Best of Fons & Porter: Favorite Quilts
Marianne Fons and Liz Porter
Leisure Arts; $24.95

This collection of 25 quilts was chosen by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter as their favorites, and the quilts are also some of the most popular from their more than 30 years as quilting partners. They range from quick and easy to more challenging quilts. Styles include traditional and contemporary and feature a variety of fabrics from reproductions to batiks. The book also includes 15 Sew Easy™ technique lessons plus general instructions and information on quitting feathers.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Fast, Fusible Flower Quilts
Nancy Mahoney
Martingale & Co., $24.99

Well-known author, teacher, fabric designer and award-winning quilter, Nancy Mahoney, has released her 11th book with Martingale. Inspired by memories of her own gardening and the vast selection of floral fabrics on the market, Nancy has created 11 easy-to-make, full-size block quilts, which can easily be adapted to a size of your choosing. To simplify the appliqué, all but one quilt features fused floral segments, with fusible and quiltmaking instructions. The last includes folded flowers with patchwork blocks. I liked that the samples were both in bolds and 30’s fabrics offering a wider appeal. And, I particularly liked the bolder quilts, including Orange Marmalade, which included a secondary pattern, as well as the clear-toned Precious Peonies, a favorite flower.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Quilt National 2011

Lark Crafts & The Dairy Barn Arts Center

Lark Crafts; $27.95

Subtitled The Best in Contemporary Quilts, this catalog from Quilt National, which is held every two years, celebrates the best in contemporary quilts from around the world. From more than 1,000 entries, the three jurors were able to winnow the submissions to 85 quilts that comprise the show running May 23-Sept. 5 at The Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio. Each quilt is shown on a full page, and some have detail shots. The photos are accompanied by an artist’s statement about the work.

I love the diversity of style and technique, from those pieces that clearly have a connection to our patchwork roots to those that don’t. I also enjoyed reading the statements of the three jurors, Nelda Warkentin, Eleanor McCain and Pauline Verbeek-Cowart, about how they approached their task.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Jen Eskridge

Stash Books; $22.95

Who could resist this book title in a week with a patriotic holiday? At some point military uniforms become decommissioned, and quilter and military spouse Jen Eskridge takes the position that we should upcycle them to celebrate service members. Jen starts by showing you how to deconstruct uniforms then offers 23 projects for using your pieces, Projects range from the simple tote to quilts. Jen asks early in the book, “What matches a uniform?” She answers with, “Everything.” Yes, uniforms are a neutral and can be your light or dark. It was interesting to see how they just become the background among pinks and blues. The book also includes a techniques section that might be helpful for those who come from a non-sewing background.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon  if you would like to learn more about the book.

The AQS Guide to Quilt Care
Bobbie A. Aug et.al
American Quilter’s Society; $9.95

Written by AQS certified appriasers Bobbie A. Aug, Carol Butzke, Linda Honsberger and Gerald Roy, this revised edition of The AQS Guide to Quilt Care is designed to offer the reader guidance to protect their quilts, whether heirlooms or new. It covers basic quilt care, restoration or repair, displaying quilts, shipping quilts and insuring quilts. For the textile student, the book includes a glossary of terms and resources. I think this would be a handy reference for longarm quilters to provide their toppers with a completed quilt.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt retailer. Here’s a link to  Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Little Quilts for Big Occasions
Sandi Colwell
Leisure Arts, $9.95

With Memorial Day just passed and Independence Day around the corner, I enjoy using my red, white and blue wall hanging to add the right touch to the holidays. I also have a Christmas quilt and a Thanksgiving table runner. If you are looking for a cute wall hanging to celebrate holidays in your home, this collection of seven small wall hangings from Sandi Cowell will fit the bill. Sandi offers patterns with valentine’s, Easter, patriotic, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthday themes. Since I have a big birthday coming up next month, I have my eye on the sampler of six cupcakes.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Quilted Symphony
Gloria Loughman
C&T Publishing; $29.95

If you’ve ever seen Gloria Loughman’s award-winning quilts and wanted to know how she was able to create such wonderful art, you are in for a treat with her book. She goes through the basics of design and composition and color and then focuses on the construction process step-by-step. She covers appliqué, piecing and embellishments, including painting, beading and stitching options. The book also includes four projects and a gallery of student work. I found myself so engaged by the book that I was torn between wanting to look/read more or getting right to my fabric. This is a definite keeper!

Look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

501 Quilting Motifs: Designs for Hand or Machine Quilting
From the Editors of Quiltmaker Magazine
Martingale & Co.; $24.99

“Quilt as desired” can often leave you wondering exactly what quilting design works with your quilt top. What style is it? Do you want to enhance or contrast the lines of the quilt top? How much quilting do you need? Those questions and more are answered in this collection of quilting designs from 26 years of Quiltmaker. The motifs are shown as a single design, put into corner triangles, border strips with corners and squares in various sizes.The book has a hard cover with a spiral binding, which makes using the patterns easier. In addition to an index of designs alphabetically, a size index is included that shows designs in various size squares, rectangles, triangles and borders. If you are looking for inspiration for a design for your next quilt, this is a nice collection.

Look for the book at your favorite book retailer. Here’s a  link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

More Loose Change
Claudia Plett and Le Ann Weaver
Martingale & Co.; $24.99

In this follow-up to Loose Change, Claudia Plett and Le Ann Weaver offer complete instructions to make 14 quilts from nickels (5-inch squares), dimes (10-inch squares) and quarters (fat quarters) of fabric. Projects range from simple pieced quilts to quilts that incorporate fusible machine appliqué. I loved the way the authors stuck to their monetary theme. The quilt titles include Bright Bullion, Easy Money, Fortune Cookie and Wooden Nickel. Quick designer tips, aka “Piggy Bank TIps,” are interspersed throughout the text.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt retailer.  Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Dual Image Appliqué
Dilys Fronks
AQS; $26.95

As Dilys Fronks looked back at her work of many years, she realized that positive and negative design shapes had surfaced in much of her work. That led to her focus on dual image appliqué. Dilys uses a fused appliqué technique and ends up with two opposite images from the same pattern. These can be used in the same project or two separate projects. The book includes 10 projects to tackle once you have the basics, each project building on or adding to the skill of those learned previously. I liked the detailed instruction and close-up photos. Patterns are included with enlargement instructions, as is a gallery of images to inspire you.

Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.