Susan Briscoe – författare

Quilters will be delighted with this book about the earliest dated piece of British patchwork – the 1718 coverlet – currently owned by the Quilters'' Guild.  It features a comprehensive block directory of every block on the coverlet alongside instructions, traditional and modern, for how to recreate each block. Readers will learn about the discovery of the coverlet and how a replica was painstakingly reproduced using the original techniques.

The 1718 coverlet is the earliest known British patchwork that has a date worked into the piece and as such can be used as a benchmark against which all other rare survivors of early eighteenth-century patchwork can be compared. It was purchased from the Browns of Aldbourne, Wiltshire; a gentry farming family, which has been established in north Wiltshire since the seventeenth century.

The coverlet was made using the Mosaic patchwork technique – a time-consuming method requiring the use of paper for templates. Some of the paper templates still remain in the coverlet and provide tantalising glimpses of printed and hand written text including bills, letters and printed text as well as hand drawn designs for the quilt. Almost all the fabrics are dress fabrics, the majority of which show signs of previous use. There are over 120 different fabrics used and the oldest has been identified as being from the 1640s. The coverlet itself is being exhibited at the Quilt Museum in York at an exhibition to coincide with the publication of the book.

A collection of 365 different sashiko patterns to sew - one for every day of the year.

Sashiko sewing expert, Susan Briscoe, demonstrates 365 different sashiko patterns, one for each day of the year - sew all 365 to make a beautiful sashiko quilt featuring all the designs

Each sashiko pattern is stitched onto a four-inch square piece of fabric making it very accessible to sew one swatch every day. You can record the date of each sample you stitch in the book to create a record of your sewing.

All of the stitch patterns are illustrated with a photograph of the stitched sample showing some stitches in different coloured thread (this is used by the author to identify which stitches to do first), next to a diagram showing the stitch direction and the order of the stitches on the grid. All the patterns are sewn on four-inch fabric swatches which can then be pieced together to create the ultimate double bed sized sashiko sampler quilt. But as well as sewing the four-inch samples separately to make them into a large bed-sized quilt, the patterns can also be repeated to create larger designs over a wider surface area to make wall hangings, throws, table mats and smaller quilts - with this collection of 365 designs the possibilities are endless.

Sashiko embroidery is a decorative sewing technique from Japan which was traditionally used to reinforce clothing and other textiles. It is an ideal stitch for visible mending and has become incredibly popular over the last few years. The technique of sewing horizontal and vertical stitches makes extremely attractive geometric designs that can be adapted to suit a wide range of sewing projects.

Susan Briscoe is an expert in Japanese sewing techniques and has travelled to Japan numerous times. She is the author of the best-selling Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook and runs regular workshops teaching sashiko sewing. This is the first time all of these 365 designs will appear in one book. Susan has included the Japanese name and pattern type in the text and has grouped specific design patterns together so you can see how they develop and use the collection to build your skills and knowledge of sashiko patterns.

Tantalizing, tasty, sweet . . . sew up something good enough to eat! From the pages of Love Patchwork & Quilting and Today''s Quilter comes a delicious collection of 13 bright, bold quilts that feature the perennially popular jelly roll strips. Strip piecing, basketweave, pinwheels, appliqué, and more—use 2 1/2-inch pre-cut fabric strips in exciting and unexpected ways. Whip up quilts in a range of project sizes and complexity, including a suite of baby projects, a pillow, wall hangings, and bed quilts. Top designers like Susan Briscoe and Jo Avery are featured. Finally, get the best from the pages of the UK''s most popular quilting magazines! Jelly rock-''n''-roll!