Quilting Happiness: review & giveaway
First off, the quilt-along is ON! I'm still making my way through your very enthusiastic response. How exciting! I'm going to enjoy making a detailed plan for us and sharing it soon. Yay!
Now to the business at hand (wink).
Since I'm still quilting away at my Unsettled quilt and piecing my Essex Test quilt, I thought today would just the day for a little book review and giveaway. Remember this pile of goodies? Let's talk today about Quilting Happiness by Christina Lane and Diane Gilleland. I actually received a free copy since it includes a write up on do. Good Stitches!
Context. Christina is the blogger at Sometimes Crafter, creator of the Retro Flowers pattern and longarm quilter extraordinaire. Diane is the voice at CraftyPod, a thoughtful blog and retired podcast (check it out!). If you know these ladies, you know the book is good. The fact that they set out to create a book that points towards happiness is case in point.
What. Quilting Happiness: Projects, Inspiration & Ideas to Make Quilting More Joyful. This book is not just cool quilting projects, but also great content designed to tease out your real quilting self.
There are "creative exercises", little tasks or brainstorming sessions for "Finding Your Personal Quilting Style" or "Creative 'Tough Love'". Plus, the book is peppered with "happiness practices" to continually bring you back to what matters. And there are quizes. Quizes! (In fact, there's one right here that didn't make it into the book for space reasons and includes some pictures of book projects too.)
Projects. Quilting Happiness has a nice range of projects from simple, classic works to fresh new mash-ups. I'm charmed by the Patchwork Diamonds quilt and reminded, again, that I really want to make a simple plus quilt too. So many quilts, still lots of time!
This Haphazard Chevron Pillow definitely looks intriguing.
Of course, chevrons are cool, but I'm mostly wooed by Christina's construction technique. Doesn't that look interesting? By the way, the illustrations in this book are superb. Really top notch on all the construction details.
Here's another example of nice instructions. This is for the Crazy Strips Quilt, the only improv style quilt in Quilting Happiness.
Who. If you're the thoughtful type or one who likes little assignments to get your creativity flowing, I think you'll really enjoy the dialog of Quilting Happiness. That part is probably ideal for new to intermediate quilters. The patterns truly range from simple to complex (including some curved piecing). I mean, check out this awesome test block served up as the Odds and Ends quilt pattern in the book:
That's a pretty cool block by any standards! So, I'd say the patterns are likely to appeal to quilters all over the spectrum. To get a feel for things, check out this post at Christina's blog. You'll find links to a few free pattern excerpts from the book. Also, see the Quilting Happiness flickr group.
Giveaway. Potter Craft is giving away one copy of this book to a U.S. address. Add your comment here to be in the draw. Winner will be randomly drawn and contacted by email on Thursday afternoon, EST. Good luck!
******Comments Closed*****
The winner is #136 - Alison C. I'll be in touch via email!
Now to the business at hand (wink).
Since I'm still quilting away at my Unsettled quilt and piecing my Essex Test quilt, I thought today would just the day for a little book review and giveaway. Remember this pile of goodies? Let's talk today about Quilting Happiness by Christina Lane and Diane Gilleland. I actually received a free copy since it includes a write up on do. Good Stitches!
Context. Christina is the blogger at Sometimes Crafter, creator of the Retro Flowers pattern and longarm quilter extraordinaire. Diane is the voice at CraftyPod, a thoughtful blog and retired podcast (check it out!). If you know these ladies, you know the book is good. The fact that they set out to create a book that points towards happiness is case in point.
What. Quilting Happiness: Projects, Inspiration & Ideas to Make Quilting More Joyful. This book is not just cool quilting projects, but also great content designed to tease out your real quilting self.
There are "creative exercises", little tasks or brainstorming sessions for "Finding Your Personal Quilting Style" or "Creative 'Tough Love'". Plus, the book is peppered with "happiness practices" to continually bring you back to what matters. And there are quizes. Quizes! (In fact, there's one right here that didn't make it into the book for space reasons and includes some pictures of book projects too.)
Projects. Quilting Happiness has a nice range of projects from simple, classic works to fresh new mash-ups. I'm charmed by the Patchwork Diamonds quilt and reminded, again, that I really want to make a simple plus quilt too. So many quilts, still lots of time!
This Haphazard Chevron Pillow definitely looks intriguing.
Of course, chevrons are cool, but I'm mostly wooed by Christina's construction technique. Doesn't that look interesting? By the way, the illustrations in this book are superb. Really top notch on all the construction details.
Here's another example of nice instructions. This is for the Crazy Strips Quilt, the only improv style quilt in Quilting Happiness.
Who. If you're the thoughtful type or one who likes little assignments to get your creativity flowing, I think you'll really enjoy the dialog of Quilting Happiness. That part is probably ideal for new to intermediate quilters. The patterns truly range from simple to complex (including some curved piecing). I mean, check out this awesome test block served up as the Odds and Ends quilt pattern in the book:
 |
| block & photo by Christina Lane |
That's a pretty cool block by any standards! So, I'd say the patterns are likely to appeal to quilters all over the spectrum. To get a feel for things, check out this post at Christina's blog. You'll find links to a few free pattern excerpts from the book. Also, see the Quilting Happiness flickr group.
Giveaway. Potter Craft is giving away one copy of this book to a U.S. address. Add your comment here to be in the draw. Winner will be randomly drawn and contacted by email on Thursday afternoon, EST. Good luck!
******Comments Closed*****
The winner is #136 - Alison C. I'll be in touch via email!