The first is Diamond Quilts & Beyond (C&T Publishing, 2005). Jan teaches you to create a colorwash look with diamonds. Before you flip out, read her book. She teaches you everything you need to know from inspiration to design, to fabric, to construction. You’ll be creating diamond backgrounds, foregrounds, even entire quilts if you want to. Plus, there are tips galore. I learned how to get permanent marker off my acrylic rulers (rubbing alcohol or a plastic eraser) and how to make flower stamens with glass beads and pearl cotton (page 107). The pictures in the Gallery of Quilts will knock your socks off.

The second book is Quick Diamonds and Beyond (C&T Publishing, 2010) and features more 45 deg ree diamond patterns. Triangles are combined to make larger units and backgrounds, and stitched together to make both traditional and contemporary designs. I love the quilts made with striped fabrics and fussy-cut motifs. There is a full-size appliqué pattern for Pretty Posies, one of my favorite quilts in the book. I think I’m going to have to experiment with couching now that I have Jan’s directions. What a great idea!

Both books are available from Jan’s web site: http://www.jankrentz.com/index.php

Sue Reich’s

I wanted to do a quick page through and instead read about victory quilts, victory garden quilts, quilts pieced on old newspapers, quilts made by women in prisons, all framed by this tumultuous time.

This is a resource every quilter should have. Sue has painstakingly researched all manner of quilts from the Greatest Generation; I learned so much.

Treat yourself!

Mary Kerr is the author of A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited (Schiffer Publishing, 2010). Back in the spring of 2006 Mary issued a challenge to 19 quilting friends, sending them six sets of vintage blocks over a two-year period. They had four months to create an original design which included the vintage block (as is, sliced, or diced) measuring 24″ x 24″.

The resulting quilts will astound you. I can see Mary’s challenge taking hold in guilds across the country. What fun!

Beyond that, A Quilt Block Challenge is a picture book of possibilities, with almost 500 full-color illustrations. Use it for fresh ideas on a quilt that’s driving you around the bend. Better yet, use it to lift you out of the rut you may not have even realized you are in.

Order your copy from Mary here: http://www.marywkerr.com/

The woman is brilliant! She knows her market and tells it like it is. Visit her website and there’s even a mini quiz of sorts designed to confirm that the quilters attempting these blocks are experienced quilters with  good piecing skills who can cut and sew accurately and aren’t afraid of tiny pieces!

These blocks aren’t for sissies, but all of Marsha’s patterns are thoroughly tested and she includes templates so that quilters can check their accuracy along the way.

Book #1 has 10 Le Moyne-based Feathered Star designs and Book #2, just released,  has 15 grid-based blocks. Instructions are written for careful rotary cutting,  greatly aided by Marsha’s specialty rulers;  the Feathered Star Ruler and the Precision Trimmer 3.

After more than 25 books, Marsha knows what she’s doing. If you want to test your piecing mettle and be guided by one of the best in the business, pick any of these intricate block patterns and build a stunningly beautiful heirloom quilt.

Get your copy of Feathered Star Quilt Blocks I and Feathered Star Quilt Blocks II along with Marsha’s rulers from Feathered Star Productions.

Another Can of Worms by Debbie Caffery (Debbie’s Creative Moments, Inc.)  is a case in point. First off, I find the name extremely appealing. It’s the sequel to Open A Can of Worms which I find myself wanting to read too, just because of the name.  And second,  it jumped out of Debbie’s display at Quilt Market right into my arms.  (Thanks, Debbie!)

Debbie explains that a worm is a strip of 2.5″ wide fabric, cut selvage to selvage. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been whacking leftovers too small to store in my stash and too big to throw away (heaven forbid!) into strips for years, and a bunch of them are 2.5″. I’m ready to piece any one of the sixteen patterns in Another Can of Worms. The only problem I can see is which quilt to sew first. 

Debbie starts out super simple with squares and rectangles, then she holds your hand through more challenging cutting techniques using half-square and quarter-square triangles.

Debbie’s web site is pure marketing genius. I know I’ve learned a thing or two tooling around. Check out Debbie’s stand-alone patterns, presented as a tri-fold printed on heavy card stock with a hang hole.  Easy to make; easy to purchase.  Good ideas about on her website. Check it out!

Melody Crust’s

No more ho-hum edge treatments after you devour more than 150 scrumptious color photographs of Melody’s beautiful quiltlets made with a host of needle techniques. Hundreds of different embellishments, photographed super close up to share every delicious detail, will whet your appetite to try a few Eye Candy Quilts yourself.

Order an autographed copy directly from Melody right here.

 Sweet!

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