Gwen Marston's latest book, A Common Thread, is one I've been wanting for YEARS. It is full of beautiful photographs of beautiful quilts. I also think it has the perfect title, A Common Thread. The book shows Gwen's varied quilt styles from traditional, to applique, and liberated but every quilt also clearly reflects HER style.The chapters in the book include Traditional Patchwork, Applique, Liberated Patchwork, String Quilts, and Abstract Quilts in Solids. The entire books is filled with photographs interspersed with introductions Gwen wrote for each chapter. The left side of each spread is a full shot of each quilt. The right side of each spread has one, two, or three close up photographs showing details and interesting parts of the quilt.
This spread shows the quilt, Little Stars, that inspired my Twinkling Stars quilt.
The photography is beautifully done and you can see every quilting stitch in the detail shots. You can even see the quilting lines in the full quilt photos.
I love looking at all the details. I can even study how the pieces were sewn together.
The quilting in the little liberated log cabin quilt that I'm currently working on was inspired by this quilt, Abstraction.
If you like to look at beautiful quilts, this book is for you. If you want to be a quilter, this book is for you. If you know how to quilt and have mastered the basic liberated quilt making techniques, this book is for you.
I would keep writing more to convince you that you need this book but I need to go sew. This book has given me lots of ideas of things I want to try in my next quilts. I have a few log cabin ideas to explore, I want to dig out my reproduction fabrics, and of course I love the Little Baskets on page 36. What should I work on first?Thank you Gwen for making such beautiful quilts and an excellent book that features them.You can get your own copy of A Common Thread from Amazon with this affiliate link.
Amanda sent us the digital version of the book. We looked through it and printed off a few of our favorite pages, broke out the big girl 
The designs in the book are line drawings of some of her fabric designs. You can look at 
I love all of Amanda's designs, we will be using our colored pages as gift wrap for small gifts this month.Thank you, Amanda, for helping us get back in our coloring zone!
I'm packing up preorders today. Thank you to everyone who preordered a book from me. If you haven't ordered yet, you can 
Ask your local quilt shop to order some copies if they haven't already! 
Here it is, all of that frantic and late night sewing last year was for this. A BOOK! I can hardly believe this is really almost a reality. My love of using scraps led me to write a whole book on scrap quilting!A huge thank you to all of you who encourage me to do what I love and try to use Every Last Piece of fabric in my scrap pile. There are scrap quilt designs in the book that you can use no matter how big your scrap pile is. The first quilts in the book are full on all scrap quilts. As you work your way through the book, the designs use fewer scraps the idea being that if you make all of the quilts in the book you can actually use up your scraps.The book, 
is now available on amazon for preorder and will be released next May. 
, arrived in the mail.
It's a good one - and I'm not saying that just because two of my quilts are in here.
The book is written in the style of Gwen's classes, workshops, and retreats. She talks about her design process and gives techniques but there are no patterns or specific directions for any of the quilts in the book.She writes:"In this book you will notice that instead of patterns, I offer a process. I will tell you how I constructed the various parts of my quilts so you can make your own parts, and because you are using a process instead of a pattern, your quilt will be your own original design. There is power in that. It's rewarding and affirming. My roots are very much from the tradition of quiltmaking and a time when many quilters were working in this same process-focused way."The book is broken down into sections of different aspects of the idea of minimal design. In addition to the other design aspects, Gwen discusses the importance of the actual quilting stitches as part of the overall design of a minimal quilt. The photos are excellent and show the quilting stitches well.She shares her inspiration and thoughts during the design and construction of her quilts. A number of contributors also share their views on minimal quilting as applied to their own quilts that are included in the book.If you have never had the opportunity to attend one of Gwen's retreats or take a class or workshop from her, this book will give you a taste of what that is like. If you have been to one of her retreats or taken a class from her then you already KNOW you want this book. Yeah, you probably already have it!If you don't have it yet, order your own copy of 
now.
.Miss P, of course, perused all of the books that I brought home from market. In fact, she filled this one with sticky bookmarks and notes for me about which embroidery designs she likes.I flipped through and read her notes. She likes this one but she wants the mamma bird to keep a watchful eye on the baby. I thought these birds were particularly cute and simple enough to be stitched on thick terry/velour fabric, I added this little design to her Halloween elf shirt one day while she was at school. I love the transformations that fabric has taken - Bathrobe to costume to cute shirt with embroidery.
