My Book

The Quilter’s Negative Space Handbook from C&T Publishing/Stash Books is now available! Signed copies are available here.

This book is all about quilt design, and about showing you how to design quilts using negative space. It’s a book particularly for quilters who like the look of modern quilts, but might feel a little intimidated by the idea of including all that blank space in their quilts. (Though I think you’ll find lots of ideas if you’ve been designing modern quilts for a while, as well.) If that’s you, then perhaps what you need is some guidance that takes you through the design process step-by-step, breaking it down into manageable chunks, and that’s just what my goal was in this book. It starts with traditional blocks and quilts, and takes you through 8 different ways of using negative space to create finished modern quilt designs. (There’s more about the inspiration behind the book here.)

Once you’ve designed your quilt, there are also tips on fabric selection, putting together the quilt, and choosing quilting designs to help you finish your project up.

Here’s a little flip-through of the book to show you what’s inside:

And if you just want to make pretty quilts from patterns? One of the quilt designs in each chapter is included as a pattern, too. You’ll find the following quilts as patterns:

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I loved writing this book, and I hope you’ll find these techniques just as useful as I do when trying to think of new quilt designs. If you’ve made a quilt using these designs, or one of the patterns, I’d love to see it—please get in touch!

More Patterns for Designs in the Book

Not all of the designs in the book are included as patterns—if you saw something that really appeals to you but it’s not one of the patterned quilts, check this list to see if a pattern is available elsewhere! If it’s not listed here, it may be in the works, so stay tuned. 😉

p. 17: Dogwood Dreams (PDF | paper)

p. 18: Canoe Sparkler: American Quilter Magazine, November/December 2019

p. 34: Minimalist Churn Dash: Modern Patchwork November/December 2018

p. 35: Inverted Pink Star: Make Modern March 2019

p. 44: Star Bright: AQS Magazine July 2019

p. 45: Paper Cranes (PDF | paper)

p. 58: The Artichoke: The block pattern shown in the first illustration is available (PDF | paper); I explain the technique I used to disintegrate it here. Custom-printed quilt tops with this design are available here.

p. 79: Meeting of the Geese (PDF | paper)

p. 90: gNomEL & Main Sequence block tutorials

p. 91: Mountain Rainbows (PDF)

p. 99: Kite Block Mini: Sign up for my newsletter and receive this pattern as a thank you!