Kathy Doughty

This is a beautiful, glossy odyssey through quilting that is ostensibly about how to make the quilts that the authors present, but really is about the journey from inspiration to artwork. Yes, the majority of the text is pattern/procedure, but the real heart of the book is the tiny paragraphs at the beginning of each section and pattern.

Apart from the obligatory 'how patchwork and quilting works' section, the book presents pairs of quilts made independently by Doughty and Fielke from combined inspirations. These inspirations include a collection of related fabrics, a vintage quilt pattern, and a specific block pattern.

As an enjoyment/exultation of quilting, it is a fabulous book, and I greatly enjoyed reading through it. As a source of inspiration and patterns, I think it has failed for me. I've bookmarked four pages, but three of them appear to be about specific techniques that I will probably use in different contexts. The final one is about the assembly of a small section of one of the quilts, and there is a distinct possibility that I will extract out just that section and experiment with it, and completely ignore the applique that goes with it. Although I'm planning on putting it on the crafting shelf with the rest of the patchwork books, I predict that it will be read as a comfort book for looking at the pretty pictures, and as motivation to get out there and find something I want to make when I run short of inspiration, and that I won't ever take one of the patterns and attempt to recreate it.… (altro)