Book Review – Page 8 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Book Review: The Mindfulness Solution

This isn’t a quilt book, per se, but it did have an effect on at least one project. I hope you will find the review interesting and useful.

The Mindfulness Solution by Ronald Siegel

I first heard about this book on an episode of Creative Mojo with Mark Lipinski (). I was in the middle of reading The Distant Hours by Kate Morton when this book came in from the Library. I didn’t want to rush through The Distant Hours so The Mindfulness Solution languished a bit while I enjoyed The Distant Hours. As luck would have it, before I got very far, the book was recalled to the Library! So many books, so little time!

Still, I found a few tidbits that I can think about, which I think will expand my horizons a little bit.

The first thing I noticed, in the preface, was the author’s ability to say something directly that did not make me think “who does he think he is telling me THAT?” In the preface Ronald Siegel writes “How can one practice possibly help with so many different problems? The answer is that they’re all made worse by the same natural tendency: in our effort to feel good, we try to avoid or escape discomfort, only to discover that this in fact multiplies our misery (pg.vii).” He goes on to promise that examples in the book will prove his point. In the recesses of my brain, I realized that I was avoiding finishing the back of the Zig Zaggy quilt, because I had done too much piecing on the back and it was a pain to finish the piecing. I got the piece out, finished piecing the back and now the quilt is ready to be quilted. I feel much better. This must seem like a lame example when there are so many people suffering in the world and I am sure a psychologist could find a zillion things wrong with me. Still, I like to start slowly on new things and not get too much embroiled in something unproven.

Siegel is also a good storyteller. He, obviously, knows that people will get something he is trying to tell them much better if he tells it in a story form. In the chapter called Life is Difficult (no beating around the bush for this guy!), in a section called Happiness is Possible-but optional, Mr. Siegel talks about brain evolution. In that section he suggests that enjoying life, according to nature’s priorities is optional and not a priority (pg.4). This hit me in the head. While I have always known that I am in charge of my own happiness, lately I have felt on the verge of chronically unhappy. When I read “Evolutionary forces don’t particularly care if whether we enjoy our life…” (pg.4)

Further in the Life is Difficult chapter, Ronald Siegel explains mindfulness in a way that makes sense to me. He says (pg.5) ‘Mindfulness is a particular attitude toward experience, or way of relating to life, that holds the promise of both alleviating our suffering and making our lives rich and meaningful.” This is a little bit of overpromising, if you ask me, but at this point I am willing to keep an open mind. For practices such as mindfulness, we do brush the edge of ‘woo-woo.

The section headings are amusing in this book. I found a gem that really made me think in the section entitled Our prognosis is terrible. The author recounts a conversation with a great Zen master who was asked (pg.6) ‘ “What is the most remarkable thing you’ve learned in all of your years of meditation and study?” He answered, “The most remarkable thing is that we’re all going to die but we live each day as though it weren’t so.” ‘ I hear and do listen to people who say to live each day as if it were you last. I try to do that, but don’t always remember. The Zen master’s comment is a little different way of saying the same thing, which will, perhaps stick in my head better.

Change is always a favorite of mine. I don’t like change, but who does? I chose a profession that has been in a constant state of flux since I joined it. I have to deal with change every day and I still don’t like it. Ronald Siegel writes about a book which states “…that most of what makes us unhappy involves difficulty dealing with the inevitability of change. (pg.8)” This bit is followed by a “Resistance to Change Inventory.” It asks you to categorize the most difficult changes, unwelcome changes and your emotional reaction to each change. I don’t know that I am self reflective enough to fill this out, but I am going to make note of the sections and try.

I am not going to get much farther in this book, right now, but as I implied, the above is a lot to think about.

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Book Review: The Quilter’s Catalog

This review is LONG overdue! I have to apologize to Meg Cox for how long it took me to post it. She kindly sent me the book and I couldn’t let it go. I read and took notes and read again and enjoyed. Well, the time has come. Read through the review for something special! 😉

The Quilter’s Catalog: A Comprehensive Resource Guide by Meg Cox

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Meg Cox was kind enough to send me a free copy of this book to review and giveaway. She did this shortly after I received the books from Lark Books and I had mixed feelings about that experience: happiness that my work on the blog was recognized and stung that they never responded to any of my emails for more information.

As an indirect result of that experience, it took me awhile to get to starting this book. Once I did get to it, I had a hard time putting it down. This is a dense, packed-full-of-information book. It a book to which you can refer over and over, and a book you want to read with pencil and notepad in hand.

The two things I really like about this book are the layout and Cox’s writing style. The book is divided into sensible sections including “my quilt history,” which tells us her personal quiltmaking story and sets up her credentials, “who quilts today and why,” “sewing now..,” “more revolutionary tools,” etc. There are also sidebars which have mini-articles and additional information.

She was on staff at various newspapers for over 20 years including 17 at the Wall Street Journal. I found her writing style to be witty, intelligent, and businesslike in an accessible way.

Ms. Cox talks about the quilt world as I see it, and not the fantasy quilt world of sharing and love that is associated with the world of quilts in many quilt books. (Not that there isn’t sharing and love in the quilt world, but it is a business world also and there isn’t enough acknowledgment of that, IMO). She starts the books with her own brief quilt history. I like knowing where an author is coming from. I like to have some context about why the author is writing the book. Often, introductions don’t satisfy my curiosity, but this one does. That leads into a section of who quilts and why. She talks about figuring this section out by doing her own survey to gather information.

One of my favorite parts is called ‘6 Quilt Myths Debunked’. The myths include quiltmaking as an American invention, cutting up clothes to make quilts, quilting by hand, old quilts value, etc. I am really glad that she tackled these issues head on, because I have a problem with “information sources” that perpetuate myths without performing any research or providing back up sources or citations. This part of the book is not a historical tome meant for academicians. Cox writes about the issues using a style that makes sense, has been researched and is an easy read for the general public.

Throughout the book are lots and lots of pictures. Pictures of quilts, pictures of department store fabric sections, pictures of rock star quiltmakers, pictures of software, sewing machines, antique textiles, books and more quilts. Most of the photos are black and white, but there is a middle section of color photos, which is also filled with the obligatory projects.

Because this is a book, it is now getting to be a bit out of date. 98% of the information is NOT out of date and the book is still very much worth the money. New products have come on to the market that are not reviewed, some webTV shows have developed further and there are new tools. This is not a criticism, but it made me think a lot about how this book could be kept up to date. Companion website? Make it a loose-leaf like legal materials and send updates out? New editions each year? I couldn’t really think of a satisfactory answer, but perhaps an iPad app with new information followed by new editions when enough changes had taken place is a possibility?

One of the good things about this book having older info in some sections is that I can see the development of certain things in the quilt world. For example, in a section called “Seeing Quilts Online” Meg talks about how museums do not always show their vast collections of quilts, but they are making inroads on scanning them. She goes on to talk about the different large collections of quilts including IQSC, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Alliance for American Quilts, among others. This section, I think, shows a clear path to the Year of the Quilt in NYC! Someone at museums must have read this book or heard about it and thought up the concept of the Year of the Quilt in NYC. Okay, perhaps I am fantasizing, but a connection between the popularity of quilts, how many are in museums, the recognition of the artistry of quilts must have led to the Year of the Quilt in NYC. I hope to see more of those types of exhibits.

