Book Release Celebration Giveaway Winners

THANK YOU to everyone who joined our book release celebrations and conversation.  We always enjoy hearing from our readers and it's been fun to read about how our project has inspired creativity and exploration.  From the 447 comments, we randomly selected three - Susanne, JB and Creatology.  A copy of the BOOK will be dispatched to them very soon.

Book Release Celebration Questions

It's not too late for you to join our book release party! Just click on the relevant link and leave your answer to one of the questions set out below. Each answer counts as a separate entry and all comments left by midnight Pacific Daylight Saving time on Thursday 17 March will go into a draw to win a copy of our new book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. We will announce the THREE winners on Friday.

1. What technical and/or social media tools have you found useful in building or participating in a creative online community? 
2. Throughout our Theme series we chose a wide variety of topics from concrete objects like "Chair" to abstract ideas like "Identity".  Which of the 12 themes did you like best (or which one did you find most inspiring)? Did you make a quilt from it?
3.  If you could pick our next Colourplay challenge, what palette or colour would it be?
4.  How do you create time and space for your art?
5. Are you (or were you) inspired to try a new technique from any of the Twelve by Twelve quilts? If so, which one(s)?
6. How many of our readers are art quilters, and did you follow the path Karen did, with traditional quilting first, or jump right into art quilting?
7. How much time do you spend every day (every week) reading art quilting blogs? Do you spend more time reading online than reading books?
8. What size art quilt are you most comfortable making or if you do not quilt, what size would you like to have hanging in your home?
9. So, which do you prefer, hand quilting or machine quilting?
10. If you could join a group like this, would you? If so, what appeals to you?  
11. What is your favorite finishing technique for art quilts?
12. How do you celebrate when you've completed a project?

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 12: Deborah and Twelve

I'm closing down this party! Yes, I'm introducing the last chapter from our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. Thank you so much for reading our twelve posts and celebrating with us! We have enjoyed your insightful comments so much. You'll have until midnight PDT on Thursday, March 17 to comment on any of the Book Release Celebration posts for a chance to win a copy of our book. The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Deborah Boschert

When Terry announced "twelve" as the last theme in our original series, I originally struggled with the idea. Actually, throughout the project, I found myself wrestling with how closely I should adhere to each theme. I didn't want to make quilts that were too obvious, nor did I want to make quilts that appeared to have no relation to the theme. I think I found a good balance with Seven Houses, Five Trees. I wrote more about this struggle and the process of creating the quilt in my chapter in the book.

Seven House, Five Trees by Deborah Boschert

So, for the last day of celebration posts, please tell us: How do you celebrate when you've completed a project?

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 11: Passion and Terry

Today is Day Eleven of our giveaway to celebrate the publication of our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. You know, by now, how this goes. Each day, for twelve days, we are asking you a different question. For a chance to win a copy of our book, just leave us a comment on any of the Book Release Celebration posts with your answer to the relevant question. Feel free to play every day! At the end of the twelve days, one lucky winner will be randomly selected. We will need to know how to contact you if you are the winner, so be sure to include an email address if you aren't linked to a blog or profile with that information. The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve theme series by Terry Grant

Terry Grant here. The chapter I wrote for the book was about the theme of Passion, proposed by Kirsten. Yikes! That was such a hard theme to come together in my mind, and yet it turned out to be probably the most ambitious of all the pieces I made for the theme series. My chapter talks about why I chose Frida Kahlo as the subject representing Passion and the research I did to create her portrait, as well as the varied approaches the rest of the Twelves took to Passion.

Passion and Pain by Terry Grant

One thing I determined early on was that for quilts of this size I seldom liked using a traditional binding to finish the quilt. It seemed too heavy for most of mine. Some I backed with a pillowcase backing, some I faced and some I finished using a technique I figured out that was essentially couching a piece of heavy perle cotton or cording of some kind around the edge (see Terry's online tutorial). For my passion piece, I tied little knots in the cording at each corner. So here is today's question:

What is your favorite finishing technique for art quilts?

