Quilting titles

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, May 2017; written by Tammy Dinsmore

This spring, instead of hauling out gardening gear, I got out my sewing machine and the many unfinished projects I had (have) sitting around in different containers, and started working on them. It’s time to finish them! But just because I have unfinished projects, doesn’t mean that I can’t look at new ones, right?

On the ‘New Books’ shelves at the library are some quilting books that I just had to check out and take home to peruse.

“The Simple Simon Guide to Patchwork Quilting” by Liz Evans and Elizabeth Evans has seven different patchwork blocks to make and then from there, there are a number of projects to make with each block, or numerous blocks. This book assumes that a person already knows their way around a sewing machine, but does give some basic information on some tools you will need for each project and instructions on cutting the fabric, pressing the blocks, making sure your blocks are square, and for the larger quilt projects, adding sashing and borders and putting it all together. The authors include instructions for making an entire quilt with each of the seven types of blocks. There are some neat projects in here and confidence will grow for the sewer as they move through the book.

More basic sewing techniques are in “Piecing Makeover: Simple Tricks to Fine-Tune Your Patchwork” by Patty Murphy, but also included in this book are some more complex quilt block designs and some tips on how to problem solve issues that come up, like having a curve in a strip of fabric, adjusting the size of a quilt piece that’s not quite right, and something that I wish I had known about a long time ago, and that’s something called furling. Furling is a technique used to flatten a spot where there are several seams that intersect making it bulky. I will be trying this technique! There aren’t any complete projects in this book, but there are a lot of foundation blocks to build on.

If you enjoy hand work, then maybe “Raised Quilt and Stitch: Techniques, Projects and Pure Inspiration” by Sylvia Critcher is the book for you. There are several projects ranging in size from a pin cushion, a pillow, and a full size quilt that include techniques such as Trapunto,, Italian Quilting, and cording, which are three dimensional quilting techniques. There are templates included in the book that can be copied for your own personal use. I loved just looking at the photos. So much beautiful hand work in here.

The Library has a large selection of craft books for your perusal. Come in and check them out!