The best thing I can suggest is to check out your local library to see what books they have. Check out lots of different styles, applique, piecing, art quilts, etc. See what kind of books you gravitate towards and get to know the authors styles. You'll soon find out what preferences you like and discover your own style.

I've had a look at that one on Amazon as you and a couple of other people recommended it and it looks great. Thanks for the tip. I really appreciate it. I'll be adding this to my wish list for sure. Too bad my birthday has already passed for this year.

I recommend "Quilter's Academy" by Harriet Hargrave and Carrie Hargrave. I knew I wanted the last two or three in the series and I decided if I was going to get them I might as well get the whole series. It has tons of information for everyone from beginner to expert. It's a skill building course and not just patterns.

I have several books but I find myself using Rodale's The Quilters Ultimate Visual Guide, Ellen Pahl, editor.

Cool question!

For a different angle, I recommend cutebun's tutorial on this board for making OBW quilts (one-block wonders). They look terribly complex and advanced, but the actual cutting and piecing side of them is easy as pie and they are HUGE fun to make. There are books for them (if you want books on your shelf you might like to look for "one block wonders" or "stack 'n whack" on amazon), but to be honest I think cutebuns teaches them in a more accessible way.

So if you like the look of OBW quilts (search OBW and browse through them in the pictures section), check out cutebuns "tiptoe through hexagons" threads. They have the tutorial, together with many many pictures of the beauties people are currently making.

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!

Thanks for the recommendation. I think I may have seen that book (or something quite similar, based on your description) at my local library. The one I saw was published by Better homes & Gardens, if i recall correctly.

That's an excellent suggestion, thank you. I only have a plain old (very old, but good) domestic Husqvarna sewing machine so have not get been game to try quilting anything bigger than a cot quilt (in the ditch, of course, because I'm still learning.) I do want to step up to more advanced quilting though.

I would suggest anything by Harriet Hargrave. Her machine applique book made huge vistas of quilting open up for me. I also like every book that Debra Wagner has.

Both of these authors give explicit explanations of techniques that make regular quilts better, and also offer explicit explanations of advanced techniques that can make a huge difference in what you decide to tackle.

Are you familiar with Alice in Wonderland? They celebrated "a very happy unbirthday" - that gives you 364 chances to get stuff. lol

I took a look at my bookshelf last night and realize that I have a book for pretty much every occasion. Once the basics were covered, I added books on specific patterns. (Stars, attic windows, birds, etc). Got quite a few on using Scraps and/or Fat quarters. Then I have some for specific processes (Crayons, applique, painting, embellishing) and if one each is good - more is better. Most of them I browse through to get inspiration. Many I will never make, but they are still pretty to look at.