Customer Reviews

Beautiful Blooms: Quilts and Cushions to Applique (That Patchwork Place)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is definitely the book for me. I DON'T have a green thumb but I do appliqué. I wish I had found this book last fall rather than now going into summer but the book will still be there come fall. Appliqué is something I love to do in front of the fireplace on a cool/cold night.

The first 25 pages are all about appliqué hot-to's and quilting basics along with choosing colors and fabrics. It is a chapter that very thoroughly covers all these points.

Then there are 10 different flowers to "grow" under your needle. Pillows and wall hangings make up the 10 patterns. While no quilts are shown, there is no reason you couldn't turn the patterns into quilts.

Each project begins with a paragraph about the flower and the finished size of the project. A materials and cutting list follow this. Simple construction directions are given with finishing suggestions. All templates are included. The more complex patterns come with color keys as well.

Grab some scrap fabric (this book will give you a way to use up those scraps you just can't part with), some template plastic, your ruler and cutting mat and this book. When you are done, you will have a "green thumb" to show for it!

I love the flowers in this book. This will be my third applique quilt. It may look intimidating, but the author has included great illustrations and instructions. If you have done applique before, it will be easy. If this is your first, then jump right in and have fun. These flowers are really beautiful!!!

This is a wonderful resource book for the seasoned quilter. It is not for a beginner, but if you have been appliqueing quilts before, this book will make you smile.

The various themes of floral applique in this book are absolutely beautiful. You should think about FRAMING your finished product!

"Beautiful Blooms" is my favorite quilting book. I absolutely love everything about it. Susan Taylor Propst truly has an artist eye for design and fabric selection. The quilt and cushion patterns are so stunningly gorgeous. Her choice of fabrics is exquisite and a lesson in itself. The patterns are true to size saving lots of time. The instructions are clear, easy to understand and detailed starting with fabric selection, then the applique process, and basic instructions before proceeding to the individual projects. She even includes photographs of English landscapes that inspired her. If you love quilting and applique, this book is a must. I highly highly recommend it.

Susan Taylor Propst's BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS: QUILTS AND CUSHIONS TO APPLIQUE tells how to create a range of flowers in lovely artful quilts. Ten wall quilts with ten coordinating round and square cushions use a range of hand applique, provide patterns, and offer tips for color matching in a lovely pairing of quilts and cushions to applique. Gardeners who love quilts will find these projects appealing.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Delighted to receive it -
Delighted to skim through it -
and now I'm searching through my stash for
the appropriate fabrics so I can get right to
the making of the cover project
as a pillow but will use the pinks/greens/
whites combination of the suggested wall hanging.
The directions are clear, the aids seem precise,
and the projects are very inspiring.

"Beautiful Blooms" is a truely awesome book since it shares many artistic yet very realistic patterns and instructions to translate your favorite flowers into fabric art. Sometimes I buy a book because I like one pattern; in this book I am excited about 8 of the 10 patterns provided. You can see the patterns in the Amazon description, I think, they are: English Rose, Scottish Thistle, Irish Shamrock, Welch Daffodil, Bluebells, Fuchia, Hydrangea, Lily of the Valley, Hyacinth, Crocus.

Some reviewers say that there are not enough instructions in the book but the instructions were fine for me. If you need more help with applique in gerneral there are many books on applique that work with sample patterns or only one pattern, like one leaf, for example, and focus on methods rather than patterns. If you are interested in that, you may want to check out "Applique Know-How" from Sewing with Nancy, or "Applique The basics & beyond" by Janet Pittman, which I like also. I would still buy "Beautiful Blooms" as well because you can't get Susan Taylor Propst's designs in the other books.

"Beautiful Booms" contains 20 pages of instruction on methods with very good pictures and diagrams to create your own beautiful blooms in fabric, but the main reason I like it so much is because of the beautiful artwork in the patterns that Susan Taylor Propst shares with us in her book. I am online now to buy her second book "Another Season of Beautiful Blooms".

Happy threads!

I love the way the detailed applique is broken down into easy steps. This book is a good inspiration to add detail to my quilts.

Beautiful floral applique I enjoyed viewing the book but not much in way of instruction and because of the detail of each flower I felt as if more attention to instruction was needed