Book Review #1…Civil War Legacies II by Carol Hopkins

 

Carol Hopkins wrote Civil War Legacies, and this is the follow-up to that best-selling book.  Although she uses 1860s reproduction fabrices, this would be a great book for using up those scraps. Carol gives tips on selecting fabric for these projects. Many of the blocks are great for beginning quilters to learn, and the small scale make them perfect for gifts, wall hangings, doll quilts, table toppers, etc.

The red quilt below would make a great table mat for a tea or coffee bar, imho.  And, the one on the right has true primitive colors… kind of looks like the sun peeking through the night.

    

 

Book Review #2…Stack, Shuffle, and Slide by Karla Alexander

If you’ve heard of Stack the Deck type quilt blocks or Stack, Cut, and Shuffle quilt blocks, you will find Karla Alexander’s latest book as another twist on those block cutting models. Karla takes the fear out of color combinations by showing you  how place the different values of the colors within the blocks.  She includes patterns for the different levels of quilters, so there is something for everyone.  Many of her quilts are made with the modern and carefree look.  The quilt below on the left (the darker one)  is for a beginner quilt maker (believe it or not! – it all has to do with color and value placement) and the one below on the right with the triangle flags is for an intermediate level quilt maker.

Book Review #3… Fabulously Fast Quilts by Amy Smart

Amy Smart is a blogger who is having a blog hop this week.  She and her blogger friends are sharing tips and techniques for making the quilt process go quicker and smoother.  If you’ve got time, head over to her blog here.  If not, you will still find pleny of tips and techniques in her book.  You can find her book on Amazon or at the Martingale shop site.  If you’d like a signed copy of her book, go here to order one from her shop.  In her book, you will find 12 quilt designs with lots of movement and that will work with a variety of fabric styles.  Many of the patterns use precuts and scraps.

I thought this one looked interesting – I could use up one or more of my jelly rolls on this quilt, I think.

 

I thought this quilt below gave a new twist on the chevron quilt we’ve seen so many of.  This one is made with strips, though, instead of triangles.  Could be a Quilts of Valor quilt, a boy’s quilt, a Fourth of July quilt, etc….

Many thanks to Martingale for providing the above books and to their photographer, Brent Kane, for providing these pictures!  You can find any of the above books at Amazon or directly from the Martingale shop.

As a side note, I did not get the following book to review, but I thought some of the quilts in it were cute, so I wanted to share some of them with you.  I don’t have any little kids to make these quilts for, but I find the NEED to buy this book.  😉