I think there is something in this book for all types of quiltmakers. I don’t think every quiltmaker will be interested in every section, but I think there is enough to entertain beginning, intermediate and advanced quiltmakers. Meg Cox has included some projects for those who cannot find enough of them in projects books and on the web, she has included history, biographies, lots of information about teachers, a section for beginners on basic how-tos, etc. Some of the how-to section would be interesting for more experienced quiltmakers who didn’t have experience with said techniques. I have to admit that I like the fruit tart pincushion.

There is also a practical side to this book. Meg talks about quilt shows and gives practical advice on how to attend including what to wear, how to shop (yes, more than just bring a credit card!), what not to miss, pros and cons of lectures and demonstrations, booking rooms, etc.

I was pleased to see some of the history of the longarm section of the quilt world. I was also interested in the section on computers and quiltmaking. It included quilt software (EQ and PCQuilt, listserves (QuiltArt etc) and what the Internet offers. I grew in my quiltmaking career seeing some of these resources develop and was pleased to see mention of a now (mostly) defunct listserve on which I used to be very active.

Throughout this book, Cox subtly points out what a vital, fluid and continuously changing art form quiltmaking is. You really should go out and buy this book. I think it is one that every quiltmaker should read, if not have on their shelf. Nice work, Meg!

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Meg does not, yet, have a blog, but she does have a website and free monthly e-newsletter, Quilt Journalist Tells All. To see a copy of the newsletter and subscribe, click here. You can also connect with Meg by reading her two columns: Megabites gossip and news column in Quilter’s Home, and Look Who’s Quilting Now in the Ricky and Alex publication, The Quilt Life.

To enter the giveaway, you must leave a substantive comment on this post. I will do the drawing with names of all of those who comply on March 13 or 14.

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Book Review: Visual Chronicles

Visual Chronicles: The No-Fear Guide to Creating Art Journals, Creative Manifestos and Altered Books by Linda Woods

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Amy posted a great and enthusiastic review of this book in episode 32 of the Creative Mom podcast. It spurred me on to finally get this out of the library and read it. After reading several pages, I realized that I may have read this book before. It seemed very familiar, but I kept on. The tone of the book is good and I like the idea of two people working together to write the book. It is too project oriented for me, however. I would have liked more inspiration, whys and wherefores of what they do, what they are thinking and more guidance rather than step by step direction. As you know, I don’t need projects. What I really need is a way to be inspired and have no fear on my own journals. I didn’t find that they gave tips for moving on from their book. For art or visual journaling the adage to “Just Do It” doesn’t seem to be working for me.

I asked myself if this was one of the first visual journaling books and found it to be strange that I really needed to know the context of this book.

One of the projects that I thought was interesting was the Personal Palette (pg.13). I like the idea of using shipping tags and making this to use in later work. I found, though, that I was unable to assign colors to people. I talked to my mom about this and asked her what color she associated with herself. She enthusiastically gushed “daffodil yellow.” Then I asked her if she wanted to decorate her house and receive gifts in that color. She was adamant that she did not. Therein lies my dilemma. I really can’t even think of what color I would assign myself.

The authors included a prompt page (pg.35), which did generate an idea for a Creative Prompt response. I ended up not using it (forgot, oops!), but think I may go back and use it again for a second response.

One of the projects is called “My Buttons” (pg.36) and explores the flaws in the maker’s personality. My reaction to that is why? What would this type of project achieve outside of a therapy session?

The end of the book was more my speed. One section (starting on pg.92) talks about changing your routine. I call this “greeting the bus driver.” I have found that small changes do make a difference in my outlook and, as a result, my creativity.

There are a number of things I like about this book. I like the supply lists, the project step outs as well as the design and layout of the book.

I don’t know what I am looking for in these types of books, but I haven’t found it yet.

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Book Review: Creative Time and Space

Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art by Ricë Freeman-Zachery

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is primarily about attitude, time and learning to say YES to creativity as a valuable part of life.

The author offers up the concept of living a creative life and interviews artists on how each of them deals with that concept as a lifestyle, a problem, a way of life. the reporting on their variety of approaches is excellent, because it forced me to think about what my approach is/would be. Seeing that different approaches work for different artists is a reminder that it is okay for me to craft my own solution. I can see that there are a lot of different ways to say yes.

After I finished reading this book, I went back to look over my notes and it became apparent that I had a list of tasks for myself to work through as a result of reading this book.

1. “…figure out what time means to you and how to establish a good relationship with it.”

Figuring out what times means is complicated for me, but not impossible to figure out. It can be figured out in steps. For example, blocking off a certain time to make art is one way to come to terms with time. Each artist gives his/her opinion of the various topics in each chapter based on his/her experience. Roz Stendahl explains “You get so absorbed in what you are doing that time as conventionally measured just ceases to exist. Time becomes very full and rich in ways I don’t feel capable of explaining. It’s like a deep, full, and calm breath” (pg.16). Throughout the book, Freeman-Zachery has exercises and little added bits of information. Not only are these sidebars helpful, but they also break up the pages. Play is also discussed with regard to time.

Everyone talks about not having the ideas because of time. The culmination of the section implies that we should all think about our creativity all the time, adding creativity facilitating media into every spare minute. When we can’t generate ideas, because the car is full of soccer bound children and the sink full of dishes is demanding your attention, ideas can be inspired by books, podcasts, magazines and other media that get you in the mood to create. The idea is that “being able to keep your brain up and humming is a first step toward having more time…” (pg.25) Many of the artists feel that their “creativity comes first and they make everything else fit in.” (pg.25) Pam Rubert thinks that “injecting creativity into anything I can”(pg.25) is really important. It definitely makes life more pleasant.

The artist share different techniques and strategies they use to “make” time, which is the theme of chapter 2. There are examples of lists and schedules and solutions. The bottom line seems to be that you have to figure it out for yourself and go with it. Rice Freeman-Zachery sums up a lot of the discussion by implying that it is important to acknowledge how you work, when your best time to be most productive and working with the strategies you have developed, such as making lists, flitting from one thing to another, to work your best.

Finally, in one of the ‘try this’ sidebars, the author suggests “writing down ideas reinforces the value of creative thinking and encourages your brain to spend more time in creative mode.” (pg.30) AHHHHH! License to dream! Thanks, Rice!

2. Think differently: while this wasn’t an explicit “to do” item from the book, it is definitely a theme that weaves its way in and out of the book. The daily life of vacuuming, carpool and doing laundry is addressed head on and one artist says “..so I remind myself to continue to find the joy in these activities”(pg.33), which is followed a few lines later with Rice Freeman-Zachery‘s reminder that the “everything else in your life – the day job, the childcare, the household chores, lawn work and shopping – doesn’t have to be an interruption or an imposition. As you train your brain to spend more time in its creative mode, you’ll find ways to encourage creative thinking, no matter what you’re doing.”(pg.33) A good reminder and mantra.

3. Practice patience and flexibility: I know that I am very hard on myself – constantly striving for perfection: the perfect seam, the perfect combination of fabric and design, perfect everything. Roz stendahl reminds us to wonder “What could I get accomplished today if I let go of perfect?” (pg.84) Change is ok, say the artists and change back is okay, too! Novel, don’t you think?

4. Do groups, classes and interactions with other artists add to my creative life? This part of the book was still talking about time, and specifically what can a person give up to make more time to make. Vacuuming? Groups occurred to me. To what groups do I belong and how are they contributing to my creative life? What classes help? Which ones distract?

The chapter ends with the reminder “you choose what’s important and where you want to put your energy because only you can figure out what you can live with and what you can live without.”(pg.41) Sigh. I wanted a magic pill.

