Category — Books / Magazines

Welcome to my stop of the Stitch Savvy Blog Tour! I was thrilled last month when author Deborah Moebes (of Whipstitch Fabrics) asked if I would like to review her latest book, Stitch Savvy: 25 Skill-Building Projects to Take Your Sewing Technique to the Next Level. This is Deborah’s second book, and in a way a sequel to Stitch by Stitch: Learning to Sew, One Project at a Time.

When the book arrived and I started flipping through it, I had some initial, non-content related impressions. First, it’s spiral bound – yay! Please tell me I’m not alone when I say I seriously get giddy over spiral bound craft books. I love having a book lay flat when I’m working on a project. Yes, it’s the little things in life. Second, there is a CD at the back of the book full of the patterns. I love this too! No spending time over at the copy shop scanning and enlarging pattern pieces. Third, this is a long book, there is a LOT of content in here. It’s over 200 pages!

The book is broken down into 5 sections – Home Decor, Patchwork and Quilting, Bags, Sewing for Children, and Clothing. That’s a huge variety of projects in one book.

I would say I’m primarily a quilter but I do like to try my hand at other things – sewing for my home, bags, clothing, sewing for my kids. There are lots of project in this book I would make. The above curtains would be great for my house. They are simple, classy and have some light embroidery at the bottom. Definitely something my husband and I could agree on for the house.

I am really drawn to this improvisational wall hanging.

So many bags, but I’m especially excited about the clutch with the metal frame. (The project on the cover of the book.)

I feel like everyone around me is having babies – how cute is this lovey?

And clothing – a knit top! Do I dare? It’s super cute so I just might.

Deborah also dives into a lot of topics that scare and mystify many of us – sewing with knits, buttonholes, installing invisible zippers, working with silks, selecting the right interfacing… These tips are scattered throughout the book like little bits of treasure.

Besides the book being broken down into the obvious sections or chapters, there are also work paths you can take through it. For example, after making the Sashiko Window Treatment I showed above, the book guides you to similarly styled projects such as the A-Line Skirt with Peek-a-Book Pleat (clean lines) or the Everyday Shoulder Bag (adding embroidery embellishments).

If you are looking for a book with a huge variety of projects, I think you will very pleased with Stitch Savvy. Thank you to Deborah and F+W Media for letting me check it out!

Big welcome today to those of you visiting from the Ruby Star Wrap-Along! Last October at the Sewing Summit, we received a copy of Ruby Star Wrappingby Melody Miller and Allison Tannery. This book is a beautiful collection of handmade ways to wrap and give gifts, as well as other fun surprises like recipes!

When Amy suggested a blog hop for the book, I knew immediately I wanted to feature a project that I could make with my 6 year old daughter. Today I’m happy to share with you The Simple Drawstring Bag.

I let my daughter pick her fabrics from my stash. Naturally she picked these adorable little girls and boys – a fat quarter I had been saving – So Happy Kids by Puti de Pome for Kiyohara Fabrics. That’s ok though, I can’t imagine a better use for it really.

We spent some quality time in the sewing room on Sunday. I cut the fabric and she pinned…

sewed…

and snipped.

The top of the bag is made with elastic thread. I *love* working with elastic thread – feels all magical. I did that part and then added the 6-year-old-required rose embellishment. See more about that on Katie’s blog hop stop.

She was very pleased with the end result and it really is perfect for little gifts.

You can make these easily in any size.

I think a tall skinny one would be awesome for gifting a bottle of wine. Or a Christmas ornament.

You can add a tie using a strip of fabric, ribbon, or baker’s twine. I put a little gift tag on one using plain tags from Office Depot and some Washi Tape. These smaller bags would be great for gift cards!

You can buy a copy of the book at the following shops:

Roostbooks
Sew, Mama, Sew
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Random House

If you make a project from the book, be sure to add it to the Flickr group.

And don’t forget to keep up with the rest of the blog hop!

