Amish Wall Quilts: 15 Brilliant and Beautiful Quilts

Rachel Pellman is a Mennonite dealer in amish quilts and she gives a very dutiful account of the Amish lifestyle as a n introduction. She then goes into the quilts breaking them up into geographic location and laying out the colour, piecework patterns and then quilting motifs for you to make an authentic Amish legacy wall-hanging quillt.I have another one of Pellman's books and the big difference here is one of course the size, most are 47x47 inches and two the use of colour. Most of Pellman's books are black and white but this one is in full colour which is rather funny because once you see these quilts in colour you realise why the cheaper black and white can be used. But still seeing the colour spectrum as the Amish use it is very helpful and cannot be discounted. It's a good reference there just on the colour motifs and how to build or identify an Authentic Amish quilt (Center diamond should be in what colours and what quilting style for example).Because everything is in the authentic mode, Pellman does not mention anything about machine piecing or quilting, but then you should have Hargreave's book, the definitive source, so you'll never have to care. The instructions are fine, I used them to make 2 quilts, but in the end it's rather plain being Amish all the time (remember no patterns :-).Still it seems to be comprehensive and answer all of your questions except that I think it should have had some of the quilts as samples so we could see how the various pieces do fit together and look. It's a workmanlike book, not very inspired.

If you like the simplicity and classic beauty of Amish quilts, this is a great book. I found the instructions and patterns thorough and easy to follow. A beginning quilter could start here, but there is also plenty to challenge advanced quiltmakers. A nice feature about this book is that it shows Amish quilts in the context of Amish life. I love Amish quilts even more after reading the commentary on Amish lifestyle. Buy it if you want to make a quilt, but even if you don't intend to be a quilter, it's a beautiful and informative book.