Book Release Celebration!Introducing Chapter 10: Identity and Terri

Today marks Day Ten of our giveaway to celebrate the publication of our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge.  For a chance to win a copy of our book, just leave us a comment with your answer to our questions. Feel free to play every day! At the end of the twelve days, one lucky winner will be randomly selected. Please be sure we have a way to contact you if you are chosen to win a book. The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Terri Stegmiller

Hi everyone!  Terri here.  My chapter is about the theme Identity chosen by Helen.  This theme challenged us to think about who we are, our relationship to those around us, our contributions to society, and much more.  What identifies us?  What identifies you?  For my Identity quilt, I chose to portray the prominent roles I play on a day-to-day basis.  I started making a list and my key words (mother, daughter, wife, sister, teacher, cook, artist, quilter, friend) found their way onto my quilt.  These words are sewn into the spikes of hair.  The crazy sort of character on my quilt portrays how we can become overwhelmed at times trying to play many roles at one time.

Identity X9 by Terri Stegmiller

When I think back to when I was asked to join this group, I remember that I contemplated not joining.  I thought that perhaps I wouldn't have the time for it and I wasn't sure it was something I wanted to do.  Luckily I decided to join and I've never regretted it.

If you could join a group like this, would you? If so, what appeals to you? 

PS: Check out the Friends of Twelve by Twelve in the sidebar.  If you have been inspired by Twelve by Twelve and have formed an online group, let us know if you would like your group to be added to this listing.

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 9: Window & Kristin

Today is Day Nine of our giveaway to celebrate the publication of our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. As you undoubtedly know, each day, for twelve days, we are asking you a different question. For a chance to win a copy of our book, just leave us a comment on any of the Book Release Celebration posts with your answer to the relevant question. Feel free to play every day! At the end of the twelve days, one lucky winner will be randomly selected. (By the way, it is REALLY helpful if your comment is linked to a profile or blog that includes your e-mail address so that we can easily contact you if your comment is selected.) The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Kristin La Flamme

My (Kristin's) chapter is about about Window, a theme chosen by Gerrie. This challenge offered up an image to me right away, but other challenges were not always so clear. Much of our book is about our individual thought processes and how each of us approaches the same theme but in different ways. It is fascinating to see not just one way of approaching a design challenge, but twelve! The variety of approaches to this specific challenge was wonderful, and I write about each of our reactions, and how I went about making my own vision a reality in fabric.

Defenestration by Kristin La Flamme

This small quilt takes advantage of machine stitching, highlighted with paint, which was a new technique for me. But sometimes hand stitching is more appropriate, as with my zen-ish piece for our latest Colorplay challenge - Bonsai Tree of Life

So, which do you prefer, hand quilting or machine quilting?

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 8: Chairs and Gerrie

Oh, look! It is my turn. I almost didn't get this done on time. I am the last minute Twelve!! My name is Gerrie!

And, by now, most of you know the drill. I am going to say a bit about my chapter and then pose a question for you. If you leave a comment, you will get a chance to win a copy of our fabulous book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. Did you know that it is getting rave reviews? Just check out one from the list in our sidebar. The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Gerrie Congdon

When Deborah announced the theme of Chairs, I immediately thought of the stack of turquoise chairs that I had photographed in a salvage shop. I had so much fun creating this piece. It allowed me to use several different surface design techniques.

Salvage Chairs by Gerrie Congdon

Before I pose my question, I want to take the opportunity to say that this has been a most interesting and exciting adventure that I have taken with the other eleven women.

I changed my question. I was supposed to ask you what size quilt you would like to make in an online challenge such as this. That seems rather limted to me. What I want to know is, what size art quilt are you most comfortable making or if you do not quilt, what size would you like to have hanging in your home? I have loved working in the 12 X 12 format. It has become very comfortable for me. I am currently working on a 36 x 48 inch quilt, and it is much more difficult for me to wrangle under the sewing machine. I usually try to do very simple quilting on a large quilt.

I am looking forward to your answers!

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 7: Mathematics and Helen

Greetings from the UK!

