May 31, 2012

Jane Sassaman, who is teaching a workshop for us at the end of June, has just authored a fabulous new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style: Recipes for Dazzling Quilts, published by Dragon Threads Ltd.

The book debuts at the same time as a new collection of fabric designs by Jane for FreeSpirit fabric.

Jane has taught her popular Abstracting from Nature workshop for us several times and I have always admired the sense of playful color and whimsical compositions in her detailed art quilts. It is no surprise that her fabric designs have this same wonderful vibrancy and fun. In fact, the whole cloth fabric designs have so much “personality” that one is loathed to cut them up!

Patchwork Sassaman Style is a “cookbook” to guide you through the possibilities of using large scale, bold, colorful prints, such as Jane’s fabric designs, in quilts. Jane calls these bold prints “personality prints” – fabrics with the pizzazz to take center stage in a quilt composition.

Using traditional quilt block patterns as a launching point, Jane explains with easy to understand instructions and illustrations, how to make use of design symmetry and repeats to create unique block patterns with large scale prints.

The book starts with very simple, basic designs and then progresses to more complex designs. Jane presents at least two design variations for each block pattern.

So if you have found yourself unable to resist the siren call of these big, bold, colorful, knock-your-socks-off prints, Jane’s new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style, will inspire you to pull these fabrics off your shelves and put them into a a fabulous new quilt for your wall or for your bed.

To celebrate Jane’s new book and fabric line, a blog tour is scheduled for July. Watch Jane’s website and Dragon Threads’ website for details.

There are still a few spots left for Jane’s 5-day workshop with us, June 24 – 30, 2012. Come to the workshop and you’ll be able to peruse the book in our library!