This book, titled 'Two of a Kind,' is really a play on words. It's two peas in a pod of Lissa Alexander and Susan Ache not only creating delightfully yummy quilts for us but sharing their secrets of making a successful scrap quilt.  With all their tips, you will pull fabric like a pro for your next creation!

So let's get to it, deep dive into what this book is about!

Lissa and Susan start by explaining how they challenged each other with six topics. They are fun and unique themes that gave them parameters for creating a quilt to show you how to use scraps in a certain way.  I love having a challenge like this for a quilt because it allows you to focus on what fabrics you select and why. It helps you build a really cohesive quilt. 

Lissa Alexander and Maggi Honeyman @sewmaggi

 Susan Ache and Susan Rodgers @suziquilt

They both have worked with longarm quilters for many years and introduced Maggi Honeyman and Susan Rogers to us. They also give feedback on each quilt and how they quilted it. This is a wonderful addition to the book because so many of us have someone quilt our pieces. It gives us a look at how they see the quilts. 

In this quilt, Lissa explains how to approach those leftover strips from jelly rolls and honey buns. She shows you how to combine them into a quilt that is 'free.' It's leftovers, right? The 'mix and match tips and the scrap maintenance tip are excellent and keep you on track too! 

Then Maggi explains her quilting design and why the traditional one worked so well.

Susan was inspired for this design by the flower, and she created a quilt that is scrappy with such great eye appeal.  This also shows you that you take your scrappy quilts to the next level with a design like this.  She has a fabric tips area that tells you to lay out the shades and determine what is working and which are not. 

Sue gave excellent insight on quilting this one by saying, "the fabric and the pattern should be the star of the show."

This Windjammer by Susan is the One I will do! It has 'that summer blue' that I love. She has great tips on going for the 'bold' on the background color.  Her fabric selections are also very insightful for how they made this quilt perfect, and it didn't compete with the fabric prints. 

Pat Sloan's Windjammer block

Do you collect Christmas fabric? I know Lissa loves it, and she managed to get SO much into this magical time of the year quilt! Her tips of picking the Red, Green, and Cream for this is such a good lesson in balancing the tone across the colors. 

Maggi explained how she used custom quilting to highlight features of the quilt! 

This photo says it all, good friends, pieces of fabric, and a little bit of bubble gum makes for 'Two of a Kind' glorious quilts! 

You will want to add this book to your collection; you will learn so much!