5. Be kinder to myself: Judy Wise says, at the beginning of chapter 3 “I am very gentle with myself, very forgiving at this stage of life. When I was younger I was much more disciplined, but then I realized that was killing the joy for me.”(pg.42) Another good thing to remember is that “it’s not just about changing what you are doing; it’s also about changing how you look at what you’re doing.” (pg.75) I have to say that these two points hit home. It is not productive to criticize yourself all the time. Perhaps the work doesn’t live up to your imagination, but it is a step on the path. Look at it that way and you will make progress. I have found, recently, that I can see patterns in my work. I can see patterns in quilts that are, seemingly, completely unrelated. By studying them further, perhaps I can discern the kind of progress I am making.

In chapter 3 a lot of the artists have written out their schedules. In this way, we can see that there are different ways of getting things done, and the standards are different for different people. One good tip was to “keep a master list of projects that are current and for each try to list at least the next actionable step.” (pg.47) My WIP list acts like this for me. It is not ideal and I do keep folders of info I need and ideas or drawings or notes on difficult construction issues. The WIP list is constantly in flux even though you see it once a year.It does spur me on to keep working on projects or actively abandon them. It is also a good reminder of how much I have accomplished in any given year. I’ll have to think about whether a list like Pam Rubert describes would work for me.

6. Write your goals: I have always had problems with this (commitment, mostly), especially the larger goals, but the author makes a good point “to speak them or write them makes them even more powerful.” (pg.51). I noticed when talking about goals the male artists seemed much more goal oriented and the female artists seemed much more fluid.

7. Warm up: if you are cold, it is harder to move. If you have just woken up, your thinking will be a little fuzzy. The same is true for me in the making process. I need to warm up. Warming up to me means sewing some four patches, mosaic piecing, some kind of rote sewing, something easy that I don’t have to think about. Warming up is also related to getting your muse to come out and play. Many artists have rituals that put them in their making ‘space’.

8. Figure out what is my play? The idea is that if a maker gets stuck s/he can go play. I think my play is working in my journal gluing things down, but I am hesitant to put that activity out there since I don’t collage much. Experiments and trials are not wasting time, but we all seem to think that they are. It can really be a struggle to allow yourself to go with an idea — to test, to experiment. It’s hard to accept failure as progress when you have spent all of your free time on a project that is deemed a failure. “For artists, it means that you can pursue an idea however far you need to go without having to rein yourself in, counting the minutes you’re ‘wasting’ in experiments and trials…” (pg.18)

The first part of the mental space chapter is really good. There are three quotes (plus one a few pages later) that are really important for me:

“One of the biggest problems with granting creativity enough space in your thought and in your life is that it’s not seen as being valuable.” (pg.82)
“This is nonsense. Creativity is stunningly important, as important as almost anything else you can name except maybe food, water and shelter.”(pg.82)
“Your creativity is a vital part of you, one you need to be a fully functioning human being. Without it, you’re that proverbial shell of a person. You need it, and it needs you…” (pg.83)
“Perhaps you are like a lot of us in that your brain, when left to its own devices, can become, as the excellent writer Anne Lamott says, a bad neighborhood you don’t want to go into alone. Left alone with nothing to occupy it, it will begin to gnaw on the terrors of termites and taxes, death and toothlessness and whether you remembered to renew your car tags. Filling that interior space with ideas about light and color and texture and mixing tubes of paint is ever so much better.”(pg.90)

9. Work in my space, wherever that is: I am fortunate to have a space that is good sized. It isn’t ideal, but it works for me. As I mentioned a few days ago, it needs to be prettied up and offer up more creative nudges, but it is mine (mostly) and I don’t have to ask anyone to use it or store fabric there or anything. Creative Time and Space spends a bit of time discussing physical space. The artists all have different physical spaces from huge former peanut butter factories to kitchen counters and a small desk in the corner of the room. The mantra is the same “if you’re serious about wanting to make art, you can figure out a way to do it in whatever space you have.” (pg.107)

10. Figure out how I work: In the chapter on physical space, the topic of how people work creeps in. Physical space and how a maker works go hand in hand. If you splatter paint, your living room with new carpet probably isn’t the place for you. Along with this concept is the right and wrong way to work. The long and short “don’t try to force yourself to work in a certain way just because you think that’s the way you’re supposed to work. Figure out what works for you and go with it.” (pg.113)

I still have Twyla Tharp‘s book, The Creative Habit, on my nightstand. Creative Time and Space makes me want to pick it up again and finish it. I probably won’t create an improvisational dance, but I think I will finish the book. 😉

One thing I didn’t like about this book was that the page numbers were hard to find and there was no chapter information on the bottom of the pages within a chapter. When I was on page 40, I didn’t know if I was still in chapter 2 on Making Time or already in Chapter 3 on Corralling Time. I didn’t realize I used this information, but, apparently, I do.

One thing I found was that I spent too much time reading this book. What I mean is that a lot of the time during the months I was, ostensibly, reading it, it was mostly in my briefcase being carried around and not being read. I think I should have read it all at once. Still, I am glad I finally finished it. There is a lot of food for thought. It is definitely a book I would read again.

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Book Review: Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World’s Fair (update)

Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World’s Fair by Merikay Waldvogel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love history of quiltmaking books because of the stories of the people. This book is one of the reasons I always put labels on my quilts. I also like looking at the old patterns and thinking about people making some of the patterns with crazy angles.

Update 9/20/2010: The University of Nebraska at Lincoln International Quilt Study Center now has a vidcast up that talks about this book and recent discoveries of additional quilts. Merikay Waldvogel narrates the vidcast and shows photos of quilts found after the book was published. She also tells stories and scandals about the makers and the quilts. Well worth a listen. I found it on iTunes.

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Book Review: Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter

Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter: Easy-to-Follow Lessons for Dynamic Art Quilts by Katie Masopust

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This will be one of my go to design books for the future. Starting from the introduction, Masopust includes the reader. The tone is very familiar and in using ‘you’ so much in her writing Katie Masopust involves the reader immediately.

All of the standard design concepts are covered, but with a new twist and a fresh perspective. Katie talks about being creative and then explains the concepts. One thing she says is “creativity is making up exciting rules to follow for a particular design. These rules can change for each quilt,” which is absolutely true. She, then, weaves the design concepts into that principle.

Not only does the author introduce a concept and tell you you should do it, but she tells WHY you should follow the principle. She tells you in a nice and understandable way giving logical and understandable examples. This way of writing makes the whole design process less frustrating and, for some people, less scary.

Ms. Masopust has a whole chapter on tools and supplies. She explains what you need and describes what it is she is asking you to procure. For the visual learner, there are pictures of various tools and supplies.

The composition chapter starts with an excellent definition. She also provides a thoughtful list of compositional layouts. The reader could stop reading right at the compositional layouts and work on variations for years without getting bored.

This section is followed up by a list of other terms related to composition, such as pathways, focal points, space, harmony and scale. Under scale, Katie writes “monotony occurs when everything is the same size.” I thought about this for a long time and realized that one of the things I enjoy about this book is the gems she tucks into almost every section. If the reader took this line and thought about it in relation to his/her quilts, s/he could get a lot out of one line in the book. Of course, by reading the entire book, the quiltmaker will absorb much more.

The words the author uses in the color chapter are wonderful and elegant. They roll off the tongue and make one feel like an artist: monochromatic, achromatic (absence of color), tetrad. She goes beyond value and color and really delves into the concepts behind successful color choices using FABRIC. Pages 15-17 in the color chapter are really useful pages for beginning to advanced quiltmakers as they explain the different types of color combinations.

