Quilt Improv by Lucie Summers
It's really no secret that I admire Lucie Summers's quilts, as I've mentioned them as inspirations for my Painted Pebbles Quilt and included her book in my list of wish-worthy quilting books for 2013.
Her publishers must have picked up on my love because they've asked me to be part of a blog hop to promote Lucie's book Quilt Improv: Incredible Quilts from Everyday Inspirations
. So, here I am, helping to make sure you've heard of this fine book! For more stops on the blog hop, check out the schedule at Stitch Craft Create. There should be interviews and reviews and a lot of peaks inside the book!
For my part, I decided to make a block from the book and blog about it. Which block? Well, I thought I would try one that was new to me: Chevrons!
I found Lucie's directions very clear and easy to follow. I was able to turn out quite a lot of patchwork in a short time.
The book is set up to teach you to make each of these blocks to a certain scale (finishing at 12.5x12.5") so that the blocks are easily combined into quilts that mix the blocks.
The blocks also lend themselves to being made in a variety of sizes. I didn't stop my strip of patchwork at 12.5" long, I just kept going. And I didn't reverse the angle for my second strip, which probably means I'm not making chevrons, but rather "chevs" or is it "rons"? :-) I'm planning on making a twin-sized quilt of all "rons"!
I didn't feel like I was violating the spirit of the book by doing things my own way, because Lucie is very encouraging of her readers to find their inspirations and follow them wherever they lead! Hooray for true improv!
On a similar note: I also really like that Lucie has the quilter add the strips of fabric one at a time, rather than suggesting strip piecing or other shortcuts. I find that strip piecing can ruin the look of an improv quilt because it makes angles and fabric pairings uniform, where they should all be just a little different! To get the "improv look" a person really has to improvise!
I definitely recommend giving this book a look if you're interested in improvisational quilting!
One of my lucky readers is going to win a copy of this book (courtesy of the publisher, who is also donating a copy to the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild's Library).For your chance to win, please comment below! I will use a random number generator to select a winner on December 27th! If you are a "no reply" blogger, please include your email address in your comment. A winner has been chosen.
Her publishers must have picked up on my love because they've asked me to be part of a blog hop to promote Lucie's book Quilt Improv: Incredible Quilts from Everyday Inspirations
. So, here I am, helping to make sure you've heard of this fine book! For more stops on the blog hop, check out the schedule at Stitch Craft Create. There should be interviews and reviews and a lot of peaks inside the book!For my part, I decided to make a block from the book and blog about it. Which block? Well, I thought I would try one that was new to me: Chevrons!
I found Lucie's directions very clear and easy to follow. I was able to turn out quite a lot of patchwork in a short time.
The book is set up to teach you to make each of these blocks to a certain scale (finishing at 12.5x12.5") so that the blocks are easily combined into quilts that mix the blocks.
The blocks also lend themselves to being made in a variety of sizes. I didn't stop my strip of patchwork at 12.5" long, I just kept going. And I didn't reverse the angle for my second strip, which probably means I'm not making chevrons, but rather "chevs" or is it "rons"? :-) I'm planning on making a twin-sized quilt of all "rons"!
I didn't feel like I was violating the spirit of the book by doing things my own way, because Lucie is very encouraging of her readers to find their inspirations and follow them wherever they lead! Hooray for true improv!
On a similar note: I also really like that Lucie has the quilter add the strips of fabric one at a time, rather than suggesting strip piecing or other shortcuts. I find that strip piecing can ruin the look of an improv quilt because it makes angles and fabric pairings uniform, where they should all be just a little different! To get the "improv look" a person really has to improvise!
I definitely recommend giving this book a look if you're interested in improvisational quilting!
One of my lucky readers is going to win a copy of this book (courtesy of the publisher, who is also donating a copy to the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild's Library).