Smash Your Precut Stash!

The 13 quilts start with a ready-made precut packs but add extra fabric to make different colour arrangements. Each quilt has alternative fabrics to make a unique color selection. Most of the quilts have traditional repeated blocks but occasional quilts use asymmetrical layouts to create a bold design. Some blocks are made larger than necessary and then cut to size. It is advised to spray starch bias edges before cutting to prevent stretching. The instructions and diagrams are easy to follow. There are ideas for enlarging the quilts with extra borders. A gallery shows the quilts with different colour combinations. British Patchwork and Quilting, December 2015 “Smash Your Precut Stash!” (C&T Publishing), by longtime quilters Kate Carlson Colleran and Elizabeth Veit Balderrama, shares 13 quilts that give purpose to quilters’ collections of precut squares and fabric strips. – Jennifer Forker ABC News, 12/29/15

Kate Carlson Colleran began quilting in 1978. A nurse, Kate met Elizabeth when they worked together at a nursing home, and they started a pattern business together in 2003. Kate lives in Centennial, Colorado, with her husband, Jim, and her cat, Lily.

Elizabeth Veit Balderrama has dabbled in quilting for 25 years. She began to incorporate quilting into her activities with nursing-home residents. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband, Vince, and her cat, Stanley.