Aspiring quilters will love this practical, aesthetic, and magnificently photographed introduction to the craft. Every page showcases the most beautiful pieces to illustrate the various facets of this ever-popular art, including color, pattern, and texture. Color--from the bright blues and pinks of Amish designs to the subtle transition from light to dark in Log Cabin motifs--has always been one of the most exciting aspects of quilting, and you'll be inspired to play with different combinations. See how to create gorgeous patterns on the quilt itself, and how a mix of quilts can enhance your décor. Try new fabric textures, and learn about tied quilting, quilting stitches, and breaking the boundaries of tradition. Twenty projects, including an Evening Star and a Jewel-Bright Mosaic.

Any home anywhere can achieve that cozy cottage feel. Just look at these color photos, brimming with surprising and inspiring ideas, and you'll see the possibilities. This magnificent guide to cottage style salutes both traditional takes and fresh twists on this enduring look, and highlights those elements that truly make a room cottage style. The sheer number of variations on this laid-back approach is simply amazing, ranging from a California bungalow furnished in flea market finds to a New York apartment that seems straight out of the English countryside. Flip through the pages of images. Then use them as blueprints to copy precisely or as an idea manual of clever ways to apply unique colors, work with wallpaper patterns, or display collections. “Lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs throughout.”--Publishers Weekly.

With themes such as garden, cottage, seaside, farmhouse, and mountain cabin, quilters who love the inviting look of cottage style will find the 14 bed and lap quilt projects in this book just right. Full color.

From a leading American lifestyle magazine, advice and tips to easily create a clean, organized, relaxing, and inviting home—includes photos. Has life become a bundle of stress and mess? Top-selling author Susan Waggoner has the solution. This ingenious, fun-to-read illustrated guide offers tried-and-true household hints and practical solutions to everyday problems, from the “A-to-Z Guide to Food” to “The Tao of Laundry.” Whether it's a no-scrub trick to make bathroom faucets gleam or surefire advice on keeping your house harmonious with as little fuss as possible, Country Living Simple Country Wisdom is the key to creating a home that's cheerful, welcoming, and warm.

Crafts.

A guide to country living features photographs, illustrations, instructions and tips for living off the land, covering such topics as canning and preserving, soap-making, and building a dog house.

The definitive study on the history, meaning, art, and commerce of Amish quilts. Second Place Winner of the Design and Effectiveness Award of the Washington Publishers Quilts have become a cherished symbol of Amish craftsmanship and the beauty of the simple life. Country stores in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and other tourist regions display row after row of handcrafted quilts. In luxury homes, office buildings, and museums, the quilts have been preserved and displayed as priceless artifacts. They are even pictured on collectible stamps. Amish Quilts explores how these objects evolved from practical bed linens into contemporary art. In this in-depth study, illustrated with more than 100 stunning color photographs, Janneken Smucker discusses what makes an Amish quilt Amish. She examines the value of quilts to those who have made, bought, sold, exhibited, and preserved them and how that value changes as a quilt travels from Amish hands to marketplace to consumers. A fifth-generation Mennonite quiltmaker herself, Smucker traces the history of Amish quilts from their use in the late nineteenth century to their sale in the lucrative business practices of today. Through her own observations as well as oral histories, newspaper accounts, ephemera, and other archival sources, she seeks to understand how the term “Amish” became a style and what it means to both quiltmakers and consumers. She also looks at how quilts influence fashion and raises issues of authenticity of quilts in the marketplace. Whether considered as art, craft, or commodity, Amish quilts reflect the intersections of consumerism and connoisseurship, religion and commerce, nostalgia and aesthetics. By thoroughly examining all of these aspects, Amish Quilts is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of these beautiful works.