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Little Quilts -- Book Review

Disclosure: Ryland, Peters and Small gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

 Today I get to share a wonderful quilt book, Little Quilts by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger. Two things interested me with this book. First the idea of little quilts will mean easier (smaller and quicker) projects so it will not take me months to make one and second little quilts are often doll size. With Hazel being so focused on her dolls she wants doll quilts, so I figured this book would help me get creative!!
This book features fifteen small quilts to make with step-by-step instructions. The instructions include everything from color choices, cutting and the how-to. The instructions are written clearly and easy to follow. I decided to make a quilt for part of Hazel's Christmas gift. Although it was not my first choice of quilts form the book, I decided to make Fans of May based on its size. Their version of Fans of May looks like this (I found it on-line at another blog).
May Fans from Little Quilts (Picture Source)
This Fans of May was made by Amy Lobsiger. This was actually a great quilt to make to review the book since it requires several different quilting skills from foundation piecing (which I haven't done in awhile), applique and regular piecing. I am able to review many different explanations as a result. I loved the colors Amy chose, but wanted to do with my own twist. I also am in a do not buy more fabric until I use up some of what I have first mode. I made mine a scrap quilt. This made the most sense since the pieced middle are two-inch squares which I had already cut from my days of making watercolor quilts. The fans are foundation pieced and use small rectangles for the pieces. I planned to use my mother's fabric since she has it pre-cut, but my trip to visit my parents was canceled so I found scraps from some of the things I made for Hazel and other fabric to use. Finally I decided to use some of my thin lace instead of rickrack for the trim on the fans. Oh, and since I do not have wool fabrics (I'm allergic) I used fleece since I had some scraps and it also does not need a finished edge. 
Hazel hinted as I made the quilt that she wanted it. I figured it would be a nice surprise for her Christmas morning. The instructions were very clear. The only parts I struggled with were more because they were unusual for a quilt than anything. For example the fans are three-dimensional and I had to read the instructions several times to figure out what fabric to use (since I didn't have the wool) and how it all attached. 
Showing 3-dimensional and back of fan
I am very happy with the quilt. When I showed my mother she mentioned how it was a lot of work for such a small quilt, but she liked it. Hazel is very happy with it as well as her Christmas present from me and Steve. We got her the Pretty in Pink Doll Storage Trunk and Bed from The Queen's Treasures. It came with bedding, but I wanted to personalize it. We added a mirror and the quilt. I left it set up under the tree with her Hazel doll sleeping on the murphy bed. 

Needless to say she loves it!! She has all her dolls hanging out on the bed now. We also managed to stick three dolls with the bedding, clothes and accessories into the trunk to take to my parents on Christmas Day. 




I think my next little quilt will be Drawn Together. It looks like it will be the perfect size for Ducky!! It is the star quilt on the cover of the book.
I will definitely have to make it with more yellows though. After all yellow is Ducky's favorite color according to Hazel. So I have to highly recommend this book as a great quilt book for beginners and advanced quilters. The projects are fun and add a spin to traditional quilting. Plus many of the projects are perfect size for doll quilts and things for little ones!!

 For some more posts on quilting, check out:

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