FREE-MOTION QULTING MADE EASY by Eva A Larkin

This book has lots of great tips on how to get started quilting your own quilts.  Reading the section on Free-Motion Quilting Basics you will find tips such as using the right foot (and that doesn’t mean the one on the floor!), thread tension, how to secure your starting thread, hand position and quilting gloves.  While this only covers a few of the tip, they are good ones to start with.

Ms. Larkin also provides exercises for you to try out your newly learn techniques.  We all know that the word here is PRACTISE!  By using simply shapes, she shows you how to create intricate patterns that will add that special touch to your quilt top.  There are eight basic shapes and once you have those down, the sky is the limit.

Once you have learned the shapes, then you can use the handy chart to find the page that has that combination.  This tells you which one to create first and the pages individual designs can be found on which tells you where to start and the direction to sew.  There are extra tip boxes throughout the book that are highlighted in soft yellow boxes with dashed lines around it.

There is a section of the book that covers what and where to quilt and has graphics to help explain the techniques.  And a section is a gallery of quilts that show the whole quilt and “exploded” sections so you can see more of the detail.  The last two pages provide a Troubleshooting chart.  If you want to learn to quilt your own quilts with free-motion designs, this would be a great book to use.