Vertical Quilting Curve

I went to the library yesterday to pick up videos for my recovering daughter. While I was there all by myself (which is very rare), I decided to browse the quilt book section and one book in particular jumped out at me. 90 Minute Quilts - 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon by Meryl Ann Butler.

90 minute quilts! Is that possible?

Since I do most of my creative endeavors on the weekend and maybe a free evening, I was very interested. The book is simply deceiving just by flipping through it because the projects are basically squares stitched in rows. Well, I can do that already! But, it still takes more than 90 minutes to cut out the squares, sew them together, add borders, baste it and quilt it. How could it claim 90 minutes? So, I decided I better just take a closer look.

Basically, this is a quilt as you sew instruction book but with a few tricks up its sleeve. You still sew rows of squares together but you don’t sew the rows together until you place them together on top of the batting and backing. Then you do the same for the borders. There are instructions for doing one of those self bindings but I still prefer the traditional binding which just happens to take a while to do. I always hear other quilters complain about the binding and how tedious it is. I on the other hand love this step. It actually is very relaxing for me to do and it means when it is done - I AM FINISHED!

Anyway, back to the book. Although the basic concept is very simple the author has an excellent point. She is really an art quilter but still wants to make quilts for family and friends and she likes to make quilts that people can use. I love this! I am always in a dilemma on the form versus function argument of design and now she just gave me permission to be simple as well as complicated. She explains in her introduction how doing these quick and easy pieces provides a balance to her time-consuming art pieces.

I am definitely going to give this method a try and although most of the projects in the book are very simple, she also shows a few using silk and velvet that turn a very simple design into a very elegant and sophisticated gift. Of course, I will document my findings here but it’s going to be awhile before I really get to do anything new with the holiday weekend coming up.

Another plus for using this book would be for those who like to make quilts for Project Linus or other charities. It would be a quick and easy way to get a few blankets done whether for kids quilts or lap quilts for a nursing home.

By the way, I think I’ve just found a new series for this blog. After finding this book, I decided to look for other time-saving or quick method ways to get that darn project done. I found several books including some older ones. I have a few lying around here somewhere, too. If you have any methods or books you like to use just let me know.