5 comments about Twice Quilted: Continuous-Line Quilting Designs (Little Box Of...).

1. This is a very helpful, easy to follow guide with easy to use patterns. Very versatile. No hassle payment and delivery.



2. Glorianne Cubbage's TWICE QUILTED: CONTINUOUS-LINE QUILTING DESIGNS offers up some twenty sets of patterns with over 40 designs in all for both traditional and themed motifs, and discusses the special attributes of continuous-line design. Instructions in this kit include directions on how to trace, transfer and sew the designs: while the box format lends more to personal quilter's acquisition than library lending, it does provide an outstanding instructional highly recommended for any newcomer to the continuous-line process.



3. Twice Quilted: Continuous-Line Quilting Designs (Little Box Of...) is a wonderful idea, and the
   patterns are beautiful. However, the Cabbage rose design does not work. There is no continuous line of stitching around the rose on the pattern. The rose in the directions works fine, but it is not the rose that is on the pattern. Even my husband couldn't find a continuous path.



4. I first saw the author on a television show and purchased the book after watching the episode. I think the book has great quilting patterns and is well worth the money.



5. After seeing the author on a quilting show demonstrating this technique, I simply had to learn more about it. I was not disappointed in purchasing this book. I feel that it is a "must-have" addition to any quilting library. It consists of a book and fold out patterns.
   
   It empowers you to do more free motion quilting on your sewing machine and I think this idea needs more exposure.
   
   Once you grasp the idea of making two passes....the first placing the "flowers" or central motifs around the quilt, then the second pass in filling in the blank areas with leaves and other swirls and the like, then you can understand what the book is about.
   
   The patterns in the book are more of a guide line as to how to do this technique rather than an actual "follow exactly" pattern. It gives you the concept and frees you up to follow your own ideas and placements of the quilting. I think the program I watched where she explained this probably helped me grasp the idea of this easier than just reading the book.
   
   I am enjoying this new technique immensely, both with my regular sewing machine and also with my long arm machine. And, this is good for both small and large quilts (by doing it in sections).
   
   Highly recommended.

4 comments about Artful Applique: The Easy Way (That Patchwork Place).

1. Make your applique a work of art through Artful Applique The Easy Way which features detailed project instructions for sixteen blocks filled with flowers, birds, and wreathes. The focus on easy applique includes tips for streamlining and patterns for quick use. Superb introduction to easy applique techniques & projects.



2. Over 130 pages of great instruction and realistic photos that show that anyone who takes the time can do applique. Not only are the designs that you can Xerox for patterns crisp, but the instruction is easy to read and follow. And the photos are exact size, so you see what you will get when you are done.

   I liked the book because it also says that we can choose our own material, which suits our own desires, where some books say you have to have this or that type of material made by this ir that maker, and you end up running all over the place and come home discouraged and throw your hands up and say *&%#@+ and vow never to try and do applique again.

   This is the book that can help you become less discouraged and a success at a wonderful art form.




3. This is a must buy book for those interested in applique. I have many applique books and count this among the very best.



4. Another excellent book by Jane Townswick. I am looking forward to expressing my artistic side in beautiful artwork. This book is very helpful with tools needed and forms of application. I am very impressed.

5 comments about Circle Play Simple Designs for Fabulous Fabrics.

1. This is a wonderful technique book that will spark your creativity if you love to play with fabrics! The author has a good grasp of color, value, and design and focuses on their use in quilts to create texture, movement, and light. The bonus for me was the detail of finishing techniques including welting, piping, and "pillowcase turn" edges. Needs to be on the shelf of any artistic quilter!



2. If you have a stash of fabric with strong patterns and colors, be they batik, Asian, reproduction, op-art, no matter, you too can create wonderful quilts with movement and balance. This book shows how to make absolutely fabulous quilts that bring out the very best in those small pieces of killer fabric you just had to have, but didn't have a clue what you would do with when you bought them. Clear instructions, great examples, wonderful graphics: great book.



3. This is not simply a pattern book,it encourages & guides you to create a unique quilt that will show off your most treasured fabrics to their best effect.The book demonstrates through photographs of examples, how different overall looks can be achieved using simple circles.A great book for intermediate quilters or any quilter who wishes to take part in the design process and make an individual quilt.



