Summer time – and the learning is easy for every quilter with our newest Give Away!

Summer temperatures seem to rise in direct proportion to the number of summer family activities planned – sports programs for the kids, vacations planned for the family, grandchildren or friends visiting from out of town, etc. Sewing and quilting often fall off our To Do List as Quilt Guild meetings adjourn during the summer months and our minds turn to gardening, vacations, or, if we’re lucky, sipping cold iced tea on the deck while reading a good book – replacing our previous creative hours in the quilt room.

Scheduled quilt classes at the local quilt guild, quilt shop, or adult education facility are all but non-existent during the summer months. And if they happen to be available to you, can you really pin down one night a week for several weeks that you can be available to take a class during the summer?

The perfect summer solution? A quilt class in a subject which you’re interested, scheduled at a time you are free, in a comfortable environment where you don’t have to tote your heavy sewing machine, and at a place you can show up in your flip flops and bathing suit! And, since this IS “Quilting on a Budget” after all, we need this quilt class to be budget-friendly, too!

And yes, such classes DO exist! And YOU have a chance to win one in our newest GiveAway!

Quilting Weekly offers online classes for every quilter, no matter what your experience. Classes are complete. For example, the class titled Machine Quilting 101 is described by Quilting Weekly’s teacher, Chris Dahl, as follows:

• Watch my video on making the perfect quilt sandwich to avoid mistakes. - Learning how to put together the perfect quilt sandwich is extremely important. I'll show you this through another great video and give you detailed written instructions too.  So you can watch and read my tips at the same time if you want and never miss a thing!
• Find out what  "stitch in the ditch" and background fillers have in common. - You will learn this and many more useful tips for machine quilting in this class. Tips you wish you knew for the last quilt you quilted.
• Learn the secrets to "free motion quilting". - Mastering this skill is something quilters around the world struggle with.  If you want to learn the tricks to mastering quilting to create simple or complex designs, then you need to start with this quilting class. I share more tips and tricks in my videos including ways to help you eliminate tangled threads on the top or bottom of your quilts.
• Get perfect stitches with your free motion quilting. - Find out what the perfect size stitch is, and learn what not to do. You will love quilting by machine once you see how much fun it is and understand how to avoid common mistakes!
• With so many basting methods and marking tools on the market today how do you know what's best? After this class you will not only know what's best, but you will know when and how to use all of the marking tools available.

This is the perfect beginners class loaded with video help and plenty of step by step instructions.  The simple to do exercises in this class will have you quilting like a pro in no time at all.  Practice is the key, but knowing what to practice is even more important.

THIS WEEK’S GIVE AWAY – WIN A CLASS OF YOUR CHOICE FROM QUILTING WEEKLY!

Head to Quilting Weekly web site and read through the classes. Choose one you are interested in taking, come back here and leave a comment giving the name of the class you would like to win. THIS IS THE CLASS YOU WILL WIN if chosen, so choose carefully! Everyone must complete this step to be eligible to win.

Leave a separate comment for each additional entry.

For a SECOND ENTRY, blog about this Give Away. Be sure to leave your blog address in your comment.

For an ADDITIONAL ENTRY, follow me on Twitter and RETWEET any of my announcements of the Give Away (they are tweeted every other day) OR just copy and paste the following into your Twitter account:

RT: @BudgetQuilting Enter our newest GiveAway and learn something new! http://quiltingonabudget.blogspot.com

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA – GET A 25% DISCOUNT COUPON FOR A QUILTING WEEKLY CLASS!

EVERYONE who Tweets about this GiveAway and includes @sewonline in the Tweet will receive a coupon for 25% off any class at Quilting Weekly! If you’re not sure how to do this, just cut and paste the following and post it on Twitter:

@BudgetQuilting @sewonline Enter the latest Give Away and win your choice of quilting classes! http://quiltingonabudget.blogspot.com

The Fine Print

This GiveAway is open until midnight (EST), June 12. All entries must either direct me to your email address or contain your email address. Winner will be chosen on Saturday, June 13, 2009, and contacted via email. Winner will have 48 hours to return an email with confirmation of receipt. GiveAway is open to everyone.

THIS GIVE AWAY IS CLOSED - WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED AND CONTACTED VIA EMAIL. Thanks to all who participated!