Introduction 8 About this book 9 Choosing equipment 10 What you really need 10 Your sewing machine 12 Quilting gadgets 14 Choosing and preparing fabrics 16 Selecting patchwork cottons 16 Special fabrics 18 Preparing and storing fabrics 20 Dyeing your own fabrics 21 Printing your own fabrics 24 Your photos on fabric 26 Color confidence 28 Color creations in practice 30 Tricks with contrast 32 Prints and patterns 34 Working with quilt patterns 36 Using a pattern 36 Designing with traditional blocks 38 Planning a block quilt design 40 Style genres 42 Quilting inspirations 44 Cutting skills 46 Rotary cutting 46 Making templates 48 Fussy cutting and kaleidoscope effects 50 Patchwork techniques 52 Machine patchwork 52 American patchwork 54 Easy blocks with squares and rectangles 56 Improving your piecing speed 58 Seminole and string patchwork 60 Easy triangles 62 Flying Geese variations 64 Easy foundation piecing 66 Further foundation piecing 68 Puzzles and weaves 70 Inset seams and miters 72 Curved seams and inset circles 74 Freehand curves 76 English paper piecing: portable patchwork 78 Assembling the quilt top 80 Japanese folded patchwork 82 Appliqué and embellishment techniques 84 Appliqué 84 Fused appliqué 86 Freezer paper appliqué 88 Needleturn and reverse appliqué 90 Hawaiian appliqué 92 Bias strips appliqué 94 Broderie persé and shadow appliqué 96 Embellishments 98 Crazy patchwork 100 Techniques for textures 102 Batting and basting 104 Batting 104 Making the quilt sandwich 106 Quilting designs and techniques 108 The quilting pattern 108 Hand quilting 110 Machine quilting 112 Long-arm machine quilting 114 Quilt-as-you-go 116 Sashiko and kantha 118 Hand quilting with other stitches 120 Corded quilting and trapunto 122 Big stitch and tying 124 Binding and finishing 126 Types of edge finishes 126 Applying lapped binding 128 Mitered and curved bindings 130 Turned, wrapped, and faced edges 132 Invisible-edge finish 134 Labeling your quilt 136 Quilt group fun 138 Groups and projects 138 Making a group quilt 140 Shows and exhibitions 142 Your quilt group's exhibition 142 Visiting a large show 144 Entering a competitive show 146 Preparing your exhibition quilt 148 Care and storage 150 Estimating fabric quantities and math reference 152 Useful addresses 153 Glossary 154 Index 157 Credits 160.