Borderland in Butternut & Blue, A
Sampler Quilt to Recall the Civil War Along the Kansa/Missouri
Border by Barbara Brackman. The publisher of this book
is Kansas City Star Books.
I have always been fascinated by the Civil War and this book
is an excellent vehicle to understand what happened in Kansas and
Missouri during that time period. The book allows the reader
a clear picture of the Civil War along the Kansas and Missouri border
and utilizes quilt blocks to tell the story of the Borderland. It
describes how the title was derived from the color of the soldier’s
uniforms – blue for the Union and butternut brown for the Missouri
Confederate soldiers. Each of the thirteen blocks is in memory
of a woman who lived through the war. The book is worth its
price just for the quality of the presentation of the information,
the pictures used in telling the Borderland story and then the quilts. In
addition to the blocks themselves, there are several projects that
I truly like that will give you the opportunity to make your very
own special quilt. You will also have a better understanding
of the block known as “Kansas Troubles”. This book,
in my view, is one to add to your library. I know it will be
in mine shortly.
The Lincoln Museum Quilt, a Reproduction for Abe’s
Frontier Family, by Barbara Brackman and
Deb Rowden is also published by Kansas City Star Books.
This is a booklet that offers the reader an overview of the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum that opened in 2005. Barbara
and Deb had informed the Illinois State Historian that the quilt covering
Abe Lincoln’s parents’ bed was not correct for that era. So
they needed to make a quilt of the correct vintage and the quilt in
this booklet is that very quilt. Once again, this has very interesting
historical information surrounding what would be appropriate for an
1820’s quilt. The quilt consists of two blocks – a
sixteen patch and a basic star. The fabrics used in the quilt
look like old “home-woven” cloth in plaid and stripes. It
is really pretty “cool”.
Quilts Through the Camera’s Eye is
written by Terry Clothier Thompson and published by Kansas City
Star Books.
There six quilts in this book and each is very traditional. Terry
says that she can’t write a book without including the history
of women and this is no exception. For each quilt there is a
vintage picture that has a quilt in the background. Terry has
provided her version of that quilt using updated techniques to make
the quilt. The quilts are titled Oscar’s Girl, Nellie
Stokes’ Bow Tie for a Beau, Baby Evelyn’s Crazy String
Quilt, Tennessee Waltz, “Homemakers Club” Basket and
County Fair Cotton Candy. This is another book that is
well done.
Bits and Pieces by Karen Costello
Soltys is published by That Patchwork Place of Martingale and Company.
This is a book that I had previously purchased because I love
those small quilts that you can make from fat quarters and scraps. There
is some normal piecing of the blocks, a bit of paper piecing and a touch
of appliqué in the 18 quilts. Many of them look vintage
with a few surprises of contemporary fabrics. The book is divided
into four sections.
One Patch Garden has an Amish look;
Plaid
Coins is the Chinese coins pattern and
Box of Chocolates looks
delicious with many unique buttons are found in the Squares and Rectangles
section. In the Triangles section you will find
Waste
Not, Want Not, Sugarplum Stars using the Ohio Star block,
Pastel
Pinwheels,
Sunny Lanes and
Christmas Goose. The
Diamond section has
12-Karat Four Patch and
Antique Diamonds. Curves
and Circles with Easy Appliqué include
Japanese Circles,
Maple Sugar Hearts and
Sweet Pea.
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Sewflakes are papercut-appliqué quilts
that Kathy Wylie has written a book about. The publisher
is C & T Publishing.
This is kind of an intriguing book as the appliqués
are made like the old fashion paper snowflakes by folding
the paper and then cutting out the design. The author
has provided detailed information regarding how to fold the
paper when doing these designs, making the design itself,
determining how the center should look, the appliqué of
the sewflakes, embellishments and using your sewflakes with
pieced blocks. There are completed project ideas to
help you along in making your very own sewflake quilt.
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Alex Anderson has a new book out that she has written
with Liz Aneloski titled Super Simple Quilts. Now
that is a concept that we all love. The book is published
by C & T Publishing.
With any Alex Anderson book, you will get excellent instructions
for the basics which make these good books for beginning quilters. The
pictures are very helpful in actually seeing what needs to
be done. This is a book of threes – “3 quilt
designs in 3 fabric styles in 3 sizes with 3 layer-securing
methods and 3 binding techniques”. The projects
are called Marching In Line, Hopscotch and Twist and Turn. But
the nice thing is there are several color ways shown of each
so you have a clear picture of your quilt might look if you
go in your own direction.
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You might think neutrals are boring but Alex Anderson
in her book, Neutral Essentials, shows you that neutrals
are anything but boring. C & T Publishing also
published this book.
Alex gives you a real perspective of neutrals and that the
way to succeed in using them is to understand their varying
color, the value and the character of the print. The
projects are LeMoyne Star Appliqué Medallion, Crème
Brule, Cinnamon Toast, Suzanne, Daisy Chain, Stars and Pinwheels
and Mama’s Spool Box with Stars and Pinwheels as my
favorite.
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A Black and White Garden by Kay M.
Capps Cross is published by American Quilter’s Society.
I consider this to be fairly contemporary but I like it. It
is all about flowers and what is not to love about flowers. There
are a lot of black and white fabrics out there right now and this
book utilizes them to their fullest then adds a touch of bright to
the projects. Batiks are also well used in this book. The
projects are shown in both the black and white version then the batik
version. I am hard pressed to say which one I like better. The
projects can be small wallhangings, table runners or put together
in a large quilt titled Garden Goddesses which is a good
descriptive title. Garden Gate, Paper Posies, Till
the Rows, Limetail, Leaf Dreams, and Balinese Beauty give
you a picture of what is in the book.
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Ricky Tims has designed Baskets and Flowers as
a design companion to his Rhapsody Quilts. Once
again C & T Publishing is the publisher of this book.
The project in this book is named Heidenroslein and
it is a glorious quilt. One really nice unique thing
about this particular book is that there are oversized ready-to-use
freezer paper patterns. The basic concepts for the
construction of this quilt are found in Rhapsody Quilts. One
of the things I liked besides the quilt is that there are
several examples of additional Rhapsody Quilts.
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Instant Bargello by Susan
Kisro will give you an opportunity to see if you like the
concept of constructing a bargello quilt but in a quick
fun way. What a good use of those novelty prints you
sometimes aren’t quite sure what to do with. Martingale
and Company are the publishers of this book.
The bargello basics are shown with good illustrations
included. You can make any size you want whether it
is a wall hanging or a large bed size quilt. The
size of the strip depends on the design of the fabric you
use and the size of the quilt you are making. The
projects in the book give you inspiration to try one yourself.
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Quilter's Haven is located in Rosemount, Minnesota, about
1/4 mile north (just past Kwik Trip) of County Road 42 (150th St.) on Highway 3 (South Robert
Trail). County Road 42 (150th St.) traveling west is accessible from
52 and 55, and Hwy 35W or 77 (Cedar Ave) to the East.