Book Review: "Sneaky Piecing" by Beth Ferrier

Image borrowed from Amazon

I haven't done a book review on the blog before, and I don't plan to make this a regular thing.  But, I just stumbled upon an unusually good quilting book, and wanted to pass the word along.

Sneaky Piecing gives Beth Ferrier's take on most aspects of quilting - from cutting (which side of the black line do you line up the edge of the fabric with?) to sewing an accurate 1/4 inch seam, to pressing (where she quickly disposes of the "press to the dark" rule).

What amazed me, though, was that there were tips and tricks in here that I have never seen before - and I have done a LOT of reading, class-taking and DVD watching in the last 16 years!  Not just one new idea, but several.  And, she gives the math to make any size of square in a square and flying geese blocks.

Beth's writing style is warm and witty.  I actually laughed out loud a couple times.  I can't say that I have ever done that reading a quilt book before!

I borrowed this book from the library, but I plan on purchasing a copy to keep.

Modern Mini

The Calgary Modern Quilt Guild is having a Mini swap this month.  I took it as a good opportunity to do my own design, and also to practice my free motion quilting.

I usually sew down my binding to the front, then hand stitch it to the back.  I have tried doing it the other way, and machine stitching to the front, but found the fabric bunched up a bit and the stitching was not as neat as I'd like it.  This time -- and I have no idea where I heard of this -- I used a line of white school glue and my iron to baste down the binding on the front.  It held really well, and I was able to stitch it down pretty neatly.  What do you know?

Here's the finished mini - it's 16 x 16: