Books written by our friends and colleagues

This is in no way a comprehensive list of my friends and readers' books, but just a few I happen to be thinking about at the moment. If any of you would care to send me information about your books, I'd be most interested!

First up is a new release by two creative fabric and mixed media artists who have both guest blogged here at Subversive Stitchers. Check the right column under Guest Bloggers for a look at what they've written. -- Dawn

Creative Ways with Books and Journals

by our very own Sue Bleiweiss and Terri Stegmiller!!!

It is available through Amazon of course or from the authors themselves. Cost at Amazon is $22.99.

Product Description:

Combine traditional book binding techniques with fabric and fibers to create journals to keep for yourself or give as gifts. You'll learn how to make beautiful hand painted fabrics using shibori and water soluble crayons and explore mixed media techniques with tissue paper, kitchen foil, paper fabric and recycled envelopes. Create gorgeous textured surface journals using machine cord, linen strips and pearl beads. With easy to follow directions accompanied by full color photos even the most inexperienced book maker will have no trouble making the eight soft cover and four hard cover book projects.

Product Details:
Paperback: 130 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (September 18, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 144212573X
ISBN-13: 978-1442125735
Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces

Of course we couldn't forget Lyric Kinard's recent release:

Art + Quilt

Product Description:

Secrets for quilting success are presented through a variety of techniques, exercises, and insider tips to inspire novice quilters and experienced textile artists to make genuine works of art. Simplifying the basic fundamentals of art and teaching the underlying principles of the visual language, this guide explores texture, shape, line, color, and value with examples and hands-on exercises. Essential principles—such as focal point, balance, repetition, scale, and space—are paired with creativity exercises while guest essays, guest artwork, and inspiring artwork from the author allow readers to analyze how other artists utilize key artistic elements or principles and see how to successfully use these elements in their own work. Both a personal creativity coach and a guide for a hobbyist or professional artist, this reference clarifies quilting goals and takes the craft to the next level through design and composition.

About the Author:

Lyric Kinard is an award-winning master quilter whose articles have appeared in Quilting Arts magazine, and her works have been featured in numerous books and exhibitions. She lives in Cary, North Carolina.

Product Details
Hardcover-spiral: 136 pages
Publisher: Interweave Press; (September 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596681063
ISBN-13: 978-1596681064
Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds

For more information about and inspiration from Lyric, check out the latest guest blog! She has great advice.

This I Accomplish

by Kyra Hicks

One of my favorite fellow bloggers (check out my blog list to the right for Black Threads) has written a thoroughly researched and respected book about the quilts of Harriet Powers.

Product Description:

The powerful quilts of Harriet Powers (1837-1910), a former Athens, Georgia slave, continue to capture our imagination today. Her two-known creations, the Bible Quilt and the Pictorial Quilt, have independently survived since stitched more than a century ago. Over the years, thousands of museum visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston have stood transfixed viewing her artwork. Powers' two quilts are arguably the most well-known and cited coverings in American quilt history. But, until today, no one has told the entire, dramatic story of how these two quilts, one of which initially sold for $5, were coveted, cared for, and cherished for decades in private homes before emerging as priceless, national treasures.

This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilts and Other Pieces brings to light new, exciting facts - many never before published: complete exhibition history for both known quilts; proof Harriet Powers was a literate, award-winning quilter, who stitched at least five quilts and promoted her own artwork; profiles of the two nineteenth century women who sought to purchase the Bible Quilt; profiles of the three men who once owned the Pictorial Quilt; unveiling of a young artist who embellished the Pictorial Quilt; and the name of the person who first made the connection in the twentieth century that Harriet Powers stitched both quilts.

This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilts and Other Pieces is the most comprehensive resource guide on this influential African American quilter. The book includes nearly 200 bibliographic references, most annotative, including books, exhibition catalogs, newspapers, plays, poetry, interactive map and more. For the first time ever, readers are provided with clues and encouraged to search for Harriet Powers' lost 1882 Lord's Supper Quilt.

This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilts and Other Pieces is written by Kyra E. Hicks, a quilter whose story quilts have appeared in over forty group exhibitions in places such as the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY, the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the American Folk Art Museum in NY. Hicks is the author of Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook and Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria. She lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Product Details:

Paperback: 182 pages
Publisher: Black Threads Press (July 6, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982479654
ISBN-13: 978-0982479650
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces

Congratulations to all of these artists for their accomplishments and hard work. And I've found all of their publications, blogs and work most inspirational and helpful. -- Dawn