Imagine, if you will, five exact copies of the same quilt. Now, quilt each copy differently. This is what Lee Celland, an Australian machine quilter did for her book, Quilting Makes the Quilt. She made 5 copies of 12 different quilts (that is 60 quilts in case you are counting) and then quilted each one differently. It is fascinating to see the same quilt, quilted 5 different ways. You can see how a quilt looks with an all-over pattern, or a curvilinear pattern or straight line quilting.
Not only are there color photographs of all these quilts, but there are priceless instructions on how to make a design fit an area, whether is is a grid pattern, curves or an all over design. This alone is worth the price of the book.
But wait, there's more! She has included patterns for making the 12 quilts plus a pull out section of some of the original quilting designs. What a gem of a book.
In the 1970s during the resurgence of quilt making, quilting vaguely resembled the photo on the left: scattered quilted motifs on a high loft bat that resulted in a poofy look in un-quilted areas. After seeing a couple of Lee's quilts with some areas like that, I wanted to grab the quilt and add more stitches. But Lee anticipated this and shows the different look on several quilts.Quilting density is all a matter of likes and dislikes. I like an equal amount of quilting overall, it doesn't have to be dense just equal. After showing this photo to CarGuy and asking which one he liked, he said he liked the puffy areas. Go figure.
That book is probably in the top 10 of the most useful book that I have ever purchased.
ReplyDeleteI bought this book when I had the longarm. My favorite quilting is when it's fairly dense and not puffy, and I actually prefer machine-quilted to hand-quilted, never thought I would ever feel that way.
ReplyDeleteThat is absolutely the smartest quilting book ever written in my opinion!!! One that is in my own collection and I will NEVER part with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I even got to meet the wonderfully generous and sweetly modest Lee Cleland in person. She's delightful!
What a great book to keep in circulation. Thanks for the review, Paula. ;-)
I love 'puffy' when I want a quilt to snuggle. I love 'close stitiching' when I want to admire quilting.
ReplyDeleteI love this book and have personally owned it for several years!
ReplyDeleteI am with you - I like even quilting, but I know for sure my daughters would prefer the one with "poofy" spaces. I guess that is why quilting is so great - each person can custom to their own likes.
ReplyDeleteGuys seem to like soft and puffy quilts. Will look for this book. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love this book too. It is at our local library, and I have checked it out repeatedly...I love the way each quilting pattern makes each quilt look so different.
ReplyDeleteThe book is wonderful. Why did it take me so long to discover it?!
ReplyDeleteI too am a frequent borrower from the library. It is a great book. I can't imagine making more than one of any quilt, much less the quantity she did.
ReplyDeleteI don't know... the poofy quilting looks like what Nana would have done - there is value in sentiment. And Nana quilted by hand. With machine quilting, I thik we put more and more quilting into our tops, but I am starting to love my puffy quilts once again... because they are more snuggly. Depends what the quilt is to be used for, I think... Still, it is definately fun to "preview" what different quilting styles will do to a top. Detailed machine quilting is an art in itself!
ReplyDeleteCheers! Evelyn
Got to get that book. Re: quilting density. My mother perfers a poofy look to her quilts, and bemoans that some people will "quilt it to death"! I love that phrase, and know what she means, butI prefer a flatter quilt.
ReplyDeleteWhat great book. I can't imagine taking on such a project for my ownself - but the things to be learned would be invaluable. I may just NEED to do some online shopping *s*
ReplyDeleteI bought that book years ago, when I was in a quilt frenzy. Let me see if I can locate it. You are such a tease, now I'm thinking about quilts and quilting again.
ReplyDeleteVicki
I've had that book quite a while and it never fails to inspire - you've got to admire the girl - who ever would want the quilt the exact same quilt five times multiplied by the number of designs in the book - rather her than me, but I'm grateful she did :o)
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