From Journal or Sketchbook to Whimsical Art Quilts

Quilts are diaries in cloth. Whether geometric or pictorial, they tell of happy memories, sad events, funny anecdotes, or flights of fancy. Every fabric choice, every design decision illustrates the quiltmaker's story, like a journal in cloth.

For me, this combination of journal and quilt is exhilarating! I am enticed by the familiar feel of cloth and the lure of an entrancing story. I want to touch the fabric and tell the tale. The journal quilt is like no other art form in contemporary life. It has both the warmth of fabric and the emotion of a personal story.

Fuse-and-Tell Journal Quilts presents six fusible journal quilts from my own riveting life. You are welcome to use my journal entries and make them your own. Or you can adapt the construction techniques presented and tell your own outlandish tales.

The method of creating each of these journal quilts is fusing. Fusing is a fast, easy way to assemble a wall quilt without sewing seams, using templates, or following a pattern. The chapters in the book prepare you for the making of these projects, and explain easy methods of finishing the fused journal quilts. Additional examples of journal quilts and inspirational sources are pictured throughout the book.

What better way to document your life stories than with a journal quilt? And what easier way to make that quilt than with fun, fast fusing? Every tale deserves a quilt, and every quilt has a story behind it.

Laura Wasilowski creates art quilts. She is inspired by stories of family, friends, and home. Colorful hand-dyed fabrics and familiar stories combine to make whimsical wall pieces that often chronicle her life.

Laura's artwork is exhibited internationally and displayed in corporate and private collections around the world. She is the owner of the dye shop Artfabrik, and she is a lecturer, a surface designer, a quilt instructor, the author of Fusing Fun: Fast Fearless Art Quilts, and the star of the instructional DVD, Laura Wasilowski Teaches You to Create Fused Art Quilts.

Turn your favorite life moments into charming little art quilts. 6 quick projects use easy fusing techniques.

• Turn your favorite life moments into charming little fused quilts
• Get started with 6 complete projects, then make your own one-of-a-kind creations
• Put them together fast with easy fusing techniques: no-sew appliqué, no-baste quilting, even no-sew binding!
• Easy enough for kids to make on their own

Do you keep a diary or sketchbook? Transform your musings, doodles, and snapshots into these small, fun-to-make journal quilts. They're so easy, it takes just a few hours to go from inspiration to finished quilt. Try Laura's new fusible techniques-bias fusing, cheesecloth, trapunto, even fusible binding.

$21.95, 64 pages, #10611