The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting – 1000 + Step-by-Step Illustrations; Linda Seward with illustrations by Thomas Messenger.                         Sixth&Spring Publishing, New York; ISBN 978-1-936096-71-8

Imagine my surprise and immense pleasure when the much anticipated book some of my work is featured in arrived in my mailbox recently. I have been “devouring” the pages showcasing great photographs and color illustrations so true to Linda Seward’s well established style when compiling information. The visual learner in me gets itchy fingers immediately!

One of Linda’s early books was my “quilting bible” when I first embarked on my journey into quilting and patchwork in 1999. When I had an opportunity to contribute to this, her latest publication, I felt very honored. The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting delivers what it promises on the cover. It is difficult to imagine that the 256 page soft cover book would provide detailed information covering surface design, patchwork, applique, quilting, embellishing, and finishing but every page I turn captures my attention with valuable tips and solid information.

Whether the reader is a seasoned quilt maker, textile artist or just embarking on a journey away from using patterns to explore original designs, this book is a must to add to one’s library.

The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting – 1000 + Step-by-Step Illustrations constitutes a great reference book. Eight well defined chapters cover the topic of art quilts with countless full color images and accompanying captions about technique and statements.

The introductory chapter defines the vision of this book. Chapter Two covers the basics and beyond. With Chapter Three Linda covers Surface Design with easy to follow dyeing instructions, discharging, foiling, resists, rusting, snow dyeing, slashing and chenille to so much more. Chapter Four reviews patchwork with rotary cutting, foundation piecing, free-form curves to Pojagi (Korean Patchwork). Applique is the topic for Chapter Five which is followed up by comprehensive lessons on quilting in Chapter Six. Anything from free-motion quilting designs and how to assess a quilt individually, to long-arm quilting, Trapunto, machine embroidery and adding color to quilted surfaces, this chapter is a resource book in itself. Chapter Seven introduces embellishments and 3D while Chapter Eight concentrates on how to pull “it” all together by finishing the art quilt to showcase it to its fullest potential.

This book is truly a treasure trove of information. Linda’s dedication to patchwork and art quilting is apparent, and this book cannot be ignored as a strong contribution to the Art Quilt World. The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting confirms that quilting continues to grow in popularity and quilt makers are seeking the best information available to them. I strongly endorse this book (and any others by Linda Seward) to anyone looking for the best information on quilting available today. Well, done Linda! Thank you for selecting my quilt Joie de Vivre for inclusion and congratulations on another excellent book.

16 Jul This entry was published on July 16, 2014 at 12:44 pm. It’s filed under Art, Book Review, Creativity Update, Design, In the News, Journaling, Networking and tagged book review, Linda Seward, Sixth&Springbooks - New York, The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.