Sep 29, 2019 | Books, From the Library, Reviews
Make Any Block, Any Size
by Joen Wolfrom
Published by C&T Publishing, 2010
Review by Claudia Sheehan
Make Any Block, Any Size by Joen Wolfrom is a book from the Boulder MQG guild library. Claudia Sheehan wrote a review of the book as part of our “From the Library” book reviews. Modern Blocks and many other great books are available for members to check out. You can request a book online using the form on the right side of this page, or you can check one out at most evening meetings or open sews. If the library will not be at that meeting but you have requested a book online, we will try to arrange to get the book to you.
What made you purchase this book/what were you most interested in?
This book is in the Boulder Modern Quilt Guild library, and I think is a very good general resource book, though it does not pertain specifically to modern quilting.
What did you learn from the book that you didn’t know before?
There are many explanations on the Internet on resizing quilt blocks based on the number of “patches” within the block. I have always found these tutorials rather confusing until I read this book. Essentially, a block, based for example on a nine patch, is really drafted on a 3 by 3 grid. But as the grids contain more squares the vernacular becomes confusing. A five-patch block is really a grid composed of 25 squares (5 rows and 5 columns of squares). The author shows how to draft grids of any size with pencil and paper. She gives examples of traditional blocks as well as her own block patterns that can be designed from grids. She shows how this technique can be used to draft blocks that are not square in shape.
Is this book more project based or technique based?
This book is technique based for drafting. It is not heavy on quilting math, which will make it very user friendly for the mathphobe.
What really stood out to you about this book?
If you study the drafting method of the book, the quilter will be able to resize any block design from a pattern without any problems. Say if one has a quilt pattern for blocks of twelve inch finished size, but one wants to make the blocks smaller to a seven inch size, this book will make it very easy to redraft the pattern, and also have it result in a very precisely. Personally for me, this book gave me a strategy and a simple way to design my own quilt blocks using Adobe illustrator. As I was playing with this method, I realized that there is a grid-drafting tool within the program. I have had a very enjoyable time coming up with interesting a wild block designs.
Did you make any projects from it? If so, were the instructions clear and easy to follow?
This is not a project book with patterns and sewing instructions. As I mentioned, this book gave me a strategy to design and draft block designs in Adobe Illustrator. I have included some examples of the author’s designs star block designs, and my own crazy block. All the designs are based on a “7 patch grid”.
Why would you recommend this book?
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to draft his or her own block patterns. The down side of this book is that the block illustrations could be more clearly colored. The examples are not printed in solid colors, but have an ombré shading which makes it difficult to copy the more complex designs. Also the blocks are superimposed on small grid lines, which again makes trying to copy a block difficult.
May 24, 2019 | Books, From the Library, Reviews
Modern Blocks
by Susanne Woods
Published by Stash Books, 2011
Review by Kim Fischer
Modern Blocks by Susanne Woods is a book from the Boulder MQG guild library. Our librarian, Kim Fischer wrote a review of the book as part of our “From the Library” book reviews. Modern Blocks and many other great books are available for members to check out. You can request a book online using the form on the right side of this page, or you can check one out at most evening meetings or open sews. If the library will not be at that meeting but you have requested a book online, we will try to arrange to get the book to you.
What made you purchase this book/what were you most interested in?
This book is part of the BMQG library. When I started looking at blocks to choose the one I wanted for the 2019 BOM color challenge I looked to the library. There I found this book that is filled with Modern Blocks designed to be 12X12 block when sewn in a quilt. 12 1/2 X 12 1/2 finished block. There are 99 blocks in this book from gnomes and robots to clean lines and bold colors which are distinctly modern. When choosing a block for the challenge one of the features I looked for was how much of the block was background material or are the block colors through out the block with little or no background fabric. The other feature that was important to me was how many pieces and fabrics are in the block.
What did you learn from the book that you didn’t know before?
This book has an excellent selection of blocks for not only this BOM challenge, but for many projects you might have in mind. It is a project based book.
What really stood out to you about this book?
The wide selection of blocks.
Did you make any projects from it? If so, were the instructions clear and easy to follow?
I chose the block titled Stuck in the Middle from this book for the BOM. The instructions for making the block are clear and easy to follow.
Why would you recommend this book?