I love solids. Katie Masopust does not use them in her examples. She uses an interesting range of color choices in, for example, the complementary example. It is also nice to see different types of patterned fabrics used rather than solids. Patterned fabrics are harder to categorize and Masopust does not shy away. This is one of the benefits of this book.

Analysis shows up on page 20. On the page, Masopust writes that “it is important to look at your designs and decide whether they have all the elements needed to make them harmonious.” How often do you look at your quilts and ask yourself whether they are harmonious? I don’t, but perhaps I should. Are you thinking about each decision as you work on your quilt? I do more of that, which may make up for not looking at my quilts after I make them. She also provides a good list of questions about the success of the design. One I like is “is there a focal point or will the focal point be established through color choices?” Thought provoking.

This book is filled with examples of student work, in full color, and a wide variety of exercises. When the reader gets to the making of the pattern, Masopust takes readers through her process of making a pattern, which often involves enlarging the design. She gives some great suggestions for tools to assist in the process. The process described is a step by step process for going from a drawing to a finished piece.

She provides a chapter on each concept and full explores it. The author’s before and after examples are really good, as are the inspiration photos included alongside photos of the finished pieces.

Throughout the book, Katie refers back to the supplies list and concepts in previous chapters. She treats the reader like the reader has a brain and has read other books, which is nice.

The obligatory section on making a quilt is included. Katie Masopust adds to it by offering tips from her own experience. The tips provided also give insight into the kind of teacher she might be. That said, just reading the construction section is a little confusing. I don’t think that is the writing or editing. It would probably make more sense to try it out with a small piece. She mentions setting the machine to “2.” I don’t know if that is a universal number or if I would benefit from a chart or further explanation of what that number means on various machines.

The strength of this book is that it is thought provoking. Little tidbits are tossed out that make the reader stop and think and think some more.

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Week/end Work

Since I returned from Long Beach, I have been trying to sew a lot. I have a lot of new fabric and I want to play with it. I don’t feel like I am sewing enough, but I am trying.

One of the first things I do is wash and press the fabric. This is a big bottleneck right now. The washing, as I may have mentioned, is done. Since I am not finished pressing so I am, basically, pressing as I need a certain fabric.

The first thing in my sewing adventure I did was cut out and prepare pillowcases for sewing. there is a lot of pinning in the Twiddletails pattern. So far, I have made a total of 3 pillowcases and have two more cut out and ready to sew. I wrote about this a little bit in my post entitled Pillowcase Party. This is ongoing. I have a lot more pillowcases in me, but I am dealing with incremental progress on a number of projects right, so I have very little to show for it.

“Incremental progress on a lot of projects” means that I am working on a lot of different projects and haven’t settled down to one yet. I have been cutting pieces for the Frosted Stars quilt, cutting diamonds, working on tote bags, cutting various patches, trying things for the Zig Zaggy Quilt, etc.

The robot pillowcase (middle), which will be donated, is new. I finished that one quickly yesterday. The two pieces on the right are napkins. I saw the pie fabric and had to get it for napkins. I make pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas and it fits into our family culture. The martini fabric was just fun and not something I would use in a quilt, so napkins again.

I don’t really like making napkins, because the seams don’t press well for me. I LOVE using cloth napkins though. I love seeing different fabrics. I love people’s comments when they sit at my table. I love choosing which one I am going to use for the next few days. I also think it is great way to spread fun fabrics throughout my life.

The napkin fabrics won’t be in FOTY 2010, because I only bought a half yard of each and I use two FQs for each napkin. I like generous napkins and I don’t want to square them up. This time I used two new fabrics (the pies and martinis) and found two fabrics that had been around for awhile with which to pair the new fabrics. When I brought them downstairs the boys were already claiming their favorites.

I finally made the sleeve for the Chocolate Box, so that quilt is nearly done.

I also went longarming last week. I am not longarming a monster quilt again. The process didn’t go smoothly and only a small part of it was because of the size. I think it is good to find my limitations. For longarming, I think mine limit is a twin sized quilt.

The shop is having problems with their machine, but it was still functional. We spent two hours working through the machine not working. I quilted about 4 blocks (6″ finished) and we had to rip out all that quilting. Evelyn, my helper, was awesome. We talked about our quilting while we worked on the machine. She told me about her family. Another lady came in to help. No dice. The machine wasn’t working. Finally, one of the owners came in and told us we were using the crappy thread that couldn’t be used with the longarm machine.

My question was why was that thread in the longarm room if it wasn’t to be used for longarming? If it was in the room, I would certainly choose it!

We changed the thread and the machine worked like a charm. Sigh.

The good part is that I got a lot of practice stopping and starting, which I needed.

I was too tired to trim the quilt, so it still needs to be trimmed and it needs the binding of course.

There is more to do and I need about a week to just sew with no other obligations.

Book Review: Journal Bliss

Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric by Violette

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Violette’s book has been in my to read stack for awhile. I was finally able to read this book when I took it with me on a trip. I found that it was a quick read. It might have been a quick read, but it was a powerful read as well. Violette, in this book, is a cheerleader, life coach, therapist and art teacher. She mixes in the right amount of words with pictures, the right amount of encouragement and support.

She dives in with a discussion about the reader’s inner critic. I was a little surprised that she would start out with this, but it was the right way to organize the book and she didn’t go on and on in that chapter.

She clearly describes a lot of techniques and a lot of different ways to do small but effective bits of embellishment. Her writing style makes the reader think that s/he can create borders, backgrounds and any of the techniques described. The one part that really intrigued me was the part about faces. Reading this section and looking at the pictures gave me confidence She makes drawing faces seem simple. I don’t mean simple as in stupid looking, but simple as in with a little practice everyone can do faces as well as she can.

Violette provides lots of examples of her artwork. The book is mostly drawings and examples of her written creativity. The majority of the book is not typeset, but embellished, drawn and colored. This style provides lots of examples of her. She shows it is simple. The drawings are not simple, but if the reader breaks them down and looks carefully at the lines, there is nothing tricky going on and the style is quite do-able.

One great suggestion Violette gives is to do a Gratitude journal page using a list rather than prose. I think that is a great idea for any kind of journal page, not only a gratitude page.

I really liked this book and think that it is one that will be a great reference book. I would like to try the various drawing techniques to spice up my journal pages, especially the border ideas. I also want to try making the faces.

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Book Review: Quilting Art: Inspiration, Ideas & Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Quilters

Quilting Art: Inspiration, Ideas & Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Quilters by Spike Gillespie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have spent some time, after my initial perusal in November of 2009, reading this book and did enjoy it. There are lots of good photos. I enjoyed reading what artists think about various topics concerning making a living (or not) and creating art.

Spike Gillespie provides a really interesting introduction. I have gotten a lot better at reading the introductions to various quilt books and I have found it to be a worthwhile endeavor. One of the aspects she remarks on is “I was further inspired to remember how important it is to carve out time to pursue the passionate side of one’s calling and to heed one’s muse, both of which are too often too easily lost in the shuffle of doing what we to get by day to day(pg.10).” This is partially what the Creative Prompt Project is about: a small step to begin devoting time to creativity. Ms. Gillespie notes that “all demonstrated a drive that might, at times, be set aside temporarily for work necessary to pay bills and time needed to raise kids. But, in the end, the muse will not be silenced…(pg.14)”

She also faces the “is it a quilt or not” question head on. I often don’t want to hear that discussion rehashed, but I guess an author of this type of book has to at least acknowledge she is aware of the issue. She remarks that asking a random quilt show attendees to deem a work a quilt or not is a false argument. She reframes the question to be “how do you feel about the way quilts have progressed and moved into the art world? (pg.11)” This is a much better question, in my opinion, regardless of whether you think a particular quilt is an art quilt. It is a better question because of the way quilts are constantly evolving. The whole Modern Quilt Movement has been on mind lately and comes immediately to the forefront when I think of how the quilt world is changing and evolving.

