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What books do you recommend?


Guest Linda S

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Guest Linda S

I'm pretty sure I read a post on here a few days ago where someone said they had a few books sitting on their night table that they finally got around to reading and they wished they had read them first. Now I can't find the post!

I have ordered Karen McTavish's new book because her quilts are so beautiful I just had to have the book, plus I think my teacher to be has a quilt in there. Which other books have you all found to be helpful? Once I take my classes and order my machine, I'll need something to do while I wait!

Linda:D

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I feel like I'm hawging the message board here so if you're tired of reading my posts, just tell me and I'll just lurk!

Because I need ideas more than I need technical business help, I love the books that show you how to do all kinds of borders and fill ins and meanders.

Probably some of the most useful books for a beginner (or a beginner who thinks like I think) would be Darlene Epp's Pocket Guides. There are three little books that have so many ideas. I really think if I was a beginner and could get only one thing, it would be this set. http://www.longarmsupplies.com/PocketGuides.htm

Diana Philips has some really neat pattern packets and books. I use a lot of her ideas. She has them broken down into different meandering techniques, borders, square blocks, triangle blocks, round shapes, etc. Her web page is http://www.cozy-creations.com/ and I would highly recommend her materials for beginners.

Sherry Rogers has a Brainless Borders book that's a great starter book for border ideas. I still struggle with borders. In fact, I just looked at Sherry's web page and she has Darlene Epp's Pocket Guides on her web page too. http://sewfarsewgood.org/books.html

Linda Taylor and Carol Thelen both have books which I find more geared towards making a business of longarming. I have Linda's book and I may have Carol's book but I don't think so.

I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I think of at this moment.

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Guest Linda S

Thanks Judy! No, I don't think you've been hawging all the replies, I think you've been very helpful and I'm grateful. I'll check into getting some of these. Now that I have a few things on my list to get and I know I have funding and I've already lost a night tossing and turning, maybe I can go to sleep and have sweet quilting dreams tonight! ;) Thanks for all the help!

Linda

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Hi,Judy, PLEASE HAWG!!! I love every thing you write, Very informative. I'm getting together dates now to begin HOPEFULLY some classes on machines thru this summer, I've been on the net & every where else searching & feel so confident every step I'm taking with getting it together at choosing this adventure.I'm heading to Massachusettes June, going to ALL the shops I can including Keepsakes quilts. There I may be learning some longarming .(fingers crossed) NH. & maine,Glouster, ect...I'll proberly have seafood poisoning while I choose my fabrics.::oKeep talking Judy!!You too ladies, Your all so great. I still havent chosen my machine ,need hands on to buy right one for me. Have almost all the business end together so hopefully by Sept,I'll be ready. Take care. see You here tomorrow. Cinderella

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T'was me who wished she had read them sooner! Actually it was the Linda Taylor book on LongArming and I finally did way more than read it, I studied it am and frequently find things I missed before. Can't believe it took another person to point out the wholecloth PPP after I had already been thru the book several times. And the little pocket books by Darlene are seldom out of my reach. This evening I grabbed them up to get an inspiration for a border - didn't use her design but one of them triggered an idea for one of my own.

Mary and Big Girl

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Good morning Ladies, the cabin i wanted to put my machine in, (when I choose it,sooner i hope) the back room has the deminition of 14ft longx12ft wide. Is that room enough for me? the front of cabin has alot more space but for privacy matters i wish to work in the back room.I'm undecided on building onto my house,picking up the cabin or a free standing building on my property. They are all in slipper & jammie pant distance:D. Just trying to be wise about choices.House rooms are already taken so no room there. Thanks Cindy

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G'morning,

I am working in a space that is 12' wide by 15' long using a 12' long Ult II and it is okay. Big Girl is butted up against the wall at one end. Not too bad considering I have a file cabinet and a long skinny table on one wall and I am not a little person. I got my machine unexpectedly with no planning so the only place to put it at the time was our empy office trailer (45'X12' - three rooms) from the ranch. Since there are big sliding glass doors at each end of the trailer and several windows I don't feel closed in at all. I have emptied the other two rooms out and am planning a whole sewing setup out there in jammie distance:-) Your space might be a tad short depending on the table you choose tho. Take some masking tape and tape out the dimensions of the machine on the floor and then spend some time moving around it as if the machine were setting there.

