Sunday, June 10, 2012

Fuse-and-Tell Journal Quilts

I promised Paula that I would review Fuse-and-Tell Journal Quilts first, so here goes.

Fuse-and-Tell Journal Quilts is a book by Laura Wasilowski, who has since published Fanciful Stitches Colorful Quilts which I have previously reviewed on HubPages.



The information is only from Fuse-And Tell Journal Quilts, although a lot of  the information probably applies to both.  The quilts were made using the technique of fusible applique.  They also use Fast2Fuse instead of or in addition to batting.  As Laura says, "Fusing is a fast, easy way to assemble a wall quilt without sewing seams, using templates, or following a pattern."

A journal quilt is like a small diary in cloth.  "Whether geometric or pictorial, they tell of happy memories, sad events, funny anecdotes or flights of fancy."  There are many ideas in the book on how to find inspiration for journal quilts.



The book shows you how to make six colorful and fun journal quilts, and has many other examples scattered throughout. These are journal quilts in that they allow you to journal the stories of your life.  These quilts are not limited to the size of a piece of paper that another journal quilt project used. This makes it much easier for me, since I have difficulty following size constraints.  Some of the quilts do have stitches on them.


The first section discusses Fascinating Fusing Facts, materials and tools for the fusible journal quilt. Then it goes into the six journal quilts, with facts about the inspiration of the quilt, and step by step directions (with lots of photos) on how to make them.  You are not limited to making just these six quilts, of course.  There are lots of other quilts that serve as inspiration throughout the book.  The final chapter explains how to finish a fused journal quilt.  There are ideas about how to quilt these journal quilts and three different ideas about how to bind them.  I am going to try the Wrapped Binding method for the quilt I am making now, just as soon as I finish adding the photos to this post.  There are also instructions on how to add hanging loops.  The final section has some templates to make the six featured quilts.


Amazon is offering a preview of other pages of Fuse-and Tell Journal Quilts. Click on the link and see many other pages of the book, or buy it there.  I will get a small percentage of Amazon's share of the price if you do.


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Quilt Books!



Just so you can get a preview of the books that I got from the C&T sale.  They had really good prices, and I really needed a quilt fix.  I don't think that I would believe you if you told me last year that I would buy so many books all at once.  I am going to look at them one at a time, and thoroughly enjoy looking at one before moving on to the next one.

A friend of mine asked me if I was going to make quilts out of each one.  I told her no, that wasn't my plan.  If I am not required to do anything other than read non-pattern books, then why would I be required to make something out of pattern books.  Of course, that doesn't mean I can't make something either.  I definitely would if I had more time in my day!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Shuffling Paper


When I showed my photo of a stack of paper from the end of our project last year, and said something to the effect that "there is more", I'm not sure people fully understood the extent of the "more." So here is a bigger stack, and yet again, I have to say there is more, and hopefully this time you will have a better understanding of "more." This is probably a third of the total of actual paper.

It may be hard to believe when looking at these big stacks that most of the work on this project is actually done on the computer and not printed at all.  The paper is just the reference material.

I have been looking at this paper nonstop pretty much all month, stopping only to come home to shower and sleep.

I have been missing quilting, but I managed to catch the C&T clearance sale.  Normally, I wouldn't buy the books, because even though the prices are quite low, the shipping would add to the price, but I needed a quilting fix, and I bought a stack of books.  Since I didn't have time to look at the books, I could dream about getting them in the mail and wallowing in quilty goodness.  It worked out quite perfectly, because I received the box in the mail after the project was completed.

I haven't had a lot of time to write on HubPages either, and only wrote a few hubs.  One you may be interested in reading is 10 Great Ways to Learn How to Quilt.  I thought it would be useful for people who didn't have family members or others around that knew how to quilt.