Razzle Dazzle Quilts

Just recieved this exciting book on August 15, 2005. This book is out of print - bought it second hand. Why isn't this book in reprint! It's just fabulous for color and design for those looking for both a 'precision' graphic look or for a spontaneous and more playful 'painterly' result. Can't wait to play out some of these cool and inventive uses of colour with quite ordinary and easy blocks. Did I mention I was "satisfied"?!

This is my favorite quilting book. It shows numerous examples of gorgeous, zany, eye-popping, color-saturated contemporary quilts, and explains step-by-step how to achieve a similar result. I especially love the technique called Crazy Piecing, where you create shards of bright color that can be either totally wild or more controlled. Then you cut up your blocks and rearrange them into even more jazzy combinations. You are taught to select and use some fabrics that "do the work for you" by adding graphic patterns to your sashing and borders. Not surprisingly, the author was an art teacher, and indeed I have learned so much from this book about the use and control of color. Warning: this book will cause you to become an addictive fabric-collector, since the more types of fabric used in these quilts, the more crazy and beautiful they are! The silver lining, however, is that there is no fabric that can't be used here somehow; there is no fabric so "ugly" that it can't contribute some useful color or pattern somewhere. This book teaches you to be adept in using what you have; it's perfect for scrap-quilters.

In Razzle Dazzle Quilts, experienced needlecrafter Judy Hooworth offers a "user friendly" instruction guide for creating ten dynamic quilted projects with single, double, and triple split blocks to give quilts a rich, complex look -- and no complicated sewing techniques. Clearly illustrated, easy-to-follow, step-by-step, illustrated instructions are enhanced with helpful sections on choosing colors using a color wheel, developing a color family, and the incorporation of patterned fabric. Bright and lively color palettes offer delightful variations on such traditional quilting favorites as Log Cabin, Courthouse Steps, and Nine Patch. Razzle Dazzle Quilts will prove a favorite and very welcome addition to any personal or community library quilting and needlecrafting reference collection.