My Quilting Library: Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle

When I shared my QuiltCon haul of books, I loved reading your comments about your own quilting book buying habits. It ranged from “love and buy them all”, to others a bit like me – we use the internet for everything. And it may surprise you that I had Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle in the pile, because, uh, Modern HST Sampler QAL and my much-professed love for the humble half-square triangle.

But let me tell you why… firstly, a touch of the fangirl. You see, it was Jeni who first introduced me to half-square triangles! In 2012, she ran a HST sampler series – one quilt block every month – and I sewed along to it. It’s thanks to her that I fell in love with half-square triangles! I made all the blocks, but only 9 made it into a finished quilt top late last year (one had been used for FMQ practice and another needed unpicking and resewing to work and I just wanted to get it done).

So it feels like a bit of a sweet ending to the story to purchase her HST book. But on a slightly more serious note, I also wanted to learn. Just because I love HSTs and feel comfortable making and designing with them, doesn’t mean I don’t still have something to learn! Perhaps it’s the way she phrases her pattern instructions, or an inspiring design idea to take and work upon for myself in my own design experiments, and especially to enjoy the beautiful photographs and her classically gorgeous colour palettes.

Plus Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle isn’t just about HSTs. Jeni is known for her work with colour, and she weaves colour education and workshops into the projects, encouraging you to play with different colour combinations to see what you can come up with.

I love the variety in scale of projects, from a giant half-square triangles quilt, to a big block quilt, and the 60 different quilt block designs to mix and match. She sewed them all too, they’re not just illustrations! I really admire that, the work ethic to make so many!

I also love that she’s taken a lot of the photos herself, really making it feel like “Jeni”. If you love her blog and aesthetic, you will love the book design.

And I really appreciate that she encourages you to make the quilts your own by including pages to colour for each project – copy and colour as often as you like!

 

Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle
Publisher: Lucky Spool
Pages: 128
Projects: 12 + 60 quilt block designs
RRP: US$26.95 (currently $17.44 on Amazon)
Format: Paperback
Who should buy it: Fans of Jeni Baker; anyone who love scrappy quilts; those who want to conquer half-square triangles; quilters who are looking for more HST quilt block design ideas to adapt to their own projects.

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