Book Review - Sonoma Rose

First let me say that reading is a true passion with me.   As a young child, I wanted to read.  My mother read lots of things.  My older sister started school and soon she was reading too.  I felt left out. I saw the joy they got from books.  I did have one book of my very own.  I could "read" it too.  You see, I had memorized every word.  "Little boy blue, come blow your horn...."  It was a book of nursery rhymes with wonderful illustrations. 
Fast forward a few years. (okay, okay!  more than a few!) 
Two or three weeks ago, I got an email asking if I would like to review a book. Ha!  Yes please! 


I was sent a pre-release copy of  Sonoma Rose by Jennifer Chiaverini.  

The first night I started reading it, I had very little time to read.  I only read the first sixteen pages before I had to do something else. It was tough to put the book down; you see, I was already hooked.  This book is a great read. The characters quickly came to life and I was totally involved in the story of Rosa Diaz Barclay.  Rosa is in a terrible marriage. Rosa has borne eight children.   Two of her children are ill with a devastating illness that has already claimed the lives of four other children.  The other two children are robust and healthy. 
This story takes place in California during the days of Prohibition.  As California is known for the wine country in Sonoma valley, prohibition meant the loss of livelihood for many families.  Ms. Chiaverini manages to weave a story that will keep you spellbound as you learn about that history.   For me, the aspect of the children's illness was another interesting part of the story. 
Although Jennifer Chiaverini is known for stories that involve quilts, the quilts play only a small supporting role in this book. 
This book has characters that are well developed and complex. The story is rich and satisfying like a good meal.   You will close this book with a smile and a sigh.  


I highly recommend this book.  It was a delight. 

Finish Almost Any Quilt - Book Review

As promised, here is the review of Finish Almost Any Quilt  by Marguerita McManus. 

So many readers have asked "How do you join your quilt as you go projects?"  Since the method I use was taken from a copyrighted work,  I  contacted the author to ask about sharing it.  We both agreed that it wasn't a good idea to try to squeeze it in a blog post.  However, after looking at some of my work and some of others who adapted her method, she realized that another book would be great.
Marguerite kindly sent a copy of this book as a gift to me.  She said that I actually helped to inspire the book. (Wow, that made my day.)
I have throughly devoured this book.  I looked at how the information is presented.  I looked at the pictures (I love pictures!)  I enjoyed it. And the best part - I learned even more and got ideas!
Before I get going, I have to say that this book is not for everyone.  Here is some text (used with permission) from the Amazon description:


This book is meant for people who want to make and finish a LOT of quilts and who are not fussy about "perfection". If you want to spend a year making a perfect quilt, this book is NOT for you. 
If you are a brand new quilt maker who has been intimidated by the idea of trying to quilt a huge quilt, I hope that you'll read this book with inspiration and then find a block that you like and make your own quilt, your way, and finish it with me. 

You will be surprised at how quickly you will have a finished quilt on your bed! If you are an intermediate quilt maker who is tired of struggling to machine quilt your own quilts on your home sewing machine, I hope you'll find inspiration in my machine quilting techniques. You'll see how easy it is to put together a finished quilt using the methods in this book. 

If you are an experienced quilt maker, let's turn "I need to finish these quilts" into "I can finish my quilts this way! I like this look and I'm sure I can do it!" 

If you've vowed "No new projects until I finish something," let's finish your quilts together in a whole new way, quickly and easily. 

You loved your quilt projects when you started them, now let's pull them out and fall in love with them again and finish them in lots of new ways! 

If you are a perfectionist, this is not the book for you - I break a lot of "traditional" rules and you may not like it. 

If you want to make award winning, blue ribbon quilts, this is definitely not the book for you because I don't follow traditional rules. If you want to finish lots of quilts easily, I wrote this book just for you! 

If you: 

• love playing with blocks 
• want to finish your quilts yourself 
• like change and adaptations 
• are open to new ideas 

------------then this is the book for you! 


Now, on to my review.
In this book, many topics are covered.
Planning discusses options for finishing up completed tops (you may have to do some un-sewing!) But it also explains choosing patterns that work well for this method.  She very honestly states that some patterns just won't work for this.  But so many do work for it. Even if some require a little tweaking.

This Chinese Coins quilt (sorry about the lighting problem) 

is one that I made using the method.  It really didn't require any tweaking.  

Other things are settings and there is even a section on tee shirt quilts. (I wish I had that when a friend was having difficulty making one - the tips are excellent!)  Of course the actual construction method is in the book. There is a nice section on "how to quilt" that includes some basic free motion quilting.

Have you ever made a quilt and realized it was a little bit too short or maybe not wide enough?  How about just adding some borders right before  you bind it?  Yes that is in this book too.  I have done this and it works great! Don't believe me?  That Chinese coins quilt has added borders.

Another nice section talks about binding.  This method is "all machine binding" which I use a lot.  But you can still finish the binding on these the traditional way if you wish.  I did that on one quilt I made this way.

If you are looking for a way to quilt larger quilts yourself on a small domestic machine, This just may be the book for you.  I am giving it my  golden thimble rating. (And that is my best rating! Just so  you know.)  I wish that I had found this book when I first started quilting.

Should I have a giveaway for a copy of this book?  What do you think?  (comments will certainly influence me to do it; so speak up.)