Weekend Review: Art Quilts Made Easy

 

Art Quilts Made Easy / Susan Kruszynski
Mount Joy, PA : Landauer Publishing, ©2022
144 p.

This is a new book by an accomplished art quilter; she states at the beginning of the book that her style is collage landscape quilts, and that's what she is teaching here. This book includes some basic technique intruction, with lots of images to illustrate, and also 12 patterns that you can follow to get the hang of this technique and style for yourself. 

I thought it was nicely put together. Well organized and thorough in its choice of topic. Bright with lots of clear, large photos. If you are interested in this kind of quilting you will be delighted with this book. If your style or interests lie elsewhere, I think you may still be interested in reading through this book, both because it is lovely to look through, and because there is always some new idea that comes from any book - at least I think so! 

I am not a big landscape person, at least in my own designs, but I still found this book a solid read with lots of great technique tips that can be used in your own way. Plus it's full of inspiring images - she makes a lot of small art quilts, which is my own preference, and I found that I was examining all of her images closely to see how she'd finished and edged her pieces. She is down to earth and includes tons of great info on creating your own quilts. She starts with very useful information on how to plan and map out a quilt, shares design rules, guidelines and basic tools, and also includes tips on finishing and framing your work, whether that's just binding or mounting to canvas. 

She is clearly an expert in this area, and she's also a teacher, which comes through in her easily understandable directions and instruction here. Anyone, even if just starting out, would easily be able to follow the steps she lays out. So definitely an interesting one to read through and examine. If your preferences are for landscapes and the collage technique, it's a must have for you.