Mariner's Compass Stars: 24 Stellar Paper-Pieced Blocks & 9 Easy Quilt Projects [Paperback] Review

with carol doak--i will never be able to make all the quilts her books inspire.

this newest offering is wonderful. her stars appear complex, but are easy to make with paper piecing. there are 24 blocks (too few! too few!), each named after a country, and nine quilt designs ranging from 25" square to 63" square.

the book includes thorough instructions for paper piecing, so even the quilter who hasn't tried this technique will have no trouble. there are excellent photos of the process. the author includes a short explanation of her design process, which will help the quilters who want to create their own designs.

there is also a section on designing settings which could apply to any type quilting. the instructions for the finished quilts include detailed instuctions, diagrams, and cutting charts, and a feature i haven't seen before--circles with the pertinent fabric next to the yardage requirements. now, no more guessing which is the 'light green' and which 'the medium green' the pattern calls for. there is also what seems to be the compulsory very short, useless section on making a quilt, covering (more or less) in three pages topics entire books have been written about.

the blocks are shown straight and on point, very useful. the finished quilts have charts showing alternate color ways, also very useful.

an added feature is the wonderful machine quilting by Kathryn Blais, that shows very clearly in the photos. lots of inspiration for the 'quilt as desired' part of the process.

a cd of 'the foundation factory' is included. i have made only one quilt using print outs from the 'foundation factory' included in a previous book, and there was a serious discrepancy in length between two sections that were to fit together. i had not had this problem when i photocopied the patterns for yet another project, using the same photocopier. i haven't printed out any other patterns, so i can't say if this is an peculiar occurance or a basic problem.

the cd aside, this is definitely another winner from doak.

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Product Description:
Mix 'n match 24 sensational paper-pieced star blocks in 9 quilt projects. Bonus CD-ROM with resizable patterns.

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