Book review of "Material Obsession"

Today's blog is a book review of "Material Obsession – Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots" by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. Kathy and Sarah are the owners of a quilting shop, named "Material Obsession", located in Sydney, Australia. This book is a story told through pictures of the beautiful quilts they designed, with lots of helpful tips for everyone.

It starts with an introduction by Kathy and Sarah themselves. They explain their approach to quilting, how they pick the colours to use in their quilts, where they get their inspiration and more. The introduction makes you feel like you've known the authors for years and that you are close friends with them.

The next section of the book is of course, the projects! They give the project instructions for 23 projects that Kathy and Sarah designed. The quilts are arranged by level of difficulty from easy to intermediate to advanced. The easy quilts have only a few pieces to cut out and assemble together. The more advanced quilts have several pieces to cut (don't worry, the templates needed to cut the shapes out are included) and give step-by-step instructions with lots of pictures on how to put it all together.

Throughout the whole book, Kathy and Sarah tell where they got the inspiration for a particular design and they also share ideas of how other quilters can modify the projects to suit their tastes. They encourage the reader to try different options and to have fun with the process.

Finally, the book ends with a section on quilting basics. It explains the different materials and supplies needed to make a quilt and how to choose these supplies. Then the section goes on to show different techniques, including how to properly cut fabric in different shapes and sizes; various applique techniques; how to piece the quilt together; how to layout and assemble the quilt; and ends with some notes on quilting and binding. There are hints and tips a plenty in this section to help you get the most from your quilting experience.

I think my favourite part of the book is reading all their stories of how the quilts came to be. Or is it the colours they used in the quilts ... I can't decide!


One of the things the book talks about is how to choose your fabric, especially the colours of the fabric. One method that Kathy and Sarah shared in their book for choosing colours, was to choose one central colour and then build from there with either contrasting or complementary colours. Want to get started thinking about your colour scheme? Then please visit Beautiful Creations to look at just some of the colours you could use in your next quilt!

Happy quilting!