Happy Thanksgiving Craft Buds friends! I’m Elizabeth from Inspire Me Grey, and on this day of traditions and celebrations, it seems like the perfect time for a little review of the new quilting book Modern Designs for Classic Quilts by Kelly Biscopink and Andrea Johnson. With this book, Kelly and Andie celebrate traditional quilt designs by giving them new twists in modern fabrics, layouts and creative designs.
Full disclosure: This in no way affects my feelings about the book, but Kelly is a friend of mine – like, a real-life friend and not just a blogland friend. We go way back – to birth, really. Her parents are my godparents, and Kelly and I overlapped a couple of years at the same university. It was fantastic to discover that we have quilting in common, and I’m thrilled to review her (and Andie’s) book for Craft Buds.
So back to the review. I really like the “hook” of this book. Some quilting books are just patterns and projects with no common thread to really hold them together. What makes this one special is the connection of classic designs done in new ways. Kelly and Andie take things like flying geese, coins, hexagons and Dresden plates and do some really cool things with them. They also provide a great primer on basic techniques, including this split-screen of how they each handle matching straight seams differently. (No pretending that everyone does it all one way here! Yes, you have options!)
My personal favorites (and recent additions to my “must make” list) include this spotty kaleidoscope pattern and Andie’s Midtown Girl:
I took the book with me on vacation last week and my mom picked these Dresden plates as her faves:
Full disclosure: Elizabeth is a real-life friend of mine, and she is not kidding about this book. I’ve also take a look, and this has to be one of my favorite quilting books of the year. Love the quilts, fabric, patterns, illustrations . . . It’s a must have!
Hop over to Elizabeth’s blog to see a quilt-in-progress from the book.
Blog Tour!
Monday, 11/5 Andie & Kelly, AndieJohnsonSews & Stitchy Quilt Stuff
Tuesday, 11/6 Lindsay of CraftBuds
Wednesday, 11/7 Jill of Darling Jill Quilts
Thursday, 11/8 Faith of Fresh Lemons
Friday, 11/9 Tracy of Generation Q
Saturday, 11/10 Angela of Quilting is my Therapy
Sunday, 11/11 Shannon of Stitch Craft Create
Monday, 11/12 Laurie of Scarlet Fig
Tuesday, 11/13 Kaysie of KZJo’s Studio
Wednesday, 11/14 Jessica of A Little Gray
Thursday, 11/15 Mary of The Tulip Patch
Friday, 11/16 Deborah of Whipstitch
Saturday, 11/17 Lindsay of The Cottage Mama
Sunday, 11/18 Jenny of Sew Kind of Wonderful
Monday, 11/19 Carla of LollyQuiltz
Tuesday, 11/20 Thomas of Thomas Knauer Sews
Wednesday, 11/21 Brenda of Pink Castle Fabrics
Thursday, 11/22 Lindsay & Liz Rea of CraftBuds & Inspire Me Grey
Friday, 11/23 Sarah of The Last Piece
Saturday, 11/24 Andie & Kelly, AndieJohnsonSews & Stitchy Quilt Stuff
Cara of Cara Quilts
