Now Touring: The Quilter's Applique Workshop by Kevin Kosbab

melissa • February 25, 2014 • 3 Comments

 

Is it Christmas again? That’s the only explanation we can think of for another great new hot-off-the-presses book on applique: The Quilter’s Applique Workshop: Timeless Techniques for Modern Designs by Kevin Kosbab of Feed Dog Designs. (Interweave/F & W Media, February 2014, $26.99).

It’s a comprehensive, diagram-packed book with 12 projects exploring three different techniques of applique: 1) raw edge, 2) what Kevin calls “prepared edge” and 3) needle-turn. The instructions are clearly written, and have pertinent bits of info woven in, such as best tools for a task or alternate ideas. And it’s classic Kevin.  His urbane sense of humor oozes off the pages right from the start, where he answers all the classic applique objections, including those of us who whine that we don’t have the patience for needle-turn work.

“Sewing by hand can be extremely soothing (I suspect this is partly why antidepressants weren’t invented until people stopped doing needlework as a matter of course). These days, I don’t have the patience to watch TV without a stitching project at hand,” he writes.

Kevin’s projects vary in size from small table-toppers to pillows to quilts, giving you plenty of inspiration and motivation to try a new technique. Metric-based sewists will be pleased that he gives metric equivalents for all measurements. And he also gives age-old applique techniques some quirky modern style. For example, he revamps bias strip applique so popular in Baltimore Album work, and gives it a makeover in Helix Table Topper:

We also loved us some Cordova Table Runner:

And the Counterbalance Quilt:

Now, Jake and I go back a little bit with Kevin. And we love his sense of humor. We once wrote a fun profile about him for another  quilting lifestyle magazine, and in the spirit of the moment, he posed for a quilterly Charley’s Angels portrait.  Brave man!  We just have to share!

A few other fun things we know about Kevin:

1. In high school, he worked for a concert venue near his house, where he’d have to do stuff like pick up several hundred chicken wings from Hooters for a country music star.

2. He likes a little wine with his applique. (Who doesn’t!)

3. He once told his mom that quilts were “kind of stupid.”

4.  His first official quilt was A Day At The Beach by Denyse Schmidt. Nearly king-sized! (He says he made one more quilt from a pattern, and after that, everything that has passed under his needle since is original.)

And now for a giveaway!

To celebrate the release of his very first book, Kevin is running a grand-prize giveaway on his blog, www.feeddog.net, throughout the tour and ending on March 1. Entering is simple! Just go to his initial blog post at this link, and make a comment (U.S. only). The lucky winner will get a signed copy of A Quilter’s Applique Workbook, a stack of his other applique patterns and his DVD, Secrets of Home Decor Sewing.

Don’t miss the rest of the tour for A Quilter’s Applique Workshop. You can read more at these fine websites and blogs:

Kevin Kosbab

 

 

 

 

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3 Comments

  • Tabitha K. • 10 years ago
    COMMENT #1

    I love what I’ve seen so far in Kevin’s book! Here’s to keeping my fingers crossed! Thanks

    tdkcarpenoctem@hotmail.com

  • quiltzyx/sue • 10 years ago
    COMMENT #2

    Those do look like fun! Thanks for the link too. 🙂

  • Carrie P. • 10 years ago
    COMMENT #3

    Looks like a great book. I read his mom’s blog and she is so proud. I just love that tablerunner.

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