Review: Shots and Stripes book

Kaffe Fassett and coauthor Liza Prior Lucy have a new book out this month, Kaffe Fassett Shots and Stripes. Happily, I received a review copy from the publicist at STC Craft who allowed me to ask the authors a few questions. You can read the interview here. The cover quilt gives a hint that this book is a departure for Kaffe. His trademark bright color palette is still with us, but the emphasis is solids, not the vibrant florals everyone associates with him. Incidentally, his florals do show up on the backs of the quilts in the book.

The 24 projects in this book include bed-size quilts, throws, wall hangings, table runners and cushions/pillows. While I was writing this review, HGTV’s Property Brothers came on my TV. In case you are not familiar with the series, two brothers visit homeowners who need help selling their property. The brothers do some renovating and redecorating so the owners can get top dollar for their present home, all to get them into their next one. All through this episode they dogged the homemade quilt on the couple’s bed saying it was an outdated choice. They replaced it with a comforter. After their house sold, the wife hands the quilt to the brothers and they pitch it back and forth like a hot potato. My thought at that very moment was, “they’ve never seen a Kaffe quilt”. The right quilt can give a space a fresh modern look as easily as a modern painting or a coat of gray paint. Why proclaim all quilts old-fashioned? Kaffe does not do old-fashioned or boring for that matter. Warned in art school to not be pulled in by the lure of the crafts like quilting and knitting, I’m so glad he went there. He’s undeniably a master of color and his fabric is always in my stash category of “too pretty to cut”.

Kaffe and Liza show us the inspiration for the projects they created for the book. We see some colorful crates in Istanbul then Overlapping Tiles, (pg 145-6). Pastel row houses become Korean Log Cabin, (pg 84-5). We also get a peek at Kaffe’s home as it’s used as a backdrop for a project or two. I would love to see Kaffe’s entire home, perhaps in a future book, hint, hint. As with all of Kaffe and Liza’s quilting books, this one has high production value (nice size  on quality paper, beautiful photos, lack of typos). Even if you have no intention of making any of the projects it would be an asset on any coffee table. For those who do embark on making some of the projects, they do include instructions, though be aware, they are not geared to a beginning sewer or quilter.

I’m giving away a copy of Shots and Stripes to a lucky Craft Gossip reader.

Stay tuned for giveaway details in a future post!