Gillespie asks various artists about the word quilt and says that she “did not want to collect opposing points of view and then splice them together as if there were some big catfight going on in the world of quilt artists. The answers [she:] I received were offered not to suggest that one way of thinking is absolutely right and another is absolutely wrong. Instead, I felt myself invited to contemplate how the word helps or hurts artist working to get their pieces out there for the world to see.”(pg.11) This concept is addressed by the artists throughout the book. The variety of the opinions mirrors the variety fo the works. Some I agree with and some I don’t. Joan Dreyer’s comment describes how I feel pretty well: “I’m less concerned with putting a label on it. I almost don’t care in a way. I don’t feel other artists have to make the same choice. For me I just need to make it for the reasons I need to make it.” (pg.11)

After the introduction, Spike goes straight into a brief bio and discussion with each artist that includes a number of photos of their work and, in some cases, photos of their studio. I found that I had something in common with some of the artists. Deidre Adams, for example, enjoys “working in a series, of taking an idea and working it over and over and developing and exploring it. (pg.17)” She also gets out of a rut by taking scraps from previous projects and starts sewing them together.

Pam Rubert says that she views the world with a “strange mixture of astonishment, dismay, and amusement (pg.25).” She is into the “concept and story line (pg.29).” I agree that I like my quilts to be about the story of the quilt. Telling stories is important, which may be why people don’t understand some art quilts. Block quilts are easy to understand because of the color and repetition. Abstract quilts are not because, it seems to me, that a lot of what is made from the fabric comes from a reaction to what is going on in the artist’s head.

Mary Beth Bellah works full time and says “I give forty hours a week to my mortgage and kids. Whatever I come home and work on it whatever I want. I don’t have to sell it (pg.42).” I think acknowledging that creating something goes beyond its monetary value. Of course, we are often judged on how much money we make or how much our art is worth, so not feeling like she has to sell her work is a breath of fresh air.

This book introduced me to some new artists as well. Angela Moll loves the visuals of handwriting. One reason I love the act of handwriting is because forming the loops and dips of cursive letters gets close to drawing. Moll uses the artistry of the cursive to create interest in her quilts. She focuses on opportunities for visibility and not necessarily ones that are commercially more attractive. Moll also works in series.

Another pearl of wisdom came from Joan Dreyer who is “not interested in putting things together just for the sake of being different….Materials should serve the content of the piece. (pg.63)” This speaks to me, because I feel design is important and design choices should be thought through. The idea also speaks to the layout of the book. The book is beautifully laid out. The hardcover edition has large clear photos and subtle stitch looking illustrations on various pages.

I had a hard time with the interview with Dominie Nash. She was new to me. She says that she “didn’t want to make pieces fit together. That was too against my nature and my level of ability. What I do is collage work (pg.85).” This statement made me wonder if collage work is a way of saying “I am too lazy to learn the techniques?” Such as statement makes me ask if there is value in learning rules, or is it just too much of a hassle? Nash is, apparently, successful. Does that mean she is allowed to not learn the rules? If art sells, can you bypass the rules?

This book brought up issues and opinions that made me think. I questioned my own ideas about right and wrong in Quiltland as I read the various opinions. Nash didn’t give me the impression that she thought much of quilting. As she talks about the quilt groups to which she belongs, she says “…we’re still a little too polite when we do critiques (pg.86).” Nash attributes this overpoliteness to a “hangover from the days of quilting bees (pg.86.)” Right after she says that community is essential to her growth (pg.86).” I think quiltmaking groups are about community and everything else is a bonus, whether you make charity quilts, do show and tell or critique each other’s work. We don’t need a quilt group to produce work.

I don’t see much fun or joy in Nash’s work, but I have some respect for her. She did said “I go to my studio every day. Because one day I may go and the angel may be there. What if I don’t go and the angel comes (pg.83),” which I like a lot, though I would change ‘angel’ to ‘muse.’ Jeanne Williamson says something that adds to Nash’s practice “Not all of the small quilts were beautiful. There are tons of I think are ugly…but the point was to always make something, not always make something beautiful (pg.153)”

Commercial fabric is also discussed in this book. Malka Dubrawsky discusses using commercial fabric in her work. She admits to looking down on commercial fabric, but coming around again to using it. She implies that by not valuing commercial fabric you are not valuing someone else’s artwork, which I think is very interesting to think about.

I was surprised at the number of people interviewed who said that they started out in isolation not knowing anything about quiltmaking or other quiltmakers in their area. It is interesting to me how, despite the variety of resources we have (web, blogs, guilds, etc.), people teach themselves to make a quilt and work in isolation thinking they are the only one. Karen Kamenetzky is one of those artists. I really like the stitching and verticalness of the pieces depicted in her article.

This book has an excellent and detailed index. I didn’t like all of the work, but I appreciated the variety and the high level of discussion throughout the book.

My first, brief, review of this book was in November 2009.

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Book Review: Journal Spilling

Journal Spilling: Mixed-Media Techniques for Free Expression by Trout. Diana

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Art journaling is a technique (tool??) that I have struggled with for a while. Part of the problem for me is the mess. I thought I didn’t like to make messes. What I found was that I don’t like to make messes that I have to clean up! The Purpose Journal showed me that under the right circumstances, I can really use this technique in a creative and satisfying way.

Journal Spilling by Diana Trout is a really encouraging and pleasant book to read. I read it, and thought about what was in it, but didn’t try any of the projects that are integrated into the various chapters.

The first thing that I liked was in the Welcome message.”Welcome” is much friendlier than “preface” or “introduction.” In her Welcome, Diana states that you don’t need to be an artist to be an artmaker. I have long refused to label myself an artist – for better or for worse. Like Wayne Thiebaud, I have decided to let history decide my artistic fate and concentrate on making. If history ignores me, so be it. Thus, Trout’s comment really hit home and make me feel like my decision was fine.

The author also has a sense of humor, which is infused throughout the book. On page 9, she says “…I once did a ‘highly scientific’ experiment to check the lightfastness of Portfolios alongside Caran d’Ache. They both held up remarkably well when exposed to sunlight for six months!” I love the idea of this ‘experiment’. It really made me smile.

Ms. Trout writes about things I have never heard described this way and find very useful. In her section, Stretch & Spill, she discusses ‘micromovements.’ About them she says “micromovements refers to a system of breaking down a large job into tiny parts. This is a great concept that addresses the biggest obstacle between you and your journal: Fear. It also helped me greatly with time issues. If you break down a job (or hope or dream), step by step it seems less scary and overwhelming.” I didn’t realize until I read this that I had been doing this with the Purpose Journal. Since I been, yet, able to face making a mess, I have been breaking down the steps, before I have to make the mess, into manageable bites that fit into my schedule and my comfort zone.

The book’s title, Journal Spilling, seemed a little confusing to me until I read the section on the generosity and hospitality of pouring sake. By creating that analogy, Diana gave me a picture in my mind with which to understand as I read the book.

