Traditions from Elm Creek Quilts

I won the book Traditions from Elm Creek Quilts: 13 Quilts Projects to Piece and Applique in a giveaway by C & T Publishing on their blog, and received it yesterday.  It is a beautiful book with 13 beautiful patterns.  There are some that are completely applique, some that are completely pieced, and some that have a mixture of both.

The quilts represent quilts that were discussed in the eighteen novels by Jennifer Chiaverini about the Elm Creek Quilters of Waterford, Pennsylvania. It was a real treat to see the quilts and see how they compared to the ones I imagined while I was reading the novels.  The quilts are beautiful, and the instructions appear to be thorough, but generally do not provide quilting instructions.

There is one quilt that is appropriate for a beginner quilter, but the remainder appear to be for the confident intermediate or advanced quilter.  This is a refreshing change from the many beginner books I have been drawn to lately.  Sometimes we need to stretch and expand our skills, and a book like this is a good way to do just that.

Many of the quilts involve using templates, curved piecing and / or intricate applique. I think we should not limit our quilting techniques to those that use modern rotary cutting if a template provides additional value, but there was a square that was provided as one of the template needed for a quilt. It would have been nice to modernize the directions to avoid using templates when they are not necessary.

I have also reviewed the book on my Millionaire Tips website, and have included pictures of some of the quilts in the book on that site.