Rowan Patchwork and Quilting Book No. 4

Rating:
Summary: Trans-Atlantic Creativity
Review: The Rowan Patchwork books are an interesting hybrid. Part art book, part catalogue, part how-to manual, put together by a trans-Atlantic quilting mafia of great talent, these books (or magazines, as they prefer to call them) give very intense pleasure. They are a showcase for a new flowering of "glorious patchwork," to steal a phrase, under the nurturing auspices of Kaffe Fassett and Liza Pryor Lucy, and featuring new quilt designs by both British and American quilters. Number 4 contains new work by Fassett and Lucy, as well as American sisters Mary Mashuta and Roberta Horton, and a sprinkling of lesser known but also talented quilters. They are presented first in a casual gallery in domestic settings, then later as part of detailed instructions for constructing them. In between there are several pages displaying Kaffe Fassett's latest fabric collections, and a charming featurette on one of the contributors, Liza Prior Lucy. The quilts in the collection are mostly traditional in the sense of being geometric, but the exquisite color selection and artistic sense that infuses them makes them stand out from their ancestry. Lots of inspiration here!