Alex Anderson's Baby Quilts With Love: 12 Timeless Projects for Today's Nursery [Paperback]

Alex Anderson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1571203214 | ISBN-13: 978-1571203212 | Publication Date: March 1, 2006

Alex brings her beautiful color sense and excellent instructions to baby quilts for today's mom.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alex Anderson has published over a dozen best-selling books with C&T.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: C&T Publishing (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571203214
• ISBN-13: 978-1571203212
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Expert Advice > Alex Anderson

More About the Author

Alex Anderson's love affair with quiltmaking began in 1978, when she completed her Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt as part of her work toward a degree in art at San Francisco State University. Over the years, her focus has rested on understanding fabric relationships and on an intense appreciation for traditional quilting surface design and star quilts. Alex's mission is to educate, inspire, entertain, and grow today's quilting community. With this mission in mind, she has had the privilege and pleasure of ushering tens of thousands of new people into the world of quilting. For eleven years, she hosted television's premier quilt show, Simply Quilts, and she is currently the co-host and an executive producer of The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims (www.thequiltshow.com), an interactive website that features full production videos and is connecting quilters worldwide. When Alex is not traveling, she resides in Northern California with her husband and a new kitty, and daily faces the challenges of feeding various forms of wildlife in her backyard. Visit her website at alexandersonquilts.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for babies!, October 21, 2006

By 

Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alex Anderson's Baby Quilts With Love: 12 Timeless Projects for Today's Nursery (Paperback)

I confess that I love making baby quilts. And it isn't because I know a lot of women having kids (though quite a few of them _do_ seem to be popping out babies recently). Baby quilts are small projects that you can finish in a short period of time; you can machine quilt them without feeling as though you're wrestling with an angry critter. They let you explore new techniques or colors, and if you decide that you *hate*, say, doing pieced borders, you haven't taken on an obligation that you can't bear to finish. Because they're small, you are likely to have all the fabric for one already in your stash.

Best of all: if you're not yet an accomplished quilter, it's really easy to justify making a baby quilt. You can tell yourself that a baby is just going to spit up on it anyway -- so don't worry too much if it isn't perfect.

And that's just the advantages to the quilter. The parents are always awestruck by the gift, because you made it for their kid. (Despite that "spit up" promise to myself, one gift recipient hung it on the wall of the baby's room. Oh well; she's far away and I don't have to look at all the mistakes I know I made.)

Of course, you don't need to have a baby involved at all. If you don't choose nursery fabrics or pastel colors, these quilts -- and the set in this lovely book by Alex Anderson -- make very nice wall hangings.

Now that I've convinced you that making a baby quilt is a good idea, let me exhort you to consider this book by Alex Anderson. I love every one of her books, because her tone is so reassuring and her designs clearly explained.

At least half of the dozen projects listed here are suitable for beginners, and she gives good advice about color choices (i.e. choose a focus fabric and then pick accompanying colors based on that). This probably shouldn't be the _very_ first quilting book you pick up, or at least you should choose another one to accompany this one; while there's some "getting started" info in the front, isn't enough to give you confidence on the basic techniques. However, even a beginner should be able to whip through one of these projects in a weekend, maybe too.

Anderson likes scrappy quilts rather more than I do. In these projects she doesn't indulge that preference as much as in her other books; while some of these quilts call for "assorted blue prints to total 1 1/4 yards" she has one quilt with just two fabrics (admittedly it's an advanced one with a scalloped edge), and a few more that call for only 4 or 5 fabrics.

One quilt uses the gloriously soft "Minkee" fabric; it's gorgeous but (speaking from experience here) the Minkee fabric is really expensive. Yet, if you touch it, you're going to want to sew with it!

As you can probably tell, I like this book a lot. If you have any fondness for scrappy quilts (or *really* want to use up some of those fat quarters you've been hoarding), this is an excellent book for the purpose. If, however, you want baby quilt projects with a lot more solid colors and a reason to use spiffy fabric panels, you should check out "Quilts for Baby: Easy As ABC." In fact, I'd recommend both.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Project for every level of quilter!, May 12, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alex Anderson's Baby Quilts With Love: 12 Timeless Projects for Today's Nursery (Paperback)

If you're one of Alex Anderson's fans and can't get enough of her on the television program, Simply Quilts, you have an opportunity to experience twelve timeless projects for the nursery, and get a "snapshot" of Alex as a child at the same time.

New quilters will appreciate Alex Anderson's Baby Quilts with Love for several reasons. First there is a section that gives basic quilting information. It includes everything from choosing and preparing fabrics; rotary cutting "need-to-know" information; how to pin, piece, press, remove stitches; quilt finishing techniques; and the care of the finished quilt.

Second, the information provided is accompanied by drawings to help you process the written information visually. And thirdly, there are some fast, fun and spectacular baby quilt patterns.

The strength of this particular quilt book is that is accurately reflects the skill level necessary to complete the project. Everything that is needed to complete the quilt is presented in a clear, concise manner. Quilters are provided with a list of materials and step-by-step directions with which they are able to create that special quilt for the little ones you love.

Experienced quilters will enjoy the interesting projects and will be able to put their own touches on the patterns.

Armchair Interviews says: It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an expert quilter, there are projects for everyone in Alex Anderson's Baby Quilts with Love. My favorite is Tree of Life and you'll have your own favorite.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars new quilter, March 26, 2007

By 

JeenzBeenz "Grammy" (Amish country PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alex Anderson's Baby Quilts With Love: 12 Timeless Projects for Today's Nursery (Paperback)

I made my first three quilts as baby gifts from this book. Instructions are clear and very easy and end product looks heirloom.