Throughout the book, the author talks about continuously moving. At one point she refers to it as aerobics for creativity. Isn’t that a great mind image? The idea is to not think too much and keep moving creatively; to keep your hand moving. Some examples Ms. Trout gives are to draw boxes (good for writing in later!), circles, little houses and flowers. She also gives some advice on what to say to your mind if it starts to interrupt (which mine does all the time!!) : “…quietly tell it you are busy right now.” (pg.76). This was another thing that really made me smile.

I think that most people who make interesting objects have an inner critic. A very revealing and interesting section was about her inner critic. She names him, tells us how he looks and sounds. I thought this was a great technique, because things that you name are much less scary than the things which are unknown. In this section, Diana reminds the reader “My art does not have to be BIG ART.” This is wonderful. In a way I feel like I have been doing this with all of the sewn accessories I have been making: journal covers, pencil rolls, tote bags. They are mind sorbet, in a way, but they are also, for ME, small art. For me, small art is valuable as well. She follows that up by saying “I pick up my brushes and pens in the odd spaces of time that occur in the life, gently coaxing the art out into the light.” I think this could be used as an excuse to move on to a different project, creating another UFO, but for me it means sometimes things have to simmer a bit and by working often, the simmering happens a bit faster.

Ms. Trout uses the various sections to convey techniques through her various projects. At the same time, she drops little pearls of wisdom in various text of each section. The Secrets & Wishes section is, somewhat, about getting things out without revealing too much. In the introduction, she writes “Respect the power of the words you write and believe that writing them will fix them into your mind and, maybe, with some attention, some of your dreams will become a reality.” This makes me think that I should write down some of the things that I dream about. Perhaps the power of the word, which is so important to me, can help me identify my goals and make them a reality.

Lately, in general, creativity books are more interesting to look at. The days of plain white pages with text and a few photos seem to be gone. I have seen a lot of well designed, well laid out and visually appealing books of late. This book is not an exception. Not only are the photos appealing, the step outs clear, but the page layouts fit the theme of the book. It looks like we are looking at Trouts journal. There are watercolor strokes, bits of masking tape, scribbles, and doodles interspersed with the regular book information.

As I said above, the messes stop me from working in this technique. When Diana says (pg. 55) “write into the wet gesso” I stop cold. I have to say that working at a Work of Heart helped with this feeling. I just have not, yet, been able to translate to working at home.

I found this work to be really inspirational. As I read, I found myself inspired to create a quilt design or add something to my Purpose Journal. In the Personal Landscape section, the author suggests the reader go for a walk and think about the area in which s/he lives. She follows this suggestion up with an exercise to create a collage about your thoughts and feelings. I read this section and immediately thought of the Women’s Work quilt. Reading the words made me imagine the next in the series, more of cityscape buildings, still using Gwen Marston‘s style.

In the same section, but also mentioned throughout the book, Trout talks about writing – spill writing – in her journal and then covering some of it up with her collage style. This appears to be something that she does frequently. I am not sure I want my words covered up. I may not want people to read them, but I feel like I might want to read them later. I can’t read them if I cover them up. This was also confusing, because of the power of words section she discusses in the Secrets & Wishes section.

The Drawing Games Section has perfect exercises for the CPP! She suggests exercise really clearly that would work for quick drawings of the words I suggest each week. For regular contributors, it might be a way to vary what you are doing or to break out of a rut. One exercise is to draw a “curved line from one of the paper to the other, three times. She, then, asks you to observe the shapes and take some further steps, which she outlines in the book.

Who Am I? Is the question that slammed into my head when I was partway through the Lifeline section. This section has discussions of writing your autobiography in a way that she found, she was able to handle. This feeling blew me away and I’ll have to consider a bit.

There are lots of things to try in this book: paper dolls, using book covers to make a journal, making glitter glue, using white out as an art supply, cutting rubber stamps, using regular household items to make marks, book making, and many other exercises and techniques. She also tells you how to make a traveling kit. In the end of the book are sections with various resources, such as quotes, supplies and materials inspiration and techniques.

I am planning on putting this book on my wish list.

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Book Review: Stamped Out

Stamped Out by Terri Thayer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have had this book on my shelf for a long time and finally read it. I needed a break from all of the quilting, design and creativity books I have been reading.

I was really pleased with this book! I don’t know that much about rubber stamping, so I was concerned I wouldn’t get main portions of the book.. I think that Terri Thayer did a great job writing about stamping in a way that didn’t talk down to people who weren’t stamping experts. Yes, I still have questions; this isn’t a how to stamping book, after all and I wasn’t bored by stamping detail. I also didn’t finish it thinking that the author was talking down to me.

I liked the relationship between April and Deana as well. Not perfect, but a committed friendship. I felt that Thayer wrote well about April’s relationships with her parents. I think a lot of times authors make everything ideal. This book was more interesting, because the relationships were more realistic without the ‘gore’ of real life. 😉

I think that Thayer’s hard won writing experience shows as well. She had a few books under her belt by the time she wrote this one and I felt it was a lot clearer. I liked the way it started. It drew the reader in without a crisis. I had enough information about the characters to know what was happening and want to keep reading. Throughout the book I did not feel as confused as I have felt reading other mysteries.

I don’t have the sequel, but may have to buy it.

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Book Review: One Yard Wonders

One-Yard Wonders: 101 Fabulous Fabric Projects by Rebecca Yaker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I heard about Rebecca Yaker and her book, One Yard Wonders, from Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of CraftSanity. Jennifer did a podcast interview with Rebecca and I ended up with the book from the Library!

First, I love the look of this book. It is lay flat spiralbound with a hard cover. It is well designed in terms of color. Each page has a bit of fabric on the edge to add interest. I wasn’t that excited about the fabric chosen for the projects. It simply is not my style, however I found that the fabric chosen went well with the design and layout of the book.

The table of contents is pretty detailed. Each chapter is defined by the list of projects or elements included. I like that as I was able to flip to projects I wanted to look at immediately because of the detailed table of contents.

Second, the writing style has a sense of humor. The chapters are named things like ‘Dwell Redux’, ‘Household Affairs’, ‘From Head to Toe’, ‘Accessorize Your Little One’, etc. Yes, I like to be entertained!

The book has the obligatory chapter on equipment, notions, and sewing. I do like the stitch terminology section, which talks about what exactly the stitch means. That is useful. I never knew what a staystitch was, and this book defines it. “A staystitch is most often used when a fabric piece is cut on the bias or on a curve. it is a single stitch line on a single layer of fabric. Typically, a line of longer stitches is made at or just within the seam allowance, and helps to stabilize the fabric to prevent it from becoming stretched or distorted later when attached to another piece.” This section is 14 pages long and because of the length, I don’t mind it as much. I would have like to have seen some mention of where the reader can go to get more information.

I would have liked to have seen the chapter pages/section introduction include a list of the projects as well the text. It isn’t difficult to flip back to the table of contents.

The reason I have to put this book on my list to buy is that there are a number of projects that I want to make or use to modify something I already have. Some of the projects on my list are:

Framed Tack Board – I would use this project to modify some bulletin boards I already have

Lined Bookcase – (brilliant!)

Folding Chair Pinafore Cover – I would take the idea and modify it to fit my older dining room chairs

Organized Bed Pocket – great gift!

Smocked Pillow in the Round – would like to learn some of the techniques used to make this pillow.

