1718 is here!

Right now I have my advance copy of 'The 1718 Coverlet' in my hands.  A copy arrived at the Museum yesterday and I knew mine was on the way....  Sorry that everyone else will have to wait a little while for their copies! As with nearly all quilt books today, they are printed in China and the bulk order will be arriving by sea and only a handful of advance copies are shipped by air.  The parcel should have arrived here on Saturday but we weren't home and the holiday postman didn't know that we have a special place (or several) where parcels can be left, so it was a redelivery, or I'd have had it even earlier.

First thoughts? Of course I've seen the book at all the design and editing stages but seeing it as pdf files is never as good as seeing it as a real book, and a hardback. Also, having viewed even the pdfs of the final proof stage on a 13in laptop screen, the size of the images makes me go 'wow!'  I love the book design - the 'antique' font used for the titles and the heritage tuquoise shade of the cover, plus smaller details like the little outlines of the block designs used to make patterned bands across each page header.

Many of the 41/2in blocks are almost life size in the pattern directory and the detail in them is wonderful.  Working with the new high resolution digital photos taken by Jeremy Philips has been fantastic for me but I did feel a little guilty that I have been able to view them on the computer while I've been working on the book, able to zoom in at will.  However, the amount of detail and the sharpness of the photos on the page is excellent.  The readers will be able to look very closely at the blocks. I am always impressed with the colour and print quality of D & C books.

Every block is included as a reference thumbnail at the start of the Block Directory, a feature I liked in my previous block books and wanted to include in this one.

Having such great photos meant we could illustrate some important technique points with the original blocks, rather than my remakes, which was thrilling.  Readers will be able to see details just as well as the original maker.  Click the photos to see them in more detail here.

My dual block numbering system throughout the book means you can keep track of both the unique block number assigned to each individual block when the replica coverlet was made and the pattern number.  This spread is the key to both.  So choosing the blocks you like and finding the patterns becomes easy.  Of course, you might want to make all of them...

A copy of the 2015 Quilters' Desk Diary was included, which has illustrations of projects from 'Japanese Quilt Inspirations' and 'Japanese Sashiko Inspirations'.  It was nice to see these getting another outing.

I want to read my new book!