Book Talk- Contemporary Quilts by Sandra Meech

After my mini foray into patchwork recently  a friend leant me Contemporary Quilts by Sandra Meech. 
This book gives a introduction into contemporary quilt making. The blurb describes it as  "as an essential too for quilters and textiles artists who want to break away from traditional designs... " It focusses on the artistic side of quilt making rather than  the basic principles of traditional quilting and gives a good insight into how to plan and develop a contemporary quilt.

The first part of the book discusses  where to get inspiration for your quilt, looking at areas such as elements of the natural world , architecture or even emotions and experience and also touches upon how you can use your own photographs or images to inspire your pieces. It then moves on to discuss how to create different surfaces to use within your work before discussing  composition  and colour principles.

I especially like the  areas where it shows you how to take you own original art work and apply this onto your quilt.

The last section has a more practice focus discussing the different techniques  of how to apply stitch creatively into your quilts using techniques such as appliquéd and embroidery in a contemporary way and then also  briefly discusses  quilt construction techniques.

The book does appear to have been written with a competent quilter or textile artist in mind and assumes that you already know the principles of the craft. Personally I think the most appealing thing about this book is the beautiful image of the various work it shows on every page.  Its a book that I can will defiantly call upon when I'm in need of some guidance with my creative work , and I think the principles discussed can be applied to may other projects as well as quilting