Material Obsession: Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots

....if you love fabrics, admire all the new designs of fabrics on the market as well as the traditional, and just plain love the art of quilting. For three days after receiving this book, I picked it up to read whenever possible and felt my fingers itching to create any one of the quilts shown in the book. This book is not a "cookbook" of quilt patterns showing a particular look in piecework or to teach a certain type of quilting. Instead, the authors encourage the readers to ignore "boundaries" in the creation of quilts, and to follow their own instincts and preferences in the matter of fabric, color, thread, and even the mechanics of the quilting process. The resulting quilts are not heavily stylized, but have a homey, comfortable look, similar to an antique quilt.Each quilt shown in "Material Obsession, ranging in level of difficulty from easy to advanced, has instructions for piecing using the colors shown in the quilt, but suggestions are given throughout the book about different colorways to consider in certain patterns, or pointing out that a particular color of fabric may be needed to give the quilt a certain "punch" of color. Also helpful is a statement by the writers regarding the "idea" behind the making of each quilt, which can help provide a creative spark for the readers who want to use a favorite fabric or a grouping of fabric scraps.The book ends with a quilter's reference section, the need of which in a quilting book can often be considered debatable by an experienced quilter. However, the reference section works in this book, due to the increasing level of difficulty of the quilt patterns shown in this book, and the need for knowledge of certain skills in hand quilting, applique, and piecing shapes such as diamonds and hexagons.Since the book contains a foreword by Kaffe Fassett, don't be surprised to see a picture or two of shelves of fabric, most of Kaffe's own designs. If you are a Kaffe Fassett fabric lover, this is just icing on the cake. However, Kaffe's fabrics do not dominate in the quilt designs in the book; it is fun to looks at the quilts and see how many different current designer fabrics you can spot in the quilts, and see how many you may already have in your fabric stash.

I have fallen in love with Australian quilting. I love their use of color in a little different way then we see in American quilts. I guess that I am a modern, contemporary quilter and really like re-inventing the quilt than most of my peers. I love Kaffe, Amy and all those brave souls who give us all these wonderfully colorful fabrics. I love how our Australian quilting sisters make use of those fabric lines and others to give us quilts that read like a breath of fresh air. Do I like all their designs, no, but then I rarely like every quilt in any quilt book. This book was a must have for my quilting library. So wonderful to get out when I need new inspiration. Especially taking an old block and giving it new life. Well done!

I enjoy Sarah Fielke's work and am particularly interested in the Dotty for Dresden (featured on the cover). Beautiful book. Some quicker traditional patterns are also included. RECOMMEND.

I love this book! The patterns are a bit traditional but with modern fun fabrics they look fresh & modern. Options galore here. And with difficulty levels from super easy to challenging, this book is for anyone who likes to quilt. or look at pictures of them : )

I am an admitted compulsive reader of quilt books. Material Obsession rises to the level of retaining my interest. I’ve been rolling a few ideas around for a new quilt for a couple of weeks now based on the patterns and color choices in this book. If you’re on the fence, I recommend buying this book or any other authored by Kathy Doughty.

Much more than I expected. I’m a Sarah fan. This book is so fun with original designs. It is 2009 issue date. I wanted the cover pattern but have marked 3 more.

This is a title I can certainly relate to and this book is so well written and easy to understand. It has given me lots of ideas for ways to use the materials that I collect and obsess about. I love it and look forward to part II coming out soon!

I love quilt books, and something just made me want to have this one. This book is beautifully done and it feels very substantial. The quilts themselves are a little too 'cute' for my taste, however, and I am not likely to make any of them. It seems like the genius of the authors is in selecting fabrics; I didn't find the actual quilt patterns to be anything particularly unique or special. They really are just traditional quilt patterns done in modern fabrics. I'm also not fond of the hand-drawn instruction pictures. Again, cute and stylish, but not as clear to follow if you're actually going to make the quilt The book is still lovely to look at, but if I had leafed through it at the bookstore, I probably wouldn't have bought it. Someone who goes in for a more feminine, cute look may like this more than I did.

A beautifully illustrated book! I love the gorgeous photos. Also, it includes templates for the pieces of the quilts.

Un basico para realizar colchas con las telas del diseñador Kaffe Fassett , una gran variedad de diseños en cada libro.

I bought for my grandmother for Christmas and she absolutely loves it. I also enjoy it as well!

Dieses Buch ist eine Neuauflage. Ich hatte mich vom Titelbild "blenden" lassen.Schade, denn diese Bücher von "Material Obsession" sind schon toll, doch ich brauche keine 2!!! davon.

I would not recommend this book to any quilter, novice or experienced. The quilt layouts and patterns are poorly hand-drawn and the fabric and colour combos are more than "unconventional"; they are unattractive. Sorry to be so harsh but this book was very disappointing.