Books I love – day 10 of blog writing challenge

Good Thursday morning my friends!

Today’s prompt in the blog writing challenge is so near and dear to my heart – not only in quilting, but in general. But let’s just stick to quilting books, as I even that could be many blog posts… I have been collecting (and still am) quilting books since the very start so needles to say, I got “a few”! Here is book shelf #1… (these are older ones)

And book shelf #2 with newer books (and some magazines), upstairs in the office…

And I am sure there are few on my night stand, some in the sewing room too… you get the picture? 🙂 Yeah, I do love books and I did learn so much from them. Picking a favorite, or even top 5 is kinda hard, because almost each one was good and important at some point or for a different reason in my quilting and creative journey. And as I looked through them to prepare for this blog post, it was a trip down memory lane, remembering where I got it or why or a class and teacher I got it from – so much fun and so many great memories and experiences that I am so very grateful for.

So in doing that, I kept pulling out some that are specially meaningful, for different reasons…

And here are some that I really love and can tell you many memories why and where I got them:

• Ruth McDowell‘s books, work and artistry are simply amazing and so inspiring to me and her workshop was one of the most impactful in my creative journey. She thought me about importance of fabric piecing as a medium in creating images and visions I have.
• Susan Carlson‘s Free Style Quilts book and workshop I took many years ago is one of the most fun, liberating and creative experiences I ever had! I never looked at fabric and its motifs the same way again… 🙂
• In more recent times, Jacquie Gering‘s lecture was so much fun and opened new prospective when it comes to more modern, improvisational type of creating and Quilting Modern book is a great reminder of that time. And I could go on and on….

But if I would have to pick one book that ALWAYS comes to mind when I think of importance or most impact – it is Visual Coloring by Joen Wolfrom. Joen is a master, award winning quilter, amazing photographer and wonderful teacher. Two day workshop I took from Joen was by far one of the most impactful and inspiring experiences I had, specially since I took it with my good friend and quilting buddy, Martha. We still talk about that weekend often…

Visual Coloring is unlike any other book you will read about how to pick colors for your quilt. No big color theory here (although Joen wrote a book about that too and I have it of course), but just an easy, relaxed and intuitive way of just – looking at nature for guidance…

What I love the most about this book? I felt as if all that was in it is in my head, I just couldn’t articulate it as good as Joen did and I felt as if she was reading my mind and putting it into this amazing book. This is an older book but as I Googled it, it seems still available from places like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, so I would whole-heartedly recommend it!

And if you want even more expanded book on color and color theory, Color Play by Joen Wolfrom is one of my favorites too. Joen even made amazing color wheel poster and 3-in-1 color tool and has many other good books you can see HERE.

You can say that her artistry in color and quilting speaks to my heart.

How about you – what books speaks to your heart?

Hope you are having a good, stress-free, safe and healthy holiday season. See you back here tomorrow,

Love,

Marija

PS – here is just another glimpse from Visual Coloring… see how good this is? Showing you a photo, real fabric pull and the quilt made! And there is so much more in it. I just love it.