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Rule-Breaking Quilts by Kathy Schmidt
OH MY is my face red! I thought I had reviewed Kathy Schmidt’s Rule-Breaking Quilts book EONS ago (available online from AQS here and from Amazon here), and I can’t find a trace of a review on my blog! Hanging my head in embarrassment! This is a great, fun book, with wonderful improvisational piecing techniques and a brilliant discussion of fabric choices, and somehow my insane teaching schedule and life ran away with me. So, to do what I should have done about seven months ago when I think I was the very first person to order her hot-off-the-press book from her, let me give a ringing review of this book:
There are many books out there with various takes on how to do improvisational or contemporary piecing, but this one does it so well. Kathy begins with laying the groundwork for her quilts, which are made with fat quarters and don’t take a ton of time or materials, discussing color, fabric choices, and design.
The first quilts use a stack-and-slash cutting technique and only straight seam piecing, which means they are accessible to true beginning quilters. As you read through the book, the projects progress to intermediate level work. Now…about the names: this book is all about “escaping the quilt police,” you know—those people who say “you can only do it this way, precisely, exactly.” Phhht! As you know, I believe in understanding what rules are, WHY they are, and what will happen if you break them (for example, sewing a bias edge to a bias edge can lead to a stretched seam….if you can sew bias to straight grain, the seam will be more stable, but sometimes your fabric design doesn’t run the direction you’d like if you fussy cut a piece). Here’s the colorful Table of Contents:
Sorry about the blurry photo…it was that or glare, so I chose slighty blurry.
Kathy’s projects throughout the book plays humorously with the theme with titles like JayWalking, Disturbing the Piece, Moving Violations, The Frame Up, Organized Crime and so on. I’ve been thinking of a future book, and Janome America has been generous with me yet again and provided me with a Horizon 7700 sewing machine. I thought as a real treat to myself, I would make my first new quilt (not just a class sample) on the new machine be one from Kathy’s book. I’ve always liked improvisational curved piecing, so chose Cell-Block blues to try.
Here’s what the quilt looks like that Kathy made:
Cell Block Blues features improvisational curved piecing with gentle curves
In looking at the diagrams, I thought the cuts looked like the stem and veins of a leaf, so I decided I’d try splicing a color into the seams (sigh…I can NEVER do anything easy!). Believe it or not, the quilt above and the one pictured below are from the same general pattern, which gives you an idea of just how versatile this book is! Here are the first few blocks I made:
I’ll do future posts on my process and the results, but I have to say I’m thrilled!
And I will admit it right here: I am so proud of Kathy and how well her book is doing! Back when I was working on writing my book, Kathy (who is on a Yahoo group for our Janome sewing machines that I’m on also) wrote to ask about how I approached AQS, what I was doing, and so on. As I went along, I shared with her what was happening, she’d ask questions of me, and we are happily moving forward with a bestseller each! So yes, I’m biased…. but I think there is good reason! And even more fun, Kathy took a class from me at the NQA show in Ohio this summer and we got to eat dinner together and gab; here’s a link to the blogpost and a link to Kathy’s Blog. I can’t wait to share more of my quilt; thank you Kathy for this wonderful book!
October 20th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
This looks great Sarah Ann. I will put this book on my wishlist! Thanks.
Marjolijn
October 20th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Thanks for the reference to Kathy’s book. It looks like it is filled with ideas to help us think outside the box.
October 20th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Thanks for the great review, Sarah. I love the quilt you are making–you picked my favorite pattern from the book! Can’t wait to see how it progresses…and it’s already much fancier than mine!
October 21st, 2010 at 8:08 am
Awesome! Loving your colors! I definitely will be looking to get this book!
October 21st, 2010 at 11:50 am
I’ve got this book! Anything about breaking rules catches my attention! I haven’t actually worked one of the lessons (forcing myself to finish something first before starting yet another new quilt project!) But I’ve read through the book and Kathy really makes it look easy! I’ve chosen the fabrics and hope to make something really soon!
October 23rd, 2010 at 3:48 am
I thought I had all the quilt books I would ever want but this is very tempting. Guess I`ll have
to order it when I get home …
Can I order directly from Kathy?
October 24th, 2010 at 6:00 am
What an interesting variation on the pattern, Sarah! I just love the inserts, especially in different colors. I keep telling myself to do something like this, but haven’t yet. Gotta go look for the book. Thanks for sharing the steps you’re taking!