Nary a Print in sight……
Thanks for all the kind words and messages regarding my last rambling post……It is nice to be free to just write things out sometimes, even if they don’t make sense. And even if I do use a lot of “……” Drives my boss Jake crazy so I try not to do that when I write copy over at GenQ…..but here? heck I can …. do…. it…. as …..often …. as …… I …..want…… 🙂
Okay so enough rambling for today’s post. I actually have something specific to share with you today….Two things to be precise. I am still not even close to caught up from LAST Quilt Market, so here is a bit of an attempt to do some catching up from then. I think I picked up 4 or five new books at Market. Today I am sharing two of them with you.
The first is Stars ‘N Strips Forever by Carl Hentsch. I must admit, I had never heard of Carl until just before Market when he submitted some concepts for Generation Q. I had the great pleasure of meeting Carl at Market in Portland, and he’s a really great guy. With LOTS of ideas. As he showed me file after file of electronic quilt designs, I was totally wow’d. (and I am happy to say he will have a design in an upcoming Generation Q issue too. It’s a great one!) His work varies from very traditional to more modern. He doesn’t use as many prints as I do, but we all need variety in our world right??
I was lucky enough to get one of his books at his book signing and thought I would briefly share a couple of my favorites from it. All of the blocks are built from strip sets and cut into diamonds and triangles. Pretty simple (although will require very accurate piecing)
First Citrus Punch which obviously gets its name from the colors used. I love how he used the same block and same fabrics to get two looks out of the very simple pattern.
And then my other favorite from this book is City Nights. I love how the black and white really sort of undulates in this quilt. And the magenta quilting details add even more movement.
So Carl uses a bunch of batiks and a couple prints in his quilts…which to me are practically the only solids I used to use if I ever used a solid when I first started quilting.. ..Cherri House who wrote today’s other book is even more “solid” in her approach to quilting!
Urban Views is Cherri’s follow-up book to City Quilts and has more of the modern quilt take on urban inspirations. I remember when I first got Cherri’s City Quilts how much I loved her impressionistic take on the City AND how she made solids look so stunning in a quilt. These quilts are just as amazing as the first batch.
I also love how Cherri writes little tidbits of her daily life into the introductions and inspiration portions of the book. I really like how City Beat has a certain syncopated rhythm to it.
City Electric is fun, because it doesn’t really translate in to a direct representation of lightning. Not even close. I like stuff like that.
I love how Cherri puts the photos of the inspiration next to the flat full version of the quilt so you can see where the idea sprung from. And I love City Loft particularly because there are MANY ways you could look at the building in the picture for a quilt design. And Cherri’s take is definitely the less literal.
And my favorite has got to be City Bridge, the ombre effect Cherri created with the flying geese is captivating!!
That’s it for today peeps…..I promise to announce the winner of the Gooseberry Patch book soon…..