Quilter's Haven
Rosemount, Minnesota

 

Harriet Hargrave and Carrie Hargrave have written Quilter’s Academy Volume 1 – Freshman Year which is an excellent book.  The Quilter’s Academy is published by C & T Publishing.  All I can say about this book is…WOW!  I sure wish “The Freshman Year” would have been available when I started quilting all those years ago.  Harriet and her daughter, Carrie, have written this as the first volume in a series taking the quilter from their freshman year which is the beginning of the development of your quiltmaking skills.  The sixth and final volume of the series represents your PhD year meaning extremely challenging quilts where patterns are seldom available.  With each of the volumes- One through Six – your quiltmaking skill set is enhanced with each successive volume that you have the knowledge and the skill to accomplish and complete the PhD level quilts.

The Freshman Year consists of nine classes with four lessons in each class.  You learn the basic skills that provide you with your quiltmaking foundation.  Some of the topics include solid information on sewing machines, tools, preparing fabric, why the quarter inch seams don’t work (food for thought on this one), measuring, sewing and pressing for accuracy, upgrading your sewing area, the basics of grids, fabric collecting basics, understanding terminology, how to ensure you have a quilt that is “square” and the basics of finishing the quilt.  As part of the learning process you work on eleven projects which help you to learn and to solidify your skills.  In my humble opinion this is a must buy and will be in my quilt library.  I look forward to The Sophomore Year!

---

SKINNY QUILTS and Tablerunners II is edited by Eleanor Levie.  The book is published by Martingale and Company for That Patchwork Place. 

As with the first SKINNY QUILTS book, this book is a compilation of tablerunners by fifteen different quilt designers.  The styles of these tablerunners vary from what I think of as contemporary to a very traditional look.  There is lots to like in this book,  You have fabrics from 100% cottons to felted wool, rick rack, beads, 100% silk dupioni, ribbon and even a bit of copper wire.  I really enjoyed the first SKINNY QUILTS book and this book is equally good.  Judy Hooworth has created a visually stimulating runner titled Outback Sunset.  Jane Davila’s creativity added a spiral of copper wire held in place by a variegated chenille yarn to make a very unique fall runner with leaves.  Karla Anderson has done Rungs which uses deep purple batiks and lime green prints to make a very striking runner using very simple blocks.  Sue Spargo is a master using wool in her designs.  Sue’s runner is inspired by an Asian rug, the colors of the African bushveld with a bit of England rolled into it.  The Dahlia is a Diva by Julia Popa of Sunflower Hill Designs is very striking in brown, orange, teal and lime green.  This is another winner in my book.  Jo Morton has designed a “skinny” version of a previous quilt called Rhubarb Crisp which she has done in reds and golds.  An American in Paris definitely looks like Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree & Co designed it.  The runner contains houses in conjunction with the Oakleaf and Reel appliqué done in wool on the runner.  There are lots of striking projects to try your hand at.

---

Sharon Craig and Pamela Mostek present a Quilt Challenge of “what if” ideas for color and design.  The book is published by Martingale and Company for That Patchwork Place.  Quilt Challenge is a cool book because it gives you an opportunity to be creative in a group challenge.  There are eight challenges, such as, The Color Purple, Churn It Up, Neutral Does It and Plaid Garden.  The authors show you’re their version of the challenge including several other examples from other quilters who took the challenge.  Are you ready to be challenged?

---

Pam Mostek has been busy as she has authored another book titled Blended Borders – Quilts with a Creative Edge.  This book is also published by Martingale and Company for That Patchwork Place.  What a neat way to make your quilts totally unique!  Pamela pulls the motifs in her gorgeous borders onto the quilt itself.  She has written good directions but the well done pictures in the book show you the way and contain excellent detail.  The five quilts with specific directions are titled Simply Sensational, Cinnabar, Tropical Tango, When Pigs Fly and Raspberry Mocha.  There is also a gallery of quilts to give you additional inspiration.

---

French General Home Sewn is written by Kaari Meng and published by Chronicle Books. 

Kaari’s inspiration is the use of vintage French textiles as well a new textiles but she does have an emphasis on sustainable fabrics.  She provides instructions on how to age a new fabric so it has the look and feel of old fabric.  Kaari really does have a love of vintage things.  As she stated in the book “From the beginning, the idea of living in an old home in the south of France surrounded by lavender fields inspired me”.  After reading through this book I would love to visit her shop in Los Angeles.  There are thirty projects with full sized pattern sheets and the skill level given for each project.  I would consider the projects practical for use every day.  As an example, there is a project for a bread warming seed bag that has a secret ingredient.  Wow, you really can learn something new every day!  You can make bed covers, bed skirts, garlands, cushions, bathroom items, tablecloths, napkins, coasters, pillows, and curtains – everything to give you that French country feel.  The best part is the there is now a French General line of fabric that Jean carries in the store.  It is absolutely beautiful.  I like the book and it is in my library.

---

Laurie Aaron Hird has written a book based on letters from 1920s farm wives and the 111 blocks that they inspired.  The book is titled The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt and is published by Krause Publications.

The basis for this book was a contest run by The Farmer’s Wife – A Magazine for Farm Women.  They asked the readers the following question:  “If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, light of your own experience, want her to marry a farmer?”  The editors wanted the readers to consider all angles of the question and there were prizes for the best 68 answers.  You need to remember this was a time of technological advancement with cars becoming affordable, there were radio stations across the country and there were silent pictures with the first ‘talkie” made in 1927.  Two amendments to the United States Constitution were enacted between the end of World War I in November of 1918 and the Stock Market Crash of 1929 – the 18th Amendment prohibited the use of alcohol and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.  The 1920s were interesting times indeed!

The book contains excerpts from many of the winning 68 letters as well as pictures of two pieced blocks inspired by the letters.  Instructions for each block to include cutting information are included in the last half of the book.  A CD-ROM is included with the book so that you can print the templates for the blocks.  Laurie pieced the Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt by hand but did have it machine quilted.  I like this quilt pure and simple.  The use of brown fabric for sashing and border does a very effective job of the framing each block.  Laurie also does a good job of describing how to put it all together including how to cut the backing depending on the size of quilt you make.  I am glad I bought this book as it gives one a better perspective on another time and women’s lives during that time.  The letters are from women all over the country so I think that makes the book even more special.

---

Shop Hours
Monday - Friday 10:00am - 8:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 6:00pm
Sunday 12 Noon - 5:00pm