my design wall.

And up on my design wall they went.

This quilt design and fabric combination has the amazing ability to flow around the room when you look at it from different angles.

I was also super-flattered by John's shout out to me in the acknowledgements of his book. It's no small honor to find your name in print like that. It truly means the world to me, John.

And John really challenges you to reconsider quilt background fabrics other than whites, cremes and other neutrals. He demonstrates an incredible skill for fabric placement throughout the book. It's fun to simply page through it and daydream about your next quilt project.

Glimmerglass quilt image courtesy of Martingale. Photographed by Brent Kane.
---- And you can win your own Beyond Neutral eBook!

The Rules

1. Leave ONE comment to enter. Make sure your contact info is in your profile or that you leave it in the comment.
2. In your comment tell us which Beyond Neutral quilt you're inspired to make from the book.
3. Comment entries must be left on this blog, www.jaybirdquilts.com, to be valid. Comments sent via E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media will not be counted.
4. Simple as that!!
You have till 9PM PST on Wednesday, September 24th to enter.
Winner will be selected by
True Random Number Generator.
Good luck!

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/