Book Review Day: step-by-step Texture Quilting Christina Cameli

step-by-step Texture Quilting 65 NEW Free-motion & Walking-Foot Designs
Christina Cameli
stash books $24.95, softcover; $19.99 eBook

Christina happened to wander through the Northcott booth at Spring Quilt Market and we had a few minutes to chat. She gave me a copy of her book, I set it down at the table where I was working, and got about my business. At some point I went to lunch or into meetings, someone’s paper covered the book, and they picked it up and took it to Canada with them. I must admit to being a bit freaked out when I couldn’t put my hands on the book. It took a little looking but the book found it’s way back to me.

One of the things I always look at is who the book is dedicated to, what to they say, for it is in these words is found the heart of the person writing. Christina dedicates it to the two people she herself has given birth to in such a beautiful way. This dedication gives way to the beauty of free motion machine quilting motifs & designs that adorn our quilts with simple elegance.

Simple Elegance

Christina begins with simple motifs that look complicated, using echoing to give richness and depth, and fill the pace of the surface of the quilt with places to look, see, and hopefully touch. Christina adds texture to the quilts by dropping in ribbon candy, S’s, pearls, pebbles and other quilting designs to enhance the overall look of any quilt.

While this book has an overall modern feel it is in a greater sense timeless offering us ideas for any style of quilt. More than that Christina has an overall sense of play in the designs, there is a distinct lack of perfection (this is a good thing!) embracing that the quilts we make are meant to be used, loved, and treasured.

She goes further with the free-motion designs to coordinating them with walking foot grids to give a framework within which to quilt.

At the end of the book Christina gives her top ten tips for free-motion quilting. These are basics, words of encouragement that will carry you through the learning of free-motion. Breathe is the best one, perhaps it is because we all forget to breathe when we’re learning to quilt. I remember early on holding my breath and having to remind myself to let the air go. When I breathe out my shoulders would relax. When my shoulders relax it’s easier to quilt.

Over the last couple of weeks Christina has been sharing some really amazing news, she’s got a new fabric line out called Moongate. I’m smitten, in part because right there on fabric are some of her quilting designs. This is a line where stitching over those lines will help with learning the free-motion quilting. As your local shop owner about getting this line in.

Happy Stitching!

Teri