Customer Reviews

Setting Solutions

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you make quilt blocks, you want to own this book. Sharon will show you how to create your own quilts with blocks that are not matched in size or color and the results will be better than you would ever expect.   As I read through, marveling at her creativity, I kept wondering why she had such an endless supply of mismatched blocks of the month. She does it on purpose! She likes the challenge of starting with something and making it better, rather than making her own orderly and boring quilt from scratch.

There is no way to overstate how much you will get out of this book. Another recent book by Margaret Miller dealt with the same subject but her solutions were so much work that I doubt I would ever use them. This book contains easy, approachable solutions to problems all of us have faced. If you make blocks, you will want to have it in your library for endless inspiration.

Finally a good quilt book that tells you how to fix or set blocks! There are no patterns in this book, but who needs another pattern book. This book helps you clean up all those blocks just setting around.

Sharon Craig's new book is wonderful. If you have orphan blocks and or UFO's this book may be just the thing you need to give your creativity a jump-start, so that you can finish those projects. Quilter's from beginners to advanced will benefit from adding this book to their library. It is filled with pictures, as well as great instruction and explainations. There are numerous quilts made from the same sets of blocks which demonstrate Ms. Craig's ideas about "coping." New quilters will love the idea that even if your blocks aren't perfect you can still make a fantastic quilt. Advanced quilters will like the idea of finished quilts! If you have abandoned projects, Setting Solutions has great ideas for setting those blocks that have been marinating in the closet, under the bed or in a box somewhere.

The 2001 printing is stunning - glossy paper, beautiful photographs, and Sharyn Craig's usual excellent material.

The 2009 printing is something called a "Print on Demand" and the quality is atrocious. It is made out of flat paper which makes the photographs dull, lacking contrast, and quite plainly AWFUL.

C&T should be ashamed to put out a product like this and Amazon should be ashamed that they sold it without notifying the consumer that it was a print on demand substandard product.

Very good book to help with setting together those blocks you get that are not all the same size. Nice photos too. After reading it I actually decided to participate in guild swaps again and formed my own mini bee to do swaps.

I bought this book some time ago, looked at it, saw things I liked but then somehow is got lost in the plethora of quilting books. Well, I have just gotten it out again and WOW! This really takes quilt design to a new level! I recently won a group of blocks in our little quilting group. Bright and cheerful though they were, they were just not right for me. I also discovered that they were not all the same size. Well, I struggled and struggled with these blocks, as they were all made by my friends and so were important to me. I sewed them together first with a diagonal set---looked like a tablecloth (did I mention the main and secondary prints featured lemons?). I ripped them all apart again and started over. Next I tried a contrast sashing with cornerstones. My color choice was bad I guess because it wound up looking pretty garish, the thing is indomitably cheery! Finally in searching for help in my vast library of quilting books, I came across Sharyn Craig's wonderful book again, and in looking through it I found my perfect solution, the 2:1 set. Again, Wow! What a difference this made (along with some better complimentary fabrics of course). Now it actually works very well, and I am extremely pleased with it, as are my fellow block makers. I cannot wait to apply more of Sharyn's ideas to other groups of blocks. Beautifully pieced blocks in wonderful fabrics are great, but this takes the whole process to another level. Wonderful book!

There is NOTHING wrong with this book! I had to put a quilt together for the guild in a big hurry and wanted an easier concept. The same author wrote "Twist 'n Turn" which filled the bill perfectly. This particular book has more elaborate solutions to 'problem' blocks. Still think it would be good for a quilter who won block-of-the-month and wasn't in such a rush to complete a quilt top.

this book is full of inspiring ideas to help us quilters out of tough spots when working with odd blocks. I wish I had a circle of friends like her to make blocks with!

I recently purchased a used copy of the 2001 edition of this book. After reading other reviews I felt it was something I would put to good use. Now that I have seen it I am sure I will be seeking inspiration from it on a regular basis. I do the "Block-of-the-month" thing, as do so many quilters, and am often challenged to find a new way to set a group of blocks. There are a boatload of ideas in full color here, including multiple settings using the same set of blocks. The author takes us way beyond the typical "sashing-and-cornerstone" settings with which we are so familiar. I have purchased sets of blocks online and in thrift stores and frequently encounter the "not-all-the-same-size" issue, which this book addresses well. I am intrigued by Sharyn's ability to downplay the dominant color scheme of a set of blocks and create a quilt that appears to be a more pleasing color for the intended recipient. She even suggests ways to get motivated to finish a set of blocks that no longer hold your interest.

Overall, I think I spent more time studying this quilt book the day I received it, than I have any other quilt book of recent memory (and I purchase more quilt books than I care to admit). I couldn't just flip through the pages, admiring the photos, and then set it aside for a deeper read at a later time. It drew me in and kept my attention with the many possibilities for solving problems with sets of blocks, whether those problems are size differences, lack of motivation, less than favorite colors to work with, or a lack of ideas. I read almost cover-to-cover in the first sitting.

My caution would be to enthusiastic beginners who think this looks like a good pattern book. Though Sharyn gives layout worksheets on grids for the designs within the book, there are only three pattern pieces in the entire book, all related to the same quilt, and there are no real step-by-step instructions. For an experienced quilter, the grid lines will allow them to draft their own pattern, add seam allowances and be on their way, and there may be some beginners who have a natural talent for such things and will be able to work it out. But I believe that most new quilters would be overwhelmed with the task of trying to create their own pattern to duplicate the quilts in this book. That, to me, is not a flaw of the book--I am just noting that I believe beginners were not Ms. Craig's target audience.

I am glad I own this book and I already have my sights set on Sharyn's other book about quilt settings, "Great Sets: Seven Roadmaps to Spectacular Quilts."

Excellent book for helping the quilter, new or expert, solve problems when setting quilt blocks. I got great ideas for setting blocks, and the explanations for figuring the math were easy to understand. The book arrived in excellent condition, and it came before its projected arrival date. Great Buy!