S. J. T. (cactuspatch) reviewed on 3/20/2018 + 40 more book reviews

Lisa Boyer's book is the light in the closet when it comes to quilting! No, it has no patterns you must follow. In fact, I didn't see a single "must" in the book!
It DOES however, have inspiration for us to pick up the needle or the sewing machine and some fabric that needs to be loved, and start making a present for ourselves or some other dear and deserving person!
Is there anyone out there besides me who picks up fabric remnents I fall in love with but stores them for years because there's not enough of it to make anything? Has anyone besides me gotten un-inspired because it dawned on me I would have to do MATH to get enough (but not too much)of a matching fabric for a project?
Lisa Boyer writes to SET US FREE, quilters!
Her book is full of inspiration and tips....that will make you experienced quilters chuckle and nod "yes!" to yourselves...and make inexperienced "wannabe" quilters like me actually think "I can do that!"
Now, this is not easy, to inspire someone like me - who has a box full of new and old fabric scraps that cover every decade from the sixties til now! Fabric that has been "too cool" to throw away but too...okay, WEIRD...for anyone else to want these days.
And not only that, but I got married last year and inherited a box under my late-mother-in-law's bed that looks suspicially like the fabric box under MY bed...and hers has, you guessed it, pre-World War II fabric in it.
What, throw away an "antique?" Antique fabric that doesn't happen to match any other piece in the box? You can see the problem.
Luckily, my favorite quilting tip, in fact, Lisa's Quilting Tip #1, says:
"Pretty fabric is not acceptable. Go right back to the quilt shop and exchange it for something you feel sorry for!" See how wise she is? And I only have to look in the box under my bed!
The next problem that always confounded me was, "How does that MAGIC happen that changes these perfectly -stitched, starched, brightly-colored fabric pieces in the gallery quilts, into the softly-wrinkled, irregularly-stitched, beautifully-faded and grass-stained, soft clouds of lovingly-stitched (by my grandmother) quilt that I wrapped myself in every night to get through my divorce in my twenties, and to give myself hope during my operation in my seventies? How does that happen?
Enter Lisa's Tip #9:
"The most important aspect to remember about dorky homemade quilt-making is that once you have put your last stitch in the binding, you are still only half-finished. The quilt must now undergo a thorough conditioning.
Give it to someone you love dearly. They must drag it around the house, wrap themselves in it when they have a fever, spill something brown on it and occasionally let Woofie lay on it. It must be washed and dried until it is as soft and lumpy as my Thanksgiving mashed potatoes."
Now to me, this is inspiration! Thank you, Lisa!
I highly recommend this book even if it's just to make you smile.
Five quilted stars for this one.
Okay, kids, we all have someone we love who will SOMEDAY have a fever...Let's get quilting!

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