On My Bookshelf

Have you heard about the Modern Quilt movement? A new generation is discovering the joys of quilting and making it their own!  Characteristics of these quilts often include bold graphic design and use solid fabrics. I have been curious about the 'movement' and when one of my students shared her excitement about a book she recently bought I decided I needed my own copy to review it in more detail.

Modern Minimal, 20 Bold & Graphic Quilts is written by Alissa Haight Carlton, one of the founders of the ModernQuilt Guild. Publisher is StashBooks.

A variety of project sizes are patterned, from Baby Quilts to full size bed quilts. A wide range of colours are used in the projects, many using monochromatic colour schemes. It would be easy to choose your favourite colours for these designs.

Each project is beautifully photographed in a room or environment setting and a full page flat photograph of each quilt is included too.

The first thing I noticed is nearly all the quilts are made with solid fabrics; only 5 designs use print fabrics - and then only 1 square or rectangle in the design or the binding for the project. This certainly makes fabric selection easier; no need to audition a variety of prints to see if they 'play well together'.

I particularly liked the section on Improvisational Piecing, including the Cobblestones pattern. The contrast between the vertical strips and randomly arranged squares is appealing to me.

  

The author also presents two quilting options for each design. I'm glad the statement 'quilt as desired' is NOT in this book!

  

Although the book appears to be written for beginners I feel some of the general How to Make a Quilt instructions are lacking. The steps for cutting large pieces of fabric to make these projects are not described in detail. Attending a class to learn rotary cutting techniques will help beginners with these projects.

The rest of the steps are covered fairly thoroughly with excellent graphics or photographs. The binding steps are particularly well-described with easy-to-follow diagrams.

All in all, if you have basic quilting skills, this book is an excellent addition to your library.