World Book Day! 3rd March.
Mar. 3rd, 2011 07:22 pmWorld Book Day! 3rd March.
To celebrate World Book Day I thought I would share one of my favourite art and craft books with you.

1000 Great Quilt Blocks by Maggi McCormick Gordon.
I have found this book to be a really useful resource, especially for my "Patchwork on Silk" work, as featured in the Guild of Silk Painters Journal a few years ago. It's really clear, and has full breakdowns of the pattern pieces for those of you who want to use them to do "actual" patchwork. I love it as a design resource because it's all black and white line drawings, which means it's much easier to imagine yourself some patterns!
The binding also folds flat, so it is easy to scan and enlarge the images to your required dimensions. When using these to do silk painting, always start from the top LH corner, as this makes sure you won't smudge your lines by leaning on them (Left handers - start from the top RH corner!). If you're nervous, you can always do all the "upright" lines first, let it dry and then rotate it to do all the "sideways" lines. Your purple "fadeaway" pen may be of help here!
Here's some I made earlier:

Once completed, you may wish to quilt or further embellish your piece.
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Other things I love are books of artists' work, for instance this (Klimt). I also find Escher's work fascinating, and books like this one are great - I could look at them for hours!
Second hand bookshops are a fantastic source of inspiration for me. I love rummaging through huge piles of books to find hidden treasures, and it's so much more satisfying than buying over the internet. I sometimes go here, or here, or more often to the ones on Charing Cross Road in London, including this one. Go and find yours today!
To celebrate World Book Day I thought I would share one of my favourite art and craft books with you.

1000 Great Quilt Blocks by Maggi McCormick Gordon.
I have found this book to be a really useful resource, especially for my "Patchwork on Silk" work, as featured in the Guild of Silk Painters Journal a few years ago. It's really clear, and has full breakdowns of the pattern pieces for those of you who want to use them to do "actual" patchwork. I love it as a design resource because it's all black and white line drawings, which means it's much easier to imagine yourself some patterns!
The binding also folds flat, so it is easy to scan and enlarge the images to your required dimensions. When using these to do silk painting, always start from the top LH corner, as this makes sure you won't smudge your lines by leaning on them (Left handers - start from the top RH corner!). If you're nervous, you can always do all the "upright" lines first, let it dry and then rotate it to do all the "sideways" lines. Your purple "fadeaway" pen may be of help here!
Here's some I made earlier:
Once completed, you may wish to quilt or further embellish your piece.
---
Other things I love are books of artists' work, for instance this (Klimt). I also find Escher's work fascinating, and books like this one are great - I could look at them for hours!
Second hand bookshops are a fantastic source of inspiration for me. I love rummaging through huge piles of books to find hidden treasures, and it's so much more satisfying than buying over the internet. I sometimes go here, or here, or more often to the ones on Charing Cross Road in London, including this one. Go and find yours today!