Book Review Blog Tour: Stripped Down Patchwork

I met Erin Gilday from Patchwork Underground a few months ago at a Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting, I was busy working on my squid quilt and we started talking patchwork... one thing led to another and now I'm so happy to be writing a review on her new book for her blog tour: Stripped Down Patchwork; 12 Modern Projects featuring Seminole Patchwork.

I have to start by saying that this is my first book review, and since I'm not so good with words, I decided to make a project from the book, and report on my experience.  I'm pretty much a beginner in most respects of sewing, even though I sew a lot.

When I received my copy, I was immediately smitten with all the crafty ideas Erin shares... especially the super cute "Toe Zone Ballet Slippers" on page 49.  I also noticed a pullout with patterns on it for tracing ~ how nice!

Before I ran to my fabric stash to start a new project... I read the beginning of the book about how the Seminole Indians came up with this style of patchwork, and was impressed by their ingenuity even through terrible times.  Sometimes having the background information is very motivational and after reading some history, I was even more anxious to get started on a project!

For those who don't know, I like soccer... and I live in Portland, OR and we are becoming huge Timbers fans.  When I was leafing through the projects to pick which one I wanted to do first, my hubby was looking over my shoulder and when he saw the "Icicle Scarf" he was like:  "You HAVE TO make Timbers scarves!!" Decision made.

The instructions in the book were very easy to follow.  The hardest part for me was finding the right  fabric colors!  These are what I ended up with:

 Once I had the fabrics lined up, I just made long strips and sewed them together:

Then this long pieced strip is cut apart at angles, and sewn back together again to make the blocks.  The book is great because the math and measurements are all figured out for you, the math all works well ~ even for me and my math-challenged brain!

Once I had the blocks made, I made two more blocks with a raw-edge axe appliqué from the Timbers logo.

Then I just pieced up the blocks and backed it with bright green micro-fiber fleece and added some fringe (which I love)... and they turned out GREAT!!!

Now we're ready for any game.  This was such a fun and fast project!  Erin's instructions were very clear and easy to understand.  This book is full of little tips and tricks for patchwork and sewing in general that I found very useful.

Thanks for modeling, Z!

All in all, I would have to say: Great job Erin!  If I can follow through on one of your projects, I think anyone can!  Thanks so much for including me in your blog tour ~ I'm loving my new book, and I'm excited to get to those slippers soon! (and the wallet and the headband... and... and... and...)

Follow the rest of the tour:

• Leisure Arts Blog – Monday, May 16
• Sew Daily – Tuesday, May 17
• Craftzine – Wednesday, May 18
• Craftypod – Thursday, May 19
• Whipup.net – Friday, May 20
• Burdastyle – Saturday, May 21
• Pink Pinguin - Sunday, May 22
• A Green Banana – Monday, May 23
• I Think Sew – Tuesday, May 24
• Happy Zombie – Wednesday, May 25
• A Mountain Hearth – Thursday, May 26
• Sew News - Friday, May 27
• Pat Sloan’s Blog – Saturday, May 28