Aneela's book is full of sweet designs to dress up existing clothes or home dec items or add to just about any sewing project. There's even a pull out section with iron on tranfers of the designs included in the book. So many cute little animals, delightful girls, and fun every day objects to stitch.I know Miss P wants more of these designs embriodered on some of her other clothes. Just look at all those book marks! I think I'll let her do some of the embroidery though.
She loves the spruced up top!
I made these at the retreat:Sketch 1:10 x 13 inches
Sketch 2:8 x 10 inches
These little quilts were fun to do and they are even finished!!I then got side tracked by another project inspired by a quilt someone brought for show and tell.
I have a weakness for little stars.
These stars will finish at two inches. They are smaller and not liberated like the ones 
While traveling in the car on our trip we listened to a recording of 
by Jeanne Birdsall. Our local librarian recommended it as a good book for the whole family. I think everyone liked the amusing story of four sisters and their adventures on summer vacation. I know I did.
They got into just enough trouble and adventure to keep everyone interested without overwhelming the youngest in the car. I have also just seen online that there are more books about the Penderwick sisters. We'll have to check those out!Speaking of stories about siblings, our family is starting a new chapter this month.Yesterday M moved out and into the dorm.
D will be moving this weekend. All three kids start school Tuesday after labor day. Our schedule here at home will be much more relaxed with only a first grader. P wrote M a letter when we got home from dropping him off at college. "Evrea day at skoole I will cri my ise aowt. Love P"I am hoping I'll be able to get lots of sewing done!
Then we made a pinafore to go with the dress.
I have to say that this book, 
by Venus A Dodge, is pretty spectacular. It has basic pattern pieces for all of the dresses in five different sizes. It gives good directions for choosing the right pattern size and how to make adjustments. There are also directions for making MANY different styles of dresses from the basic pattern pieces and lots of ideas for dressing them up for more grown up dolls and making them simpler for baby dolls. The possibilities are endless. There are a few simple styles that I'll let P try too.The book also has shoe patterns, hat patterns, and directions for other doll accessories.I think we'll be using this book a lot. P has marked a lot for dresses that she likes.
Next up, panties - because every doll needs some panties. And then a slip, and a bonnet, and a dress with some lace....Thanks Adele. We have been enjoying our time together in the sewing room!
My other sister gave me 
it is a feast for the needleworker's eyes. 
I spent the afternoon making some more tiny stars. A couple more afternoons like this and I'll get all the stars for this quilt finished.I think I'm finally starting to get in the rhythm of the school day. I have been listening to Harry Potter on tape while I sew. Jim Dale does a superb job reading them. If you haven't listened to his recordings of the Harry Potter books, I highly recommend that you do.I am making a list of other books to listen to after I finish the Harry Potter series.What book would you recommend?
"That morning I walked to school looking down at all the different colored pieces of cloth in my coat. All the stories the Quilting Mothers had told me about the rags and who they belonged to, I knew by heart. I had ended up choosing the most worn pieces for my coat because the best stories went with them."
So much potential.
I enjoyed reading this to P. It is very different from the Disney version of the story.I do have to warn you that Chapter 8 had me in tears.Chapter 8. Three pages. Life summed up in a discussion between two leaves.Yeah, I think you need to read this book.
She thinks this "too cute" to be Ugly Duckling from 
Future blogger?
P has been reading books lately. She wants to be like the rest of us in the house who pick up books and read. Last week she opened our unabridged dictionary and "read" some fantastic stories.B and I thought that with her interest in reading aloud that she might like to try something simple so I got out a few of my thrifted early readers for her to try. I think she surprised herself that she could actually read some of the words. She tries to sound out words she does not know and is quick to learn new words.It is a good thing I have a collection of beginner books. We will have fun with them in the coming months.
What a wonderful new adventure for both of us. 
The one on the left features Dick and Jane fabric.
The other is a book of color and applique letters.
And now, I have graduated to ink and paper! My latest project is with 