4. Well written and informative. All steps explained well. Takes the mystery out of circles.



5. Reynola Pakusich is a long time quilter, teacher and author who has written for a number of quilting publications. I bought this book as a result of an article she wrote that appeared in "Quilters Newsletter Magazine." She has produced a very informative and beautiful book that uses a simple design medium (circles) along with backgrounds to show off unusual and collectable fabrics, including both yardage and bits and pieces of kimono and obi fabrics. Her wildly eclectic fabric collection includes wax prints from Africa, yukata and traditional kimono and obi fabrics from Japan, traditional and contemporary batiks, madras plaids and printed fabrics incorporating animal skins, florals and leaves and graphic prints. The quilts (some by her and a number by her students) are very beautiful and surprisingly complex considering their simple block design. If you do not already collect beautiful fabric, I can assure you that this book will inspire you to do so. The instructions are easy to follow and will help you produce that masterwork you have wanted to make for so long.

5 comments about Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space Studio Planner (That Patchwork Place).

1. I bought what I thought was a book, but was only a pamphlet called Creating the Perfect Quilting STudio Space STudio Planner. It was a total waste of money and if I had known what it was, I would not have purchased it.



2. This was very helpful. It contained all the info and the cutouts I needed to help me design the perfect space for my quilting. Highly recommended!



3. Save your money and go buy $14 (item plus shipping) worth of fabric instead of this "workbook". Although I give high praises to the original book PERFECT QUILTING SPACE, this "planner" is a joke and most certainly should have been included in the original book. For this price, I expected vinyl stick-on furniture models and erasable/wipeable graph paper. It is nothing more than a 2 page piece of card stock graph paper with scale furnishings (none of which fit my quilt room furniture!) that you're supposed to COPY! Do yourself a favor and just grab a piece of graph paper and measure your furniture and draw up your room on your own. (The "workbook" wants you to do that anyway!). Don't waste your hard-earned money on this product. Just an FYI - this is my FIRST negative review on Amazon!!



4. This planner is not a book at all, but a fold-out cardboard graph paper that should have been included in the original book as a supplement and is not worth $12and shouldn't cost more than 4.95. I thought I was going to receive a book loaded with pictures and ideas and different layouts. You can go to the dollar store and get a pack of graph paper and construction paper for $2.oo and achieve the same thing as this product.



5. This is a great tool to plan your craft room. Better than I anticipated. I can't wait to get going on creating my perfect space!

5 comments about Easy Machine Paper Piecing.

1. First book I got on paper foundation...and will probably be the best one! Easy to follow instructions, and the BEST patterns! Carol really makes it easy to learn and do this type of quilting.



2. I found this to be a great beginner book. I took a class in paper piecing and used this book many times to cement the procedure in my head.
   I highly recommend having this book in your quilting library.



3. If you have wanted to learn to paper piecing, this book will show you how. It's very easy to understand.



4. If you are a first-time paper piecer, as I am, this is not the book for you.
   
   The book is pretty inside. It gives great ideas on how to change colors around, so the same pattern can look vastly different, just with the rearrangement of or choice of different colors.
   
   It's got patterns. That's good.
   
   But for a first-time paper piercer, who is learning HOW to do it, this is not for you.
   
   First, the title tells me that this is about paper piecing, obviously. So I would expect a review of, at the front of the book, what KIND of paper to use. Go ahead. Look through the book. The whole book. It's not there. Not anywhere. If I'm learning about how to do something, I want all of the items needed to do that project clearly and easily listed, at the beginning of the book, with explanations on what kind do I need, what size if appropriate, where am I most likely to find this item, and so on. That's not in here. If you're taking a class and using this book with the class, and the teacher tells you - that's great. If you pick up this book on your own, or try to review it before even getting to said quilting class - you're going to be in some trouble. I got cold feet, though I went on the class and enjoyed it.
   
   Another big problem for me is that the book does not make clear that when you photocopy the patterns, you really need to photocopy more than one set of an image, if you are going to have more than one of those items in your pattern. For example, if you are using one of the heart templates and plan to have 4 hearts in your quilt, and especially if you are learning how to do this for the first time - you need to make more than one copy of that particular pattern, because first time learners are probably going to have to take out stitches, re-stitch, and the paper eventually tears apart, in spite of multiple pieces of Scotch Tape. :) That's all part of learning, of course, but it would help to de-stress if we knew this upfront in the book.
   
