Maverick Quilts: Using Large-Scale Prints, Novelty Fabrics & Panels with Panache

Ok. I love this book.It's a tidy 78 pages which showcases Alethea Ballard's love of using bright colors in large-scale and quirky novelty fabric. The projects and sewing techniques in this book are so innovative that I probably won't be able to sleep tonight. Her color choices are lovely: slices of lime green, bright turquoise, and hot pink or fresh blues and greens with a dash of orange and a drizzle of chocolate brown. Scrumptious eye candy!The book presents 10 projects with simple-to-follow instructions, a section on basic piecing and quilting instruction, and a few tips on fabric selection and color. It's obvious the author loves fabric, color, and quilting and this book must've been a labor of pure joy for her.If you are a traditional quilter, this book may not be right for you. But, if you are looking to jump-start the creative juices and take your quilting and color matching skills in a fresh new direction, this book will take you there.

I purchased this book after reading all of the previous reviews. I had also gone back and forth on whether to order this book or a similar one by Jean Wells. I now wish I had gone with her book "Intuitive Color & Design" or "Journey to Inspired Art Quilting: More Intuitive Color & Design" I must warn that a very large portion of the book is specifically how to construct a quilt. Whereas, I was looking for more specifics on how to use large florals and other large prints in a quilt. I had also looked inside the book and came to a what seemed an interesting part. Somehow, I thought it was going to be advice on how to cut very interesting fabrics and more detailed suggestions as to how to incorporate them into quilts. What I found however, when my book arrived, is that it is instructions on how to seam large floral strips if you need either longer or wider borders.This book needed many more photos of quilts with large prints and specific insights on how to use them. One should not have to wade through so many pages on how to quilt. An author should be able to assume that the purchaser has at least a basic working knowledge of how to quilt and/or inform them of the name(s) of good books that cover beginning quilting.

This books presents very unique quilts by Alethea Ballard, who also developed  Dream Chair Quilts: 7 Blocks for Whimsical Wall Hangings . The quilts presented here use large florals (Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler and the like), novelty fabrics and panels in very unexpected ways. Blocks pieced from stripes float on a ground of big and bright floral fabrics; other large florals are subdivided into smaller blocks with zingers and traditional blocks such as drunkard's path are used to highlight different kinds of Asian fabrics in the same quilt. I rapidly put the blocks into Electric Quilt, which for me is a test on whether or not I can reproduce it or not, and found the instructions to be quite detailed and helpful. If you are looking for a new approach to pieced quilts, you will find a lot of inspiration in this book. Also, be sure to visit her website for many other quilts; some she has designed and some she has provided photographs for from quilt exhibitions.

Alethea's book has fresh new ideas about how to add energy to your quilts. Her Maverick approach (less piecing...more making fabric do its work) is, at once, refreshing and eye opening.

Oh how fun! These quilts are colorful and creative--eye candy bars:). There is good variety in the 10 quilt patterns so any larger print can be accommodated in splendor. Most of the quilt projects include a picture of a second quilt made with the same pattern but different fabrics. This is a very helpful feature since envisioning what fabrics might "work" and how they would look is a little challenging and surprising with larger prints. If you are stuck with traditional or conservative colors or designs, this book is not for you. Personally, I love this book and admit it appeals to my wild side.

I have always wonder how to use some of the fabric I love that I can't bear to cut up. This book give you ideas as to what goes together and use the fabrics without cutting them so I loose the beautiful patterns. It's either that or keep them for quilt backings. If you have large-scale and have the same problem that I have this is a good book for you.

loved the idea of using large prints for quilts and this books has some fantastic projects. Its also nice to have a go to book, saves time searching for the pattern among your magazines.

Interesting use of fabric. Like her ideas. Sometimes, I like to think outside the box and this has helped me do just that.

The author had really good tips on making fabric wider/longer and how to match prints. Her quilt patterns were also interesting. However, I understand that this book was about using large prints (which is why I bought it), but her use of huge flower patterned fabric, all stuck together was hard on the eyes and I found that it made it hard to make out the design of the quilt. I wish that just for demonstration of the designs, she had used less busy patterns and then maybe show another picture of the same quilt with a busy pattern.

Great book, Proving very useful