Modern Quilting Designs review

Have you heard about this book that's about to be released? I was so excited about it that I sent a hopeful plea to Stash books and asked for a copy of Modern Quilting Designs to review on the blog and the answer was yes, with one to giveaway too!

I'm so thrilled for this book by Bethany Pease because there's really nothing like it right now on book shelves. It seems like there are a few books dedicated to continuous line pictorial designs (i.e. dolphins, cowboy boots) and some that show geometric patterns for blocks or borders, but not much in the abstract, all-over, continuous line category. Modern Quilting Designs is filling that gap!

The book is pretty much just sharpie-on-paper drawings of quilting designs. There is not much text, so you can simply flip through the book and take in the designs. I learn visually, so I like that. Most of the quilting ideas seemed like things I could use in my quilts, although there was a section of flowery block-based designs that didn't seem like designs I would use. I was also surprised to see some designs that were not continuous-line. These don't make up the bulk of the book, though.

The best part of this library of designs, and what this author seems to excel in, are all the "mash ups" she creates: inventive, organic combinations of basic patterns. Think feathers plus spirals, or wavy lines plus pebbles plus scallops, or flamboyant vines full of variety. This is good for me because I tend to get stuck in one mindset - quilting something completely in spirals, or making all my leaves on a vine exactly the same, for instance.

Now, one downside to the book is that there is no explanation of how to go about stitching the designs. Feather first and then the wavy lines around it? Wavy lines first then fit the feather inside? For this reason, I'd say the book will be best for someone who has started to improvise with their quilting already. You'll need to come up with your own approach to creating the more complex designs you see.

I thought a thorough review of a book would include "trying it out", so I decided to stitch a design and see how it went. I decided on the captivating design featured on the cover. It was fun and the results were great! I used the stitched piece as the outside of the sewing caddy.

I'm happy to have this book by my side, and happy to have one to send on to a reader! If you'd like to include your name in the random drawing, leave a comment on this post (and make sure I can contact you if you win!). In your comment tell me...what is something simple you could do to improve your free motion quilting? I'll draw the winner Wednesday.

***The giveaway is closed now, thanks everyone for entering!***