Customer Reviews:
Celtic Pieced Quilts.......2007-08-05
This is an outstanding book. The quilts are beautiful and are easy to duplicate. The instructions are clear and concise and easily understandable. I would recommend this book to all quilters.
New possibilities.......2007-05-26
Caveat1: I knit; I don't quilt. Caveat2: I haven't used a purchased pattern for anything in years.
That said, this book opened up an entirely new avenue for knitting (rugs, in this case) that gives me entry into ancient designs I had not been able to figure out on my own. Two squares, both easily knit in garter stitch (and presumably, easily sewn in patchwork), and I can recreate / invent enormously complex patterns that link both to the Celtic traditions of interlaced work AND to the rug designs that originate in the lands at the eastern end of the Mediteranean.
Two squares, some graph paper; when you get tired of sketching, figure out how to put the squares in a software graphics program and start playing. Oh... my... lord... what have I started...
(Backstory: I've been playing with ideas from Jinny Beyer's Tessellations for a while. That book contains a lot of the underlying strategies demonstrated in Celtic Pieced Illusions; if you're looking for theory, start with Beyer.)
Three stars not five because: a) perhaps the actual quilts were designed to show the simplicity of the patching, but there is SO MUCH MORE that can be done with the fabrics and colorways! (prejudice: Karen K. Stone. Moran and Marston. Kaffe Fassett.) b) If you don't need cutting layouts, yardage recommendations, and fully-developed designs, you can look at the book, grasp the concept, and go. As other reviewers have noted (and I can't confirm, not being a quilter, but do suspect), the book's aimed at a beginner-to-intermediate skill level.
However: If you've been wanting a way into a whole new world of design, do take a look at this book.
A Great New Concept for Quilters!.......2007-05-21
Karen Combs has a winner with Celtic Pieced Illusions. The designs are beautiful and it's very surprising to find you can make them with only two or three different blocks. It's all in the way they are arranged.
Karen even has instructions in the back of the book for teaching one of the designs...a lesson plan for quilt teachers. Great idea that I wish would show up in more books.
Celtic piecing simplified.......2007-04-19
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The illustrations of Ireland dotted throughout the book are delightful, the quilting instructions clear and the possiblilities are endless. There is also a guide for quilting teachers at the end of the book. Karens ideas allow the quilter to take two different blocks and create unique quilts every time. Easy enough for a beginer and interesting enough to keep the experienced quilter busy.
Easy Celtic Knot piecing.......2007-02-12
Karen Combs makes easy work of piecing Celtic Knot quilts. A lovely quilt can be made using only two simple blocks with the incorporation of an array of beautiful colors. This is a perfect book for beginning and intermediate quilters.
Average customer rating:
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Op-Art Quilt Illusions: Fast, Fun & Fabulous 3-D Illusions.
Marilyn Doheny
Manufacturer: Doheny Publications, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Patchwork
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ASIN: 0945169183 |
Customer Reviews:
Illusions made simple.......2003-04-05
This is a lovely book with perfectionist descriptions of every step and preventative measures to insure the most amazing results. The method is exceptionally simple strip piecing but the book is a font of additional information that will increase your skills. The author breaks down each step to the minutia and cuts off any common made mistakes.
Book Description
A delightful sensory experience awaits as you transform intriguing designs and fabric into a vision of garden grandeur! *A dozen quilt projects are laced with motion, luminosity, and secondary designs. *Choose from traditional piecing or papaer piecing with Karen's super-easy technique. *Easy-to-read charts make quick work of fabric cutting and color placement. *Numerous block settings expand the possibilities of each project. *The blocks have roots in traditional design, with blooms that nod toward a contemporary sky. *Dozens of floral and garden photographs to inspire! AUTHORBIO: Karen Combs is an internationally-known quilter, teacher, author, and designer whose students nominated her for Quilt Teacher of the Year in 1995 and 2000. In high demand as a teacher (she began teaching quilting in 1989), Karen encourages her students, makes learning fun, and makes the complex easy to understand! Karen is fascinated with optical illusions in quilts, a fascination that has become the subject of her many workshops, magazine articles, and books. REVIEW: Karen's quilts offer a delightful sensory experience. Foliage, blooms, shape, shadow, and light are wonderful tools for playing optical tricks with flowers.
