Books!!

A package arrived from Amazon yesterday and it included a book that I have been eagerly anticipating!  It is Denyse Schmidt Quilts: 30 Colorful Quilt And Patchwork Patterns.  Such a cool book!  I guess I thought that for only $16, or whatever it was, I was going to get a little, skinny paperback, but this book is beautiful and solid and heavy!  It's 175 pages of that thick lovely paper with lots of color photos of both the projects and techniques.  Included are 20 projects for everything from greeting cards to a vinyl tote, and even a cute apron (and you know how I've been on an apron kick lately.)  And then you get 10 quilt projects too!  I was very excited because when Pete got home from work last night I sat him down with the book and asked him if he saw anything that he liked.   And he actually liked several of the quilts -- both ones that I was interested in making.  So I think the "Ice Pop" quilt may be on my short list of new projects for the coming year.

If you haven't heard of Denyse Schmidt, you can find out more at her website.  I first heard about her years ago via Martha Stewart Living, I believe.  Her quilts are so modern, simple and beautiful.

In the same package was The Modern Quilt Workshop by Weeks Ringle & Bill Kerr.  This book looks to be the perfect companion to Schmidt's book.  It includes 15 quilt designs, as well as lots of good quilting advice, tips and techniques.  One very nice thing about the designs is that each one has instructions for 4 sizes -- wall, napping, twin & full/queen.  I suppose you could size up or down these geometric quilts yourself, but this saves you from all that math  :)  I love several quilts from this book, and I think I'll be making a few of the "wall" sizes for practice. 

Oh yeah, I just remembered that I saw something/heard something about a Modern Quilt Along.  I googled it (sorry for using google as a verb, Pete), and there it was -- hosted by Kim at dioramarama.

Now if only I could find some time to actually *do* some quilting!

Comments

[Liz]

That book sounds really nice. I tried my hand at quilting before. It didn't last long. I would get too angry when things didn't line up perfect! I had two quilts to make, and here we are, 4 years later, and I still have ALL the pieces cut out, wasting away. Now if you start talking about quilting, I'm going to get that urge again. Shhhh ;)

[--Deb]

I haven't quilted in a while . . . in fact, I have a 85% done quilt piled in a heap in the corner of my bedroom and haven't touched it except for vacuuming around it in about 2 1/2 years. Shameful, I know! But I love the more "modern" quilts, as opposed to the "country" kind. Amish quilts have been my ideal for about as long as I can remember, because they're classic, and yet surprisingly modern. What more can you ask for?

[Theresa]

Uh oh! I sense another hobby coming on!

...and more potential for fiber accumulation in the form of fabric.

:-)

[Donna]

Julie, I found the MQA recently and had no idea quilting could be so beautiful (obviously, my quilting horizons needed expanding). I'm trying desperately to ignore quilting as a hobby, because knitting seems to keep me busy enough, but I may not be able to, thanks to your enthusiasm and the quilt-along - thanks! By the way, I'm currently ignoring quilting by reading Color Theory for Quilters by Weeks and Ringle - I recommend it too.

[sequinK]

Funny,... I blogged about the Modern Quilt Workshop today too! Cool book. Makes me want to get the quilt-groove on, if you know what I mean,...