Book Review: "Weaving the Rainbow" by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Stephanie Anderson

“Weaving the Rainbow” written by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Stephanie Anderson, and published by Atheneum in 2004 isn’t a new book, but I just discovered it and so wanted to share it. A beautiful children’s book retains its value, no matter when it was published. This book really connected with my fiber art inclinations--both my making Waldorf dolls with their wool hair and my occasional knitting projects.

It’s a great story written for early readers, but also a wonderful read-aloud picture book. It’s a story about a woman who raises a flock of sheep, sheers them herself, and then spins the wool and colors the yarn with natural dyes. Finally she takes her hand-dyed wool and weaves a piece showing the rainbow colors of her pastures and the white sheep grazing on the the grass.

Stephanie Anderson’s fabulous watercolor paintings really make this book sing. I especially love the pictures with the lambs and sheep. You can see some of her sheep on the book’s cover above, but there some I love even more in the story. I also really liked the paintings showing the farmer spinning and dyeing her wool.

If you have (or know) a child who knits, weaves or has Waldorf dolls, this book would be an awesome gift!

Block Printed Cross-Body Bag from "Print Pattern Sew" by Jen Hewett

In my last post I mentioned that I had recently purchased a copy of Print Pattern Sew by Jen Hewett. This is a beautifully illustrated spiral bound book that delivers exactly what its title says. There are excellent instructions on how to cut and print blocks. She includes designs for blocks which you can trace and use if you choose. There is a whole chapter on creating and printing repeat patterns—a skill critical for surface design for textiles. And finally there are full size paper patterns so you can sew a variety of simple but classic outfits, as well as some other items, from fabric that you’ve printed.

(NOTE: To save paper, the printed patterns sometimes overlap. You will need to trace the pattern onto Swedish Tracing Paper-Sewing Transfer Paper or Pellon 380 Easy Pattern and use traced pattern for cutting your fabric. If you sew clothes, it’s great to have one of these products on hand. I used the Swedish Tracing Paper all the time. It allows me to trace and use multiple sizes printed on commercial tissue paper patterns. The tracing paper is sturdy and can be reused multiple times).

Book cover

I used the yard of Kaufman Essex Linen I printed with maple seeds in my last post to make the Cross-Body Bag from the pattern in the book. It calls for 1 1/2 yards but I only printed 1 yard. I decreased the size of the pieces for the bag to 15 x 17 1/2 inches and cut the straps 6 inches wide instead of 8 inches. I accidentally cut 2 short straps pieces so I used the extra strap piece to make a matching zipper bag. I still have with a good sized remnant (18 x 18 plus inches) which I can use to make something else.

I’m so pleased with the way that this block-printed cross-body bag turned out. The finished size is 13 3/4 x 15 inches. A tablet and whatever else you need will easily fit in this bag.

If you are interested in learning to block print your own fabrics, I highly recommend Jen’s book!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Book Review: "In Celebration of Plain Weave" by Annie MacHale

I’ve been following Annie MacHale, @aspinnerweaver, on Instagram for a while now. She weaves bands on an inkle loom and sells guitar straps, key chains and other items that use woven bands.

She recently published a book on plain weaving, the simplest weave done with an inkle loom. But simple doesn’t mean plain or dull. The options for pattern and color variations are endless. Her book is In Celebration of Plain Weave: Color and Design Inspiration for Inkle Weavers.

Book cover

The first 32 pages of the book are all about color theory. She discusses how to mix colors and use of available on-line tools for picking and previewing color combinations. Her discussion of color theory is excellent—easy to understand and fun to read with the great accompanying photos.

The second part of the book defines the basic pattern elements that can be woven using plain weave. She talks about how to combine the elements to design a pattern for weaving a band.

The main part of the book has 200 plain weave designs that can be used to weave bands on an inkle loom. She has patterns using 39 to 79 warp threads, so narrow to wide bands. All of the patterns are in full color. You can weave them in her colors but of course you can totally change the colors too. The last part of the book discusses how to change the patterns.

