Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts [Paperback]

Biz Storms (Author), Mary Elizabeth Kinch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 2008

Antique quilt lovers, join Mary Elizabeth and Biz in a celebration of traditional quilts! With inspiring photos of quilts from private collections, this book gives you a peek at masterpieces that have not been widely seen. Indulge your passion for nineteenth-century reproduction fabrics as you create gorgeous large quilts with small blocks.



* Create 10 exquisite bed-sized projects or use the blocks in small quilts if you prefer

* Find batch work instructions in each project work in short blocks of time to stay organized

* Let the beauty of old quilts inspire your fabric and design choices

Editorial Reviews

Review

For lovers of traditional quilts with gazillions of minute pieces and fussy construction, this book is absolutely fabulous. It will make you recycle your tiniest scraps and engage in long months of work. The results are out of this world. Ready, set, go! --QuiltMania magazine

Discover spectacular full-size antique quilts made with hundreds of small blocks. Use the instructions and 19th-century reproduction prints to re-create the look and feel of an antique quilt. --allpeoplequilt.com, Editor's Favorite Quilting Books

If you're questioning whether the book's title really says it all, just look at the very first project in Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts. In "Rocky Mountain Thimbles," the twin-sized quilt is made from6,536 trapezoids (I think that's what my geometry teacher told me these shapes were!). Yes, you read that right. 6,536! Okay waay too scary for me, but the finished quilt is, well, stunning enough for me to buy absolutely everything I need to make it (you know how that is). And all of the other projects are just as fabulously intricate and traditional-quilt gorgeous.

This book offers a great way to use up your tiniest of tiny scraps but I don't think I could ever imagine myself finishing one of these babies (I have a problem finishing even big-block quilts). Just too much work for my A.D.D. brain. But, I can name a few of my Type A quilt buds who would drool over the four-digit block counts in these projects. I say go for it. You only live once, so you might as well live in small detail (even if I can't).

Should you buy this book? Yes, if you like really, really really intricate piecework, or just enjoy looking at these quilts for their astounding beauty. --Quilter's Home magazine

About the Author

Mary Elizabeth Kinch started quilting in 1975 while working as an historical interpreter at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto, Ontario. Passionate about creativity since she was very young and always fascinated with fabric and color, she obtained one of her degrees in fashion design. A lifelong exposure to the arts and antiques has contributed to her love of design and her fondness for the antique quilts she studies and collects.
Home: Toronto, Ontario



After 15 years in advertising, Biz Storms redirected her life to marriage and children. A crib quilt for her daughter led to the world of quilting and eventually to writing quilt books.
Home: Toronto, Ontario

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: That Patchwork Place (December 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564778290
• ISBN-13: 978-1564778291
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #980,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars reproduction fabric-lovers dream, February 25, 2009

By 

Kimberly Wulfert (Ojai, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts (Paperback)

The authors made all the wonderful quilts in this pattern book making it clear that they are bonafide scrap-loving quilt makers who put as many different reproduction prints into one quilt as humanly possible. Several antique quilts are shown as the book begins to show and tell the reader where they get their inspiriation. With fabric and color leading their every choice in making small block quilts, less attention was paid to the era of the reproduction fabrics they chose. The book does not mention fabric dating or using certain colors and prints of reproduction fabrics for a quilt from a certain era. Their quilts have a traditional and antique-like feel but are not described as accurate representations. The author's piece their quilts by machine and describe their method for making the small block quilts a delight to sew, a time for peace and calm.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, stunning quilts for sure--large or small!, January 15, 2009

By 

Nancy Ray "Nancy Ray" (West Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts (Paperback)

I got this book in the mail last week and I can't stop reading it and looking at it. The photographs of quilts, both old and new, are stunning! The authors are encouraging to those of us with busy lives, who have long assumed quilts made of such charming little blocks to be out of the question. In addition to instructions for gorgeous quilts, the book is full of helpful tips for every step of quilt piecing--from choosing fabrics and colors to their method of "batching" (breaking up the construction into manageable parts). These practical ideas can be used for every quilt I piece in the future--regardless of the size of the blocks. The encouragement to lighten up and have fun, (with examples of how to do that) is the icing on the cake. Bravo!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning doesn't do it justice!, February 4, 2009

By 

Wendy Dryden (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts (Paperback)

Don't Miss This Book! Stunning doesn't do it justice - WOW is more like it! This book is a definite must have for any quilter - even for a newbie like me. Looking at the great photographs of the quilts is like falling into a fabulous fabric library. All ten projects are awesome. Their approach to design - setting some parameters and then letting randomness take over after that, and the batching method of construction have me gathering up fabrics from my rapidly increasing stash already to make the broken dishes quilt. Thanks to Kinch and Storms as they guide the way for us to have fun as we quilt. This beautiful and inspiring book jammed full of ideas will not disappoint.