Earlier this week, DD11 and I went to visit a friend's quilt shop, Zeppelin Threads. She is having a great sale, we picked up a few different fabrics, several quilting magazines at a steal of a price (only $2!!!), and I found a book that looked inspirational. The books were going to be marked down today, so we went back, this time with my mother and the other two kids.
What fun!
Here's the book that has me excited, One-Block Wonders:
Using one fabric, you can create kaleidoscope patterns, simply through the placement of cut pieces. It looks intimidating, but I'm fascinated with the idea of trying it. I'll hopefully be starting with something a bit simpler first, using squares, but I do want to try the kaleidoscope look.
Note: I've never sewn a stitch on a quilt, or sewn anything, really, except for one pillow I made almost five years ago.
But I'm big on potential. I love to look at patterns and ideas, and read about methods. So, I'm a bit of a sucker for quilting magazines and books.
To top it all off, when we stopped at Wally-world to pick up some shoes for the kids, I happened to pick up and glance through the latest Interweave Crochet magazine. Wow - it's much better than I remembered, maybe I was thinking of a different magazine?
I have been drooling for months over Japanese crochet books and magazines I've seen online, knowing I wouldn't be able to read them, and would have to go by patterns alone. I don't even make clothes! But the lovely scarves, shawls, and sweaters that I have been seeing in them have really caught my eye. Much more modest and feminine, things the women I know would actually wear, and not the trendy, wild-yarn fuzzy fluorescent stuff that you can only hope is not already too passe for your teenager.
So, anyway, the summer issue of Interweave Crochet is looking pretty good. Not quite as droolworthy as some of the Japanese books, but I'll definitely check out their next issue, or a back issue, and if this is their usual style, I will probably subscribe.
I'm off to gaze at patterns for a while. I'll try to post some pictures soon, of my various little stashes of material, yarn, patterns. Maybe it will help me organize my thoughts enough to finish a project!