What a great resource! When I first got my inkle loom, I was all excited and learned how to do a variety of bands using complex patterns using a variety of heddles. But when I picked up the loom again last year, I’d forgotten how to do the more complex weaving and my bands were a sorry sight! I’d already decided to go back to basics and work in plain weave for a while when I saw Annie post about her new book. It was perfect timing for me.

At the top is a little book mark that was the first thing I wove after purchasing the book. I misread the pattern so it isn’t exactly any of the patterns in the book. But the band on the inkle loom below, is Pattern #51 from the book, but woven with my own colorway.

Pattern #51 from “In Celebration of Plain Weave” on the inkle loom. (Has Cloudberry been weaving at night?)

I highly recommend this book if you weave bands on an inkle loom or if you are just thinking about whether or not you want to purchase a loom or aren’t sure what you can do if you get a loom.

(About the gnomes that photo-bombed the pictures in this post. The Waldorf type doll at the loom is Cloudberry, and the peg doll above is one of the Winter Gnomes. The Winter Gnomes have been at their off-season spring convention. More to follow about that in another post)!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Book Review: "Modern Plus Sign Quilts"

It's been a while since I've seen a new quilt book with really exciting patterns, so today I want to share a bit about this great new C&T Publishing stashBOOKS, Modern Plus Sign Quilts by Cheryl Brickley and Plaige Alexander.

This book has something for everyone.  There are pieced quilts, appliqued patterns and foundation pieced patterns. They range from a simple table runner which would be great for a new quilter to complex geometric designs.

There are 3 quilt patterns in this book that I really want to make. My favorite is "Plus Surround", a quilt with concentric circles of plus signs. Because of the circular design, it looks complicated but all the but all the blocks are square!  It's a really fun quilt!

Another of my favorites is "Celestial", the navy an white quilt shown above on the cover of the book. This pattern makes a queen size quilt, using large blocks, so it go together quickly.

My other favorite quilt is "Transparency Chains".  It uses a single Irish change with pieced plus signs that appear to float inside the chains.

These are modern quilts with deep roots in classic patterns. They have lots of negative space with many of them using 3 to 7 plus yards of background fabric. I often guesstimate yardage when purchasing fabric but I recommend you make a list to take to the store if you are going to make these quilts!

I can't wait to start sewing...but first, a shopping trip!

Back cover

Fussy Cut Medallion Quilt Step-by-Step: Polar Medallion Quilt Completed, Medallion Quilt Books

Here it is!  The completed "Polar Medallion Quilt".   I love all the colors so I particularly enjoyed working on this quilt!

And it was a joy to quilt. I did some straight line quilting, some echo quilting, a bit of embroidery on one of the solid concentric inner borders and I used my favorite Bernina #4 stitch in the last border.

Here's the back of this quilt. You can see the quilting much more clearly on this side as well as the structure of the medallion.

Polar Medallion Quilt--back side

I hope you enjoyed following along with the making of this quilt. If you make one for yourself, please let me know! 

In my last post, I mentioned that I would tell you about two medallion quilt books. One is available now, the other is scheduled for release 12/26/2017.

The Modern Medallion Workbook by Janice Zeller Ryan and Beth Vassalo was published by Stash Books in 2015.   The book has a couple relatively simple medallion quilts but most of the quilts are complex, visually very exciting and look fairly challenging to make.  I really like the quilt shown on the right side of the book's cover shown above.  It looks like a party! The round flying geese medallion shown in the lower left corner above is incredible. It's the center medallion of a bright, fun quilt.  It's an amazing book, but not one for a beginner quilter.

