What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday - An Old Friend!

Hi, all!

It's Wednesday, and that means it's time for What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday!  Only one problem - I spent Tuesday doing this...

...a quilting marathon that generated ten new quilts for the quilt ministry!  But when I finished I realized that I hadn't done anything about a book review for the Wednesday post.  Then I saw Christina Cameli's book, First Steps to Free Motion Quilting, on my worktable.  I shared that book with a friend who came over with some quilting questions on Monday, and it's such a great book I'm going to re-run a review I did of the book about two years ago!  There - problem solved!  So without further ado, here's the review!

I was asked by Christina over at A Few Scraps to review her first book!  Some of you may know that I am a big fan of Christina's blog, and refer lots of folks to her free motion quilting tutorials, which are wonderful - a great way to learn how to do FMQ.  

I was eagerly anticipating this book, but wow, I was blown away by the actuality of it!  The first part of the book deals with the how-to part of FMQ.  There is a section on what you need before beginning, another on the basics of the process, and a third section that covers things like how to decide what type of FMQ to use on a project.  The next twenty-three pages of FMQ design ideas should give you a ton of inspiration!  

But wait, there's more!  Christina not only outlines the basics of free motion quilting, but also has twenty-four (!) great projects to hone your new skills on.  My usual method of deciding whether to purchase a book is to see how many projects "take my breath away" - a minimum of three is required before I'll consider purchasing a book.  When I counted up how many projects I wanted to make in this book, I found at least twenty I want to make, or that will give me a jumping off point for my own interpretation of the technique.  

Here are three projects I've made up from the book in just the past couple of days...

Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow,
this will be a finished pillow cover!

I can't decide whether to make a wall hanging
or a pillow cover out of this one!

I absolutely love these bowls - super simple to make, and I can think of so many uses for them!  In my studio, I can use them to corral thread, rotary cutters, or even my bluetooth headset that I'm constantly worried I'll cut up when I'm not wearing it!  And on my dresser, I always need little "catchers" for jewelry, change, and the like.  How would you use them?

And guess what?  You can totally flip them inside out and change the look!!  I love it!! 

My daughter looked through the book and decided that she wants me to make matching quilts for the little girls by one of the quilt designs.  (There are six quilt designs, by the way, each one designed to highlight the free motion quilting you've learned to do!)

But by far the most eye-opening section for me was the Embroidered Projects!  I've been doing FMQ for four years now, and never once considered using it as embroidery on non-quilt-y projects.  What an epiphany! I'll be doing at least one project out of this section in the next week.  

The book ends with a very short and concise section about sewing and quilt construction techniques - good information but not a textbook on the process - and a very useful troubleshooting section.  I learned a lot here!  

There's a lot in this book for people new to free motion quilting, people who've been doing it for a while, even those of us who use a long-arm quilting machine!  I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to do their own free motion quilting, as Christina is an exceptional teacher and shares her experience (and yes, even her mistakes!) freely.  For those of you who have been quilting a while, I think you'll find some fresh new projects and inspiration here.  It's available in paperback and in a Kindle version on Amazon.

Note - since this review was written, Christina has written a second book (Step-By-Step Free Motion Quilting) and also has two classes on Craftsy!  Be sure to check them out if you get a chance!!

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That's what's on my bookshelf this week! Have you looked at yours lately?

Hugs!

Sarah