The Illustrated Step-By-Step Book of Quilting: Design, Techniques, 140 Practical Projects

This brightly colored book is full of good pictures and the most excellent instructions for a wide variety of quilting and patchwork projects. It is one of the best I have seen, and is sure to get your creative juices flowing.

I was looking for a good all-around book on quilting, that had basic tips and guidelines as well as a variety of projects. This book most definitely fits the bill!It contains detailed sections on historical background, fabrics, techniques, tips, and has lots of full-color photographs that are very clear and easy to follow (not to mention gorgeously done).The projects included are beautiful and unique, not your regular log cabin/flying geese quilt block fare. There are a number of different quilting styles explored that create some truly stunning items: clothing, home decorating, accessories, toys, linens, and more.Many of the fun items are perfect for gift-giving (if you can bear to give them away and not keep them for yourself!). The book delves into the use of lots of other fabrics for quilting from silks to batiks, even PVC, so it's not just your granny's 100% cotton calicos any more!I guarantee that just flipping through the book you'll find at least five projects that you'll want to get started with.Best of all, it approaches all the projects with a very simple yet casual attitude, demystifying what appear to be impossible techniques and fabric usage, making "advanced" quilting accessible to crafters of all skill levels.The book itself is not all that large, it's a smaller format overall and the pages are very sturdy and thick high-quality paper. However, despite its size, the sheer amount of information packed within it is truly enough to get anyone started or keep anyone interested. I like the size as it's easy to take with me and it fits well in the hand.I own a lot of quilting books, some of them the size of a coffee-table book, and I have to say that this book is the one I constantly go back to, to look up information, get quick instructions on "how do I do this again?", find a project for a rainy day (or weekend, or week), or sometimes just to page through and wish I had an unlimited fabric budget.If you get this book you will not be disappointed!