Customer Reviews:
Packed full of visual treats.......2003-08-12
Karen has designed some lovely quilts using unusual pieced floral blocks. Many of the quilts offer alternative settings as well as showing how much more interesting a quilt can be with proper use of values to add depth. Each quilt is accompanied by beautiful photographs of gardens from all over the US and also with little bits of appropriate poetry - just enough to make me smile and remember literature class! If paper piecing is your thing, this will keep you busy for a long time.
Not to be missed!.......2003-07-11
Karen is the leader in creating quilts of illusions. This is great book for both novice and the experienced quilters.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful instructional.......2003-01-13
A truly wonderful instructional/reference book that features a variety of VERY colorful quilt projects that are bursting with modern design styles and yet retain many folk elements. The book has easy to follow (yet detailed) text, illustrations, diagrams, photos and patterns. The book is now out of print and any form and has become quite a sought after item at crafting shows.
Book Description
The world of optical illusions has fascinated artists for centuries, and quiltmaker Karen Combs has been intrigued by them for years. In Optical Illusions for Quilters, she unravels the mysteries of optical illusitons as applied to quilting, some of them for the first time. Masterpiece quilts are used to explain each illusion and quilters are shown how to apply these principles to their work. Though Karen's focus is on quilting, these principles can be applied to other creative mediums. In an easy to understand manner, she encourages readers to use their imaginations, listen to their inner voices, and apply their new knowledge as they become masters of illusions. AUTHORBIO: Karen Combs is an internationally-known quilter, teacher, author, and designer whose students nominated her for Quilt Teacher of the Year in 1995 and 2000. In high demand as a teacher (she began teaching quilting in 1989), Karen encourages her students, makes learning fun, and makes the complex easy to understand! Karen is fascinated with optical illusions in quilts, a fascination that has become the subject of her many workshops, magazine articles, and books. REVIEW: In Optical Illusions for Quilters, Karen Combs provides quilters the ultimate reference, shy of formal training in art, for mastering not only perspective but a wide array of other 'illusions' that can add depth, motion, and interest to quilts
Customer Reviews:
Inspirational .......2005-09-27
Gave me some great ideas for expanding my creativity with dimension in my quilts. Will use one design immediately for a quilt for my six year old grandson, he will love it.
Not for the novice!.......2004-02-18
I was very disappointed. Book is VERY technical without much background. I think you need a very strong background and experience in drafting your own patterns. No real practical advice. I need something that will take me to the very beginning and bring me forward, not start me at the finish line.
inspirational.......2004-02-03
this was a wonderful book. I found it to be full of wonderful examples of how these illusions were accomplished in different ways. And what a better way to be inspired but by the many examples of art in action.
I was a little dissappointed with the pattern and instructions given at the end...but not enough to prevent me from buying this book. I find that most of my inspirations comes from viewing how others accomplished the techniques and their completed works than simply by a lesson and pattern alone. I would definately recommend this book to anyone seeking to quilt outside the lines.
very technical.......2003-08-01
I have made 2 of Karen Combs patterns and while they turned out well, I would have hated to have tried them as an inexperienced quilter. Her directions are not that easy to follow and require much rereading. The book is very technical. She does wonderful designs but really needs to have the pattern instructions written by someone else and it is not her forte.
