book reviews

 Hey there! How are you doing this weekend? My weekend has been wonderful. The weather was absolutely perfect. It is like the summer switch just got flipped to the ON spot. The kids have been outside all day long. While they have been playing, I have been reading through both of these books. I have read the Welsh quilting book before and I love everything about it, but the Denyse Schmidt book is brand new for me. What makes a quilt book really good for you? There was a time when I would buy almost any book I could find that was related to quilting or "Modern" quilting. But lately it seems like everyone and her sister has a quilt book out. Obviously with that many books saturating the market there are some that are bound to be much better than the others, right? Well, the  Denyse Schmidt book is absolutely fantastic and everything that you would expect from her. I love it that the quilts in her book are not ones that we will wiz through and forget about after we have bound them and tossed them to our children. Each quilt in her book is one that we can learn a new technique from.

OK, we KNEW her book would be awesome. What I want to chat about today is a book you may not know anything at all about. I had to hunt like a tundra fox to find a copy, but I did and I am as pleased as punch with my book. (I will tell you where to find the book at the end of the post).

Let's talk about Welsh Quilting Pattern and Design Handbook. Over the past year or so I have become a bit obsessed with Welsh quilting. So much so that I am teaching some classes at our local quilt shop about the unique quilting techniques the Welsh used on their quilts. Marjorie Horton did not write a fancy book, and it is published as simply as it is possible to publish a book, but the knowledge and information between the covers is deep and brilliant. Marjorie truly knows what she is writing about. 

 She begins with some simple outlines and fills them in with wonderful motifs. Simple repeats and arcs look complicated.

 I love her corner arcs. But they do not need to be confined to the corners of quilts. This same design can be anywhere in the quilt.

 She goes over marking the quilt and how to quilt with minimal marking. I have used this same technique with wonderful success with my small domestic sewing machine. I can't wait to take the skills that I learned on my little Berina to my big Long arm.

So, if you want a REALLY good quilting book (NOT a quilt making book, a QUILTING book) please write Jen Jones in Wales and order this handbook. You have to actually write her an email and she will write you back and you will work the deal that way. The book is not on Amazon, but it is worth every penny I sent her.