Beautiful Botanicals
Deborah Kemball
C&T Publishing; $29.95

Are you looking for a way to add more beautiful flowers into your life this time of year? I know for many of us the only place we see fresh flowers this time of year is at the florist. Deborah Kemball offers a wonderful way to bring more beauty into your life. Her book offers 14 sophisticated floral appliqué projects, varying in size from pillows to quilts. She includes templates for 45 different appliqué flowers, two butterflies and five borders. The book is also filed with wonderful tips to make your work a success, e.g., fussy-cutting fabrics for some of the flowers. You’ll enjoy mixing the various flowers to create your own individual project.

Look for the book at your favorite book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Give & Take Fabric Appliqué

Daphne Greig and Susan Purney Mark

AQS: $24.95

I love the possibilities of this simple concept – using a patchwork block, tracing the design onto fusible web, fusing on fabric, cutting the shapes apart and using them in two blocks as a negative and positive. After explaining the concept, Daphne Greig and Susan Purney Mark get you started with the complex New York Beauty block. The book includes 12 different projects and templates and can be adapted to other patterns of your choosing. The authors note that the concept is great for fat quarters and guild challenges. This is a fun technique to add to your toolbox.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Beautiful Wildflower Appliqué
Zena Thorpe
AQS; $26.95

Master quilter Zena Thorpe says we are always impressed with the big, showy blooms that we neglect to see the wildflowers. With that in mind she used all wildflowers as the background in her quilt “Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness.” Beautiful Wildflower Appliqué includes appliqué directions and patterns for 32 native wildflowers in that quilt. In addition to the individual flowers, Zena offers complete instructions for a wildflower wallhanging with 10 flowers. A wonderful addition to your appliqué library.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Quilted Symphony
Gloria Loughman
C&T Publishing; $29.95

If you’ve ever seen Gloria Loughman’s award-winning quilts and wanted to know how she was able to create such wonderful art, you are in for a treat with her book. She goes through the basics of design and composition and color and then focuses on the construction process step-by-step. She covers appliqué, piecing and embellishments, including painting, beading and stitching options. The book also includes four projects and a gallery of student work. I found myself so engaged by the book that I was torn between wanting to look/read more or getting right to my fabric. This is a definite keeper!

Look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Hand Appliqué With Embroidery
Sandra Leichner
AQS Publishing; $26.95

As a fan of Sandra Leichner’s quilts, I was looking forward to the release of her first book, Hand Appliqué With Embroidery. In the introduction she mentions that she’s always been fascinated by the details and how important they are to the finished product. I think if you’ve studied her work, that’s what impresses you: her attention to detail. The detail is most often done with embroidery embellishment techniques. In this book she teaches you her needleturn appliqué process and then shows you how to add texture and dimension through embellishment. To learn and build on your skills, she includes three small projects. With new skills and confidence, you are ready to create your own variation of Sandra’s award-winning “Tea With Miss D” quilt. I think you’ll be thrilled with adding these techniques to your tool box.

Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Picture This!
By Marcia Stein
C&T Publishing; $27.95

I have been a fan of Marcia Stein’s quilts for a long time. We even put one of her quilts on the cover of Issue 100 of The Professional Quilter. It’s the same quilt that graces the cover of her first book. Subtitled Appliqué Pictorial Quilts – From Photo to Fabric, this book starts with how to take better photos, how to choose the right photo for a quilt and then how to use your computer to look at the photos to determine value among other things. From here you’ll learn how to transfer your photo to a master drawing that you’ll use to select your fabric and create your quilt. Marcia covers three different methods of appliqué: turn-under, fused or raw-edge. In addition to a gallery of photos, you’ll find three projects with detailed instructions to develop and build your skills. If you are looking to learn the technique behind creating realistic pictorial applique quilts, this is an excellent resource.

Here’s a link, if you’d like to add it to your library.

Simply Dynamic Sampler Quilts
By Marianne Hatton
American Quilter’s Society; $26.95

Those of us who have been quilting a long time usually started by making several quilt blocks to learn a variety of techniques and then moved onto a sampler quilt. Samplers had a standard look: blocks set straight with sashing and cornerstones. Marianne Hatton introduces what she calls the “next generation” sampler without the sashing. One of the keys to Marianne’s method is her GridMap® technique where you create a map to follow to ensure your success. Includes instructions for basics of quiltmaking, including straight, curved and set-in seams, appliqué, borders and quilting. If you work with newer quilters or like teaching a sampler method, you’ll pick up some tips for your toolbox.

Here’s a link, if you’d like to add it to your library.

Cynthia Tomaszewski
Martingale & Co.; $24.95

Are you looking for a whimsical quilt to make for the child in your life? Cynthia Tomaszewski offers patterns for seven pieced and/or appliqued quilts. The bright quilts with their fun motifs will delight you. I loved the mermaids swimming amidst the seaweed and the rabbit popping out of a top hat surrounded by stars. Let’s Pretend includes basic quiltmaking instructions and an introduction to appliqué as well as tips for fine hand appliqué.

If you’d like to add this book to you quilt library, here’s a link.