The Illustrated Quilts are Worth the Price of the Book Alone.......2003-05-24
Karen Combs does a fine job gathering examples of each "tool" used to create illusions. I've just read through the book and I feel very inspired to piece a cube. The quilts she's chosen to illustrate different techniques are amazing. If you're up for something different, this book is for you.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting subject - book not that great, though............2002-02-07
The book contains far more pages of templates than it contains useful help. It is a small book, and I was somewhat disappointed that there wasn't more content in it. However, the price was probably appropriate for the information in it. I had hoped to find new information about working with these kinds of quilts, but it really didn't contain anything I hadn't already seen elsewhere in more detail somewhere else.
Book Description
Quilting is a fine art, and this instructive, beautifully designed volume carries that art to new heights. Eye-fooler quilts play with our sight and imagination, creating wonderful illusions in shapes and colors. Though complex to look at, these quilts are surprisingly easy to make when quilters are given sound direction. Here are instructions for more than 40 dazzling designs, the patterns falling into the following major divisions:
* Perspective and 3D effects * Circles * Grids * Interlacing patterns * Counterchange * Transparency effects
Here too are general instructions for making any quilt, with details on necessary tools and equipment, suggested fabrics and colors, the use of grids and templates, methods of sew-ing, instruction on assembling pieces, and techniques for finishing. Readers will also find a helpful list of resources for materials, as well as a bibliography and a glossary. Here's a book that deserves a place in every sewing enthusiast's personal library. More than 250 color illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Three Stars.......2004-08-03
I give this book only three stars because the title & cover illustration give you high expectations about what is going to be inside the book and once you open the book you might find yourself disappointed. This book does contain some optical illusion quilts but most of the examples are not particularly remarkable or interesting. They are for the most part, the same type of quilt blocks that you can find in your typical, generic book of quilt blocks.
This book does have some good points, though. It has many fine and detailed illustrations about how to make a quilt. It would be a great guide for a beginning quilter. However, if you are an experienced peruser of quilt books and/or maker of quilts you will probably not find this book to be terribly exciting.
Product Description
The first half of the book shows you how to draw your own designs and pick fabrics to create your own illusion. The second half of the book has 7 projects with template sheets to make enlargements from as well as sewing instructions.
Customer Reviews:
3-D Explosion: Simply Fabulous Art Quilt Illusions.......2007-08-23
This is a beautifully illustrated book, wonderful color photos, outlining
the author's methods. This is for intermediate to experienced quilters.
The author's work is gorgeous and colorful, and the directions are well thought out. Cara Gulati is well known in the Quilt Art world and has won several prizes for her work.
Book Description
"Chintz in glorious faded colours, curtains meticulously swagged, fringed and tasselled, the most comfortable upholstery and expertly applied paint finishes, all set in timeless interiors and discreetly lit to show off beautiful antiques and paintings. These are the hallmarks of the style developed by Colefax & Fowler in the post-war years and currently more fashionable than ever. This informative and fascinatingly anecdotal book tells the story of the firm's founder, John Fowler, and shows his style evolving through his association with Sibyl Colefax and Nancy Lancaster and later through his work restoring National Trust houses. It describes the expert craftsmanship and technical skills which produce the ageless Colefax & Fowler look and shows examples of their current work in different types of rooms in a wide variety of locations, ranging from Badminton and Sudeley Castle, large and small country houses, to flats and mews houses in London and abroad. Chintz in glorious faded colors, fringed and tasselled curtains for years of fireside comfort: these are the hallmarks of English Country style, developed fifty years ago by the preeminent English design firm Colefax & Fowler. This comfortable and understated elegance is currently more fashionable than ever, and can be found throughout the world. Colefax & Fowler is both a history and pictorial celebration of the enormously influential design firm. A fascinating anecdotal text tells the story of the firm's founder, John Fowler, and shows his association with Sibyl Colefax and Nancy Lancaster and later through his work restoring National Trust houses. In addition, it describes the expert craftsmanship and technical skills behind the firm's internationally acclaimed artistry. Packed with over 260 sumptuous color photographs, Colefax & Fowler is a spectacular source for anyone interested in interior design."
