Our #BookOfTheWeek is Jelly Filled -18 Quilts from 2 1/2'' Strips. Meet Vanessa, sew a Smart Cookie Quilt and win the book from C&T Publishing. Website: https://blog.lellaboutique.com Instagram/Facebook: @lellaboutique

It was inevitable that I should become a quilter. Before I was even born, I was visiting quilt shops with my mother. As a child, my brothers and I were surrounded by shelves full of quilting fabric, the constant whir of Mom's Bernina, and piles of patterns ready for mailing. I never made plans to follow in my mother's footsteps, but somehow the fates decided differently... After becoming a mother a decade ago, I became reacquainted with my sewing machine and began quilting during naptime. One thing lead to another and I found my true love in pattern writing and fabric design. I have two active children, Olive and Lorenzo, who also like making things and keep life interesting down in southern Utah.

Our #BookOfTheWeek is Stitch, Fibre, Metal & Mixed Media. Meet author Alysn Midgelow-Marsden, make Bauble Pods and #win the book from Search Press.

I lived in the Midlands of England for most of my life, and developed the Beetroot Tree Gallery, until moving to New Zealand in 2012. I now live in a beautiful coastal retreat about an hour north of Auckland (New Zealand’s largest city) and concentrate 100% of my time creating, writing and teaching (when not sneaking off to the beach for some rejuvenating walking, swimming and beachcombing – but please don’t tell my husband!). Much of my current interest reflects this coastal environment and a long ago Marine Biology degree. Like so many other textile artists I was introduced to stitching through my grandma at an early age and also clearly remember school sewing lessons. The first school project was a shirt after which I was allowed to create an abstract ‘composition’ with layers of coloured net and machine stitching. The realisation that sewing didn’t have to be lazy daisy, French Knots, zips or button holes was a revelation and a joy. At the same moment I was also discovering ‘modern’ art – the likes of Monet, Picasso, Mondrian, Klee etc. and the thought that I could marry the two was the start of a (very) long term connection to fabric, stitch and art. I continually feel that I have only scratched the surface in terms of the possibilities of my chosen medium, and long may that continue! I seem to have an experimental and curious nature leading to continuously evolving and changing works and media, investigating new dimensions as they develop. Currently I am working primarily in copper, bronze, brass, stainless steel and pewter in the form of metal shims and woven metal fabrics and wires, combined with a variety of plastics, paint media, papers, fabrics, pens, threads and natural objects.