Elizabeth Hartman is the talent behind the prolific and wildly popular blog, Oh, Fransson! For most of those who read her blog, that is probably all the introduction you need. In the 18 months since we started working on this book together, she has grown both her own profile and taken awesome strides in introducing a whole new community of fabric addicts who would probably never have fallen in love with patchwork if it were not for her inspirational designs.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of raw edge appliqué and improvisational piecing and wonky embroidery stitching, but what I love about Elizabeth is that she applies the precision and quality to her work that are necessary in order to create treasured quilts that withstand the test of time.
And this gal has SKILLS! Lots. Early on in our conversations, Elizabeth was focused on the kind of book that she felt was lacking in modern quilt making, a new basics kind of book. And that is exactly the book she wrote.
With Elizabeth’s help, anyone new to sewing or even more of an intermediate sewer can move beyond the forgiving patterns that sometimes confuse improvisation with go-ahead-and-make-a-mess. She writes with an authoritative, experienced, but not prescriptive voice. Her patterns aren’t meant to be followed so that you end up creating the exact same quilt (and you will want to because they are all so fabulous!) as she has.
She encourages finding your own design “voice” by including two alternate color ways for each of her 12 patterns. The colors are so very different that you feel like you are actually getting 36 patterns packed into this one book. She gets you thinking about the possibilities and encourages you to experiment…
and not ignore the backs of your quilts either!
And this is where Elizabeth is both a leader and an enabler. In her first book with Stash Books, she shows you how to use color, value and scale of fabric to create balanced, colorful, graphic quilts that look like something you bought from Crate and Barrel.
Elizabeth inspires you to experiment with both solid fabrics and contemporary patterns in order to find a combination that fits your budget and still represents your style.
Each generation needs to learn the fundamentals (be it cooking, gardening or quilt making) from someone they respect, someone who has a sympathetic aesthetic and someone that they can relate to. And Elizabeth, as you can see, is the perfect designer for the job. For Elizabeth, and for you, I hope this book is just the beginning…
The Practical Guide to Patchwork will be available in October 2010.
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33 Comments
Looks like a great introduction to quilting…with terrific patterns too!
Looks amazing!! Can’t wait to get my hands on Elizabeth’s book!
The book looks just lovely and I’ve been excited about it’s release ever since I heard about it – can’t wait to get my hands on it!
This book looks wonderful! I can’t wait until it comes out!
fantastic!!! can’t wait for this one!
Great job Elizabeth!!!
That looks great!!! Loving the leaves quilt!
Can’t wait for the book! Even as a ‘more experienced’ quilter, I love the new fresh and modern look! It’s on my wish list and will soon be moving to ‘pre-order”.
pre-order!!!!
Thanks for this sneak peak! I’ve already learned so much from Elizabeth and look forward to having her tutorials in such an nice format. Please sign me up for your blog tour! I’d be honored to do a review.
very excited for Elizabeth’s book! Looks fabulous!!
I am SO excited for this book! I adore her blog and can’t wait to have all that yummy fabric-y (ok, paper-y) goodness on my coffee table!
This looks like an amazing book – no big surprise after following her blog for a long time.
I’m a huge fan of Elizabeth’s work. I can’t wait to get a copy.
Fabulous! Zipping over to Amazon in hopes of finding a pre-order button!
I love the little leaves quilt, and I can’t wait to see the book. I love how she uses color!
I can’t wait to see the book, Elizabeth is such an inspiration !!
FABLOUS! Can’t wait to see it in person!
huge fan of her work!! this looks great and really informational. Love the idea of having lots of extra tips and tricks.
I’m a huge fan of Elizabeth and I preordered months ago. I can hardly wait until this book arrives. Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!
This book sounds wonderful for an intermediate quilter who wants to branch out into doing their own variants of designs.
I hope she covers something other than stippling in the quilting section. She does such great work, but then stipples everything. I’d love to see some interesting quilting from her that makes impact with the piece. Stippling seems like such a short cut in design.
Thank you for this great review! I love Elizabeth’s style and the direction of the book sounds great! The quilts and pictures are gorgeous, these paired with real practical advice will make the book invaluable!
Elizabeth’s designs appeal to a wide range of quilters. She is THE resource for modern quilting. I love pouring over her blog posts and look forward to pouring over the pages of her book. I’m sure it’s inspirational!!
Thank you for wetting my lips! I M-U-S-T have this book!
Stefanie
Perrrrrfect gift for the gals in my quilting mini group. You have been busy.
Can’t wait for this book to come out! Count down to October…
I love her work, too! Her skill and precision in sewing are wonderful!
In the Immortal words of my friend Anne: “Elizabeth makes Martha Stewart look like a slacker.”
Her work makes me want to take up quilting and sewing myself.
Pretty pictures! And seems to be very easy-to-follow.. Waiting for having it! Lindo!
This looks like a great introduction to quilting. I enjoyed looking at all your pictures of it. Much better than a written review alone for a book like this.
I bought mine weeks ago and I am anxious waiting from Amazon shipping!
Wow! What amazing designs! I would love to read and obsessive over this book when it comes out!
~Teresa
Thanks for giving us a sneak peek into this inspiring and gotta-have book!
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[...] book The Practical Guide to Patchwork, out this fall. Get a peek at some of the projects over at Stash Books. You can pre-order a copy at [...]
[...] have some fabulous looking things in the pipeline. Personally I can’t wait to get hold of The Practical Guide to Patchwork by one of my very favourite bloggers – Elizabeth Harman of Oh, [...]
[...] next weekend, we have Elizabeth Hartman from Oh, Fransson, coming to sign her beautiful new book The Practical Guide to Patchwork. She will join us for a few hours from 4-6pm before the next Portland Modern Quilt Guild Open [...]