A book for beginning quilters
The directions are clear. The Pictures are "dull" - there is no verity in colors - the same quilt colors in different assembling of the units.

book was as expected, delivery was on time, All my orders from Amazon have been great.

I attended a workshop by given by Eleanor Burns in 1981 in Houston and bought this book. The next day I started a quilt for my son and I have been quilting ever since.

This is a great book for any quilter, but especially for beginning quilters or quilters who are making their first full-sized quilt. The directions are easy to follow and the book is very understandable. Eleanor Burns makes quilting easy and enjoyable and opens quilting to everyone.

Eleanor Burns is an awesome author, and I just love her books. Now I don't own this one, but I have borrowed it from a friend and intend on getting my own copy soon. With Eleanor Burns' strip quilting technique, it makes a log cabin quilt a snap to make! I highly recommend this book to any quilter of any experience level.

Eleanor Burns does an excellent job of making quilting simple for beginners. Every step, *every* one, is clearly photographed, so that you know what to do. She works hard to simplify the task of making a quilt, and I think she succeeds. If this had been the first quilting book I picked up, I would have approached my initial projects with a lot more confidence -- and with fewer mistakes.

However, the book has been valuable for me even though I'm... well, I'm not sure of the "intermediate" label, yet, but I'm far from a rank beginner. One reason is the clarity of her instructions. I had attempted to make a log cabin quilt as one of my earliest projects, and I made two boo-boos that Burns would have warned me against. (They were dumb enough, in retrospect, that she should have slapped me. That quilt top is hidden in a drawer, because I'd be too embarrassed to give it away.)

Also -- and the reason I picked up this book in the first place -- the instructions are given for every size quilt imaginable, from a wall hanging to crib quilt to extra-large king. Most quilt books give instructions for just one size of quilt; if you want to make another (such as a king instead of a double), you have to figure out the fabric requirements on your own. This book tells you exactly how much you'll need for each size; even better, it reassures you about the fabric usage during construction ("at this point, you should be able to sew three blocks for each strip").

I'm almost done with a crib quilt (a gift for an expectant niece), and I'm quite pleased with the results. It's a pretty quilt, and for the first time my blocks require no trimming! I'm also happy with the speed of construction; this really has been very easy and swift.

However, do keep one thing in mind: _Burns is simplifying_. For example, she doesn't have you iron at each step; instead, you finger press and use a stilletto to ensure that you sew seams in the correct direction. (I pressed, anyway.) I suspect that the method she imparts is like the 10-minute simplified recipes for complex dinners -- they can taste just fine but they aren't "authentic." On the other hand, this book will get you off the ground, and give you a successful quilt in a short time. You can develop the fancier techniques later.

A definite winner for beginners, and quite useful for intermediate quilters, too.