In the ‘Curated Studio’ section of each issue of Curated Quilts, we give you a sampling of the latest in modern patterns and fabrics, book reviews, and quilting tools, available on the market and, of course, related to our featured topic.
Here are two books currently sitting beside our sewing machines that are worth getting your hands on:Stitch Your Story by Sarah Fielke andPlaying with Purpose by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.
Stitch Your Story: Six Complete Alphabets to Quilt in Your Own Words
by Sarah Fielke
Lucky Spool Media, LLC
www.sarahfielke.com
This book is full of practical applications for using text in quilts and in other small sewing projects. It has both simple projects for the beginner and more complicated projects for the intermediate to advanced quilter. Fielke includes six different fonts in the book: three pieced alphabets, two free-flowing elegant alphabets, and, finally, directions on how to create an improvisation alphabet.
The traditionally-pieced, grid-based alphabets have lowercase and uppercase versions. Extensive illustrations are included to make piecing the letters together straightforward and easy. Grid instructions also allow you to change the finished size of the letter blocks to fit your project.
The author gives very cute examples of how to use each font, and with the instructions in the book, you’ll also be able to create your own word combinations.
Playing with Purpose: A Quilt Retrospective
by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
C&T Publishing/Stash Books
www.vfwquilts.com
If you are a quilter searching for a use for scraps, you will find no lack of inspiration in Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s new book. Wolfe is a scrap-quilting master. The book is part memoir and part self-help. Wolfe encourages with an optimistic and joyful approach to quilting that leaves the reader feeling inspired. She explains that she is not afraid of making mistakes in her quilts but learns from them to build creativity and shift her quilt’s direction during the creative process.
One of the things to be most appreciated about Wolfe is that there is so much variety in her work. She makes traditional quilts, modern quilts, and often combines traditional themes with modern ones in completely unique, new ways. The effect is energizing.
The sheer scope of beautiful quilts included in “Playing with Purpose”--more than 130 quilts, many in full-page photographs-- make it a selection that could easily be set on the coffee table and enjoyed again and again.
From a young age, Wolfe always wanted to be an artist and she has become one. In the book, she says, “Quilting has a magic of bringing people and stories and moments together.” Readers will definitely be swept up in the joyful magic of her quilting while reading this charming and visually stunning memoir.
By Brittany Bowen Burton