Originally Posted by quiltmom04
Originally Posted by mosaicthinking
I am slowly building a modest quilting library. I have Quilting 101 - a Beginners Guide to Quilting (which I seem to have outgrown already), the Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting (love it) and Judy Hopkins 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks (impressive.)
What books do you recommend I should be putting on my wish list, keeping in mind that I'm no longer a complete beginner and nowhere near mariner's compass stage yet. I want to keep improving my skills and am more interested in making big quilts than making bags or trivets.
What books do you keep coming back to? Or do you just use magazines and web sites? Look forward to hearing what you recommend.
Once you get the basics down, and judging by the books you have, it sounds like you have a good foundation - get books
that have technigues that intrigue you, or designs you love. Most books I've found have the basics of piecing and finishing (binding, etc.)If you get too many basic "how -to" books, the information gets repeated over and over. The only thing that most books lack is actual quilting directions. Most just say "quilt as desired"! So one of my favorites is "Quilting makes the Quilt". It shows you the same design with different quilting designs and how that makes the quilt look. Gook Luck!
I just purchased Mary Breckmans Encyclopedia of Applique (2000 designs) and her Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (4000 blocks). These books give a little historical data on when the blocks were made and the different names of the same blocks. Very cool!! Also I like Carrie Halls Book (it has 800 blocks). None of the above will tell you how to put the quilt together though, the design aspect is up to you. Also, I like different borders and sometimes can't visualize how I want to enchace a quilt so I've got a couple of books on borders. One I just purchased is 10th Annivsersary Border Workbook. Really neat book, it also gives info on re-sizing the design for your borders.