The book coming out in December is being published by Lucky Spool. Make Your Own Medallion: Mix + Match Block and Borders to Build Your Quilt From the Center Out was written by Erin Burke Harris.  The preview states she has created a variety of borders that can be made in 3 widths, as well as 6 center medallions that are ready for use. She has done all the math for the borders! Quilt Math is what makes designing a medallion quilt challenging. Here is a link to some page spreads photos from the book on the Lucky Spool website.  I'm so intrigued. I can't wait to see this book!

I hope I've sparked your interest in medallion quilts and that you'll try making one at some point. They are fun to sew and make beautiful and interesting quilts.

Book Review: "The Quilt Block Cookbook"

Here is another beautiful book from Lucky Spool Media, LLC.   The Quilt Block Cookbook by Amy Gibson, was published at the beginning of July this year. (It apparently has sold out at the publisher, but can still be found on Amazon)!

This is a book of 12 inch quilt block designs.  There are 40 complex blocks and an additional 10 simpler "staple blocks" which can be used for alternate blocks between the more detailed blocks.  An assortment of the 40 blocks can be used to make a traditional Sampler Quilt, but Amy has also made several Modern quilts which just use a a few of the blocks.  There was an "Ah-Ha!" moment when I turned the page and saw her "Bouce" quilt. It has just 6 of the quilt blocks and it is really striking!

While she uses the computer quilt program Electric Quilt 7 to design her quilts, Amy suggests some great ways to test out a quilt's lay out if you don't own a quilt design program but do have a camera or a scanner. Brilliant, and fun too!

Each of the blocks in the book has its own photo.  All the block photos are the same size which is great if you want to use Amy's options to lay out a quilt.  Under the photo of each block are fabric requirements and basic construction information.  In the back of a book there is "Unit Piecing Guide" with diagrams and detailed information about how to make the separate units in the blocks.

This is one of those books I know I will keep coming back to for ideas!

The Instagram hashtag for sharing blocks or projects is #TheQuiltBlockCookbook if you want to post your blocks or see what other folks have been making.

Book Review: You Inspire Me to Quilt by Cheryl Arkison

Cheryl Arkison's newest book, You Inspire Me to Quilt,  was released this week.  This book is a collection of quilts designed by 8 modern designers plus 2 quilts that Cheryl designed.  All the quilts are inspired by "Everyday Life."   And they are!

Cheryl has made a quilt of with the colored dancing bars seen on a music equalizer.  My brother, who spent his teens and early 20s in recording booths, would love this one!  

Blair Stocker made a quilt of up-cycled ski parkas! And on the theme of cold weather sports, Andrea Harris designed a "Canadian Hockey Quilt".  

Cheryl's long-time collaborator, Amanda Jean Nyberg, has created a "Time Stamp Quilt" inspired by a digital clock radio.  I think it would be cool re-interpreted as a baseball score board for a significant win for a kid's team, or maybe a World Series Win for a grown-up's home team.

Those are just a few of the fun quilts in this book. 

The quilt design that immediately inspired me make it my own, is a quilt called "Dino Patch" designed by Carolyn Friedlander, based on a conversation with her nephew. Her quilt has raw edge appliqué dinosaurs. You can see several of them on the book cover above. I looked at those dinosaurs and thought, "Dogs! Cats! Fish!"  Critters that usually require serious paper piecing or mind-bogling appliqué.  This gets the critter's shape and motion, and takes about 10 minutes to stitch out.

I'm working on a quilt of Dog Pals. As the say, "Draw what you know!"  Here are the blocks I've completed. The first dog is Jake, a Black German Shepherd.  Then Maisie, a big red dog, and Hazel my black Lab mix, great pals from dog walking through Hounds About Town!  There's Hagrid, the bichon from Canine Nosework class, Taffy my English Springer Spaniel, chasing a ball (of course!!), and Magnolia, the best ever mystery-black-dog mix from Mississippi!!  More dog blocks are in progress.  When it's done, I'll post the finished quilt.

Check out Cheryl Arkison's new book!  There's even a BACON quilt pattern if you want one!  Really!!