A Touch of Rosie Quilts

* sigh * I will never get tired of watching how Carrie Nelson combines fabrics in her quilt designs. And in her latest "A Touch Of Rosie Quilts - 14 Designs By Carrie L. Nelson" it is hard to decide which I admire most: her sumptuous fabric choices and combinations or her signature designs.In these 112 pages, you get the following 13 designs (one has 2 settings). Make sure to check your pattern stash, because you might have some of these already:AllemandeCrackling Palms (in 2 settings)Don't Be CruelDue SouthFull BloomHigh CottonHound DogLuci In The SkyLooking GlassQuadrilleSimple CitySummer WindSweet EscapeDue South is particularly noteworthy for its sheer number of Flying Geese units - 256 of them!! However, using Ms Nelson's Flying Geese piecing method you really divide this number by 4; but you've still got to join them all.Crackling Palms is shown in both a diagonal setting and a straight setting. The latter is the one shown on the cover, and is done up in a drop dead gorgeous combination of muted butterscotches, dusty blues, and soft yellows with a few touches of rose throughout.Don't Be Cruel is sort of a halfway Trip Around The World; it shows how simple strips of squares can seem to dance across the quilt top when you choose and place your colors carefully.Quadrille is based on the traditional 9-patch block, but takes on a new life of its own under Carrie's hand. This is one of those great designs that fool the eye - it appears to be composed of Pointed Arrow blocks which belie its true 9-patch / pseudo-Irish Chain construction.The Rosie quilts are known for their clever use of entire fabric lines by a single manufacturer. But it is so easy to use your own collection of scraps or stash fabrics. I am not all that creative when it comes to utilizing every odd pattern out there (such as the cross-stitch sampler prints in several Moda lines), so I learn a lot by looking at these designs.The color combos used here are typical Rosie: pastels with the occasional primaries. But some of the pattern designs lend themselves very well to wilder choices like batiks; the cover design Crackling Palms would look lovely with some Balis or batiks. Or think 30's repros or Civil War prints, and each Rosie design takes on an entirely different look.And there is always some nifty trick to be discovered, such as truncating Hour Glass blocks and joining them with Snowball blocks as in Luci In The Sky (so named for the fabric line it features).I have waited a long time for this book, and even though I do already have some of the patterns, I adore this book and highly recommend it if you love the Carrie Nelson Rosie look.

Lots of great ideas

I am a fan of Carrie Nelson's books. I especially love the medallion quilt pattern in this one, which was why I decided to purchase it. There are several other lovely quilt patterns in this book that I plan to make as well. The instructions are clear and easy to follow.

I bought this book after seeing the author's blog (Carrie L. Nelson). I am a dog lover and Rosie is her dog. I have tried one of the patterns in this book "Allemande" and it came together very easily. And I am not an expert quilter by any stretch of the imagination.

Carrie Nelson’s quilts are beautiful! Very fast delivery.

I had not had any of the "Rosie" books before, and I love this one. There are several quilts in it I want to make, and some friends have decided they want a copy of it, too.

The book is well designed, the patterns look as if they will be easy to follow and the quilts are beautiful. I can't wait to get started.

Every quilter should have this book. I enjoy everything from Carrie Nelson

This is the second of her books I have bought and like both for their different take on traditional blocks