PGP Book Review - Inspirational Sunday

Welcome back to Inspirational Sunday.  We can all find inspiration in many places.  In the past on Sundays, I have shown you pictures of beautiful quilts that have inspired me at quilt shows.  Since not everyone has access to these shows, I hope you found some of the photos inspirational.  Today, I would like to begin a series of book reviews.  Books, I find, are a more common source of inspiration, and nearly everyone has access to them.

I would like to start off by reviewing Elizabeth Hartman's, Practical Guide to Patchwork.  I will admit that this book was not in my collection until recently.  When I signed up to participate in Plum and June's "Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop" and started reading the posts of other participants, this book seemed to be on everyone's favorite list.  That made me very curious, so I used a coupon at my local Joann's and got the book.

Why is it everyone's favorite?

• It is well written and has gorgeous photos
• It covers ALL the basics, from supplies, planning your quilt, organizing yourself, and construction including quilting and binding
• 12 quilt projects with a modern flair help build your skills
• each project has 2 fabric alternatives to highlight options
• Skills include strip piecing, the "stack, cut & shuffle" method, foundation piecing, machine applique, even yo-yo's and more.
• She includes instructions for striking quilt backs

Why I liked it and things I learned:

• little tips on nearly every page are very helpful
• stitching in the ditch, defeats the purpose of showing off your quilting (well, duh!)
• she actually shows you how to do the mitered corners on the back of your binding - you would be surprised how often this step is simply left to one's imagination
• a knot-less start for handwork (if only there was a knot-less finish as well)

Do I recommend it?  

• Yes!  I found her section on the basics very well written and easy to follow.  Her instructions are likewise easy to understand, and her projects are striking.   I think this book would be the perfect gift for a new quilter, or the final push for someone who has been tempted to start quilting!

The project I can't wait to try?

• The Valentine quilt!  I would so like to show you a picture of this one, but I fear it may violate some law of sort.  It is a beautiful and colorful quilt that uses foundation piecing of strips to create colorful squares.  It is possible that I might have enough scrap strips by the summer to try out this beautiful quilt.

Next week, I plan to review Elizabeth's other book, Modern Patchwork.  I admit this is MY favorite between the two.  I hope you will join me next Sunday.

Elizabeth also has a blog of her own, Oh Fransson!, with lots of patterns and tips.  She is currently revisiting some of the projects in her two books, trying to make them a little differently.

Have you tried out any of the projects in Practical Guide to Patchwork?  How did you like them?

Thank you for reading!

Jen