Reviewed by Gillian Cooper
Teamwork Craftbooks £10
ISBN: 978-0-9553499-3-5 (s/b, 96 pages)
This is a stunning book. Inspired by her trips to New Zealand, Gail
Lawther created a series of 35 quilts, which some of you may have
seen at the Festival of Quilts. Each of these quilts is a similar size,
approx 40in long by 10in wide. The book showcases all of the quilts,
along with notes on and photos of Gail’s inspiration. I found the book
very informative and much more exciting than a standard ‘how-to’
book. There are instructions on how to make some of the quilts but I
just loved seeing her working processes and was carried along by
her sheer joy for the subject. As Gail says herself, she is doing a good
job for the New Zealand Tourist Board! As this series of quilts was
conceived to be used in a book like this, Gail has used a good variety
of techniques. Unusually, there is a
note on what binding was chosen for
each quilt. Binding is often an
after-thought but it can have such an
impact on a quilt. As an added bonus,
if you like the quilts, but don’t feel you
can make them, Gail is offering to
make them for you, for a surprisingly
reasonable fee. I now want to make
long narrow quilts and holiday in New
Zealand!