The Quilter's Negative Space Handbook :: A Book Review

It is always exciting to have a new book to review, but this time it's even more exciting because I 'know' the author.  OK well know is a relative term, but it feels like I know her after having various online conversations with her through Stash Bee involvement and then also longarm chat after she became a Handi Quilter owner.  One day hopefully I will know her in real life but I reckon I have to get over to the States for a chance of that!

So the book is The Quilter's Negative Space Handbook and the author is Sylvia Schaefer from Flying Parrot Quilts.  It is published by Stash Books, an imprint of C&T Publishing, and is available in the UK through Search Press.

My first impression was how it was so full of colour - oh that's got to bode well hasn't it?!

I actually received and read it through from start to finish in one day.  It is so much more than a book of patterns and contains such useful information for anyone interested in making modern quilts - either from a pattern or by designing their own.

 

In each chapter there is information on techniques to make quilts modern, for example taking a traditional block quilt and removing elements, varying sizes and inverting colours to name a few.  I really liked how Sylvia talks you through each process and gives examples along the way.  Some of these are computer generated images but there are so many lovely photos of real quilts that just make you want to touch them.

If you don't want to design yourself, each chapter has a pattern with full instructions for you to make the quilt.  I have to say I now have more quilts added to my ever-growing, or is that never-ending, to do list.

The quilt below features in the book as an example of disintegration but it isn't a pattern in the book -  I just included it here because I happen to love it!

All in all I think this is a fantastic book and a wonderful resource for quilters both modern quilters and those looking to explore modern route more.  Watch this space for upcoming quilts that will be made using some of these techniques.

Teeny Tiny Rainbow - A Finish

There have not been many finishes around these parts lately so I am very happy to have a ta da moment for you.  I give you Teeny Tiny Rainbow ....

and as you can it is a little more than a ta da moment - it is also a celebratory moment!

This little mini quilt started life as part of  Sugar Bowl Crafts Scrap Busting Sewalong.  The challenge that week was:

How many squares can you get into a 5" square?  

Well I was always going to go small and so managed 100!  I knew that there was method using gridded fusible interfacing but, of course, I didn't want to wait to get some so I used old dressmaking interfacing I had on my shelf and the squares from my cutting mat.  It worked OK but is a bit wonky in places but I absolutely loved the result.

I knew I didn't want this little block to sit languishing on a shelf so I decided to add the white border and then randomly added the second border.  The charcoal and white bits are as they are because they were leftovers from my Mini to Maxi - Churn Dash.  Nothing like using all scraps!

It was only as time marched on that I realised I could turn it into a quilt and enter it into the miniature category.  The quilting happened by chance and I am not sure if it is how I would quilt it if I did it again.  The rainbow squares finish at 1/2" and so I decided to just so some outline squares as stitch in the ditch.  This was actually a first for me on my longarm and I have to say I didn't dislike it as much as I thought.  However it was 5" square not a full size quilt!  

Then came a change in plan because I realised that you could see the charcoal fabric behind the white fabric as a dark strip down the middle of the skinny white borders.  Aaaaarrrgh I had planned to quilt the borders with 1 or 2 lines of white stitching extending into the charcoal area and to the edge.  Now I couldn't do that because, to hide that mistake, I needed to quilt a dark line in the middle.  This was done several times and included lots of unpicking but in the end I just had to go with it.  Because of that I decided to quilt straight lines in the resulting charcoal spaces.  I like the difference between lines and grid and the change in direction to the diagonal.  This is something I would use again.

Quilt Stats

Finished Size:  11" x 11"

Fabrics Used:  multicoloured scraps for the rainbow centre and Kona Charcoal and White for the borders

Quilting:  was done on my Handi Quilter Avante longarm machine and I used Glide 40wt thread in Shadow and 60wt thread in Sterling

Wadding:  The Warm Co Warm and White

So the ribbon?  Well it was entered into the Miniature Category at the British Quilt and Stitch Show whichwas held in Uttoxeter over the weekend.  I was delighted to hear it had won 3rd place and also pleased to see that both this and the 2nd placed quilt were modern quilts.  It is lovely to see the rise in the number of modern quilts in all categories now.  Long may it continue!!

Fabric Review on UKQU

I have the pleasure of making with this gorgeous fabric this week .....

To find out more head over to my post on UKQU where I have reviewed the wonderful Rainbow Etchings, the new collection by Stuart Hillard for Craft Cotton Co.

It's in the shops now!!