Customer Reviews

Bella Bella Quilts: Stunning Designs from Italian Mosaics

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

 

 

Firstly, this book is probably not for the novice quilter--there are some easier designs, and suggestions for simplifying patterns, but the directions do assume a general knowledge of the craft.

However, there's a lot that any quilter can learn from this book; it's filled with beautiful quilts with interesting designs taken from Italian mosaics. In fact, it's also loaded with pictures of the original mosaics that inspired the quiltds, and a short history lesson on the origin of the mosaic patterns.

Aside from the inspiration of just paging through looking at pretty pictures, I found a lot to admire in the thought Norah McMeeking obviously put into this book. Each section begins with a nice photo of the quilt and then some helpful design suggestions--ways to vary the pattern and make it your own. There's also several line drawings of possible design/color variations to help you visualize your options. Then comes a list of fabric requirements and directions, including illustrations of any special/new techniques and lastly, suggestions for quilting methods that would look good. All the templates and foundations are presented in a pullout section at the end of the book, which is so much handier than trying to trace them off of book pages.

All in all, this a well conceived and well executed quilt book. In all likelihood I won't attempt to recreate one of these quilts, but I do see myself using bits and pieces in my own quilts. It's a good book to add to my reference library.

I have this book and the companion patterns that go with it. This book is not for a beginner! I have already found errors in the instructions for the quilts. The companion pattens are misleading. The are not all the patterns to complete a quilt they are the larger patterns. It states on the front "no copying, no tracing, no taping", so far I have had to copy patterns, trace inner rings on to freezer paper and tape patterens together to make a larger size. I would recommed reading the insructions prior to making any quilt in this book. The quilts are gorgeous and I would love to make all of them but I am hesitant, as I have had others tell me that they have found errors in other quilts in the book also.

Norah's book is full of wonderful examples and beautiful design. Her directions are fairly easy to understand, even for a beginner like me! I have already completed one quarter and a little more of one of the patterns. The foundation piecing makes what, at first, seems like an impossible task into something that is easy and enjoyable. The end product is simply exquisite.

Also, if you ever get the change to take a class from Norah, definitely do! She is a great teacher as well as a great designer. She has interesting and funny anecdotes, and is a wealth of quilting knowledge!

I found the foundations for these quilts in this book before I found the book. I was carried away with the pictures on the foundations cover. Now that I have the book I plan to get busy. It seems to be well demonstrated and directions easy enough. I'm an experienced quilter, I'm not so sure this would be good for a beginner.

I am starting my second quilt in this book, and I LOVE the designs. I found, for my next project, I wanted to alter the design a bit. So I contacted the author via email. She is extraordinarily helpful and responded to my email very quickly. One look inside this book, and you'll want to do them all.

Beautiful examples and clear directions. This book will inspire you to create your own masterpiece!

"Stunning" isn't used lightly in the title. These are some of the most beautiful quilts I've yet seen in a book - and many not for beginners. They would be a stretch for many quilters, but the final product would be well worth the effort. One of the quilts from this book "inspired" a quilt hanging in the 2007 Houston Quilt Festival and it was, obviously, very well executed. Even if you don't make a quilt from this book, it's a feast for the eyes just looking at the wonderful floors in Italy that inspired it.

The quilts in this book are absolutely amazing, but the instructions are very confusing and include errors. I am a very experienced quilter and have had to figure out different parts of the construction of this quilt because of the errors in the instructions. The first problem I ran into was that the amount of fabric listed in the book was not enough at all. Then, in the making of Venice Rose, I found that the paper piecing patterns and directions actually gave you a mirror image of the quilt she shows in the picture. Not really a problem for the most part because the paper pieced parts still created a pattern, it was just backwards from hers. But, some of the pictures of the applique are also backwards, so after cutting all the pieces out, when I went to pin them onto the quilt, I found out that they didn't all work out and I had to re-cut some pieces because the instructions were wrong. She's not always very clear in her instructions either. Fortunately I am very experienced and can figure it all out, but it is quite frustrating. DEFINITELY don't recommend for a beginner.

These are beautiful quilts inspired by the mosiac floors of the Italian Basillicas. Excellent instructions with plenty of pictures. I just started working on my first quilt from this book. It's already starting to look beautiful. Wow, what fun!!!

Hi Friends,

These quilts are visually stunning and totally achievable with the paper piecing method shown in Bella Bella. You can also order the paper piecing patterns from the author ready for you to use.

Choose only five colors of fabrics to accomplish an intricate design pallette and your own quilt will have such a dramatic impact. It will be very difficult to make only one of these designs. I'am very happy to have this book in my library and on my to do list. Nancy Lucente