;I bet you know how this works by now don't you?
There's a question at the end of this post. If you comment, giving us your answer, you go into a draw for a free copy of our book. And you make twelve quilters ridiculously happy to know that you are actually reading our blog and communicating with us! But please make sure that your comment includes a way for us to contact you in case you win or we shall be all sad not to be able to send you a nice glossy book. The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Helen Conway

Given my inabilty to add 2 and 2 without a calculator, it is ironic that I get to introduce the Mathematics chapter. Although thinking about it, my quilt was inspired by an adult learning late in life to count change, so maybe it is not that odd. It was also about the Obama election and how people's votes were being counted - with some people participating in democracy for the very first time. Really our Twelve by Twelve project has worked so well not just because of the participation of the members but also because of the participation of readers in commenting and setting up their own spin off groups (see Friends of Twelve by Twelve). So thank you!

Change by Helen Conway

Anyway, we are all enjoying totting up how many comments we get in this series of Book Release Celebration blog posts so why not answer today's question for us:

How much time do you spend every day (every week) reading art quilting blogs? Do you spend more time reading online than reading books?

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 6: Shelter & Karen

Today marks the half way point in our  Book Release Celebration series of posts. Remember, EVERYONE who joins the discussion by leaving a comment in answer to today's question will go into a draw to win a copy of our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Karen Rips

Hi everyone, this is Karen, and I'd like to talk to you about my chapter in our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge.  When Terri gave us the theme Shelter my mind went everywhere from park benches to home and hearth.  After trying out a few sketches that were totally unmotivating to me, I came at the issue from a different view point and using my travel photos as inspiration, I went on to depict Machu Picchu using painted interfacing and thermofax screens.  If you'd like to learn more, Gerrie and I both talk about the thermofax process in the book.

Lost City by Karen Rips

I started out quilting about 30 years ago with traditional quilts, and didn't really make my first art quilt until 2005.  I haven't looked back, and rarely make traditional quilts anymore.  I'm wondering how many of our readers are art quilters, and did you follow the path I did, with traditional quilting first, or jump right into art quilting?

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 5: Illumination & Brenda

The celebrations continue here at Twelve by Twelve and we invite all our readers to join the party by leaving a comment on any (or all!) of the  Book Release Celebration posts. Each comment counts as a separate entry in our celebration giveaway.  You could win a copy of our new book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Brenda Gael Smith

Greetings from Brenda in the "other" Copacabana in Australia. Improvisational piecing is my preferred quilting MO but being part of the Twelve by Twelve project has encouraged me to experiment with a variety of techniques.  In fact, despite having once declared that I would never do shibori again, I went on to incorporate shibiori techniques in four of my pieces in the Theme series.  This includes Radiance, the lantern-inspired feature quilt in chapter five of the book which looks at the Illumination theme in addition to setting out twelve compelling reasons to blog.  

Today's question is: Are you (or were you) inspired to try a new technique from any of the Twelve by Twelve quilts? If so, which one(s)?

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 4: Water & Françoise

Hi! This is Françoise here.

Twelve by Twelve Theme series by Françoise Jamart

As you know, we are having a giveaway to celebrate the publication of our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. Each day, for twelve days, we are asking you a different question. If you would like to have a chance to win a copy of our book, just leave us a comment with your answer to the question. You can play everyday if you wish. At the end of the twelve days, one lucky winner will be randomly selected. (By the way, it is REALLY helpful if your comment is linked to a profile or blog that includes your e-mail address so that we can easily contact you if your comment is selected.) The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

I wrote the fourth chapter of our book. The theme, chosen by Karen, is Water. In my chapter, I explain why I chose to work with a picture of dew droplets and I show how my quilt evolved. I also tell you where I usually find my inspiration and what impact being a member of the Twelve by Twelve group has had on me and on my work.

Droplets by Françoise Jamart

Although my hubby made me a nice studio in a spare bedroom about a year ago, I still often have problems finding free time for my art. So here's my question for you today:

"How do you create time and space for your art?"

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 3: Community & Kirsten

To celebrate the release of our brand new book, "Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge" we are offering you a chance to win a free copy! Here's how it works:

Over twelve days, we are posting a question each day and invite you to respond in a comment. At the end of the twelve days, we'll randomly choose a winner (or winners!) from among those who have commented. Each comment you leave will count as a separate entry, so if you comment each day to answer each question, you'll have twelve entries.  The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Kirsten Duncan

My chapter in the book is Community and you are part of our community so we are loving this opportunity to get to know you better - it's so much fun to read everyone's comments, those from old friends and also those from people we haven't yet met.

