Preface -- Room settings -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. The essentials -- How to use Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! -- Understanding fabric -- Equipment and supplies -- 1. Choosing a pattern -- Roman square -- Fence rail -- Log cabin -- Four-patch -- Nine-patch -- Double nine-patch -- Double nine-patch variation -- Hopscotch nine-patch -- Pinwheel -- Ocean waves -- Wild goose chase -- Wild goose chase variation -- Sawtooth star -- Attic windows -- Spool -- Madison house -- Pine tree -- Bear's paw -- Kaleidoscope -- Thousand pyramids -- Heart -- Postage stamp baskets -- Gingerbread house -- Pineapple log cabin -- Blossoming tree -- Drunkard's path -- Star of Bethlehem-- All stars sampler -- 2. Color selection -- Color schemes -- Monochromatic -- Analogous -- Complementary -- Primary -- Rainbow -- Warm and cool -- Light and dark -- Neutral -- Scrap bag -- Traditional -- Developing a color scheme -- Practice exercise : creating a color scheme -- A checklist for choosing fabric -- 3. Fabric preparation -- Ways to prepare fabric -- Pre-shrinking your fabric -- Pre-washing your fabric -- Working with "new" fabric -- Is your fabric colorfast? -- Straightening your fabric -- 4. Cutting -- Cutting your fabric -- Quick-cutting, nondirectional fabric -- Quick-cutting, directional fabric -- Cutting shapes from strips -- Traditional cutting, nondirectional fabric -- Tradition cutting, directional fabric -- Cutting fabric using templates -- 5. Piecing -- Hand piecing -- Sewing the pieces -- Practice exercise : making a 12" (30 cm) Drunkard's Path block -- Machine piecing or strip piecing -- Things to know about your sewing machine before you begin -- Sewing strips together -- Pressing your pieced strips -- Cutting your pieced strips -- Practice exercise : making a 12" (30 cm) Fence Rail block -- Making half-square triangles -- Practice exercise : making a 12" (30 cm) Pinwheel block -- Making double half-square triangles -- Practice exercise : making a 6" x 12" (15 cm x 30 cm) Tree block --

6. Appliqué

Preparing for appliqué

Preparing the pattern

Preparing and marking the background fabric

Preparing stems

Pinning and basting paper patterns to fabric

Basting leaves

Basting circles

Basting scallops

Hand appliqué

Machine appliqué

Practice exercise : making a 12" (30 cm) Benicia Rose block

7. Finishing the quilt top

Straight sets

Diagonal sets

Making side triangles

Making corner triangles

Assembling the quilt top

Design options

Alternate blocks

Sashing

Posts

Adding borders

Determining amount of fabric for borders

Cutting borders

Attaching straight borders

Attaching corner blocks

Attaching mitered borders

Attaching borders of border-printed fabric

Pieced borders

8. Assembly

Backing fabric

Measurement and preparation

Batting

Types of batting

Preparing to quilt

Quilting in a hoop : layering and basting

Quilting in a frame

Machine quilting

Tying

9. Quilting

Choosing and planning the quilting design

Outline quilting

Background quilting

Design quilting

Marking the quilting designs on the quilt top

Hand quilting

The quilting stitch

Machine quilting

Tying

10. Binding

Preparing your quilt for binding

Binding your quilt

Choosing the width of binding strips

How to determine the length of binding strips

Attaching binding strips to your quilt

11. Drafting patterns

The grid system

Marking a grid

Samples

Pattern drafting made easy

Practice exercise : drafting 54-40 or Fight as a 12" (30 cm) block

Practice exercise : drafting Le Moyne Star or Eight-Pointed Star as a 12" (30 cm) block

Templates and their uses

Practice exercise : making templates for 54-40 or Fight

Practice exercise : marking and cutting fabric using templates

12. Sampler quilt

Class outline

Sampler blocks

Templates

Glossary

Index

About the authors.