Book Review

I love a good book. When I'm trying to learn a new sewing or quilting technique, I prefer to be shown how to do it by someone. I like to ask a lot of questions and I like to have a good reference book at hand. I've recently taken up quilting (after all how many dresses and skirts can one little girl wear?) and I'm trying to build up my quilting reference library. I've asked on many quilting forums and based on suggestions I now own Quilts, quilts, quilts and Your first quilting book, or it should be. However this book wasn't suggested to me. I found it all on my own at a LQS. It's called Piecing the piece o'cake way. I liked that the book's focus was proper piecing techniques. I mean I know how to sew and I can sew two squares together, surely. But, what about piecing a triangle or diamond to make a star? I might need a few pointers. The book also teaches you about adjusting a pattern to make any size quilt you want. That was great to me, because I'm not one that wants to get out the graph paper and have to do a bunch of math. I want to buy a pattern and get stitching. But, I don't have a ton of use for little bitty quilts, I want something that covers my feet and I can cuddle under. I need at least twin size or a generous lap size at minimum. Being able to adjust a favorite pattern and knowing exactly what yardage to buy is top notch in my book. The book has 15 different projects to test your skills. The quilts are fun and use modern fabrics so they are definitely eye candy. The book is also loaded with tons of useful tips. The only negative I saw is that the quilt patterns don't list what size finished block you'll end up with, only what size quilt you will have. I find that disappointing since I might want to use just the block design in my own pattern design and without knowing the block size it's hard to figure out size, yardage and such. All in all I think this is a great book to add to your library and stretch yourself as a quilter.