here's another vote for the fons and porter "complete guide."

the binding on mine is worn out!

aileen

The book I carry with me to all workshops and refer to the most is:
[h=3]All-In-One Quilter's Reference Tool Easy-To-Follow Charts, Tables and Illustrations, Yardage Requirements, Cutting Instructions, Setting Secrets, Choosing ... Piecing Techniques, Number Conversions by Harriet Hargrave, Sharyn Craig, Alex Anderson and Liz Aneloski (Spiral-bound - Oct 1, 2004) [/h]It has all the basics in an easy to read, small and easy to carry spiral bound book.
My second favorite reference book is:

Patchwork Minus the Mathwork: A Quilter's Guide to Planning and Buying Fabrics without a Degree in Mathmatics! by Jeanne Stauffer (Paperback - Nov 20, 2009)

This book is an excellent reference book for how much fabric is required for the different parts and sizes of a quilt. It also has the quantity of pieces of a certain shape that you can get out of a specific amount of fabric. I refer to it quite often as well.

i also have the patchwork minus the mathwork book. i have found it is less than reliable...but always to the more side of fabric buying :)

aileen

That's my favorite also! There is also a QQQ II. I love the way that it is set up in lessons. It can be used as a teacher's guide, but it's great to follow at home on your own. The instructions and the pictures are excellent.

Someone mentioned You Tube. I find the tutorials are excellent. And try Missouri Star Quilt Co. Awesome tutorials, too. Good luck. And don't forget, anything you need to ask can be answered by someone on this board.

I think JoAnns spiral bond quilting book is one of the best to learn the basics from start to finish of making a quilt.

Quilter's Complete Guide by Fons and Porter is a good one. It answers almost any question that a new quilter would have. Welcome to the quilting community.

I still like Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day Series.Lots of pictures and diagrams and step by step instructions.

Again, thank you all for your input! I'm having fun just getting started with a strip quilt with some advice from my mom, who is a very talented veteran quilter.

Visit your public library. They have a lot of quilting books. You can look through all of those and then decide which of those you need to own.