Brunswick Street by Kirsten Duncan

The most common jumping-off point for me when making a new quilt is the palette that I will use for that quilt. Colour constantly thrills and inspires me. So my question for you is this -

If you could pick our next Colourplay challenge, what palette or colour would it be?

I haven't had my turn at choosing our palette for this Colourplay Series, so maybe you will influence me! Kirsten :)

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 2: Chocolate & Nikki

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series by Nikki Wheeler

We are so excited about our new book, "Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge" we couldn't stop our celebration at just one day.  Joining in the party is simple -- every day we will pose a new question about art, quilting, inspiration and community.  Leave us an answer in the comments and you will be entered in a drawing for free copies of our book.  Feel free to come every day, as every comment counts as a separate entry.   The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

Chocolate Desire by Nikki Wheeler

Throughout our Theme series we chose a wide variety of topics from concrete objects like "Chair" to abstract ideas like "Identity".  Which of the 12 themes did you like best (or which one did you find most inspiring)? Did you make a quilt from it?

Book Release Celebration! Introducing Chapter 1: Dandelion & Diane

Twelve by Twelve Theme Series Works by Diane Perin Hock

Hello, friends!  Diane here!

We are celebrating the release of our brand new book, "Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge"with a chance to win a free copy of the book!  Over the next twelve days, we'll post a question each day and hope that you'll respond in a comment!  At the end of the twelve days, we'll randomly choose a winner (or winners!) from among those who have commented. Each comment you leave will count as a separate entry, so if you comment each day to answer each question, you'll have twelve entries! The book drawing is closed.  Stay tuned for the winner details.

We have learned so much about each other through our challenges, and now we want to learn about you, too!  So join in -- check each day to see what the question is, and do comment with your answer. 

In the book, I wrote the introduction explaining how our Twelve by Twelve group got started and how the internet has enabled us to form a cohesive group even though many of us have never met in person.  In the first chapter, I talk about how I chose the theme "dandelion," how my piece (pictured below) evolved, and how exciting it was to see our first set of challenge quilts revealed online.  Because the Internet has played such an important role in our challenge, here is my question:

We Twelves share our project using this blog, our website, and now our book.  We use Facebook to announce challenge reveals and other current news.  We also use a Yahoo group for our internal communications, to plan, chat, and deal with housekeeping matters. What technical and/or social media tools have you found useful in building or participating in a creative online community?  

Blowin' in the Wind by Diane Perin Hock

Introducing Twelve by Twelve: The BOOK!

Did you know that the collective noun for a group of larks is exaltation?  It could equally apply to the Twelves with all the excitement, exhilaration and heart-bursting wonderment we are experiencing as we take delivery of the author copies of our new book  Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge published by Lark Crafts. Kristin received her books in Hawaii today and our mosaic is complete:

Today 1 March also happens to be the official release date for the book which is AVAILABLE NOW from a range of suppliers including:

• directly from your closest Twelve including online from Deborah (Crofton, Maryland), Nikki (Poulsbo, Washington), and  Gerrie and Terry (Portland, Oregon);
• USA: Barnes & Noble and Amazon;
• UK and Europe: pre-order from GMC Publications;
• Australia: in store at pompom rouge (Townsville) and coming soon to Can Do Books (Hawthorn, Melbourne) who will be selling at the Australasian Quilt Convention and Craft & Quilt Fairs throughout Australia in 2011; and
• New Zealand: Minerva/New Zealand Quilter who will have a stand at the Remarkable Symposium in Christchurch..

We can't wait to share the BOOK with you! To celebrate, we will have a series of posts starting tomorrow 2 March introducing you to the book, artist by artist, chapter by chapter. We invite you to join the discussion as we pose a question each day and to enter into the draw to win your very own copy. In the meantime, you might be interested to read these reviews  by quilters and art quilters Virginia Spiegel, Pat Sloan, Rayna Gilman, and Kathie Briggs.