Alex Anderson seeks to educate, inspire, entertain, and grow today's quilting community. A longtime host of the TV show Simply Quilts, she is also executive producer and co-host of the web TV's The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims. Alex lives in Northern California. [...] and [...]

Introduction: A Few Words from Alex Anatomy of a Quilt In the Sewing Room Sewing Machine Shopping for a New Machine Caring for Your Machine Your Physical Set-Up Tools and Notions Fabric and Color: Choose It and Use It! Fabric Grain A Few Words About Quality Three Keys to Successful Fabric Selection Color Value Character of Print Add Some Sparkle Alternative Strategies for Choosing Fabrics Caring For Your Fabric To Prewash . . . or Not? Where and How to Store It Drafting: Have It Your Way Drafting Blocks Based on Grids Drafting Non-Grid Based Blocks Drafting an Eight-Pointed Star Drafting a Hexagon (Hexie) When Hexie Size Doesn’t Matter When Hexie Size Does Matter Subdividing the Hexie Rev Up Your Rotary Cutter Safety First Basic Rotary-Cutting Technique Squaring Up the Fabric Cutting Strips Cutting Squares Cutting Rectangles Cutting Half- and Quarter-square Triangles Half-square Triangles Quarter-square Triangles Cutting 45° Trapezoids Cutting an Isosceles Triangle in a Square Background Triangles (A) Isosceles Triangle (B) Cutting Equilateral Triangles Cutting 45° Diamonds Cutting Bias Strips The Ins and Outs of Piecing When You Need Templates Adding Seam Allowance to Drafted Patterns Machine-Piecing Techniques Pinning Stitching Pressing Matters “Unsewing” Machine Piecing Techniques You’ll Want to Know Strip Piecing Sew-and-Flip Method Secret Star-Point Method Y-Seams Sewing Curves Paper-Foundation Piecing Sizing Fabric Pieces Creating Patterns Sewing Sewing Units into Blocks Removing the Paper Foundations Hand Piecing: English Paper Piecing Cutting the Shapes Piecing the Shapes All About Appliqué Preparing for Appliqué Preparing Individual Appliqués (Hand or Machine) Preparing for Individual Appliqués (Hand Only) Preparing the Background for Appliqué (Hand or Machine) Hand-Appliqué Techniques Basic Stitch for Needle-turn or Paper-basted Appliqué Needle-turn Appliqué Buttonhole-stitch (Blanket-stitch) Stitch Appliqué Reverse Appliqué Machine-Appliqué Techniques Invisible-Appliqué Stitch Customizing Stitches Raw-edge Appliqué with Buttonhole (or Blanket) Stitch Putting It Together: Settings and Borders Settings Gallery of Settings Borders Design Considerations/Proportions Intended Use Squaring Up the Quilt Measuring for Borders Cutting and Grainline Stitching Borders Border Options Butted Borders Mitered Borders Partial-Seam Borders Borders with Corner Squares Pieced Borders Self-Bordering Quilts Scalloped Borders Appliqué and Quilted Borders Choosing and Marking Your Quilting Design Basics of Good Quilting Design Basic Quilting Strategies Other Sources for Quilting Designs Ideas for Creating Your Own Motifs Eight-Section Designs Twelve-Section Designs Soft, Curved Lines Transferring the Design Straight-Line Quilting Stipple Quilting Preparing to Quilt Housekeeping Choosing and Preparing a Batting Choosing and Preparing the Backing Piecing the Backing Basting Basting for Hand Quilting (in a Hoop) Basting for Machine Quilting Ready, Set . . . Quilt! Hand Quilting Placing the Quilt in a Hoop Selecting a Thimble The Quilting (Rocking) Stitch Preparing to Stitch Thimble on Middle Finger Thimble on Pointer Finger Thimble on Thumb Finishing and Burying the Knot Machine Quilting Adjusting the Tension Handling Bulk Starting and Stopping Anchoring Machine-Quilting Technique Straight-line and Simple-Curve Quilting Simple-Curve Quilting Free-Motion Quilting Stipple Quilting Practice, Practice, Practice Tying Your Quilt Finishing Touches Binding Straight-Grain vs. Bias Binding Figuring Binding Length Double-Fold Binding Preparing the Quilt for Binding Binding with Squared Corners Binding with Mitered Corners Binding a Zigzag Edge (Inside Corner) Binding a Scalloped Edge Faced Edge with Hanging Sleeve Folded (Flat) Piping Prairie Points Adding a Hanging Sleeve Making a Label Index Resources About the Author