Learn easy, efficient tricks for piecing irresistible quilt tops with precuts and leftover fabric scraps, and discover 18 machine-quilting motifs you can mix and match. Award-winning quilter and designer Christa Watson guides you through 11 skill-building projects with quilting designs in three categories: walking-foot, free-motion, and a combination of the two techniques. Christa is here to help you start and finish strong!
Bring some good luck along with a little bit of whimsy to your home or that of a loved one with these fun projects featuring gnomes. Find playful designs for all rooms of the house including projects for the kitchen, sewing room, holidays, or a special gift.
Quilters and crafters rejoice! This story of a community coming together to make a quilt is a heartwarming celebration of creativity and teamwork. The kids and grown-ups at a community center begin with lots of colorful fabrics and an idea. Then step by step they make that idea a reality. They design, cut, stitch, layer, and quilt. It's the work of many hands, many hours, and many stories. And the result is something warm and wonderful they all can share. Lizzy Rockwell is the artistic director and organizing force behind the Norwalk Community Quilt Project: Peace by Piece, and this book is inspired by all the people who have gathered over the years to teach and learn and to make something beautiful together.
How many fat quarters does it take to make a quilt: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14? The choice is yours! America's favorite fabric cut gets a fun makeover in a dozen all-new patterns from popular blogger Andy Knowlton. In her signature happy color palette, Andy shares easy-to-sew quilts that will inspire quilters to break into those bundles, unfold their singles, or even cut yardage into 18" × 22" chunks of fabric to re-create her cheerful designs. Stars, pinwheels, arrows, and Churn Dashes are just a few of the classic motifs that get Andy's fresh fat-quarter treatment. No more excuses and no time to lose - quilters will love reducing and restocking their stashes to make these fat-quarter-friendly projects.
Gather your life experiences and transform them into a legacy quilt! Find a peaceful heaven for the quilter’s soul with this one-of-a-kind book. Join Kristin Steiner and Diane Frankenberger on a remarkable journey of self-discovery, and learn how to translate your experiences into a quilted “scrapbook.” Each block marks milestones along the way. 10 projects include Kristin’s extraordinary sampler quilt, wallhangings, a sewing kit, a journal, and more - each one a sentimental reminder of things past. Learn to create a personal album quilt expressing your hopes, dreams, and unique life journey. Enjoy a feast for the senses - find inspirational quotes, recipes, and Diane’s beautiful watercolors, plus Kristin’s tips for perfect appliqué.
The author shares her love for English paper piecing and fussy cutting, showing you the basics so you can work your way from the humble hexagon to stars, curves and more.
Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names -- Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm. Though Joanna's freedom proved short-lived -- she was forcibly returned by slave catchers to Josiah Chester's plantation in Virginia -- she left the Bergstrom family a most precious gift, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, along with maiden aunt Gerda, raised the boy as their own, and the secret of his identity died with their generation. Now it falls to Sylvia -- drawing upon Gerda's diary and Joanna's quilt -- to connect Joanna's past to present-day Elm Creek Manor. Just as Joanna could not have foreseen that, generations later, her quilt would become the subject of so much speculation and wonder, Sylvia and her friends never could have imagined the events Joanna witnessed in her lifetime. Punished for her escape by being sold off to her master's brother in Edisto Island, South Carolina, Joanna grieves over the loss of her son and resolves to run again, to reunite with him someday in the free North. Farther south than she has ever been, she nevertheless finds allies, friends, and even love in the slave quarter of Oak Grove, a cotton plantation where her skill with needle and thread soon becomes highly prized. Through hardship and deprivation, Joanna dreams of freedom and returning to Elm Creek Farm. Determined to remember each landmark on the route north, Joanna pieces a quilt of scraps left over from the household sewing, concealing clues within the meticulous stitches. Later, in service as a seamstress to the new bride of a Confederate officer, Joanna moves on to Charleston, where secrets she keeps will affect the fate of a nation, and her abilities and courage enable her to aid the country and the people she loves most. The knowledge that scraps can be pieced and sewn into simple lines -- beautiful both in and of themselves and also for what they represent and what they can accomplish -- carries Joanna through dark days. Sustaining herself and her family through ingenuity and art during the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Joanna leaves behind a remarkable artistic legacy that, at last, allows Sylvia to discover the fate of the long-lost quilter.
Ever since her step-mom brought her a snow globe of the New York City skyline, Annie has wanted to visit the beautiful, big city. Since it's nearing the time of Annie's rumschpringe—the time when Amish youth experience Englisch life to make a decision whether to live in that world or become baptized into the Amish faith—the family decides a visit is a good idea. They watch the Macy's Christmas parade, admire the decorated store windows, skate at the Rockefeller Center rink and— Annie's favorite—get a glimpse of a writer's life while visiting the New York Times building. But others aren't as thrilled with Annie's lure to the Big Apple. Aaron has long been attracted to Annie and is sure he's in love. As he watches her engage in big city life, he grows concerned that she won't want to return to their quieter life. Will Annie follow Aaron back home? Or stay and pursue her dreams? Competing for her attention, Aaron sets out to show Annie that Christmas isn't about the glitz and glamour, but about family, love, and the birth of Jesus.
