Bella Bella Sampler Quilts

March 4, 2013
McMeeking (Bella Bella Quilts) presents quilts as vibrant as medieval cathedrals. In fact, she bases her designs on the colorful marble floors and pillars of cathedrals. In doing so, McMeeking is extending the scope of the Cosmati—Italian designers of the Middle Ages, who harvested stones from Roman ruins and recast them to pave and decorate religious and public buildings. McMeeking, in turn, re-repurposes those recycled floors as cunning templates for advanced quilt patterns. She replicates marble designs on fabric with needle-pierced duplicates and paper-foundation piecing (and also guides quilters not familiar with the method). The greatest advantage of the technique: “It is very, very accurate!” –Though not for beginners, it allows for working with shapes that call for Y-seams or stamp-size pieces (the tesserae of mosaics). The book includes full-size paper-piecing patterns for nine projects on pullouts. With each set of well-illustrated instructions, McMeeking encourages quilters to “think about how you might vary this design.” These stunning quilts, such as “Laterano Interlace” and “Diamante Delight,” showcase McMeeking’s visionary artistic expertise.

May 1, 2013

McMeeking (Bella Bella Quilts) continues to draw inspiration from Italian marblework in her second collection of quilt patterns. Though full quilt designs are presented, quilters can easily mix and match elements of the patterns to make their own custom designs. Suggestions on fabric choice are given, as well as a number of tips for fabric cutting, foundation piecing, and curved piecing. Reproducible foundation templates are provided on a pattern insert. VERDICT Experienced quilters who enjoy foundation piecing will find plenty of inspiration in McMeeking's elaborate designs.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.