Coloring book review with a giveaway: Amish Quilts Coloring Book by Rachel J. Good

About the book:

Feeling stressed? Why not relax with an adult coloring book?  Rachel J. Good’s Amish Quilts Coloring Book takes you back to a time and place that’s calm. Immerse yourself in a world of peace as you color the 25 different quilts.

Inspired by quilts seen in Amish country, many of these designs are based on traditional patterns, but some have been reimagined or repeated multiple times to create more intricate designs to color. Each quilt is printed on only one side of the page; facing pages contain inspirational Amish proverbs. To make the quilts even more colorful and interesting, sketch fabric designs – plaids, checks, paisleys, flowers, or abstract shapes – into the larger quilt blocks, use pattern stamps, or even collage fabric scraps to the pages. And if the designs inspire you to make quilts of your own, the pages can be used as templates for quilt-making.

My thoughts:

“Let’s color,” they said.  “It’ll be fun,” they said.

Adult coloring books have become a craze recently.  “Coloring is relaxing,” they said.

My 11-year-old daughter was given an adult coloring page in her Sunday school class.  The class colors while the teacher reads a missionary story.  The teacher told me that it helps the children to focus, and that afterwards, they are better at answering the questions about the story.  And my daughter enjoys it.  I also think that she thinks it is cool because it is an adult coloring page.

I saw the neatest thing at the library last week.  While their elementary-aged kids were using the computers, the mom & dad were seated at a nearby table, connected by ear buds to the same IPod, and, heads together, were coloring on the same adult coloring book page.  I thought it was pretty cool.  The mom later told me that it was a wonderfully cheap date.

So adult coloring books are a thing.  And now it’s my turn.

The reviewers at Celebrate Lit were given the opportunity to review Amish Quilts Coloring Book by Rachel J. Good.  I have been curious about the whole adult coloring book thing, and I need stress relief, so I took the challenge, hoping that this would be an easy, relaxing book review.

I printed out the two pages we were given, and noticed the tiny, intricate spaces.  Then some fellow reviewers started posting pictures of their pictures.  Wow.  I was intimidated.  Oh, well. . . .

I got out my box of colored pencils.  I had purchased the big box for a retreat I went on about 15 years ago.  Good thing I saved them.

Then came the moment of truth.  You know how on the inside of the box of crayons or colored pencils there are the little colored marks that the crayon has made?  You know that you’ll be able to get everything back in the box the way it belongs because of those little marks.  Well, with so many colored pencils, it was hard to tell exactly what color each one was, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to put them back in the way they were.  I could just take out one pencil at a time, then put it back in the box when I was finished, but I knew that that wouldn’t work because of the intricacies of the designs and necessary repetition of color.  So [Gasp!] I just took the pencils out of the box.  I played with them for a while, sorting them into little piles of colors that I thought would go well together.

Once I got past that OCD episode, it was time to color.  I tested each pencil out on scrap paper, to see how each would look, then began to color.  I tried to make patterns with the colors that would look nice.  I’m usually pretty good with color.  At work when I am making colored documents, I’m usually pleased with how they turn out.  But when I’m working on the computer, if I don’t like something, I can change it easily with a few mouse clicks.  Once I make a mark with the colored pencil, it’s pretty much there to stay.  So not every block turned out as wonderful as I would like, because of the trial-and-error in my decision making.

Now for the adult part.  I was getting in the groove of making the patterns, with uplifting music in the background, when the carpal tunnel syndrome kicked in.  Ouch.  And how reading glasses made it so much easier to concentrate.  Ugh.

This experience certainly gave me even greater respect for quilters and other artisans, and the detailed work that they put into their masterpieces.  But for me as an amateur colorer, I decided that cheating is okay.  Perfection wasn’t necessary.  It was about the chance to experiment with color and be creative. 

From the pages I was given, and the images I saw on Amazon, I found a good variety of images to color.  For adults who are looking for a coloring book of their own, I think this would be a good choice.  I enjoyed the Amish proverb on each page.  It was something to reflect on while coloring.

I received two of the pages from this book from Celebrate Lit, in exchange for an honest review, which I have given.

About the author:

Rachel J. Good, inspirational author, writes life-changing, heartfelt novels of faith, hope, and forgiveness. She is the author of Amish romances in the Sisters & Friends series. She grew up near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the setting for her novels. A former teacher and librarian, she completed her MA from Vermont College while raising five children. She is presently an MFA student in Writing and Illustration at Hollins University. In addition to having more than 2200 articles and 30 books in print or forthcoming under several pseudonyms, she also juggles freelance editing and illustration careers.

The giveaway:

To celebrate her tour, Rachel is giving away two autographed copies of her Amish Quilts Coloring Book! Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/986f

To purchase:

To buy the Amish Quilts Coloring Book: http://amzn.to/1VmIOUi.

Visit Rachel at:

Website: www.racheljgood.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/racheljgoodnovels/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RachelJGood1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14661177.Rachel_J_Good


Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/racheljgood1/