Originally Posted by Teacup

I have the original version of this book, not much printed in color in it. I love it. I learned a lot from it. It does NOT offer specific measurements for specific blocks. It is not a pattern book to create a specific quilt.

Rather, it shows you ways to look at most any quilt block and figure out the grid used to make it. I think of this as a concept book for breaking down the basic units that go into blocks. It has helped me look at quilts and blocks a different way. I can now look some (not all!) quilts in a show, or pictures posted here on the board, or in a catalog, and can figure out the basic blocks and grids that construct it. I've created several basic blocks on my own, in the size I wanted, after coming to understand better through this book how blocks are put together. I suppose you can learn the same things playing around with EQ 6 or 7, but I don't have them and enjoy playing with grids on paper.

It also offers an introduction to value and shows how you can get very different looking quilts from the same blocks, depending on how you vary the color/value placement of fabric in the block. It shows you ways to think about combining two blocks to get secondary patterns where the blocks intersect, making some very interesting designs. It also discusses "dropping off" some of the block to clean it up and create interesting patterns. I think this book is a launching point for creativity.