Category — Books / Magazines

A few months back I mentioned that I was going to be in a book! It seems like forever ago that this process started with a submission request for quilt blocks. I want to say it was before Labor Day, 2010. Well a couple of weeks ago I finally received my copies of the book and I must say, seeing my name actually *in* a book was pretty exciting.

The book is called Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers. Here is a picture of my block in the book, called Boxed In.

You can use this pattern to make something similar to my Echino Squared quilt, simply by incorporating white into each quadrant.

I really think this book has something for everyone. I brought it home to show my family over Thanksgiving. My mom (who is more of a traditional quilter) found lots of blocks she liked and so did my sister (who is a modern quilter).

It is available on Amazon and maybe even at your local quilt shop. If you make any blocks from this book, be sure to post them in the Flickr group!

Welcome to our third Mini Quilt Monday! This week I decided to dive right into the book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci. I recently discovered Tonya’s blog, and wow, there is a lot of inspiration on there!

I have future plans to make a quilt with some words on it, but I was a bit intimidated when it came to making letters. I’m *pretty* sure I’ve mentioned that geometry and I don’t exactly get along. And this style of letters looked like you needed to know something about that. Tonya’s book makes it SO easy! She has step-by-step instructions for all letters and numbers.

I also followed tips that I learned during Malka Dubrawsky’s Improvisational Piecing class:
1. I followed basic color rules when making my letters. Each letter/number is made with either warm or cool fabrics. I alternated warm/cool/warm/cool/etc.

2. I didn’t use my ruler once when making this mini quilt. I freehand cut all pieces with my rotary cutter. If a piece had a slight curve to it, I incorporated that curve into the next piece I sewed on.

3. When sewing letters together, if one letter was smaller than the next, I added fabric to the smaller piece rather than trimming fabric from the larger piece.

4. I used mostly solid fabrics, but incorporated a few prints to add a bit of interest.

I know this improvisational style of sewing makes some of you break out into a cold sweat. I won’t name names. You know who you are. LOL But I just love how it turned out!

I quilted this mini using straight lines in varying directions on the background portions of the letters. As for the fabric, I used a selection of solids from my stash: Kona cottons, Kaffe Fassett shot cottons, Moda crossweaves, Free Spirit Designer Solids and Pat Bravo’s Pure Elements solids. Phew! The binding is a Kei Honeycomb. The final size is 14″ x 12.5″. This is one mini quilt I think would look great hanging up in a nursery with little clothes pins. I’ve added it to my shop.

So let’s see what you made this week. Link ‘em up!

I have been waiting to write this post for months and today is finally the day I can spill the beans! I am going to be in a book!

Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers, published by Stash Books, is set for release this November and I designed one of the 99 modern quilt block patterns inside. I’m not entirely sure if I can share a picture of the block…but here’s a hint: if you liked my Echino Squared quilt, you will like the block. How’s that? There will be complete instructions for my quilt block, as well as the other 98. That’s a lot of quilt-square-bang-for-your-buck!

You can even already pre-order your copy on Amazon. I should have an early copy sometime in August and will post more then. Thanks for letting me share my excitement!

Last week on Flickr there was a discussion about a quilt block that led to the book Encyclopedia Of Pieced Quilt Patterns. Amanda was kind enough to post a photo of the block in question and as soon as I saw the inside of the book, I was *very* interested.

This book is really amazing. It is not glamourous. There are no finished quilt photos in front of historical barns. But it is an excellent reference. The book is divided into type of quilt block. Each page is as below – quilt blocks sketched on the right, quilt block name and occasionally known origin on the left. There have to be thousands of blocks in this book. It’s a good reminder that there are probably no quilt blocks that have not been done before. LOL I love that the book has the name of the blocks so I can just Google the name to find instructions.

My mind is racing with ideas to use this book. Maybe pick a block a week to make and walk through it here? Maybe use it for a quilting bee and have everyone pick a block from a page? I’m not sure…but I can’t wait to get started with it.

I’m also excited to share that my Kaleidoscopic Kites quilt and free pattern are featured today on Quilt Story! Pop on over there and check it out! Quilt Story is a fun blog that features a different quilt each day and it’s a great way to learn about fellow bloggers.