About the Author

Jane Davila began her professional art career as a printmaker specializing in etchings and intaglios. Her prints are to be found in many private and coprporate collections. Elin Waterston has a background is costume design and works with mixed media such as painting, dyeing, and manipulating fabrics.

Reviews

August 2015

Quilts are invariably bed covers, but they don't have to be. This workbook aids quilters to make the transition to creating art quilts through eleven chapters, each a wallhanging sized 9" x 12".

What makes a quilt an art quilt? When it departs from being an arrangement of blocks and brings in elements from other disciplines such as collage, photography and freestyle piecing to create something personal and unique. I was impressed initially by the list of basic skills you need to have in order to get the most out of the book. This would be a great feature in all practical books; after all, unless the book states clearly that it is for beginners then presumably some skills are needed in order to create the projects. I also liked the lists of basic supplies and nice to have supplies, as so often not all the items listed at the front of a practical book are essential. The projects put the quilter through all the paces of various methods, including adding embellishments, freestyle machine embroidery, using paint, piecing techniques, photography etc. Each chapter is a project and involves exercises to do, new ways of looking at things, tips on how to get the creative juices flowing and ideas about what to do and how to do it.

Full Review can be found at: www.myshelf.com

Quilts are invariably bed covers, but they don't have to be. This workbook aids quilters to make the transition to creating art quilts through eleven chapters, each a wallhanging sized 9"x12.

What makes a quilt an art quilt? When it departs from being an arrangement of blocks and brings in elements from other disciplines such as collage, photography and freestyle piecing to create something personal and unique. I was impressed initially by the list of basic skills you need to have in order to get the most out of the book. This would be a great feature in all practical books; after all, unless the book states clearly that it is for beginners, then presumably some skills are needed in order to create the projects. I also liked the lists of basic supplies and nice to have supplies, as so often not all the items listed at the front of a practical book are essential. The projects put the quilter through all the paces of various methods, including adding embellishments, freestyle machine embroidery, using paint, piecing techniques, photography etc. Each chapter is a project and involves exercises to do, new ways of looking at things, tips on how to get the creative juices flowing and ideas about what to do and how to do it. There are lists of websites showing similar work and artists to check out, complete with a warning that all links might not still be live when the book is out (a wise thing to note). I applaud a hands-on approach like this, surely the best way of learning any practical subject. The final chapter is all about being an artist, and how to get your work noticed. There are links here too, but mostly useful to US quilters, which is after all where the book was written and published. This is a useful and innovative resource for all quilters who want to try something different.