Mary & Big Girl

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Guest Linda S

Well, I finished Linda Taylor's book last night and am part way into Carol Thelen's. :) I get my business account set up at the bank this coming week, so I'll order Darlene's pocket books once that's done. I started to realize that I'm getting too many business-related expenses in my own checking account and I need to stop doing that!

I feel very fortunate that the whole upstairs of my house is a finished attic. Very roomy. I think the dimensions are about 18' X 30'. Of course, I've had to clear all the junk out of it (I'm about half way done) and I think I'll have to add more insulation behind the walls before the machine arrives. It can get quite hot up there in the summer. I'll probably put a window unit air conditioner in it too. :D

It's nice that I live by myself, so I have all this space to spread out my fabrics and projects and no one yells! Of course, the biggest problem is keeping the kitties off. That won't be too hard for the machine room. It has a door that closes rather nicely! :D

Linda

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On books:

I have Darlene's books, several books and stencils by Pam Clarke (one clever lady, IMHO) and both "doing business" books by Carol Thelen and Linda Taylor. I find that crusing the Webshots site and looking at everyone elses pretty quilting inspires me. I start doodling and then the doodles become quilting patterns.

On studio space:

I sacrificed my dining room to the quilting machine. Its a 15' by12' room and the machine takes up most of my space. I can work from either side of the machine with room to spare.

Keep in mind, you dont have to be able to move around both ends of the machine. You can set one end against a wall. I also have my domestic sewing machine in the room, space to setup the ironing board, and i have a china cabinet too (course its on the back side of the machine and i dont do much in the way pantos). Cindy, consider what kind of storage you need, where you will keep your batting, etc, and the other thing to watch is where your electrical outlets are... then plan where you want everything to be. You might want to see if there are other quilters in your area and if they would let you see their studios. Sometimes seeing what others have done helps you find efficiencies you would miss otherwise :) Many people have shots of their studios posted on their Webshots sites too.

Good luck!

Cynthia

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[i'm heading to Massachusettes June, going to ALL the shops I can including Keepsakes quilts. There I may be learning some longarming .(fingers crossed) NH. . . .

Give me a shout and I'd be happy to let you work on my Mill. (Lottie) to give you some more experience. I live in NH and spend a great deal of time at a lake not very far from Keepsakes.

Shirley;)

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One of the most amazing books we bought is Quilting Makes the Quilt from That Patchwork Place. It shows the same quilt quilted in several different ways.

And in addition to the other one already mentioned we ocassionally get inspiration from 250 Continuous Line Qulting Designs by Laura Lee Fritz.

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I have ALOT of the longarm books and wouldnt give up nary a one.

My favorites are;

Karen Mctavishes "Quilting for Show" and "Whitework".

Nichole Webbs- "Fantasy Freehand" and "Garden Branching" and "Niks Curling Amish Feather".

AND;

Any of Diana Phillips books.

I only do freehand work so all the above books are freehand books.

My most favorite is Nicholes new book , "Nik's Curling Amish Feather". I have tried and tried to do the curling amish feather border for years without stencils, and this book had me turning out PERFECT ones within a half hour.It includes different veriations on the feather, and now I have to talk many customers out of over-useing it on All there quilts when they drop off their tops and see the example. I would say Its a must have for freehand quilters.

Jamie

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Guest Linda S

Kathy - thanks for the tip on this book. I ogled a copy at JoAnn's last night and then hid it behind several other books (I'm so evil) so that I can go and retrieve it tomorrow with my 40% off coupon and the $20 cash card I got for using my JoAnn's charge card! :P Sometimes a girl has just got to be sneaky to save a few bucks!

Linda

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I work in a library - so I love books!! Anyway, these are a few authors that I have collected books from. If you are interested - go to Amazon.com and go to the book section. In the expanded search, type the authors name and quilting in the subject line. You will have lots of titles to choose from!!

