Title: : Pathways To Better Quilting: 5 Shapes For Machine Quilt Patterns
Author: Sally Terry
Publisher: American Quilter’s Society
Pages: 94
Publication Date: 2004
Suggested Retail Price: $22.95
ISBN #: 1-57432-851-4

Review: By Dori Hawks

Wow! What a terrific and informative book Sally Terry’s “Pathways To Better Quilting” is. Sally breaks down quilting designs into 5 basic shapes, shows you how to do the shape with many variations, and then shows you how to combine these shapes into some terrific designs on your quilt top.

The “hand-eye coordination” needed for machine quilting “will not happen without practice.” Sally guides you through the type of practice you must do to develop this hand-eye coordination and develop your brain cell memory to execute any quilting design. She tells you how to focus ahead on the design you are doing, develop smooth strokes, and to count “to help achieve consistency in the size of the shapes” in your designs. The counting is a unique idea and one to make your quilting more accurate and smoother.

The most frequently asked questions in her quilting classes are, “How do you come up with pattern ideas to stitch into the quilt top?” and “Can you help me visualize the quilting patterns on the finished quilt?” A whole chapter in her book is dedicated just those questions, and how you can tap into your creativity and how not to be afraid of your intuition in making your decisions.

Besides all the how tos in this book, Sally goes a step further and helps you choose batting, backing, binding, thread for your quilt top. Then she goes even further and has several quilt top designs with suggestions on what to fill each space of the quilt top with certain types of quilting designs.

This is a tremendous book to help you achieve more skill in your machine quilting. I highly recommend it! Look for this book at your local quilt shop!

American Quilter’s Society
PO Box 3290
Paducah, KY 42002-3290
www.AQSquilt.com
1-800-626-5420

©2004 Dori Hawks
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