The Complete Quilter ~ a book review!

Well here's a bolt from the blue!

My friend Jessica Alexandrakis has written another book,

who knew?

Not just another book but another beautiful book!

 What I like about her new book is that it's not filled with lots of big projects

that you just wont make.

No, this book is all about making blocks 

and fitting them together to make 

simple but beautiful quilts.

Okay so if you are an experienced quilter

you may find it a little simplistic.

However, I love that the blocks are all sewn

with different techniques

giving you the chance to pick up new skills

as well as giving you a refresher of old ones.

I've tried to give you an idea below,

of course there are many more beautiful ideas,

but I must leave some surprises for your perusal!

 Funnily enough I've been wanting to try a quilt made using this applique technique.

Might have to try this one.

There are approx 22 tecniques ranging from 

curved piecing,

 foundation paper piecing,

needle turn applique,

improvisational string piecing,

to no waste flying geese.

 As well as teaching you all these new tricks

there's all the usual 'how tos'

from fabric choices to quilt assembly.

There are five highly ageeable/usable projects including the sampler quilt above.

When it makes it into book shops I highly recommend 

having a flick through, it's a lovely read,

especially if you're new to quilting books.

*

If you can't wait until then it will is available via Amazon

 The release date for The Complete Quilter in the UK is today!!

The expected release date for the US and Canada

is late July.

For more information contact Jessica aka LifeUnderQuilts

Also available Quilting on the Go.

An 'all you need to know' guide to English paper piecing.

Star of Wonder quilt reveal.

 I can now say I have a Christmas quilt!

Take a good look and then try and forget it

until December!!

I can also now tick off Red and White quilt

from my list of 'must makes'

I knew exactly the look I was going for with this quilt,

everything had to be simple.

I began with some Kona cotton 'lipstick'

purchased from Simply Solids.

Thankfully I did a prewash as this colour has a tendency to bleed

and boy did it!

The white fabric is a new vintage sheet that apparently 

 belonged to my Nan.

I've used my favourite 60 degree diamond template

to create the stars using the English Paper piecing method.

I matched the red thread for the stars

therefore you cannot see any whipstitches at all.

The diamonds measure 2.5 inches per side.

The quilt measures approx 50 x 70 inches

which is a great size for a sofa quilt.

The wadding is Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 cotton blend

purchased from The Cotton Patch.

The backing and binding came from a Kirstie Allsopp bedding range.

I hand quilted the entire quilt with simply lines about an inch apart.

I used Anchor perle 8 cotton

purchased from Sew and So.

I finished with a label naming my quilt

Star of Wonder

which is a nod toward Christmas.

It took me approximately 15 weeks to stitch,

I think the simplicity of the colour definitely helped

 and the need to complete it in plenty of time 

so I could hide it away 

for a long period before bringing it out in December!