National Book Lover’s Day!

Happy National Book Lover’s Day!!

My own personal story of quilting books really begins with one enormously influential woman in the quilting world, Eleanor Burns.  Don’t know who she is? Catch up on some episodes of her show from PBS or any of her many books to see truly in depth tips and directions on how to quilt.  Specifically, I started with a book from her “Quilt in a Day” series, Winning Hand Quilt. The book is entirely devoted to a single pattern more commonly known as Card Trick.

I know that this isn’t glamorous or trendy, but I love this pattern and love my quilt. Yes. My first quilt I ever made was a twin sized quilt for my college dorm room about 16 years ago. No small projects for me (though I believe the book offered small versions). And I was able to do it. I had NEVER used a rotary cutter before this book and didn’t know a THING about 1/4″ seams (I had previously only sewn garments which used 5/8″ seams). EVERYTHING was new. And I learned it all from a book. Seriously. I didn’t know a single person who was quilting to even ask a question. Blogs did not yet exist (at least not to my knowledge) and not the way they do now. No You tube videos or Pinterest photos. Flickr? What was that? (What IS that?! – but that’s a rant for a whole other post!)

It all began with a girl who loved to sew and loved to read. And here I am. Thank you Eleanor Burns!!

My current favorite sewing book? Well that’s always tricky because I’m interested in so many things. But I have to admit that after thinking it over that I’ve fallen back on a favorite designer and am admittedly biased by my love for her designs. Heather Ross Prints

I consider this book eye candy more than anything, though I haven’t pulled it out recently to check out the project ideas. But to me, eye candy is VITAL. We need to see what inspires each other to create and become inspired by that ourselves. A little mushy here, but we really are very intertwined that way. Hopefully we can all find our own unique voice, but plain old fashioned, pretty to look at books are great!

There are plenty of other lovely books out there though and I hope you love them the way I do. And come spring, I’m really hoping that you all have a NEW book that is your favorite. 😉 Just saying.