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I have known Jo Avery for a bunch of years and I’ve been inspired by her patterns, and her use of colour, of course! :-) So I was excited when I heard she had a book coming out and when she asked if I would review it, of course I jumped at the chance!
The book is called “New Patchwork & Quilting basics – A Handbook for Beginners • 12 Projects to Get You Started“. {Bookshop.org affiliate link}
The book has a section at the start where Jo goes through all the tools and techniques and lingo that you need to know as a beginner quilter. Rulers, nested seams, basting, binding all the basics are explained before she starts on the quilts.
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The premise of the book is that you learn a technique or skill making a ‘simple’ project and then in later projects in the book you will use those skills to make something more complicated.
I think that is an excellent way to build up your confidence. Some beginner quilting books keep all the quilts ‘simple’ so they can feel a bit boring. Not that there’s anything wrong with simple, but it’s nice to feel that you learn more than cutting strips and squares. :-)
These are the project groups in the book: Strips and Squares; Triangles; Skill Building; Mix and Match*.
*Skill building covers appliqué, curved piecing and foundation paper piecing.
** The projects in Mix and Match are combinations of various techniques from the other groups.
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The projects all use Jo’s signature lovely, bright colours but obviously you can change that to suit your own colour tastes.
I am not a beginner quilter now but I wish this book had been around when I first started getting into quilting. Everything is clearly explained with lots of tips and the projects are all really lovely. I could see myself making several of them (but who has the time?! And Tony has informed me that he thinks we have too many quilts! What?!!)
Since I didn’t have time to make a quilt I decided I’d use the quilt blocks to make some other projects. Because obviously you can make other things with quilt blocks!
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My first project was using one of the blocks from the Pinball Wizard quilt to make new covers for our garden chair seat pads.
I had several pairs of our old jeans lying around so I decided to use those, together with some worn out pillow cases. I messed up a bit (I guess?) when making the cuved sections because they don’t line up properly with the non-curvy blocks. But whatever. Atleast the wonkiness is consistent so I can pretend it was on purpose! :-D
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I like how the seat pads turned out with the contrasts between the different denims and the pops of the flowers from the pillow cases.
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My second make is a project bag, using one of the blocks from the Bedding Plants quilt. I really like all the different flowers in this quilt (definitely the one I’m most tempted to make in its entirety!) but I decided on the tulip block.
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In the pattern Jo suggests using ‘vintage-style prints’ but she didn’t specify what kind of vintage exactly so I went with ‘vintage 70s inspired prints’! :-D or rather 70s inspired colours, oranges and purple mainly. It was a fun pattern to make, and I like how graphic it looks.
I’m chuffed with my projects, especially because I only used fabric from my stash! I feel like I learnt something too, so I think this book would also appeal to quilters who aren’t complete beginners. But if you are a beginner you could do a lot worse than starting with this book!
Thanks so much for your wonderful review Carina! I love that you used the blocks so creatively and especially upcycling old fabric like jeans and pillowcases (we had that Ikea beddign too!). All your projects look fabulous and I really appreciate you trying out 2 different patterns. Thank you!!