Book Review - A Quilters Mixology by Angela Pingel

Thanks a million everybody who volunteered to help with our activities over the next while.  Aideen and Cindy will be looking after us for the summer swap coming up and Helen has volunteered to help with the annual Christmas swap.

Our meetup will now most likely be September/October in Limerick and thanks to Louise,  Paula and Annette who have offered to help with that - stay tuned for more details over the coming weeks.

Thanks also to Sharon for volunteering to look after our Facebook page and Liz  who has offered to help with the blog content and kicks thing off with a book review of Angela Pingel's - A Quilters Mixology!

When Liz sent me this she mentioned someone had reviewed it for the IPS but not all our members would have seen it, and as it is such a good book it was her top pick to review.   I had to smile as it was me who reviewed it for the IPS magazine and I totally forgot about adding it to our library - thanks Liz for bringing our attention to this one - it is a favourite of mine and I used one of the designs in the book to make a sewing machine cover.    Over to Liz...

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Liz Dunne's book review for Modern Quilters Ireland Blog

Angela Pingel : A Quilters Mixology

I have this book about a year and I have only managed to use it for one project and it is not even a project in the book.

How can I give a review of a book that I have not even completed a project from? Well, the answer is, I most certainly can give one, because it has got me started on the extremely tricky road that is curved piecing. Curved piecing, like for so many others out there is very daunting and I have tried it before this book but not with much success.

Don't get me wrong, You Tube is a fantastic outlet for tutorials but what You Tube, Pinterest and blogs etc etc failed to do for me, this book succeeded in doing and I think it succeeded for a number of reasons.

1. There is nothing like having an eye catching glossy book with plenty of eye candy in your hand.
2. Angela's step by step instructions were very easy to follow and I think this was helped by the fact that she didn't put the cutting requirements in with the instructions, she kept things separate, which really does help and also stops you from getting super confused.
3. I like the way she starts by giving you a history of the drunkards path block, because she tells you also the different variations, and names of the blocks of these variations, which I did not know, and then she moves on to how to assemble a simple drunkards patch block, which is the start of the endless opportunities that come with this block.
4. She also talks about color and fabric selection which is very helpful, as I am very indecisive in this area, so I appreciated the help. Angela's fabric selection for this book is fantastic!
5. Angela then moves on to the 16 projects which is a really generous amount of projects for a book in my personal opinion.
6. Angela finishes with how to finish your quilt, which as a longarm quilter myself is my personal area of particular interest.
7. Angela talks extensively about backings and gives examples of how to piece backings, which normally you don't get in depth advice on backings, and I have used Angela's advice on backings on other projects of mine.
8. She also talks about batting choices and of course my favorite, Quilting options.
9. Angela used a longarm quilter called Krista Withers and I am a big fan of Krista's quilting. Angela also used her own quilting skills on her domestic machines and pantographs to show all styles of quilting options.
10. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a modern quilting book which I would class intermediate to advanced.

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Thanks again Liz for a very informative write up!

Book Review - Step by Step Free Motion Quilting by Christina Camelli

I might have a slight Craftsy addiction. I've watched free motion classes by Leah Day (free videos on quilting the Craftsy 2012 BOM), Angela Walters (has 4 classes on Craftsy) , Ann Peterson (has 2!), but the one I have enjoyed the most has been Christina Camelli's The Secrets of Free Motion Quilting.

Christina blogs at A Few Scraps, where she has lots of free stuff on free motion quilting. If you want to take any of her Craftsy Classes she has links from her blog that will get you the classes for half price at about 15 Euro. She has also written 2 books on the subject : First Steps to Free Motion quilting and Step by Step Free motion quilting. I enjoyed her class so much I bought First Steps and when I saw Christina had a new book out Step by Step Free Motion Quilting, I wondered if it was worth buying as well. After leafing through Paula Rafferty's copy, I didn't hesitate and bought it too.

First steps and her class Free Motion Quilting Essentials give lots of advice on getting started, setting up and managing the movement of the quilt in your machine, things to avoid and where to start quilting. Step by Step and The secrets of Free Motion Quilting show basic shapes like circles, lines, spirals, arc shapes, loops etc. and growing them into all over edge to edge motifs or very neat filler designs. The tag line is turning "9 simple shapes into over 80 designs".

