Tag Archives: quilt books

Quilts Inspired by Books • 2 Comments

sarah • February 13, 2023

I'm excited about the announcement for this week's Project QUILTING challenge: A Novel Project. The one big rule is that our projects need to be inspired by a book we've read. Easy peasy! So many options. (I hope you'll consider playing along and making a quilt between now and Sunday!)

In the challenge theme announcement post Trish shared a number of her book inspired projects. It got me thinking about which quilts I have made inspired by books. Here's a wrap-up of those projects.

***click on the photos to read more about each project***

The first thing that came to mind is Very Hungry Caterpillar. I adore the children's book and when the Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric came out I admired it but had no reason to buy it... until I found out it was pregnant with my first. I think Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric was the first baby-related item I purchased once I knew I was expecting.

My son's crib quilt was the first project I made with those fabrics (back in 2010). It was probably the first thing I pieced improvisationally, starting with the panels and building around them until it was the size of a crib mattress (odd dimensions, I know now).

I had purchased *a lot* of the Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric, which resulted in at least three more quilts, the last of which was a twin-sized bed quilt for my son which took me way too long to finish. Oh, and the pillow case on there, too!

In 2016, when my sister was expecting her first, the baby;'s room had a Wizard of Oz theme which inspired me to make a Wizard of Oz baby quilt. I absolutely adore this quilt. It was designed as I went. The Emerald City is appliqué and the yellow brick road is reverse appliqué.

In 2021, I used a Willy Wonka inspired fabric pull for a Project QUILTING challenge.

One of the very first quilts I made was from a book was from Quilts from The Quiltmaker's Gift with patterns out of the delightful children's book The Quiltmaker's Gift.

The last reference I could find to books on my blog was not a project, but a fabric pull. Fiction and Fabric was a fun activity using a book as inspiration for pulling together a small palette of fabric.

Now to decide what I will make this week!

Quilty Things to Read • 2 Comments

sarah • December 28, 2019

Here are a few of my favorite quilty things to read lately.

Books

My newest quilt book is The Quilter's Field Guide to Color by Rachel Hauser. Not only is it a colorful feast for the eyes, but it is an interactive workbook with a large color swatch library and 14 experiments.

In addition to books about quilting and fabric and color, I read the entire Quilting Cozy series by Carol Dean Jones this year. The books follow the lives of a group of retirees (and various other characters) who live in a quaint, retirement village. Sarah Miller, main character and new quilter, and her friends solve a variety of mysteries. It was nice to follow the lives of the characters through ten books, starting with Tie Died.

And I recently got my hands on the Feed Sacks book from The Uppercase Encyclopedia of Inspiration series which is so interesting to peruse. (I haven't yet gotten a copy of Quilted from the series. Ephemera and Print Maker are on my wishlist, too.)

Magazines

I am loving QuiltFolk. This morning I dove into the latest issue, Minnesota, while I had my tea. I love the slice of life feel as we get a tour around each state.

I've also really enjoyed issues of What Women Create and Where Women Create, introduced to me by Timna Tarr who was featured in an issue of each magazine in 2019. These are great publications for meeting artists working in a wide variety of mediums.

Make Modern (PDF) is another favorite. I love the vibrant color and modern designs. And it's a bonus that it's digital and I can load it onto my phone for on the go reading.

What are your favorite quilty reads?

I'm participating in the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge with Cheryl of muppin.com.

Turnabout Patchwork Blog Hop • 66 Comments

sarah • January 30, 2019

Welcome to my stop on the Turnabout Patchwork Book Tour Blog Hop! I made up the quick and easy Sun Dunes pattern from the Quarter Snowball Block section of the book.

I liked the look of solids that Teresa used in the illustration of Sun Dunes in the book and ordered Kona Ash for my background. In the end, I opted to use the remnants from Woven Waves: Kona Lime, Grass Green, Glacier, Ruby, and Watermelon.

This quilt went together very quickly. It has so much potential for different looks with solids, prints, a variety of background colors... the possibilities are endless! And it wasn't super fussy about points lining up. If constructed in rows, you'd only need to focus on the points of the triangles matching. I opted to leave off the border, so my quilt top finished at 36 1/2" x 45 1/2". I love that the negative space in the background gives is a modern look and leaves a lot of room for interesting quilting.

Overall, Turnabout Patchwork is a beginner friendly book with a variety of interesting twists on common quilt blocks. Each of six chapters shows step-by-step photos of how to make the block and an initial pattern featuring the block, followed by two or three illustrated patterns using some variation of block layout or fabric placement within the block. Numerous quilts are modern in design with expansive negative space. Turnabout Patchwork is available on Amazon.

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. For your chance to win an eBook copy of Turnabout Patchwork enter with Rafflecopter below by leaving a comment on this blog post and tell me how you would change up the Sun Dunes pattern if you were going to make it and/or by being a newsletter subscriber. Not a newsletter subscriber yet? Subscribe here, click to confirm your subscription in the email that comes to you. At the end of the giveaway I will email the randomly selected winner and they will have 48 hours to reply to claim their prize or I will select a new winner. The eBook will be emailed to the winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Turnabout Patchwork author Teresa Mairal Barreu can be found at her blog Sewn Up.

Enjoy the continuation of the blog hop by following along at the following blogs: