Sept 12
Expand your skills with new designs and techniques to take you beyond the basics in design and colour choice. These projects are bold, bright and graphic and are designed to give modern quilters new challenges and skills. For example, curved piecing set in a very modern design. Each project shows an alternative colourway and despite much of the fabric being identified as standard patchwork fabric, it is the way it is used within the bold designs that makes it look so different.
* Fabrications *
Sept 12
Modern quiltmaking has copped some criticism from traditionalists for being simplistic and unstructured, suitable only for people who don't have good basic quiltmaking skills. Elizabeth Hartman, one of the prime movers and shakers of the modern quiltmaking school, rejects this assessment and argues that it's about embracing a clean, bold , graphic aesthetic rather than following a previously established set of rules. That said, she does acknowledge that a lot of the patterns that have been published to date for modern quilts have been quite elementary. So she's branched out and designed a set of patterns for intermediate-level quiltmakers that promote precision piecing and thoughtful fabric selection, and introduces new technical challenges. Instructions are provided for 12 projects, requiring skills such as curved piecing, working with hexagons (shown on the front cover) and diamond shapes, machine applique using interfacing and using templates.
* Australian Homespun *
Oct 12
Elizabeth Hartman follows up her first book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork, with this gem that takes you beyond the basics and into the realm of bold, graphic modern quilt design. In addition to being an excellent instructional resource, the book is a primer on the use of geometry and color to achieve bold-but-apporachable contemporary design. The alternate ideas section that accompanies each in-depth tutorial is invaluable to new and intermediate quilters; seeing the project completed in several different palettes enables readers to concretely see how various color and fabric choices achieve very different styles. Design ideas for giving the quilt backs their due add to the fodder for making each quilt a truly polished product and, one could argue, a two-in-one design.
* International Quilt Festival Magazine *
Sept 12
This follow-up to Elizabeth Hartman's first book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork, is a winner. Her book features 12 original bold and modern quilt designs geared for the intermediate quilters. In addition to the initial quilt, Elizabeth offers two additional colorways for each design. She also provides instructions for a complementary pieced back for each quilt. I found so many quilts to like in the collection and was particularly taken with Neighborhood. Using a log cabin construction method, she fussy cuts the center panel to feature a bird then builds around it, in the end creating houses. She includes some extra tips in the general instructions, including making a design wall and organizing your project.
* Professional Quilter *
