Natural Patchwork

"Like a quilt, each habitat in nature is composed of many interdependent pieces that form grand patterns and webs. The text introduces numerous key concepts in natural science, and the back material offers activities and ideas for teaching"--Provided by the publisher.

Whether you are at home or out enjoying a walk on a wooded path, you can add a touch of color and comfort to your daily routines with one or more of the twenty-six projects featured here. By using the patchwork placemats to enliven your dining experience or by taking the hexagon patchwork bag on a picnic in a meadow, you never have to stray too far from the comfort of patchwork. The simple and traditional patchwork styles used in this book are paired with retro fabrics and contemporary designs to create everyday items. Detailed diagrams and instructions are provided for each project. In addition, six mini-lessons on patchwork sewing are offered, making the projects here perfect for beginner and intermediate sewers. Make the projects in this book and add the warmth of handmade to your home and nature outings.

Create 10 glorious designs from nature, including Trumpeter Swans, Herons, and Tree Birds. Full-size templates and clearly illustrated cutting and piecing directions are provided.

Bring on the bling! A step-by-step guide to achieving expert color-work with fabrics to create dynamic, glittering gemstone-themed quilts Quilting expert Andrea Tsang Jackson guides readers through transforming the beauty, allure, and power of natural stones into glittering complex patchwork quilts. She provides a master plan for the color work required to achieve effective transparency and light with fabric selection. Readers will be able to paper piece their way to a jewelry box of blocks. Beginning with nine traditional gemstone shapes, such as teardrop, marquis, and emerald cuts, each block progresses in complexity so quilters can hone their skills as they work their way through the book. Then, quilters will be inspired to use their blocks in a series of projects, both large and small. Created with intermediate quilters in mind, the book includes: Jackson's speedy chain-piecing technique for paper piecing; graded patterns to create the perfect finished block size; traditional and modern settings; watercolor illustrations of gemstones.

The tradition of patchwork and quilted items goes back hundreds of years and most often conveys a sense of warmth and comfort. While the bold and bright designs in this book are meant for the modern crafter, that inherent sense of warmth is still expressed in these unique and stunning projects. Created in the distinctive Japanese craft style--and published in English for the first time--the projects in this book offer a look that is minimal, yet vibrant and full of life. Explore the techniques of patchwork sewing, appliqu , and machine quilting through thirty-five simple and stunning projects. With beautiful photographs, step-by-step instructions, and detailed diagrams, the pouches and handbags, quilts and pillowcases, tissue cases and pot holders are perfect projects for beginner and intermediate sewers. Make the projects in this book and add a little bit of warmth and patchwork style to your life.

Infuse your quilts with love--how to add your personal story and more meaning to your handmade quilts. In Wise Craft Quilts, celebrated quilt designer and crafter Blair Stocker shares ways to use cherished fabrics to make quilts with more meaning. Each of the twenty-one quilts featured here gathers a special collection of fabric, outlines a new technique, and spins a story. By using special fabrics as the starting point for each project—from a wedding dress to baby’s first clothes, worn denim, Tyvek race numbers, and more—the finished quilt is made even more special. Create quilts that have a story to tell and you’ll find a whole new level of appreciation for what they represent in your life and the lives of the ones you love.

Get a fresh take on vintage! Dress up your home with five great quilts and a bounty of unique projects ranging from adorable veggie pink cushions and pretty aprons to seat pillows and a Parisian-style journal cover. Adding distinctive charm is Fig Tree Quilts? signature palette of warm, inviting tones. See how easy it is to personalize each project with the creative use of embellisments such as beads, ribbons and bows. For wedding showers, birthdays, or special sewing buddies, you will have the perfect gift every time!

Shizuko Kuroha's Japanese Patchwork Quilting Patterns infuses a cherished American craft with an exquisite Japanese sense of color, detail, and design. This book brings a fresh eye to classic patchwork patterns in a way that is delighting quilters all around the world today. Here, Kuroha shares her intricate hand-quilting techniques and a design sense that has been refined over her 40-year career as a celebrated book author and teacher. Her easy combinations of soft colors, detailed patterns, and bold stripes show how to achieve balance and flow in any type of patchwork project--from the simplest to the most complex. Step-by-step illustrations walk quilters through Kuroha's intricate hand-piecework process. The book includes 19 sampler blocks used to make hundreds of different combinations for all kinds of quilting projects. The photos and diagrams of the block assembly are so clear, you hardly need to read the steps! A handy printable pattern sheet at the back of the book takes the labor out of drawing the pieces used to build these blocks. Detailed instructions show you how to incorporate the blocks into projects large and small, including: Pincushions in round and square designs Drawstring bags and zippered pouches embellished with patchwork Quilted tote bags and a stylish backpack Table runners and wall hangings with gorgeous color schemes Full-sized quilts destined to become cherished heirlooms This book is an invaluable introduction to the basics of hand-stitched piecework. Practiced quilters will also love it for the way it broadens their horizons. Kuroha fans will be happy to see this popular book finally available in English--where it's sure to become a treasured reference for years to come!

Modern quilting allows artists the freedom to expand on traditions and use fabrics, patterns, colors, and stitching innovatively to create exciting fresh designs. In Quilting with a Modern Slant, Rachel May introduces you to more than 70 modern quilters who have developed their own styles, methods, and aesthetics. Their ideas, quilts, tips, tutorials, and techniques will inspire you to try something new and follow your own creativity — wherever it leads.

From the New York Times columnist, a portrait of a family and the cycles of joy and grief that mark the natural world: “Has the makings of an American classic.” —Ann Patchett Growing up in Alabama, Margaret Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father—and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver. And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds—the natural one and our own—“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.” Gorgeously illustrated by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut. “Magnificent . . . Readers will savor each page and the many gems of wisdom they contain.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)