If you are looking for examples of blocks, this book is for you.
If you’d like to share a book review, you can fill out the book review form in the member area. The book doesn’t have to be from the library, it can be any great quilt book you’d like to share.
Jul 23, 2018 | Books, From the Library, Reviews
Book Review – A Quilter’s Ark
A Quilter’s Ark
by Margaret Rolfe
Published by Martingale, 1997
Review by Monique Plamondon
The guild library is growing and we want to highlight the different books so members are aware of all the great resources. If you would like to help by writing a review, please fill out
the book review form in the member area. A big thanks to Monique for reviewing A Quilter’s Ark for us. This book stood out to her because of the modern animal patterns, she used it to make a quilt for her niece.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that, at no cost to you, the Boulder MQG will receive compensation for purchases made after clicking the link.
What about this book were you most interested in?
I was trying to design a quilt for my 2 year old great-niece. My niece wanted the quilt to have African animals and be “girly-girly” pink. This book had all the animals I wanted. The technique is foundation piecing which uses a very light no-woven and non-fusible interfacing as the foundation, instead of paper. This means the foundation stays on the block and does not need to be removed, as the paper does in paper piecing, which for me was a tremendous bonus! Also, the interfacing adds a stability to the very small fabric pieces.
What did you learn from the book that you didn’t know before?
Although I had dipped my toe in paper piecing, I was not a fan because I dislike the process of removing the paper. Using a foundation was new to me and I really enjoyed it. You can make very small intricate pieces in your block with no distortion.
Is this book more project based or technique based?
For me, although I picked the book for the various animals, the technique was the primary learning from the book. There are patterns for each animal but the projects in the book are mainly small wall hangings. It was great for me because I wanted to design my own quilt. I ended up using the one large quilt shown in the book as my guide and went from there.
Did you make any projects from this book?
I made my great-niece’s quilt in 2017 and gave it to her at Christmas. The instructions for the technique were very easy to learn. If you have done paper piecing then foundation piecing is a breeze. Since I made 36 small (6″x6″ blocks) animals and one large giraffe for the quilt, by the time I had done 3 or 4 I felt very comfortable with the technique.
I also used the some of the instructions to embellish the animals. In addition, the workshop from Latifah Saafir was very timely! I made the monkey tails using her bias tape method.
Why would you recommend this book?
If you are looking to make a modern quilt with animals in it, then this is a good choice. The animals have a modern feel to them and can be made even more modern by the choice of fabrics. In the quilt I made, none of the animals are done in a color reminiscent of the true animal. All were in tones of pink, purple and some coordinating colors.
A Quilter’s Ark is available for Boulder MQG members to check out from
the guild library, and is also
available for purchase on Amazon.
May 22, 2018 | Books, From the Library, Reviews
Book Review – Improv Paper Piecing
Improv Paper Piecing
by Amy Friend
Published by Lucky Spool Media, 2017
Review by Barbara Gippe
At the
April Boulder MQG evening meeting, Barb generously donated the book Improv Paper Piecing by Amy Friend to the
guild library. She let us know why she felt this book was a good addition to the guild library and why she loves it.
Barb said “I wanted to donate a book to the library related to Paper Piecing. When I saw this book with two of my favorite things … Improv and Paper Piecing it was a no brainer … I needed to purchase it!!!! Quote from Amy Friend about her book ‘Freedom of Improv meets the control of Paper Piecing’.”
Please note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that, at no cost to you, the Boulder MQG will receive compensation for purchases made after clicking the link.
What did you learn from the book that you didn’t know before?
How to design your own improv block templates! Amy explains the basics of designing your template block. Beginning with the inspired design; group, number and an optional step is color. She gives information on construction order and preparing the pattern. Very informative and very interesting!!!
Is this book more project based or technique based?
This book is BOTh project based and technique based … the best of both worlds!!! There are 11 different Paper Piecing block templates in the book and quilt patterns to go along with the block templates.
What really stood out to you about this book?
This book has great photos and instructions, flows nicely and is written well!!!!
Did you make any projects from it? If so, were the instructions clear and easy to follow?
I have not made any projects from this book YET! Top on my To Do list from this book would be quilts using the Revolution template and Upsetting the Balance template.
Improv Paper Piecing is available on Amazon.*