I find myself turning to this book when I am looking for quilting inspiration and stuck on what to do with a project. When we were away on holidays in September, our Jack Russell, Charly, went on holidays to 2 different households. Neither would take anything from me for minding her, so I made 2 cushions as thank you presents. (The pattern for the pieced pups is available for free on Sew Fresh Quilts blog here up to the end of October or you can buy the pattern here if you want to make any of these - pattern is Dog Gone Cute!.) 

I knew I wanted to quilt the dogs in a loopy wiggle pattern, as this gives really lovely texture and to me, looks like fur. For the background, I wasn't sure what to do but wanted to try something different from straight lines or all over stipple (Lori Kennedy who blogs at the Inbox Jaunt is out to ban the stipple to encourage people to try new things - check out her free quilting tutorials here)

Leafing through Step by Step Free Motion Quilting I found this version of a free motion linear design and gave that a go.

For the second cushion I found a string of pearls type design that Christina keeps very free and easy by not being too perfect. I used this technique on a sewing machine cover but tried to be prefect travelling around the circles. This sketching style is much easier and I think suits the piecing, though when I was showing the cushion off with a "What do you think?",  I was answered with a "Why did you put the poor dog out in the rain?" Oops!

Still I like the result and had fun playing with the designs that Christina suggests. If you are looking for a book on Free Motion Quilting from Santa this year, this one might be the one to put on your wish list!

If anyone has a go to book that they would like to share or write a review to share on the blog please drop me a line!  Thanks Helen for reviewing Sew Organised!
-Ruth

Book Review - Sew Organised

When I saw Ruth's request for someone to write a book review, for the Modern Quilters Ireland mqi blog, my hand shot straight up! I can do that! Miss! Miss! Me! Me! It just took me my normal two weeks to get around to it. I have been told Procrastination is my middle name. If I didn't procrastinate so much, I could look that up in the dictionary. I love books, novels, craft books, cookery books, I love them all and I buy them all even though I work with books all day. The difficult thing is to decide what book review. In the end I decided on the most recent "Sew Organized for the Busy Girl" by Heidi Staples. Heidi blogs as Fabricmutt.

The first part of the book deals with Heidi's background, how she fell in to quilting and then blogging. Why sewing and quilting is important to her,  from the creative, the nurturing, "the nicer for less" financial aspect and lastly on how it keeps her sanity in a busy life. Perhaps that is the most important. Heidi then moves on to how to make space in our busy lives for sewing, and how to have an organized work space.  I think this follows along the lines of tidy lives, tidy work space and tidy mind. I wouldn't know about that!

And then the fun bit, the bit we are all really waiting for, the projects. Here we see the quirky projects, not the bog standard quilts but the pin cushions, the pouches, the organisers. The things I see on other people's blogs and instagram accounts and think, I would like to make that. Note, I don't add Flickr, I'm not organised enough to keep up with Flickr.

I wish I could show you some of my finished projects, but you know that isn't going to happen. After all, we don't really buy these books to make the scrummy things, we just buy to look and covet. Or at least I do.

Overall I loved this book. I really will make loads of things, and all Heidi's advice makes sense. The advice is at times rather homespun, it even has a quote from Laura Ingalls Wilder. Homespun but cosy, not twee.

Next time if I get to do another review it will be of the Japanese zakka, I think I may actually have completed one of those. And, oh yes, I have read and love quilting fiction, there's a whole life out there in the world of books.

Helen
midgetgemquilts x

Sew Organized for the Busy Girl
Heidi Staples
Stashbooks
£15.99 UK

Book Reviews

Morning all, I'm looking for book reviews!  Would you like to share a favourite quilting book or a new purchase you think is well worth a read?  Let's share some recommendations!

If you could pull a book from your shelf, snap a quick photo of the cover if you can (optional!) and send me a reply to this or leave a comment below on the blog with a line or two of why you like this book and why you think we should click to purchase, that would be great!  We'd love to know what inspires you guys and share the inspiration between us!

A book I keep picking up and leafing through is Quilting with a Modern Slant.  It is a mix of quilters and projects focusing on different aspects of Modern Quilting like improv, color, or scale and is a really fun read. 

Hand Quilted with Love by Sarah Fielke is another book I keep picking up.  I've not made anything from it but it is a really pretty book and I keep reaching for it on the bookshelf! One of these days I'm going to make this giant star but scrappy in all colours and a low volume background!

Whats on your wish list to make?
-Ruth