This has been fun, I've been thrilled to hear from many, many people both by email and on a number of list groups I belong to. It's interesting to see which books become our "essential" books to own, many people agreed on some basics such as Jane Dunnewolds books, as well as Ann Johnson's dyeing books for the surface designers. Many quilters thought some of the 'older' books stood the test of time and were still very relevant, and a couple of the latest books, including Sarah Ann Smith' s Threadwork book and Gloria Hansen's Digital Essentials have quickly become 'essential' because they are so well written and spend in-depth time on important topics.
I think the list is fairly evenly divided between good solid 'design', 'how to' and 'picture reference'. There are a few books I'll be adding to my shopping list, some are out of print and I'd recommend www.abebooks.com as a search tool for finding any book you might want.
If you see more books to add, then please leave a comment.
If you'd like the list as a PDF go to:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24517942/Susan-s-Essential-Book-List
Here it is:
Stitch Magic by Priscilla Sage and Tim McIllrath
The Art of Embroidery by Fracoise Tellier-Loumagne
The Art of Knitting by Fracoise Tellier-Loumagne
Any book by Richard Box
Laura Cater-Woods guided studio workbooks
Celebrating the Stitch: “Contemporary Embroidery of North America" by Barbara Lee Smith
Goddess of the Last Minute by Robbi Joy Eklow
blue and yellow dont' make green by michael wilcox
Expressive Drawing by Steven Aimone
Drawing on the Artist Within and Drawing on the Right side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Anything by Double Trouble Enterprises
Complex Cloth by Jane Dunnewold
Color by Accident and Color by Design by Ann Johnston
Finding Your Own Visual Language by Jane Dunnewold w/ Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan
Piecing: Expanding the Basics by Ruth McDowell
Contemporary Quilts, and Creative Quilts by Sandra Meech
Intuitive Color and Design by Jean Wells
Screen Printing by Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan
all of Nancy Crow's books
Anything by Maggie Grey and/or Valerie Campbell-Harding
The Encyclopedia of Machine Embroidery by Val Holmes
Notan by Dorr Bothwell and Marlys Mayfield
Digital Essentials by Gloria Hansen
Freestyle Machine Embroidery by Carol Shinn
Fearless Design for Every Quilter by Lorraine Torrence
Collage & Altered Art by Roni Johnson
Fabric Collage Art by Rebekah Meier
Thread Work Unraveled by Sarah Ann Smith
88 Leaders In the Quilt World Today
Quilt Masterpieces by Susanna Pfeffer
The Fiberarts Book of Wearable Art
Masters: Art Quilts by Lark Books
4 comments:
Two books that I return to over and over:
"Create Your Own Hand Printed Cloth" by Rayna Gillman and
"Thread Magic" by Ellen Anne Eddy
Thanks for posting your list of must-have books - I will give myself an after Christmas gift or two.
This is a great list for those of us (like me) that haven't tried dying fabrics, etc. One day it could just happen...
Linda Coon's THE ARTIST SOUL has lead me pask creative "issues" for years....
Thanks for putting this list together.
Thanks for the great list. Another great book is The Painted Quilt by Linda & Laura Kemshall. I love this book.
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