Customer Reviews:
Colefax and Fowler, Classic English Traditional Design.......2003-08-28
The grace and epitome of what we all have come to know and love as "English Country House Style". This book begins with the very beginning of Colefax and Fowler, and documents the evolution of "the look". Many wonderful color photos and sketches to refer to as well as beautifully written descriptions as to what makes this all work. While we may not be able to live in such grand houses, many of the concepts and designs work as well in contemporary and smaller settings. There is something for every one in this book, very desirable!!
Timeless English Country with an irreverent twist.......2003-02-02
The color photos of many completed projects done decades ago still resonate as the top in English design. Lovely traditional chintzes coupled with good furniture are the usual ingredients yet seeing the old photos of Nancy Lancaster's and Roger Banks-Pye's designs, one is reminded that these rooms are truly timeless. Understandibly,Colefax and Fowler is the benchmark for English decoration. The book does a fine job with both an overview and an exploration of specific areas. A must for designers.
"A Few Good Pictures and Several Nice Pieces--".......2002-12-07
"And there you are!" says author Chester Jones. That's all you need to set eminent decorators, Colefax and Fowler to work. The "few good pictures" are preferably old masters and the "several nice pieces" should be priceless antiques, but if you aren't already blessed with such bounty, C&F will see to it.
This is a beautiful, delightful book! I bought it used, and it was pristine. There are 264 gorgeous color plates of excellent photography and the prose is a lively mix of C&F history (particularly John Fowler) and description, tips, and information about the homes/castles/estates decorated. There is a wonderful Glossary for those of us who are vernacular-challenged when it comes to elegant decorator terms. I for one was pleased to learn that a "fauteuil" is a "French salon armchair with carved decorations, sometimes gilt."
Put bluntly (which Mr. Jones wouldn't dream of doing), Ms. Colefax provided the money and contacts, and Mr. Fowler provided the inspiration and brains. And contacts were desperately needed for this venture. To achieve casual, elegant nonchalance required great outlays of money not to be had from your everyday man on the street. Colefax and Fowler became expert at the tactful handling of the temperamental, sometimes eccentric foibles of the very rich. If Mr. Jones is any example, I'm sure he would take it right in stride when I announced I'd like less "balance" on the mantel piece please, and I really didn't care much for massive curtains that puddled on the floor.
There are useful tips and diagrams that can be put to use in much more economical settings. For instance, a maxim of Mr. Fowler's was, scale of furniture should be relative to height, not width. In other words, a large low-ceilinged room would not call for big important pieces of furniture where a high-ceilinged room would.
This is a book of which you will never tire. The color schemes, the placements and the sheer beauty will call out to you again and again. A fine investment of your time and pleasure.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer
The True Meaning of English Country Style.......2000-10-26
No one tops the eye of John Fowler for colour or design. In a world of designers trying desperately to jump English country style few get it right. The distinguished firm of Colefax and Fowler always got it right, as one known Italian-American aristocrat said "The English style is one that few truly comprehend as well as John Fowler did at Colefax and Fowler." Elegant, high style, not mistakenly frilly foolish as many others are, this book highlights the very best of what this regional genre is all about.
Stunning and Classic Design.......2000-08-24
I bought the original edition of this book over 10 years ago and was blown away by the gorgeous design depicted in page after page of mouth-watering English country house interiors. All these years later, it remains my favorite decorating book, that I constantly refer to for inspiration. The rooms are timeless. Most were created 20-40 years ago, but good classic design does not date. Although the antiques and handprinted wallpapers, etc., are far out of the range of most of us, the sense of comfortable elegance is one to strive for in any home.
Customer Reviews:
A good volume to own.......2002-05-19
Much more on the history of the company than the C&F "stlye". Short on professional color photographs in my opinion.
Average customer rating:
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Colefax & Fowler the Best in English Interior Decoration
Manufacturer: Barrie & Jenkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0712620214 |
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