   My biggest concern, though, is that as a beginner, I really want clear, step-by-step instructions on how to do paper-piecing. The book doesn't have it. There are some instructions, but then you are left hanging at what feels like the most crucial moment in a block.
   
   For example, in learning how to do one of the house templates, the book gave me instructions at the front of the book - nowhere near the actual house template itself - for only part of the template. I got to the most difficult part, for a beginner at least, in which I was trying to piece together the window and part of the panel of the house and - no directions. Some black and white images, but I'm a beginner. I need COMPLETE, step-by-step instructions. I want to learn how to do this, and not have to have a class, or if I have a class and use this book, then be able to use this book as a reminder of what I learned in class on those evenings a week or two or a month later, when I'm trying to recall what to do.
   
   Here's what I would recommend: all of the information in this book is good. But it needs to be re-grouped in a more logical way. Explain everyting that needs to be used in order to DO paper piecing, first. Explain what kind of paper to use. Tell us what kind of thread to use. Give some examples. Explain more clearly, in the first chapter, about photocopying the templates; that as beginners, we'll probably need to make several. Many quilt class instructors assign this book and just tell students to go over the book, and "be ready" for the class. You can't just "be ready" for a class only by reading this book. It doesn't give enough information. It makes assumption, big assumptions, on your knowledge.
   
   Re-group the remaining information. For instance, start off with the heart template or an easy pattern. Take it step-by-step. Color pictures. Take it from the very beginning and don't assume that we already know. "Here is your fabric. This is the wrong side of your fabric, see? now place the WRONG SIDE of the fabric against the back of the template like this." Make it simple.
   
   Group all of the heart templates together in the chapter about yes, heart templates.
   
   Then go to more complicated blocks, such as the houses. Boy, you do NOT want to be sitting at home a week after your class, trying to figure out mid-way through a wall hanging sampler, how to teach yourself from this book how to do the house template. Not unless you've got a lot of patience, time, and photocopies of that template. And a really good seam ripper. :)
   
   THEN give us examples and pictures in the back section of the book of different wall hangings and quilts.
   
   This is a pretty book, and hidden in it is some good information. I think if it was rearranged a bit, and things made a little more simple, it would be a fantastic book.
   
   If you are an advanced paper piecer with a lot of experience and only want this for the templates, then this is a good book for you.



5. This is the book that introduced me to paper piecing, and I have used it so much, the binding is getting weak.

5 comments about Cookies 'n' Quilts: Recipes & Patterns for America's Ultimate Comforts.

1. I am a beginning quilter, and this book has projects that I can do easily, plus others that will challenge my abilities, but also teach me new skills (such as set-in seams). I also appreciate how Judy Martin gives yardage in length and in fat quarters.
   I am ordering a muffin top pan soon so that I can make many of the cookie recipes (lots of butter in these recipes, but yummy!)



2. I am a beginning quilter, and this book has projects that I can do easily, plus others that will challenge my abilities, but also teach me new skills (such as set-in seams). I also appreciate how Judy Martin gives yardage in length and in fat quarters.
   I am ordering a muffin top pan soon so that I can make many of the cookie recipes (lots of butter in these recipes, but yummy!)



3. First of all, I do not care for any of the cookie recipes in this book. I haven't made them all, but the ones I have tried were simply too rich - and yes, there is such a thing, at least to some tastes! Also, many of the recipes call for "unusual" ingredients or equipment such as cinnamon chips or a muffin-top pan, and these things may not be readily available to those who live in small towns or outside the US.
   The quilt section, however, was better. Most of the quilts are lap or wall sized, with a couple of bed sized quilts thrown in. Some are appropriate for an advanced beginner, while others require a certain amount of experience. They all have a more or less "scrappy" look to them. They are all nice quilts, though I don't think any of them are really outstanding. There is only one quilt, a log cabin variation, that I actually plan on making. One thing I really do like about this book, however, is that the fabric requirements are given in both yardage and fat quarters. I have the feeling that if you want to replicate the look of the quilts in the book, you would use fat quarters.
   This is a perfectly respectable book, and certainly nice to have if you collect quilting books. But if you plan on choosing only a few excellent books, I would try to find something different.