Granny’s Clothespin Apron

Kitschy Kitchen Apron – I already used the specifications from the Kitschy Kitchen Apron to make the Petal Apron I donated to the CraftSanity Apron Challenge

Hey Hot Dish

Obi-Inspired Hot & cold Pack – I cannot make one of these soon enough and I also think it would make a great gift.

Hanging Wall Pocket

Origami Organizer – I would add a lid to this project

I wasn’t much interested in the clothes. I think that the clothes one can make with one yard of fabric are not the clothes that fit my style. Some of the pieces would be great gifts for my nieces or for friends who have babies and small children.

Another bonus is that this book has a pack of patterns rather than telling you to blow pieces up at the copy center to 5000%. I like the packs of pattern sheets better. I didn’t take them out of the envelope since this is a library book, but will once I buy (or receive as a gift!) the book. You do have to enlarge a few of the applique patterns, but they could be free hand drawn to a larger size as well. Yes, even those of you who do not consider yourself proficient drawers can do it with a little graph paper!

There is a glossary with more terms defined. The resource section includes fabric, inspiration, trims and forums, etc. I was glad to see the contributor bios section. The book was put together with the help of people around the blogosphere contributing projects and it is nice to see their names, a brief bio and a link to their website or blog. I was confused about why that section is organized by first name. Perhaps that is how the authors know the contributors?

There is also (YAY!) an index! Thank you, Storey Publishing for spending the money to include an index! This is the same publishing company that published the Sew What Bags by Lexis Barnes.

If you like to sew for your home or for gifts, I would recommend this book to you.

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Book Review: 500 Art Quilts

500 Art Quilts by Ray Hemachandra

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thanks to Lark Books for sending me this book to review. I love getting cool books for free. And this is a really cool book. It is part of Lark Books’ 500 Series, which they appear to have been working on for about 6 years. Taking a quick look a their webpage, it looks like this series would be wonderful if you are stumped for inspiration. They have a variety of titles in this series covering different types of art. Included are glass beads, rings, wooden boxes, polymer clay designs and beaded objects. The only one I have seen is the 500 Art Quilts book.

First off: NO patterns. I have nothing against patterns. They definitely serve their purpose, but I don’t need patterns and basic directions on how to make a quilt in every quilt book published. This book is pure inspiration. There is page after page of contemporary quilt eye candy, which, in certain circumstances, is just what the doctor ordered.

I was nervous that the book would be filled with the same old quilts that are always shown when books and articles are written about art quilts. There were one or two I had seen before, and a few quilts from the 1990s, but for the most part included were quilts that were new to me. I was also pleased to see that the quilts were relatively recent. I was also pleased to see that some new names had their quilts included.

Second, Karey Bresenhan was the juror. Whatever you think about her style, the woman has seen a few quilts in her day and knows good quilts. She has taken the opportunity to select a wide variety of contemporary quilts. There is something for every quiltmaker’s taste in this book. If you like contemporary quilts that jump off from classic patterns, take a look at Kathy York’s piece, Little Cities (pg.15) or Carol Taylor’s Dispersion on pg.366. If you like thread painting, one of the best pieces I have ever seen is Nancy Murty’s Greens for Dinner (pg. 351). For applique’ Kathy Nida’s Lost (pg.217) and Nancy S. Brown’s The Usual Suspects (pg.329) are excellent examples. There are also photo realistic quilts, dispersed dye quilts and everything in between.

Additionally, Bresenhan is a talented writer. Her introduction is wonderful. There is a lot of history, opinion and experience in the two pages allotted to this section. She puts to rest the art vs. craft debate very skillfully, easily links quiltmaking to the broader concepts of art that many trained artists learn in school and made me not want to wait to finish reading because I was so excited about the quilts. It is well written, interesting ans well worth the time to read it.

When I first started to look at this book, I began categorizing the quilt by “like” and “do not like”. Then I stopped, started over and began looking at the quilts purely for inspiration. Every quilt, with a few exceptions, have something I found to inspire me or gave me something to think about. I don’t mean that the quilts sent me a literal message. I was able to look at each page and find something I could look at and wonder how the artist accomplished that particular element. This is definitely a book where a website of further information on each quilt would be welcome.

Third, Lark includes an index of quiltmakers with their city and the page(s) on which their quilts are shown. I love indexes and this makes it much easier to see which artists were included and which ones have more than one quilt. I love seeing names I recognize and there are several acquaintances and one or two friends in the lists of artists. This index would have been improved by include each artists’ blog or website, but I understand the space constraints as well.

Fourth, having so many quilts gives the reader a wide variety from which to be inspired. Some of the quiltmakers have more than one piece in the book. Yvonne Porcella’s Paris View, Lou & Who, Two & Two jumped out at me, because it is so different that the style with which I normally associate her work: the bright colors and black and white checkerboards. The reader can flip between the above and her Dick and Jane (pg.61) to see her evolution as a quiltmaker. There are enough quilts in the book to see progress in people’s work without one person dominating the book.

Fifth, the detail shots the authors have included are well placed and thoughtfully selected. Philippa Naylor’s piece, Star Sign (pg.60) shows a detail of her quilting. The detail is so good, albeit small, that the reader can see the evenness of her stitching, the way she fills in areas and the color changes.

One of the oldest quilts I saw in the book was from 1995. It is Natasha Kempers-Cullen’s piece, Heart of Lightness (pg.43). The quilts are not chronological and, though, I specifically tried to find the oldest pieces so I could try to judge how many times I may have seen the quilts in the book, I don’t know that this piece is the oldest. My impression: most of them I had not seen. A few I have seen once.

While I am a visual person, I am often drawn to the text about a quilt. As a result, I often forget to look at the quilt. Initially I struggled with wanting to know more about the artists’ thoughts on the quilt. Finally, I reminded myself that these quilts are probably on the web somewhere and if I really wanted to find out more, I probably could. Bresenhan speaks to this when she says in her introduction “The goal with this type of work is to remove all distractions, so that the energy and spirit of the art can speak clearly to the viewer.” If she thought about this when selecting the quilts, then I feel I should just look at each page and let the pieces speak to me without interference from words.

There is a strong visual context in the quilts selected. That may sound strange, but since the pieces are reproduced in a book, pieces where the medium or a certain technique are preeminent would not be successful. These types of pieces seemed to be left for a different book or another method of presentation. The one piece in this genre that was included was Hooked on Caffeine by Penelope E. Mace. I love the shape of the fish. I couldn’t figure out why it looked so dirty until I read the materials and techniques list and saw that it was made from coffee filters. I have no doubt that this piece would have much more of an impact in person.

I was also glad to see that the authors did not feel obligated to include some prominent quiltmakers just because of their names. In addition to my own work, I enjoy seeing as much of other quiltmakers’ work as possible. There are tons of quiltmakers in this book whose work is new to me. What a pleasure to be exposed new pieces! Works from renowned quiltmakers were also included, but, again, they did not dominate the book. I was glad to see two of Susan Shie’s tarot deck quilts, one of Jane Sassaman’s pieces and a piece by Judy Coates Perez.

There is a lot of wonderful colorwork shown in this book, such as Faye Timmerman-Traudt’s Desert Blooms and Jan Elliott’s Shot in the Dark.

By now I have glanced through this book at least 10 times. Twice I went through it page by page and consciously looked at each image. Each time, I was able to find something new to look at. I am sure that I will have the same experience next time I look through it.

I think this book is well worth having in your library. I am really glad Lark sent it to me, because I would not have been able to buy it right away otherwise. I hope you will rush out and buy this book and encourage Lark to put together volume 2 in a few years!

