New Quilting Book

 Hi Quilty Friends!  Can you believe it? I bought a book.  It's been years since my last book purchase.  This one stole my heart about or two year ago.  The author, Judy Martin, has a unique eye for taking traditional quilt blocks and putting them in some fabulous layouts.  Very clever minded quilter indeed! 

To be honest, I don't follow Judy on social media and I had just assumed she was probably retired or dead by now. Seriously, she was publishing patterns way back in the late 70's.  I have one or two of her earlier books that use templates for making HST's. For me the older quilting books are only good for inspiration because there is no way I'm going to trace squares, rectangles and squares for making a quilt.

As with some of you, Youtube is my go to entertainment.  If there's a topic that sparks my interest a quick YT search will bring up an endless list of videos to watch.  One day I was in the mood to see some quilts, so a quick search for quilt trunk show brought up a Judy Martin trunk show for this book.  If you would like to watch it, click here. 

The quilts were gorgeous and I wanted to make them all, I had to have this book!  As I ramble on I'll share a few of my favorites.

I know me well.  I'm an impulsive SQUIRRELL! type of quilter.  

 My quilt book and magazine collection is nothing more than a dust magnet until I need to rearrange the studio.  Only then will I browse through a few of them and think "I should make this someday".  It never happens.  More often than not I draft my own patterns or use a free online pattern.  My most recent quilt finish, Stars and Stripes, was a quick and easy free PDF.  A few days after starting that quilt, I was scrolling Facebook while eating lunch and saw a version of the quilt below.  I immediately recognized the pattern.  That was all it took.  I had waited long enough, I need to make this quilt.  It has the illusion of curved seams but it's all straight piecing.

Within 2 minutes the book was purchased and would be delivered by Amazon in two days...WOOHOO!  It was pedal to the metal time, finish the current project so I could make this beauty.  The book came I skipped right to the pattern and started reading.  My heart sank as I saw Judy was still doing some odd to me cutting and piecing.  Take a look a the shapes she wants me to cut.  Seriously?

So, I start looking for the instructions on how to cut these shapes.  I first flipped to the back thinking there would be templates...nope.  Those first few skipped pages held all the details.  BUY MY RULER TO MAKE THESE SHAPES.  I was not a happy quilter. This type of information should be put in the description of the book when purchasing online.  Sure, I could return it Amazon but there is nothing really wrong with the book.

Maybe one of the rulers I already own can do the same thing.   With the new hope, the buyers remorse subsides and I start digging through the ruler stash.  I think the large Fons and Porter ruler will work. Sigh....lesson learned...Never buy another quilting book unless I hold it in my hands or know how that quilter writes patterns.

The new quilt project high was over.  Disappointment overload.  I don't want to buy a ruler, I don't want to test the ruler from my stash and I don't want to do quilty math for flippy corners and yardage changes.  Yes, I know I'm being a little dramatic and stubborn.  The book was tossed into cabinet with all the other inspirational dust collectors.  Maybe someday I'll change my mind.  

There's plenty of UFO's to finish.  I'm pretty sure there's a red, white and blue quilt hiding somewhere in the studio.  I'll start digging and let you know what I find in a few days.