View source for Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making by Susanne Woods (Editor)

{{infobox1
|title=Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making
|author=Susanne Woods (Editor)
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crafts
|summary=Not a ''complete'' guide but a series of masterclasses for those with some experience. Wide ranging and interesting.
|rating=4
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=192
|publisher=Lucky Spool Media
|date=October 2014
|isbn=978-1940655000
|website=http://luckyspool.com/
|cover=1940655005
|aznuk=1940655005
|aznus=1940655005
}}

It's perhaps easier to explain this book by starting from what it ''isn't''.  If you're just thinking about making quilts then this is not the place to start.  Much of the book will be completely unintelligible to you.  Even if you have some experience you might find - as I did - that there are some subjects where you need more basic information to make the most of what you are being told.  What you get is a series of ten masterclasses which will move you forward in specific areas and enable you to improve the quilts you produce.

There will be something for everyone.  The one which appealed least to me was Improvisational Patchwork by Denyse Schmidt.  That's not a criticism of the class, but a recognition on my part that this is not my strength - I'm just a little too hung-up to do it successfully.  I have made a quilt using impro - and was reasonably pleased with the result - but the result spoke more to other people than it did to me.  Although the class didn't appeal to me I suspect that it's something I should go back to!

The class on colour by Kathy Vojtechovsky was a steep learning curve, but I loved it!  For the first time I was putting names to types of colour and understanding why some types of colour work well together but others don't.  Incidentally - reading this class caused me to completely revise my plans for my next quilt.  I now have something on paper which will be far more effective than the original design which I now recognise as being rather muddled.

Working with solids by Alissa Haight Carlton and working with prints by Dan Rouse confirmed much of what I already thought and had tried but there were some inspirational ideas.  I felt that I moved forward most in the course of the alternate grid class by Jacquie Gering and circles and curves by Cheryl Arkison.  The latter is something I've consciously avoided when making quilts.  I was aware of the theory but was reluctant to put it into practice: now I have more confidence.

Paper piecing produces excellent results and deserves to be more widely used.  I've been able to get hold of some patterns in the past but Penny Layman is generous with hints as to how to make the most of the technique.  Angela Walters' class on modern quilting and a study of modern quilts by Heather Grant don't cover quite the same ground as you might expect - but there are some inspirational pictures of quilts in both.

I'd like to thank the publishers or making a galley of this book available to me.  The book is published in the US in June 2014 but not until October 2014 in the UK.

If you have some experience but are not quite at the level of this book then we can recommend [[Stash-Busting Quilts by Lynne Edwards]].  If you're just a beginner, try [[Super Easy Quilting for Beginners by Editors of Quarry Books]].

{{amazontext|amazon=1940655005}} 
{{amazonUStext|amazon=1940655005}} 

{{commenthead}}
[[Category:Alissa Haight Carlton]]
[[Category:Angela Walters]]
[[Category:Cheryl Arkison]]
[[Category:Daniel Rouse]]
[[Category:Denyse Schmidt]]
[[Category:Heather Grant]]
[[Category:Heather Jones]]
[[Category:Jacquie Gering]]
[[Category:Kari Vojtechovsky]]
[[Category:Penny Layman]]
[[Category:Susanne Woods]]