Product Description

Bold designs that celebrate the energy and mystery of nature are spread across the pages of this beautiful book that is bound to stimulate quilters of all levels to new creative heights in their work. Exercises teach crafters how to nurture their designs, sharpen their powers of observation, and capture the animation of a random field or garden. Sixty superb, nature-inspired quilts are shown, and the author walks readers through two projects using raw-edge or turned-edge appliqu and surface embroidery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #471688 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Amazon.com Review
"I want to dazzle the viewer," declares Jane Sassaman, "to snap them out of a mundane routine, and remind them that they are a part of a bigger 'cosmic picture.'" Drawing on the soul-satisfying power of nature, she creates gorgeous quilt art filled with sinuous organic forms splashed with vivid color, often grounded dramatically against black. And dazzle she does, not merely through the multitude of exquisite quilts showcased here, but also through her discussions of what inspires her and through exercises that demonstrate what others can do to find and maintain inspiration at home and in the garden, from establishing a creative workspace to understanding various elements of design, even learning new ways of seeing. Quilters aren't the only ones who can benefit from Sassaman's wisdom; artists in other mediums can learn much from her, too. --Amy Handy

About the Author
Jane Sassaman is an award-winning quilt artist and teacher whose work has been featured in Threads, FiberArts, and American Craft. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Customer Reviews

Her designs and attitude will stretch your imagination
I bought this book fully aware that Jane's graphic style is completely different from my tendency to favor realistic applique or gentle color washes. I wanted to expand my vision, and this incredible book is everything I hoped for. Unlike some quilt books that focus on a technique and others that focus on the development of a quilt artist over time, this book tackles both.
Jane shares her background, introduction to quilting as an artistic medium, her struggles along the way, and the progression of her style, presented both in words and in pictures of her quilts over the years.
The last 40% of the book shows you how find your inpirational material, say a dandelion leaf or iris flower, and work with it to identify its signature characteristics.
Using two quilts, Jane shows her two approaches, providing plenty of detail. I'm working with the image of a Christmas cactus (I bought this book during the holiday season). I can tell that it's going to take a while before I get the design to the point where it pleases me enough to start buying fabric and sewing, but it's an enjoyable challenge. I look forward to producing something completely different from anything I've ever done or thought of doing.
Even if someone never intended to make a quilt like Jane's, reading this book and studying the pictures is an incredible education. The intense power that leaps from her designs is a challenge to every artist to put more life into every work of art. This is a book I will read many times, marveling at what this woman has created.

An Inspiring Way To See And Design
Here are some excerpts from my review of this book. You can see the complete review on the Quilter's Review website.

"A better name for this book would be 'Jane Sassaman: the Artist, the Quilter, the Designer, and the Teacher' because it shows how all these different sides of Jane come together to make a talented and inspiring quilter....

"Jane's work is uniquely her own. You will be amazed at the detail in each quilt. You will be captivated by the exuberance of her design. And you will be fascinated by the boldness of her colors....

"To teach you how to see, Jane takes you on a virtual garden tour, showing beautiful photographs of nature along with her drawings of nature's outstanding characteristics. She boils the design down to the essence of each plant, then exaggerates that essence....

"Unlike other teachers, she doesn't seem to want you to produce her work, obvious in this book by the lack of patterns. She does however, show you how to do the techniques. But you must find your own way to your own art....

"The inspiration Jane supplies in every photo, every quilt, every word, has me designing quilts in my mind like I've never designed before. This great book awakens the artist within."

Recommended by the accidental quilter
Wow! Jane Sassaman is a fiber artist in the zone. The color plates of her quilts are both awesome and inspiring. Her designs are inspired from nature and from historical designs. I particularly like the way she has taken the tree of life design and gone wild with it in "Willow" and several smaller studies.
There are some practical chapters in this book which should inspire and help quilters that are intrigued by the art quilt, but are not sure how to get started. (How to gather ideas and keep a sketch book, how to simplify designs for fibre construction, stylizing, adding depth and interest.) There is also a section where she explores machine embroidery with the quilting process. I love machine embroidery and I'm always looking for artistic ways to blend it with my quilting.
If you are a serious artist, collect this book so you can see what Jane is doing. If you're currently working in the zone--you are going to see some of these visions there.
If you are a beginning or intermediate quilter and are willing to
read and look at this book from cover to cover--it may influence your work when you get to the point you need to use design and color in innovative ways. Definitely a quilter's quilter book, but worth every minute you spend between its covers.