Quilt Book Reviews - From Reference to Doodles!

In my last post I mentioned the new color tool that I was given as a Christmas gift, but I was also the lucky recipient of a few new quilting books over the holidays, including Quilter's Handy Guide to Supplies & More, Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts, Modern Basics II: 14 Easy Patchwork Quilt Patterns, and Doodle Quilting. Some of these you've probably heard of before, but they were all new to me, to I figured I'd give you a little preview of each.

Quilter's Handy Guide to Supplies & More
by Dawn Cameron Dick

This spiral bound, lay flat resource book is a brand new title from C&T Publishing (who also print the Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool). The format is a tabbed reference guide covering topics like Needles, Threads, Batting, etc., and is definitely geared toward those new to quilting, providing a very solid foundation of in-depth information about the materials and basic processes used in quilting, as well as tools, work space set up, and quilt storage. There is great information for even intermediate quilters who may be skilled at piecing but lack general understanding of the hows and whys of the tools they've always relied on. I'll definitely be using this book when I need to look up proper needle sizing or thread weight for projects (oh, and had I thumbed through it before watching my last Craftsy class, I'd have already read detailed discussion of parallel-wound vs. cross-wound thread and spool pin positioning ; )

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Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts
by Cathy Gaubert

An oldy but goody! This title has been out for a few years, but if you like color, whimsy and improv, and haven't yet thumbed through this book, you must; I want to make every single project! (And I haven't said that about any quilting resource since Sarah Fielke's Quilting from Little Things three years ago.) I think this is going to be one of my motivational books for my 30/30 challenge - more on that soon!

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Modern Basics II: 14 Easy Patchwork Quilt Patterns
by Amy Ellis

Like the title says, this book includes fourteen different simple projects with clear directions and illustrations. The book doesn't grab me because of its more muted colorways than what I prefer and find eye catching, but obviously that can be easily overlooked by updating the designs with a brighter palette when piecing. This is certainly a great book for anyone wanting to dabble in more modern but also easily approachable layouts.

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Doodle Quilting
by Cheryl Malkowski

After falling in love with longarm quilting (I guess it'd be love at first sight considering I've only done it once? lol), and also wanting to get better at FMQ, I added a doodle book to my wish list. This one is nice - the pages are laid out horizontally, so you can press it flat and trace easily. (My only complaint is that it isn't spiral bound, but it still lays flat fairly well.) I put this to use right away by following the Calm Water Grid Work directions to complete the quilting on my Summer Sun doll quilts.

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Do you have a favorite reference or project book in your quilt library? Please share it below - I'm always looking for new titles to browse!