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"TRIO of TREASURED QUILTS"

© Jeanne Walsh

While surfing the web for quilt links for these pages I ran onto this book title, "Trio of Treasured Quilts" by Eleanor Burns. Even though the book was printed a few years ago, it is still available and I want to recommend it for beginning quilters.

The series "Quilt In A Day" has a number of books by Eleanor Burns in which she uses the rotary cutter and assembly line methods of putting blocks together. This book is especially good for beginning quilters who want to go a little beyond the nine-patch patterns.

"Trio of Treasured Quilts" was first published in 1983 as one of Eleanor's first few books, a second edition was offered in 1990. It is still available on her websiteand in quilt shops. Photos on the front and back show these traditional patterns in several colors. The book I have has a spiral binding so that it lays flat when I am working with fabric.

Monkey Wrench is labeled for beginning quilters, Ohio Star as intermediate and Bear's Paw as advanced, although she says Bear's Paw can be handled by the beginner but will be slower going. (sketch from the book) The book gives color suggestions and yardage charts for one block, crib, lap, twin, double, queen and king size for each pattern. The three blocks are not meant for mixing in a sampler quilt as they are not the same size.

Eleanor recommends making one block before purchasing fabric for a large quilt to see if you really llike the color combination you have chosen. There is also a paste-up block page for each pattern where you can paste on fabric swatches, and change positions of fabrics, to reach your final decision.

Good rotary cutting and strip piecing advice guide the beginner through the process of making all of the blocks at the same time. "Flash feeding" the fabric through the sewing machine is fully explained. Different block settings are shown, one with alternating plain blocks, one with lattice and cornerstones. The border pattern can be transferred to any other quilt so you get an added bonus here. The chapter on finishing your quilt includes piecing the backing fabric, the quick turn method of turning the quilt top (much as I described in the article on the mini-quilt in nine patch) how to "stitch in the ditch", and how to tie as a comforter. Also included are patterns for a wall hanging, pillow, and a hostess apron.