11.7.12 Anna of noodlehead
11.9.12 Amanda of A Crafty Fox
11.12.12 Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson!
11.14.12 Brooke of Pitter Putter Stitch
11.16.12 Erin of Two More Seconds
11.19.12 Jennifer of BettyCrockerAss
11.21.12 Rochelle of Lucky Lucille
11.23.12 Sukie of Sukie – don’t you know who I am?
11.26.12 Elizabeth of Don’t Call Me Betsy
11.28.12 Gina and crew of Bolt Neighborhood
11.30.12 Ellen of the Long Thread
12.3.12 Katie of Swim, Bike Quilt
12.5.12 Me!
12.7.12 Lee of Freshly Pieced
12.10.12 Maureen of Maureen Cracknell Handmade
12.12.12 Sara of Sew Sweetness
12.14.12 Colleen of The Busy Bean
12.17.12 Amy of Diary of a Quilter
12.19.12 Monica of Happy Zombie

We had such warm weather over the weekend – 70 on Sunday! But boy did that drop and yesterday the high was a windy 35. This is the time of year I love to begin to hibernate at home. We kind of joke that we won’t see any of our neighbors for the next 6 months and it’d be true if it weren’t for the bus stop. (I also laugh in April when people start taking coats off at kid-pickup and you discover all sorts of new people are pregnant – just couldn’t see it under all the layers! LOL)

That really has nothing to do with today’s post, except maybe to say when I hibernate, it’s nice to have some magazines around to read. And it’s pretty cool that I have a quilt in the current Winter 2012 issue of Quilty! Do you remember my Candy Pinwheels quilt from last Spring? Well, you can imagine my excitement when none other than the SUPER nice Mary Fons emailed me and asked if they could include it with a full pattern in Quilty magazine. Um, let me think about that for about 2 seconds – YES!

It did take a bit longer to negotiate with my little 5 year old who was the current owner of the quilt. It was made special for her and she slept with it every night. And those of you that have/had/know 5 year olds know that a special blanket is not something to be taken lightly. What can I say, she ended up getting a Hello Kitty sewing machine out of the deal. I’m not above a little bribery. She was thrilled when it came back in the mail though.

You can find this magazine at stores now. I’ve seen it at Barnes and Noble and have friends that have even found it at their local grocery store (Kroger). There’s lots of great patterns inside, including some from Anna Maria Horner, Amanda Jean Nyberg (cover quilt!) and Mary Fons. I hope you will go check it out!

Today I’m happy to share a new book with you, Modern Designs for Classic Quilts: 12 Traditionally Inspired Patterns Made New (F+W Media) by Kelly Biscopink and Andrea Johnson. I first met coauthor Andie last Spring when I was in Cincinnati for the International Quilt Festival. She is part of the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild and they hosted a party one evening. A couple months later we worked together when organizing my visit to teach one Saturday at their guild. She is just the sweetest, funniest person. When she asked if I wanted to check out her new book, I jumped on the chance.

This book has 12 quilt projects that I think would inspire any modern quilter. You know I love solids…

Scrappy spider web – amazing! Something like this is on my quilt bucket list.

And I really love the minimalistic look of these off centered flying geese. And the dark solid background? It’s really striking.

Kelly and Andie also have a thorough tips and techniques section which is always helpful to those just starting out quilting.

Aren’t they cute?

Kelly, Andie and F+W Media were kind enough to send me an extra book for one of you. If you’d like to try to win the copy, leave a comment and I will pick a winner Friday, 11/9, evening!

And if you’d like to see more about this book – check out the blog hop!

11/5 : AndieJohnsonSews and Stitchy Quilt Stuff
11/6 : CraftBuds
11/7 : Darling Jill Quilts
11/8 : Me!
11/9 : Generation Q
11/10 : Quilting is my Therapy
11/11 : Stitch Craft Create
11/12 : Scarlet Fig
11/13 : KZJo’s Studio
11/14 : A Little Gray
11/15 : The Tulip Patch
11/16 : Whipstitch
11/17 : The Cottage Mama
11/18 : Sew Kind of Wonderful
11/19 : LollyQuiltz
11/20 : Thomas Knauer Sews
11/21 : Pink Castle Fabrics
11/22 : Inspire Me Grey
11/23 : The Last Piece
11/24 : AndieJohnsonSews, Stitchy Quilt Stuff and Cara Quilts

++ Closing comments to pick a winner ++

The lucky winner is Dolly! Dolly said “I’d love a shot at winning that book. I just adore the modern minimalistic designs.”

Congratulations Dolly, I know you will love the book. I will be emailing you for your address.

Thanks for commenting everyone!