If you"re tired of making "recipe" quilts that simply duplicate what someone else has designed, and you"re ready to take charge of planning your own quilts, you"ll find the help you need in this excellent reference. Overflowing with solid, practical advice on equipment, fabrics, cutting, basic quilt-block settings, yardage calculation, piecing strategies, even setting up a wonderful workspace, The Art of Classic Quiltmaking aims to allay the trepidations of quilters who long to expand control over their quilting endeavors. With lucid text, hundreds of clear diagrams, and lovely color photos of both antique quilts and their own work, the authors demystify such intimidating concepts as drafting your own patterns, reducing what many quilters fear is a complex mathematical exercise into a more approachable series of simple calculations. Although the authors provide no step-by-step projects (this would, after all, defeat their stated purpose to teach quilters to think for themselves), they do offer detailed explanations on constructing several basic patterns, set-in and curved-seam piecing, quilting the completed product, and finishing techniques. In other words, if you"ve got a bit of quilt-making experience and want to make a more personal statement with your creations, this volume will show you how to go from raw material to a finished quilt you can be truly proud of. --Amy Handy