Paper piecing is a great way to easily make detailed quilt squares, without having to fussy cut or rotary cut every single little piece.
Instead of having to meticulously plan every seam, paper piecing gives you a little more freedom and it’s a lot less intimidating to begin.
One of my favorite books on the subject is “Paper Piece a Flower Garden” by Jodie Davis.

The book is filled with patterns for leaves, flowers, bugs, birds and animals – in short, anything that you could find living in a flower garden!  It doesn’t give you a set pattern for putting the blocks together, …read more

When I saw this book, Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! , by Christen Haden, I knew I had to get it. I’m glad I did. It’s a fun little book with patterns to make tiny ninjas, zombies, robots, vampires, and more. The patterns are big enough to be easy to work with, but small enough to be quick to make. If you’re looking to sell some of these, they don’t take much yarn or felt.

The patterns are simple in style, and then provide templates where you can make the accessories that go …read more

Just picked up the book Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham. I was drawn to this book because of Buckingham’s previous books, First, Break All the Rules, and Now, Discover Your Strengths. I read each of his earlier works to help me with my job, and found them to be very helpful. So I was excited to see that he had penned something specifically for women.

While I appreciated the effort, however, I was underwhelmed by the book. Buckingham uses several examples of different types of women …read more

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Ex* by Heather Belle, MFC and Michelle Fiordaliso, MSW is a smart and insightful book about all of the complicated and confusing questions surrounding the issue of ex-lovers.
Everything…Ex* is written in a witty, colloquial, and organized style.  It is filled with short anecdotes, tons of pop culture references, and bullet points that break down the problems and solutions of the most common problems that the authors have witnessed in their studies of relationships, yet is still fun and easy to read.  And yes, I did say solutions!  I was extremely happy to see …read more

Pull out your fabric stash and get ready to rock and roll!
I’ve got a copy of Interweave Press’s new fabric arts book to give away! Fabricate: 17 innovative sewing projects that make fabric the star can be yours just for leaving a comment below. Tell me what the last fabric project you did was, or what you’d like it to be if you’ve never worked with fabric before. Next Tuesday, I’ll randomly choose a winner from the comments list. You can read a review of Fabricate here.
FREE STUFF ALERT***FREE STUFF ALERT!!

I picked up Bethenny Frankel’s book, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinny Girl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting the other day. Bethenny, for those of you who don’t know, was featured on the Martha Stewart Apprentice show and is also one of the Real Housewives of New York City. She’s a natural foods chef and owns her company, BethennyBakes. She’s straightforward, with an acerbic wit that makes her a fan favorite.

And I am a fan of Bethenny’s. I appreciate her attitude toward things and think she’s certainly interesting to watch! So I was …read more

Notes on Cooking
by Lauren Braun Costello
Here are all the essential things that we used to either learn from our mothers (or possibly in school during home ec class), but that just aren’t necessarily passed on anymore.
Author Lauren Braun Costello say that “A recipe is like a road map.  A road map shows you where to go and how to get there, but does not teach you how to drive.”  The “how to drive” part is what this clever book covers, the knowledge that will help you to think like a chef.
Some of the advice is practical (such as add butter …read more

Just about a year ago, I wrote a review of Susan Stein’s Fabric Art Workshop, and recommended it highly for those who wanted a book to grow with as you learned surface design techniques.   Well, Susan has done it again!

The new book is Fabric Art Projects, and my supposition is that it is an expansion of the last book.  The description says that it teaches techniques and provides projects to use them in.  I’m thinking that perhaps it would be best to take a look at the book first if you’ve already bought the first one, but if not, this …read more

Wow! What a terrible job someone had to do, scouring the best bars and restaurants coast to coast to decide what to include in this 2009 guide from Food & Wine!  A terrible job, but someone had to do it!
In Food & Wine Cocktails ‘09, the 150 recipes included here are the deemed the best of the best, with a wonderful at-a-glance type of guide to let you know how complicated, what type of liquor, and what shape of glass for each.  There is also an entire section of Mocktails, which I really appreciate since I found out …read more

Interweave Press has a brand new fabric art book out this spring that I think will really make mixed media artists sit up and take notice.  Whether you are new to fabric arts or are an experienced sewer, you will find ideas for transforming retail fabrics or for revamping materials you already own with techniques that are easy to do and easy on the wallet!
Fabricate
by Susan Wasinger
Fabricate shows how to create unique effects by using both classic and modern techniques: pleats, crinkles, cut and fray, laminates, layers, applique, crazy stitch, burn out, etching, and more. My goodness!
Check out The …read more