Who says applique has to be fussy? This book is about the process of working in a freer and more organic manner — stepping away from the sharp lines and measurements that come with rulers and feeling free to alter the appliqué pattern if it suits you. This is not about being sloppy, it is about making more interesting lines in your quilts.

We think of quilts as explosions of color—but quilts are also about lines. Where one fabric stops and another begins, a line is drawn.  An artist can make a line more interesting by varying its weight and density. When you put away your ruler and cut freely with your rotary cutter, the lines in your quilt become more organic. The process is both fun and invigorating.

Artists are very aware of negative space. It is the seemingly unimportant background space in an artwork. The negative space surrounds and supports the positive space. You can’t have one without the other. The quilting equivalent of negative space is the background fabric. We are known for piecing together different fabrics to use behind our appliqué. In this book the backgrounds are even more interesting.

We all know that there is no one perfect way to make a quilt. For that reason the instructions for the quilts in this book are written so that you can work with straight lines and a ruler if you prefer. In either case, it is our hope that you enjoy thinking about the design of your quilts in a new way.

Errata: We've just learned that there is an enlargement percentage that is incorrect. We and our tech editors are very sorry about any inconvenience this may cause you. If you have the book, on page 36 under "Note" and on the Tree O' Life pattern pullout page, please change the enlargement numbers from 50% to 200%.