Customer Reviews

The Quilting Arts Book

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am huge fan and subscriber of Quilting Arts Magazine. I have every issue and re-read them many times which is why I pre-ordered this book when it was announced. After reviewing it last night, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed because the articles and the techniques are the same ones that can be found in the magazine. This book is actually a compilation of all of their best articles and techniques over the past years. I would highly recommend this book if you have not been a subscriber to the magazine.

This book is a compilation of featured articles in "Quilting Arts" Magazine. So if you retained a full set of this magazine's back issues, this book may be a duplicate of that information. However, I find that book form is a convenient way to access magazine articles, especially with a handy table of contents. So if you don't have back issues or you would love the magazine in a book form, this book may be just what you are looking for.

The quilting arts in this book focus on more contemporary techniques. The techniques inclued free form quilting, fusing, using metallic foils, quilting from paper and even using paint or wax crayons on fabric. There are suggestions for keeping a design notebook--probably a good idea if you are doing semi-abstract or very free-form quilting art.

The book is lavishly illustrated with good pictures and inspiring examples of quilt art. I even got some inspiration for watercolor or collage by looking at the works featured here. And I had never seen foils used on fabric before. So if you are looking to branch out into new fiber art ideas, there could be food for thought, if not outright "eye-candy" for you here. I certainly got some new ideas.

This book, however, is probably not for the traditional quilter, unless you are looking to branch out in new directions for your craft. But if you are a fabric or fiber artist, and there are many of you out there, the ideas in this book are inspiring.

I have been a quilter for many years now, and last year fell into a creative funk. Unable to think of any new and creative ideas for quilts I began to dread walking into my studio, because I knew that I would only find disappointment and "quilter's block" there. Then for my Birthday my husband gave me this book, The Quilting Arts Book, and said that he hoped I would become inspired by what I found there. Doubtful, I began to read the book and to my surprise I began to feel the old tingle of creative excitement return. This book has inspired me to try new things with my art. For the first time I actually am inspired to create art out of recycled materials - the project which Patricia recommends is amazing and I am currently in the process of a year long journey to create a recycled masterpiece. With beautiful illustrations and pictures, along with detailed suggestions and explanations, Patricia Bolton has truly inspired my work. In addition to the great tips, Ms. Bolton inserts tidbits of her own life, thus creating an enjoyable and humorous read. This is honestly the best collection of projects that I have seen in many years.

I am relatively new to art quilting. I started working with fabric seriously for about a year now. I have been a mixed media artist for several years. I have gone over to the "other side" now. I spend more time on my sewing machine and beading. I don't do half as much with paper than I used to. I don't use glue as much either. I even sew paper together now!

I have been a subscriber to Quilting Arts for the past year or so. I have been a subscriber to Cloth Paper Scissors since its first issue. I cannot tell you how true the other reviews are since I do not have all the QA magazine issues. I can tell you that I really like this book. I cannot do traditional quilting and make up a lot of the stuff I do with fabric as I go along. This book gives me a lot of ideas for future projects.

The pictures in this book are fantastic. They are very detailed. I hate art books that do black and white pictures. There are a lot of ideas that you can glean from this book. I like how Linda and Laura Kemshall turn something real into an art quilt.

I have seen a lot of articles and blog entries about how some artists keep sketches of what they are going to do and then create a quilt or art piece from that. I don't do that much. My vision does not transfer well onto paper unless it is my finished project. It does not mean that I don't enjoy seeing how the sketch looks as a finished quilt. I love Melanie Testa's playful bear in her quilt.

There are plenty of techniques to try in this book. I was happily surprised to see composition being addressed in this book. I am big on composition. Art quilting is a great vehicle for me. I can work with more natural/recycled elements and not think so much about the focal points. Color, texture, and shapes are my focal images in fabric art. I can work more abstractly. A lot of the same design principles for paper collage apply in art quilting. You can do a lot of the same things on fabric as your foundation that you do on paper. Think of sewing with a machine or needle and thread as your glue.

Someone remarked about how this book was just for beginners. I think that people who are not traditional quilters but are interested in fabric art/art quilting can get a lot out of this book. There is one section on different ways to assemble an art quilt. There is one section that I really like on Free Motion quilting. There is a three page spread on different free motion techniques to try.

I have a felting machine. Beryl Taylor's article on quilting and needlefelting gave me some ideas for a future quilting project.I have Shiva metallic paintstiks but have not used them a lot. This book gave me some ideas to start using them. Some of the techniques in this book are rather foreign to me but they are interesting. I am not sure that I would ever use them but they were very ineresting to look at. The pictures were fab.

I will definitely have to try the discharging technique with bleach. Could make for some fantastic backgrounds. Layered printmaking called to me because I love to screen print my fabrics. I have a ton of stencils and stamps that i can use. I layer everything that I do. There is a section on digital quilts. I don't do that much even though I do use Photoshop.

There is one article with detailed technique steps. It is called a Study in a Still Life. I will definitely have to try that. I have done it with paper and some of my art quilts but have not done it this way. I am always looking for new ways to do things. There is also a great article called The Art of Abstraction. It is a great way for someone who is not comfortable with abstract to give it a try to be more creative.

The end of the book has a very good appendix alled the Art Quilter's Pantry. It explains a lot of terms that fabric artists and quilters use.

I liked this book so much that I bought another copy for a friend as a birthday present.

This is an outstanding book with instructions and samples of various techniques for art quilting. An excellent reference for someone with some working knowledge of art quilting but I would not say that it is for beginners as some of the techniques and materials require some experience to be successful. The nice thing is the techniques go far beyond the basics and include new materials not generally found in this type of book. Well done with gorgeous color photos.

This book has great projects but seems more aimed at the beginning quilter. I haven't had time to personally try any projects (I haven't found any that MOVE me enough to try) but I might find a technique if I really scour the book.

This is a lovely book if you are relatively new to Quilting Arts Magazine and don't have all the back issues. The best of the techniques and articles are collected in one place. The only disappointment for me was that I didn't realize these were past articles that I already had, and I probably didn't need to spend the money on the collection. Otherwise, it's got the quality photography, art and design that I love about QA, and would make a fantastic gift and introduction to the magazine and to the art quilt world for someone that is not already a subscriber.

I am very disappointed in the Quilting Arts Book. I expected new techniques and ideas; however, the articles in the book have been previously published.
Those of us that have the back copies of Quilting Arts or are receiving the magazine already have those articles why would we want another copy of them? Moreover, Rose Hughes' article on "The Heartfelt Landscape" is direct copy from her book; "Dream Landscapes" (have that book too).
If you do not have any issues of Quilting Arts Magazines, then this book might be for you. It is beautiful done. However, if you are receiving Quilting Arts Magazine, don't waste your money.

This book contains a selection of the most interesting projects from the past and newly issues of Quilting Arts Magazine. 26 famous art quilters and fiber artists share with us their ways and techniques of creating small and large pieces of art - from a textile sketchbook through surface design, fabric collage and mixed media up to embellishment, free motion embroidery and painting quilts. There is a lot of helpful hints and colourful photos of works and their details which illustrate inspirations as well as the methods used. Many thanks to Patricia Bolton - the Editor-in-Chef of Quilting Art Magazine - for this possibility to learn a lot and admire from all occasionally readers her magazine!

This is an invaluable book, one that you check out of the library, or borrow from a friend, and find you just have to have it in your collection. Full of creative ideas that get you going as you read and projects you swear you will attempt in the near future!