Apr 12 You got your longarm, now what? Many books offer lots of quilting designs. Gina Perkes does that, too, but she actually helps you get to the stage where you can use the designs. She starts with step-by-step instructions from finding design inspiration and selecting the appropriate design all the way to blocking and binding the quilt. I loved all the tips throughout the book, e.g., printing a large color photo of your quilt to sketch designs on it, how to build a lightbox, how to use clear tablecloth vinyl to draft border designs, and how to add additional measurements to the leaders to help maintain a square quilt. Since longarm quilters are thread lovers, Gina includes a chapter on choosing and using thread, including troubleshooting. In addition to quilting designs shown throughout the text, she includes 40 original quilting designs. If you are new to your longarm, or more experienced, I think this is a great reference.
Professional Quilter
June 12 Gina shares valuable information that any machine quilter can use, such as finding inspiration for quilting patterns, planning and executing designs successfully, and blocking and binding a quilt. She demonstrates how to modify traditional feathers and fillers, use rulers and grid work, and choose the best thread for your quilt. Priceless tips are given throughout each chapter. These instructions can apply to those working on domestic sewing machines as well as longarms and midarms. Gina also includes forty original quilting designs that will provide inspiration for quilting your next project and beyond.
Machine Quilting Unlimited
June 12 This may, on first appraisal, seem like a niche market publication as so few of us have the luxury of a longarm quilting frame let alone the space to put one, but on closer study the book contains numerous tips, including exercises for capturing inspiration and quilt interpretation, which are all relevant to scaled-down home quilting on your standard sweing machine. A very interesting read even though I don't own a longarm quilting frame either!
Fabrications
June 14 A longarm quilting machine is a big investment, and a very different way of quilting compared to using a domestic machine. Gina Perkes' book is a useful guide to getting the best out of a longarm and features a great array of tips and techniques for the novice longarm quilter. In addition to chapters on getting started, freehand techniques, fillers, and block and border designs, marking and more, there is a lovely set of about forty quilting designs which could be useful to all quilters, whether using longarm, midarm or ordinary sewing machines, or even for hand quilters. These designs really are gorgeous and make this book a very good buy.
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