Almost a year to the day from when we mailed in the quilts and manuscript, I had our book in my hands:

You Can Quilt! Building Skills For Beginners.

I just received my order of books and will start shipping them out on Tuesday. If you didn't already pre-order, you can order a signed copy in my signed copy in my E

tsy shop

or an unsigned copy from

Amazon

or the

AQS website

. It is also available as an

e-book

if you prefer.

Let me give you a tour of the book. The publishing group at AQS sent me a copy of the book that they had all signed. That was really nice. Don't you love the close up of Rosie? And that Circle of Geese block?

The next page with a close up of the quilt I made...and all of the copyright mumbo jumbo.

Next comes the Table of Contents, but let's just focus on the quilt for a second.... :)

Marlene

's quilt, Rosie's BOMb, faces the introduction. I really like the introduction. It tells the story of two school teachers turned riveters for the summer and then ties their story into quilting and how we can do hard things and learn new skills too. We Can Do It!

The books then goes over quilting basics like sewing a 1/4" seam, pressing and choosing fabrics.

Then we get to the blocks. There are 12 different "Skill Builder Sets" with 3 quilt blocks in each set. The first block in each set is very simple and then we move on to more complex blocks. The Skill Builder Sets included in the book are: Learning the Basics (straight lines, chain piecing, sub-cutting), Half-square Triangles, Quarter-Square Triangles, Flying Geese, Wonky Blocks, Improvisation....

Foundation Paper Piecing, Curves, One-Patch Blocks, Applique, Inset Seams and Challenge Blocks. This is a comprehensive book!

There are also setting, quilting and binding instructions at the end of the book.

The back cover has pictures of additional projects you can make with the blocks.

But that is not all! The book comes with the cutest CD ever. I think centering the compass block on it is brilliant. The CD has the templates for the curved, appliqued and foundation paper pieced blocks. There are also setting instructions for the quilt seen on the cover, a bonus Airplane block, and pictures of other quilts made with the blocks from the book.

I am totally biased, but I think you will really like this book. It would be fun to work through the blocks with a group of friends. And although it is marketed to beginners, it would also be beyond useful for all of us who are stuck in intermediate-quilter-land who want to stretch our skills.

Again, you can order a signed copy in my E