Book Review: Plant Lady Embroidery

Plant Lady Embroidery: 300 Botanical Embroidery Motifs & Designs to Stitch is a reproduction of a Japanese book that was published by E&G Creates Company Limited. It has been translated to English. As the title indicates, it provides many beautiful embroidery motifs for stitching.

There are several designers for these motifs.
Roses   Shigeko Kawakami
orchids and chrysanthem --Tomiko Nakayama
spring flowers --Kazue Sakurai
summer flowers --Fumiko Saito (siesta)
autumn and winter flowers -- Tomoko Watanabe
flower branches --Kawako Nariko
fruit trees --mogu
herbs --Yasuko Shibata
wildflowers & mushrooms -- Yasuko Sebata
cacti & succulents -- Pocorute Pocochiru
tropical plants -- Sayuri Horiuchi
foliage plants -- Horiuchi Sayuri
aquatic plants -- Yumiko Iwata "Hanaotosya"
English Garden -- Yumiko Iwata

The first section has full-color photos of the motifs stitched by each designer with the name of the plant beside the photo.

Use the pattern number by the photo to find the pattern inside the book.

The book also offers basic directions on supplies, tracing the motif using dressmaker's carbon paper, and how to make the basic stitches that are used in the motifs, and a small number of ideas on how to use the motifs.

Most of the book has the pattern. On the left side the directions show which stitch to use while the right side shows the clean pattern without words or markings.

I really like the designs in this book and you will be seeing many of these designs in my quote quilt.

I would have liked the color photo closer to the motif, as I find the digital copy cumbersome to move back and forth from the front of the book to the back. It might just be my computer that made scrolling so slow. Even with a physical copy, though, it would be better to have the color copy closer to the pattern. Color makes such a big difference. I found some designs that made me go back to the color to see what it looked like so I was flipping back and forth several times to get the full understanding of the design.

I got a limited-time digital copy of this book from Net Galley.

Here are the book notes:

Plant Lady Embroidery

300 Botanical Embroidery Motifs & Designs to Stitch

by Applemints

Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry

Quarry Books

Pub Date 28 Apr 2020

Blue and White Quilts

I really enjoy two color quilts. Their crispness and simplicity really lets the pattern shine.  The editors of Red and White Quilts have written a new book with blue and white quilts.

Blue & White Quilts: 13 Remarkable Quilts with Timeless Appeal*  by That Patchwork Place offers beautiful traditional quilts, which means that you may have already seen these patterns, but they are beautiful and worth a second look. They are recreated using modern techniques.

The quilts are made by these designers:  Lissa Alexander, Lisa Bongean, Julie Hendricksen, Sherri McConnell, Camille Roskelley, Laurie Simpson, Helen Stubbings, Debbie Roberts, Jill Shaulis, Nancy Mahoney, Paula Barnes, and Mary Ellen Robison.

Because there are many different designers, it is worth reading the patterns to find different techniques to make the same block, to see which one you like.  Most of the quilts use simple techniques, but will take perseverance to make the multiple blocks.

Most of the quilts are pieced, but there is some applique.

 I really like this star.

 I also like using a dark background instead of a light background. The stars are on point. The pattern calls for making the flying geese using the stitch and flip method.

 Some blocks are bigger.

This applique and pieced quilt uses the four at a time flying geese method.

I received a review copy of Blue and White Quilts* from Edelweiss. It was published by That Patchwork Place on December 6, 2019 and is 96 pages.

*affiliate link

Sisterhood of Scraps

In A Sisterhood of Scraps*, Lissa Alexander compiles quilt patterns made by seven different designers:. Susan Ache, Kim Brackett, Barbara Brackman, Sheryl Johnson, Laurie Simpson, and Sandy Klop. The subtitle is 12 Brilliant Quilts From 7 Fantastic Designers. For some of them, she makes her own version of the quilts based on the theme. Although there are twelve quilts, some of them are quite similar.

The writing in the introduction and the biography of Lissa are more chatty and less formal than I am used to seeing in a quilt book, and lends a more casual feel to the book. There is a certificate in the back of the book to prove that you are a part of the sisterhood.

The quilts are renditions of traditional quilts, made with beautiful combinations of scrap fabrics.

This one is one of my favorites in the book.

I  received a review copy of Sisterhood of Scraps* from Edelweiss.

On Sale Date: January 6, 2020

ISBN 9781683560463, 1683560469

Paperback | 

96 pages

$27.99 USD

Crafts & Hobbies / Quilts & Quilting 

 

* affiliate link

Treasure Hunt: 13 Quilts Inspired by Antique Finds

In the first couple of chapters, Linda Collins and Leah Zieber give you advice about how to buy and take care of antique quilts.

The rest of the book showcase beautiful quilts and provide modern ways to recreate these vintage beauties.  There are lots of wonderful photographs of the quilts and step by step directions for making them. I found myself wanting to make almost all of them.

The book comes out January 6. I was honored to receive a review copy from Edelweiss.

Graphic Quilts From Everday Images

Graphic Quilts From Everyday Images is by Heather Schrimsher. The subtitle is 15 Patterns Inspired by Urban Life, Architecture, and Beyond. I'm sorry the photos have a yellow cast to them. I took them when the sun was out and used a cool light bulb so I'm not sure what happened, and this is the best the photo editing software could do. This photo is cool grays and blues and the photo doesn't do it justice.

It is published by Martingale using That Patchwork Place imprint. This one is my favorite quilt in the book. The orange leaves float on a deep plum background.

The book is divided into three sections. Enlarged Detail recommends focusing on enlarging a certain detail of photographs the author has taken.

The next section, Blocks and Repeats, plays with the details taken out of a photo.

The last section, Lines and Strips, focuses on the main elements of a photo or subject. This requires simplification to distill the most important part of the subject.
 

Full size templates are provided right with the pattern, and everything is kept together so you don't have to flip through the back to find them.

There a variety of patterns with a variety of complexity.  This one uses simple rectangles to create a great design.

There are also curved piecing. I like this one because it is so graphic and interesting with just a few curved seams. And they are big, so they shouldn't be too difficult to sew.

As I copied the Amazon link to the title at the top of the page, I see it is on sale for $14.99, and used copies are available for as little as $3.00.