The Quiltmaker's Gift

When I quilt or create, I pull inspiration from all sorts of places.  The Quiltmaker's Gift, by Jeff Brumbeau and Gail de Marcken, has inspired me again and again.  I am fortunate enough to get to share a love of quilting with my mom and one of my aunts.  A few years ago, while my mom was visiting her, my aunt showed her this quilting book and immediately my mom knew I'd love it.  As soon as she got back from her trip she ordered The Quiltmaker's Gift and a couple companion books for me and I have been inspired by them ever since.

The Quiltmaker's Gift isn't a quilting book in the usual sense - it's a fairy tale written for children.  It is a beautifully illustrated story about a quilter who teaches a greedy king the joy of giving.  As the story unfolds, each page high-lights a different quilt block.  I have to admit, even though this is a book my son loves to have me read to him, I keep this one in my craft room.  Too many times I found myself trying to sneak back into his room to get it while he was napping.

My mom also gave me The Quiltmaker's Journey, which stars the same quiltmaker, but in a different fairy tale, and one of the two quilting books that were based off of each of these.  The first is called Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift and the second is called More Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift.  The quilting books give patterns for many of the blocks found throughout the fairy tales and also has beautiful quilts that people have made after being inspired by the books.

Together, The Quiltmaker's Gift and The Quiltmaker's Journey have inspired two quilts that I have made.  The first one I made for my sister's new baby earlier this year...

Please excuse my baby and the cat butt in the photo.  I made this quilt before I started blogging and had literally JUST finished the label and snapped these pics before running to catch a flight out to meet my new niece.

This was one of my first real attempts at both hand applique and meandering quilting.  I named the quilt "Peachy Tea" because all of the fabrics were in peach tones and the pattern it was based off of is called "Tea Leaf" in More Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift.  Note: this quilt was based off of the Tea Leaf pattern, there is not actually a pattern for this exact quilt in the book - I made it up (particularly the border).

Not the best pic, but this is what it looks like hanging above my nieces crib.

The second quilt is still a work in progress, but I designed it using two different blocks that are high-lighted in the books.

This block is called Pussy in the Corner...

And this one is called Friendship Star...

Here are a few pics of how it will look once it is all sewn up...

The Quiltmaker's Gift also inspired me to not only want to give that quilt away on this blog, but it has also helped me to realize how much joy I get from making something with my own two hands for someone else as a gift.  At some point in my crafting I realized that the pleasure that I received from purely giving something to someone, without putting a price tag on it, added way more joy to my life than if I were to try and sell my things.  Now don't get me wrong, I'll sell some of my art and jewelry from time to time, but for me it has generally proved more trouble than it was really worth and had a tendency to make my crafting feel more like a job.  I think that is sort of why I've been dragging my feet on starting my own Etsy shop.  One day, maybe, but not just yet.

You can find out more about all four of the books here and also can find them on Amazon here.  And just so you know, I was just looking to share some inspiration - I am not in any way affiliated with or trying to make sales for these sites.  :)