Anna Maria's Blueprint Quilting

Starred review from October 7, 2024
This dazzling guide from Parry (Anna Maria’s Needleworks Notebook), the design director for fabric wholesaler Anna Maria Textiles, explains how to make colorful quilts. While such common block patterns as the half-square triangle and snowball appear throughout, Parry throws in some of her own designs, including the “whippersnapper,” which features thin fabric strips over half the block with additional strips intersecting perpendicularly on the other half. She shows how to create variations on four “blueprints” that offer general guidelines for arranging blocks. Among the four versions of the “triptych” blueprint, which divides the quilt’s composition into three columns, the “Roman numerals quilt” juxtaposes two columns of blue log cabin blocks against a central strip of tans and oranges, while the “fence line quilt” builds on that baseline by adding appliqué Dresden fans. The progressive difficulty of the projects will help sewists build their skills, and the final two designs, though challenging, are absolute showstoppers. One offers an angular reimagining of Georgia O’Keefe’s Flower Abstraction, abandoning the traditional block format for irregular shards of riotous color. The other comprises a stunningly detailed portrait of Parry’s youngest daughter, painstakingly recreated with scraps of paisley and floral print. Parry’s sophisticated artistic sensibilities set this apart from standard quilting manuals.

January 17, 2025

Parry came to quilting as an outgrowth of her success as a fabric designer and she brings a singular perspective to the art. She first approaches design as she would a blank canvas, starting with a "blueprint" and then adding color, print, and value. She presents several of her quilts and explains the thought process leading to the creation. Some blueprints were followed more than once, changing techniques, palette, and scale. Although the book covers the basics of quilt making from beginning to end, with a thorough discussion of color theory, the real strength here is in the author's innovative compositions. The quilts are vibrant presentations of color and texture. Her combinations of prints would be a challenge to many quilters but come across with great success. Some smaller projects are outlined for those who want to experiment before delving into a full quilt. VERDICT A wonderful recommendation for quilters wanting to break with tradition and soar to new heights. This book will have special appeal to artists in other mediums who want to move into fabric art.--Debbie Bogenschutz

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