I found this book at the Loussac Library, and I am so glad I grabbed it. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in quilting.
Cleland wrote this book to illustrate how big an impact the quilting design itself has on the final look of a patchwork quilt. To this end, she made five identical copies of each of several quilt tops, then quilted each top to batting and backing in a very different way from its quintuplet siblings. Classic quilting techniques are featured on some quilts; others break outside the box a bit. Excellent pictures of both full views and close-ups of the quilts do a fantastic job of illustrating the author’s point.
Although the book was written by a machine quilter, the information contained within applies to both machine and hand quilting. This is more of a book about design than technique, though the author’s perspective as a machine quilter leaks out a bit.
Bottom Line: The book is worth owning, but I found the concepts clear and simple enough that I don’t plan to buy it. It’s great for sparking one’s imagination, but isn’t much of a reference book. Although definitely a great book for a beginning quilter to look at, experienced quilters may or may not find it useful.