Stitch Your Story


Book Description

From politics to poetry, the hottest trend in quilting today is using fabric and letters to say something on quilt tops. Quilters everywhere are excited to incorporate their favourite phrases, song lyrics, inspirational words, political statements, or just simple personalisation on a gifted quilt. And when creating heirloom quilts for family, quilters everywhere are looking for ways to personalise, customise, and use text to show their unique perspective. From award-winning quilts containing powerful messages to sweet portions of poetry for a baby's bedroom, these alphabets encourage complete freedom to piece one-of-a-kind quilts using the structure of the patterns Sarah Fielke provides. More than just a collection of letters, Sarah has been careful to provide something for everyone. From paper-piecing to applique to improv, her six alphabets allow readers to create symmetrical chunky block letters, sophisticated cursive, and whimsical improvisationally pieced letters - all supplied in both lower and upper case. It's the perfect blend: quilters will love having the structure and reliability of patterns with the possibility of total customisation.




How to Stitch an American Dream


Book Description

Faith, family, hard work, and second chances are at the core of every great American story, and Jenny Doan’s story is just that. In her new memoir, How to Stitch an American Dream, readers will discover the behind-the-scenes success story of the Missouri Star Quilt Company and Jenny’s remarkable journey to overcome hardship, claim the abundance of family, and ignite the power of giving—all while revitalizing a small town along the way. Over the last decade, the Doan family business, the Missouri Star Quilt Company in tiny Hamilton, Missouri, has grown from Jenny’s corner shop--with one quilting machine and two bolts of fabric for sale in the back--to become the largest supplier of pre-cut quilting fabric in the headquarters of Jenny’s world-famous YouTube tutorial videos. Jenny is now giving her fans, the business world, and moms of all ages (and grandmas too!) what they’ve been asking for: the full story of her journey, from her humble beginnings as a homeschooling mom, to founding MSQC in her fifties, through the remarkable success and inspiration she’s so well-known for today. In this book, you’ll learn: How she and her beloved husband, Ron, raised seven children on a shoestring budget— and had fun doing it; How, after a string of bad luck, the family made a prayer-based decision to leave California behind and start over again in rural Missouri, even though they had no place to live, no jobs lined up, and no idea how they were going to make it; How Jenny, Ron and their children worked side-by-side to patch together a family home out of a crumbling shell of a farmhouse; And how their faith, hard work, and generosity not only carried them through the hard times, but led directly to the success of the Missouri Star Quilt Company. How to Stitch an American Dream will make you laugh, cry, say “bless your heart.”




Stitching a Life


Book Description

It’s 1900, and sixteen-year-old Helen comes alone in steerage across the Atlantic from a small village in Lithuania, fleeing terrible anti-Semitism and persecution. She arrives at Ellis Island, and finds a place to live in the colorful Lower East Side of New York. She quickly finds a job in the thriving garment industry and, like millions of others who are coming to America during this time, devotes herself to bringing the rest of her family to join her in the New World, refusing to rest until her family is safe in New York. A few at a time, Helen’s family members arrive. Each goes to work with the same fervor she has and contributes everything to bringing over their remaining beloved family members in a chain of migration. Helen meanwhile, makes friends and—once the whole family is safe in New York—falls in love with a man who introduces her to a different New York—a New York of wonder, beauty, and possibility.




Stitch Stories


Book Description

The events of your life, from local walks to exotic trips, can provide endless inspiration for textile art. This inspiring book shows you how to record your experiences, using sketchbooks, journals and photography, to create personal narratives that can form a starting point for more finished stitched-textile pieces. Acclaimed textile artist and teacher Cas Holmes, whose work is often inspired by her life and the journeys she makes, helps you find inspiration through your own life and explains how to record what you see in sketchbooks and journals, which can often become beautiful objects in themselves. She explains how you can use photography, both as documentation and as inspiration, and sometimes incorporate it into the work itself, along with found objects and ephemera. Throughout the book are useful techniques that can be harnessed to add extra interest to your work, such as methods for making layered collages, how to 'sketch' with stitch, and advice on design and colour. If you want to create beautiful, unique work inspired by your life and travels, this is the perfect book for you.




Stitched Memories


Book Description

Creating unique textile art using vintage cloth and embroidery to tell a story and preserve memories Vintage cloth, found objects, embroidery, layered cloth and hand-stitching are all artfully combined by Tilly Rose to create unique textile artworks that tell a story, record a special event, or preserve, display and celebrate a memory of a special person or place. Tilly describes how to create these textile artworks using scraps of fabric, thread, lace, ribbon, buttons, beads, photographs and other found items that readers either already own or have sourced from elsewhere. The projects take various forms, including cloth journals, lavender hearts, hoop art, framed collages, wall hangings and miniature quilts, and involve a variety of easy techniques that are explained through step-by-step demos at the start of the book. These include layering and collage, hand embroidery, creating your own fabrics, transferring your designs to cloth, stamping on cloth, appliqué, embellishing, patchwork, quilting, free motion embroidery and photo transfer. Create a textile artwork using fabric and items from your wedding, a child's first birthday, a Christening or your honeymoon, or even family heilooms that can be cherished in a new way. The whole focus of the book is on inspiration and experimentation - encouraging the reader to be creative, collecting and sourcing materials of special significance and incorporating them into textile artworks that become treasured keepsakes.




Love in Every Stitch


Book Description

In her inspiring book, Love in Every Stitch: Stories of Knitting and Healing, master knitter, teacher, and widely published knitwear designer Lee Gant shares real-life stories about the power of knitting. As an employee of three different yarn stores, a teacher of countless knitting classes, and a volunteer with at-risk youth, Lee has had the opportunity to gather diverse stories. The stories Lee shares about herself and fellow knitters from around the world illustrate how each stitch and purl can comfort and calm, heal and renew. A suicidal teenager crochets through pregnancy. A dying woman finds comfort in the company of knitters. A woman finds the courage to face her estranged parents. A woman going blind realizes she can still knit — and experience life. And Lee’s life, riddled with more than just anxiety, has at last become stable and productive. This book includes stories of women, men, and teens who have experienced profound change and enlightenment through knitting and crochet.




Stitching Stories


Book Description

Adaptation of Tanko bole chhe, an animation documentary film for children.




At Play in the Garden of Stitch


Book Description

At Play in the Garden of Stitch provides ways to think about how thread and fabric can bring depth to composition, texture to emotions and line to ideas. Kovarik has won numerous awards for her densely machine-stitched art in which the quilting line is used to draw intricate patterns and pictures. Simple exercises encourage the reader to approach each day with a curious mind willing to make a mess of expectations, embrace the wonky by letting the thread lead, and think in thread while making careful observations of the world. Heavily illustrated with examples and finished art the book provides quilters and artists with new ways to approach this medium.







The Quilter's Field Guide to Color


Book Description

Forget the dry color theory! This guide is fun, conversational, practical, and beautifully inspiring. The one-of-a-kind resource for modern quilters includes hands-on exercises with a true workbook approach to help evaluate color choices. A 150-color swatch card is included.