Highly recommended!

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Too Many Books?!?

These are the books that I MUST finish reading soon. Four of them (top 3 and bottom middle) are due back at the library. In fact, by the time you read this I will have already taken back the Design It Yourself Clothes book. I like the tone of the first part of this book even though I haven’t done anything about the actual making of clothes. I may buy this book so I can work through at my own pace.

Fortunately, I did write the review for Pretty Little Mini Quilts. that was on my mind since Lark Books sent me the book for free. Did you read it? I found the review hard to write. It is different writing reviews when I get the books free from a publisher than when I get them out of the Library.

Yes, this is the Leaning Tower of Book Pisa, as I like to call it. The Leaning Tower of Book Pisa books not only need to be shelved, but they also need to be cataloged and read. I have officially over reached my current shelf space for any kind of books. This pile makes me anxious. I want it to be neatly shelved, cataloged and have every book easy to find. I very rarely buy non-quilt books. My rule is that I have to get it from the Library and think I will read it again before I buy a copy of my own. I am only allowed to buy non-quilt books if it is hard to get from the Library.

Quilt books are a different story. I used to buy all the quilt books that came out, but there are simply too many now. Also, many of them are just pattern books and I have plenty of patterns. This past year or so, however, has been a great time for quilt books. I like to buy quilt books, because I make notes on the patterns or in the margins. I make notes about what I like or I underline (in pencil, don’t worry) bits that I want to come back and review again. I have only been, pretty much, putting quilt books on my wish list this year. As I mentioned, I have been fortunate in the past year to have received almost all of these books as gifts.

I still try to borrow them from the Library first to make sure I like the book. My local Library doesn’t have many fiber books, but it is in a network and one of the sister libraries has a lot of the titles I want. If I can’t find a quilt or fiber book in my library system, I go to The City system and can usually find it there.

I want to read all of the books in the Leaning Tower of Book Pisa. I am currently reading Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter by Katie Pasquini-Masopust. I read about a chapter of it a week. It is short, but is still taking me awhile to get through it, probably because, also, I am reading 3 other books at the same time. I am almost finished and will put up a review soon.

Book Review: Pretty Little Mini Quilts

Pretty Little Mini Quilts by Ray Hemachandra

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was sent to me for free by Lark Books unsolicited. I was pretty excited to receive it! It is part of the Pretty Little Series, which also includes another book about pillows. The ‘mini’ part of the title is defined, in the Introduction, as projects that are less than 36″ square. This size is appealing to people with small spaces to display their works and those that want to try a lot of different techniques.

This is obviously an inspiration book. The colors, shapes in the projects, and design of the book all make my mind swirl. The book has a high level of eye candy from the beginning. The photography is very well done. The layout and graphics were noticeable right away. What drew me in, immediately, was the hexagon piece, called Spanish Flowers (directions on pg.102-105) on the inside front flap. The colors are really vibrant and the piece has an interesting shape. It is different from the other hexagon pieces I have seen. Another element I really liked were the different colors on the page edges. The color for each chapter is different, adding interest and giving the reader an additional visual cue as to where they are in the book. The images of spools and stacks of fabric seen before page 7 are appealing as well.

This is another project book which tries to go it alone. It devotes the first quarter of the book to basics including information about different types of fabric and tools, what a fat quarter is and how to make a quilt. For the size of the section, it is a relatively comprehensive section. The paragraphs on tools are entertaining. For example, under the section entitled needle threader, “Folks with perfect eyesight and rock-steady hands can skip this tool. Otherwise, save yourself some frustration by using a needle threader.” The section continues and I like the tone. It isn’t dull and a bit Mark Lipinski-esque. I wonder if that is a new style of writing?

I didn’t like the references to “…thoughts of a quilting bee near that little house on the prairie” or “Unless you’re stitching up petticoats, nothing you’re sewing has stronger ties to the past than quilts” in the Introduction. Once I read the second paragraph I got joke, but the first couple of sentences put me off. I think clothes were probably made before quilts and I prefer not to read assumptions like the above without references to the source. This isn’t a historical tome, so I shouldn’t demand it, but such statements can perpetuate untruths and questionable “facts” and there are enough of those going around the quilting world.

I do think this book is one that can open the minds of readers to the possibilities of quiltmaking. the different stitching, both hand and machine as well as the colors and variety of techniques all show that quiltmaking is not boring. The book does show a 9patch (pg.45-47), but it also introduces the idea of scanning a photo and turning it into a quilt (pg.77-79). I am not that interested in photo realistic quilts, but I do think the photo of the “Portrait of Velma” piece shows a quilt that is pretty well done.

I really wish that major publishers would each write a basic sewing/quiltmaking book and refer back to it rather than recounting the same basic quiltmaking information over and over in every book they write. The idea of a book like this teaching a new sewist to quilt from a list of supplies and 12 steps in a project is crazy as well as potentially frustrating. I know little to nothing about the costs of producing a book, but I do know that publishers are under fire and want to appeal to as many readers as possible, which is why they use this kind of tactic. I would keep the layout the same, but refer back to a book with much more detail on how to make a quilt. A direction such as “Quilt the quilt using diagonal lines that run through all the large white squares and diagonal lines that run through all the checked squares” seems so easy. After all, whole books are written about machine quilting, such as those by Diane Gaudynski, Harriet Hargrave and Sue Nickels. The beginning section, as noted above, does have more information about the mechanics of quiltmaking, which are a big help. I think it would be a service to add a comprehenisve beginning quiltmaking book to a publisher’s line that they could keep in print over a long period of time and revise as needed. Such a book would also have an appeal to new quiltmakers over time.

There are a number of appealing projects in the book. My favorite is the Corner Store pattern (pg.51-53). This is the first pattern, which I noticed, that acknowledged that there is a quiltmaking community outside of this book. The designer refers the method of piecing as Gwen Marston‘s ‘liberated piecing’ technique. I think the book would have benefited from other references to the quiltmaking community. I like this project because of the red background. I also like the line drawing that was included to show what the designer meant about adding triangles to a squares. I have a lot of triangles which work for this project from cutting the FOTY 2010 diamonds and seeing that line drawing inspired me.

I liked the ‘Have a Cup’ project as well. The style of it gets ideas related to my various House and Garden quilts flowing. One thing I would have liked to see, in this quilt in particular, is a couple of versions of the quilt made in different colorways. My mom and I had a discussion about several of the projects and the discussion centered around the colors. I kept reminding her that she didn’t have to make the project in those colors, while she insisted that colors drew her in or repelled her. Again, I know the cost of the book is a factor, but that would have been a nice addition.

“Give me a Hand” (pg.114-117) is a good reminder that we can make our own patterns and redwork is especially conducive to family type quilts.

One project “Star & Cross” (pg.126-129) includes paper piecing, which is interesting. This book really tries hard to give the reader a full quiltmaking experience.

The other inspirational part of this book is the “about the designers” section. There are two pages worth of designers in this book and the editors have included a brief bio as well as links to their websites or blog. Really nice to be able to look up more of their work. I have heard of a number of the designers and am actually Internet acquaintances with two of them.

I was sorry to see that I would need to take the book to a copy store and enlarge the patterns. I prefer to have full sized patterns in a pocket in the back or download them from the publisher website.

The book also gets high marks for including an index and a comprehensive table of contents.

All in all I like this book for its inspirational qualities. I think it has the potential to help quiltmakers think outside the box.

View all my reviews, including non-quilt book reviews