4. I admit that when I first ordered this book, I didn't think that I would really be interested in the recipes. I was so wrong, the cookie recipes are really wonderful! I think that both chocolate and quilts are a comfort in my life.:)
   The quilts are equally wonderful and quite simple to piece for an intermediate quilter. I love the Log Cabin that looks like a Snail's Trail or Virgina Reel. Can't wait to make this one! The more I look through this book, the more I like it. Imagine a Log Cabin block with a leaf in the corner. It makes a stunning quilt! Can't go wrong with Judy!



5. Great resource, combining beautiful and clever quilting patterns with some great cookie recipes. An excellent addition to any quilter's library.

2 comments about Precious Sunbonnet Quilts.

1. Love the book, will be using it. I showed one of my friends the book, and she said she was also going to order it.



2. The traditional little sunbonnet figure familiar to so many takes on new life in this set of original designs of appliqued and embroidered sunbonnet figures who appear in blocks, borders, or as part of scenes in Betty Alderman's PRECIOUS SUNBONNET QUILTS. From redwork to applique, full-page patterns accompany easy step-by-step project guidelines needlework collections will find invaluable.

2 comments about Fabulous Flowers: Mini-Quilts in Dimensional Applique (That Patchwork Place).

1. Naje Snakk quilts with the sophistication of multi-dimensional designs with Sharon K. Baker's Fabulous Flowers: Mini-quilts In Dimensional Applique: it shows how to create both simple and elaborate applique flowers, then blend them into a quilt project for maximum effect. Twenty featured projects highlight eighteen flowers and show how to blend in yarns and beads for best results, while quilters are provided with basics and then encouraged to create their own flower designs. From folds and tucks to special tricks for creating dimensional results, Fabulous Flowers will appeal to a variety of crafts beyond quilters.



2. Yes.. the wall hangings in this book are really charming. You can mix and make your own designs, or put them all together in a garden view like the one in the first few pages. The flowers are amzing and assemple the real ones. Can't wait to start with one of them.

3 comments about Fusing Fun!: Fast Fearless Art Quilts.

1. If you are interested in textile arts, this book is a must-have. Not only is it filled with Laura's gorgeous quilts, it is packed with ideas and methods for making your own easy--EASY!!--fused quilts.
   I took a class with Laura a few years ago and learned more from that weekend class than I have in many week-long workshops. This book is the same. It isn't long in terms of pages but it is absolutely jammed with techniques and ideas for making wildly original quilts, the easy way. It covers materials, how to fuse fabrics, how to free-cut simple shapes, collaging, making fused pattern sheets and using them in designs, adapting traditional designs, making a woodcut-type quilt, using the leftover snips of fused fabric, and of course, finishing the quilt. And each technique is followed by ideas for variations so you can explore your own ideas.
   
   This book is all about making art quilting spontaneous and fun. If you have been afraid of making art quilts because they seemed too technically difficult, then get this book. It will get rid of all the hard stuff and allow you to explore lots of different approaches to artmaking with fabric. No more tedious matching seams! No more painstaking pinning! Just color and pattern and fun. What more could a quilter ask?
   
   If you can only afford one or two textile arts books this year, this one should be at the top of your list.



2. This is a great book for learning a great technique. It makes "quick quilting" a do-able for even beginners. Great gift ideas too. Love it.



3. Laura takes fusing to a whole new level. I never invisioned art quilts being fused. I will be using the fused binding method on my next project. Perfectly flat binding for my wall hanging gives it a crisp perfect appearance and its done in minutes instead of hours.
   Wow! I cannot wait to let the creative juices fly!

5 comments about Quilts from Grandmother's Garden: A Fresh Look at English Paper Piecing.

1. The book was in excellent condition. It was a lot better than I expected. The shipping was a lot faster than I anticipated. I am very pleased with my experience and will continue order from Amazon's site.



2. This book has some delightful English paper piceing quilt patterns made from tiny hexagons. I saw one of these little quilts made up and was fasinated. I am currently making the one the cover. The book is well written and the directions are easily understood.



3. I was through reading this book in two minutes. A waste of money. The only good section was the illustration on how to do English paper piecing. The remainder of the book was boring and geared toward making tiny, trite little pictures. It missed the wonderful scope of haxagonal English paper-piecing. I was looking for just such a book, and was sorely disappointed. I really wish I could get my money back.



4. A really helpful quide to paper piecing in quilting!..A thin book but full of both helpful and interesting paper piecing quilting ideas.



5. If you love hexagons, you will adore this book. Wonderful patterns and great ideas for changes.