A number of these authors wrote books for the DSM, but the techniques will carry over to the long-arm.

I love Darlene Epps books (available from her web site), and the 3 Long-arm books. Check these authors out too.

Helen Squire

Diane Gaudynski

Harriet Hargrave

Sue Nickles

and the AQS has a book on Antique Quilting Designs that I just purchased. Great for ideas

Quilting Makes the Quilt

Also the Continues Line "Add-A-Line" series.

Hope this isn't to basic a list for all of you!

I just can't wait till my machine arrives. All I do is look at quilt books and dream, dream, dream!!!!

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Guest Linda S

I read Linda Taylor's book, Carol Thelen's book (both very helpful), Karen McTavish's Whitework Quilting (just couldn't put it down -- talk about eye candy!) and got Darlene Epp's pocket books in the mail yesterday. I spent my lunch hour tracing all sorts of designs with the tip of my finger.

Got to spend yesterday evening at a quilt guild meeting with my APQS rep, (name removed). We had Robert Purcell of Superior Threads there to give a talk on all sorts of threads and we all left with a Ph.D. in Threadology. ;)

I'm framing that degree for my studio.

Linda

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Jamie recommended these books.

Nichole Webbs- "Fantasy Freehand" and "Garden Branching" and "Niks Curling Amish Feather". I e-mailed Nichole and she was wonderful!! My books are on there way - I can't wait. My new machine arrives Tuesday:D The room is ready, the new carpet arrives tomorrow. I feel like a little kid before Christmas!!!

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Guest Linda S

Mo -

I'm so excited for you! My baby will be here in about a week and a half to two weeks. I could just about burst!

I ordered Nik's Curling Amish Feather. It arrived last night and at first I was disappointed because it was so thin. Well, there is a lot of info packed between those few pages. Very good. I can hardly wait to start practicing. But, wait -- I guess I'd best haul that insulation I just brought home up into the attic and get busy before it gets too hot!!

Linda :D

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Cinderella: You mention that you'll be on the East Coast sometime soon and I wanted to let you know that we (APQS) will be there too! We've got a "Road Show" scheduled for late July somewhere (location yet to be chosen) in New York. We have a lot of fun at these classes and we share LOTS of information. This would be a perfect opportunity for you to get more hands-on time with our machines (all models) to help you make a better, more educated decision about the right machine for your needs. We'd love to have you join us. If you are interested in more details, let me know and I'll be happy to keep you posted as our plans develop. We should have our location chosen sometime next week, in fact. Contact me at APQS 800-426-7233, ext. 15 or email carla@apqs.com . I'll be happy to visit with you anytime!

Hope to be able to meet you soon!

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  • 9 months later...

If you all want a quilting system that really works, try Pam Clarke's Design with Lines stencils. This is all I use to plan my quilting designs. It eliminates having to have a bunch of stencils for every size block and the design possibilities are endless. You can order directly from Pam at her website homestitches.com. I highly recommend this system.

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  • 1 year later...

LOL You mean books about quilting!? I laughed first because I thought, "Who has time to read a book once they've started quilting for customers?" Except me of course, after suffering a wrenched back most of the summer. I finally gave in and spent a week on the couch. Oh what luxury to read. I read the most wonderful book that I'd be happy to recommend.

Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert

Trust me, you'll really enjoy it.

Eva H. Cucumber Quilting

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I just discovered these two books that I ordered but haven't seen yet accept the sneak preview on Amazon:

1.) Choosing Quilting Designs by Jane Townswick

2.) Encyclopedia of Designs for Quilting by Phyllis Miller

FYI, here is a link to a photo of the "Curling Amish Feather" :

http://columbiariverquilting.com/nichole_webb_nichole_s_curling_amish_feather.html

( I wouldn't get the whitehorsequiltingstudio.com link to work....)

Very Pretty!

If anybody is interested in an antique Amish reproduction pattern from the Lancster Quilt and Textile Museum, here is a link for two patterns, with quilting stencils at Hoopla Patterns:

http://hooplapatterns.com/sunshine.html#dnine

Kathy

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