Preface

note

We do not address the quilting process in these books. The most thorough book available about machine quilting is my Heirloom Machine Quilting (see Resources, page 112). I strongly recommend that you study it as you are learning to piece and that you learn to do simple quilting as you progress with your quilt tops. Nothing is more satisfying than finishing the projects as you go. By the time you are into the more advanced techniques, your quilting will have evolved, and you will be creating wonderful quilts.

You are holding the first in a series of six books. The purpose of the series is to build your quiltmaking skills—from beginner to advanced—on a firm foundation. This first volume is to be used as a workbook. It contains a complete sequence of classes, lessons, exercises, and projects that will build your skills from one project to the next. We highly recommend that you make the quilts in the order presented, as we have placed them in order of complexity. Each quilt offers new challenges and involves new techniques that will help you continually build your skill level. We have chosen designs that are timeless and very adaptable to traditional fabrics as well as to more trendy fabric and color choices. Use these quilts to explore your color and style preferences.

This book and the next in the series deal with quilts made of strips and squares. By mastering the techniques presented in these first books, you will be laying a foundation for precise, high-quality piecing. There are hundreds of quilt designs based on strips and squares, so you can spend a long time exploring these stunning quilts before you jump into the more complex piecing featured in the following books.