Anna Maria's Blueprint Quilting by Anna Maria Parry

ANNA MARIA'S BLUEPRINT QUILTING is the fourth book by Anna Maria Parry, an artist, seamstress and fabric designer. The quilts are absolutely stunning and she offers 16 projects ranging from beginner through confident beginner to intermediate and advanced. The text is organized so as to “Explore Color, Pattern, and Technique” and separate sections deal with these, covering topics like composition, material choice, and necessary tools. Anna Maria offers four “blueprints:” Grand Central (square), Triptych; Kiss on the Lips (an “X” style) and Color Study (using gradations).  Each project (there are 4 for each blueprint) includes notes on color choice, fabric, and cutting as well as sewing and assembly. Both photographs and colorful diagrams of the quilts are included. This is a very comprehensive book, although the projects seem large (mostly full-size quilts) and complex for the most part. A true feast for the eyes (see images below). In its starred review, Publishers Weekly praised: “Parry’s sophisticated artistic sensibilities [which] set this apart from standard quilting manuals.” 

 
Just by chance I saw a show on PBS about The Violet Protest which involved a grassroots movement using handmade textile squares as a form of social action and to promote unity across political positions. The roughly 30 minute documentary is available online at this link and embedded below:

Sew Mindful Cross Stitch by Sophie Crabb

SEW MINDFUL CROSS STITCH by Sophie Crabb is a wonderful concept – I know plenty of people who choose to sew or knit as a form of relaxation. Crabb, a designer, crafter, and small business owner from Norfolk in the United Kingdom, tackles mental health concerns by writing about her own experiences and offering subtle suggestions (like avoiding the comparison loop). She has designed cross stitch examples with supportive pithy sayings (e.g., self-care isn’t selfish or today is a new day); to get a better idea of her style check out her UK website (the US Esty page has a security warning). The book itself illustrates “22 beginner friendly cross stitch projects to bring you color and calm.” These are intentionally small projects – just right for a beginner and the book’s photos are colorful and appealing. Plus, Sophie shares helpful insights for executing the projects (like what color to use first). The preview of SEW MINDFUL CROSS STITCH that I saw lists supplies (including specific quantities and colors for embroidery thread), but the patterns were indecipherable to me on the Kindle app. The pdf version on NetGalley was significantly improved and there are several projects which would be fun to try. They’d make great gifts, too!  

Unraveling by Peggy Orenstein

I loved UNRAVELING by Peggy Orenstein. It is her story of “What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater,” but really it is filled with observations about coping with the pandemic and about the importance of being open and curious about new experiences.  I found this book to be a source of solace and I spun the reading over a few weeks, learning about shearing, dye making, and knitting. Those relatively ancient skills somehow reinforced the idea that modern day readers would also manage to cope and they could begin with some deep breaths and a slower pace. I thoroughly enjoyed turning to Orenstein’s antics at the end of each day and found her wordplay entertaining, too: “We hang by threads, we lose the thread, we pick up the thread, we thread through crowds … Textile analogies loom large in our lives.” It is clear she researched extensively and UNRAVELING includes a 3 page selected bibliography. Orenstein herself commented, “What I didn’t expect was all I’d discover about how clothing has shaped civilization, class, culture, power, or its pivotal role in our environmental future.” Readers, too, will learn much. Highly recommended.

The World According to Color by James Fox

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO COLOR by James Fox received a starred review from Booklist. This non-fiction work provides “A Cultural History,” with chapters on each color (e.g., Yellow: Twilight of the Idols; White: Poisonous Purity; and so on).  Fox is Director of Studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and has many acclaimed BBC television documentaries about art. In his first book for a general audience, he describes the history of each major color and some of its geographic and cultural associations, particularly in the art world. For example, it was interesting to note that purple truly is rare in nature and was very expensive to produce so it was found “in only 0.06 percent of paintings [from almost 140,000 reviewed] before the middle of the nineteenth century.” Or, that in China the color red’s “meanings are so positive that China’s stock market shows rising stocks in red, rather than black, the opposite of almost every other country.” Fox devotes roughly one-third of the text to notes, further reading, and a detailed index; he also refers to over 50 plates, but I did not see any illustrations in the preview. This topic is obviously so visually oriented that interested readers may want to investigate The British Library’s program on THE WORLD ACCORDING TO COLOR: