Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #842488 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: CD-ROM

About the Author
Margaret Rolfe is an internationally renowned quilt designer and historian who has authored eight books on quiltmaking. Her book A Quilter's Ark has been a top-ten bestseller for Martingale & Company every month since its publication. Margaret's acclaimed quilts have been featured in numerous magazines, including Australian Patchwork.

Customer Reviews

It's about PAPER PIECING!
I just wanted to point out to several of the previous reviewers, and prospective purchasers, that these patterns are meant to be paper-pieced (also known as foundation-pieced). You do not need to cut the pattern apart and add 1/4" seam allowances. You sew your fabric to the paper, in the order given, and then trim the excess down to a 1/4" seam (best done using an Add-A-Quarter ruler). If you don't know how to foundation piece, google it. It's a great method that results in very precise seams and points, and allows you to make some great shapes you couldn't make with regular piecing.

In NO way would this particular CD ever replace a book
Animal Kingdom is a CD inside a full-color cardboard sleeve. There are 2 pictures of a dolphin project on the sleeve, and several color photographs of blocks on the front "cover". The rest of the projects are shown strictly by a small color line drawing.

I can't say that I'm very impressed with this CD at all. The patterns are definitely cute, although a lot of the design features come from embroidery, and not from piecing the features in. I haven't tried printing any patterns yet because our printer is hooked up to the other computer, and apparently I can't save any patterns onto a floppy. Not impressed.

The patterns should have had the seam allowance included, and the multi-piece patterns should print that way - we should NOT have to cut the pattern apart after printing, and add seam allowance. There should have been WAY more color photographs of the patterns, and suggestions for projects - theres lots of room on a CD for these things. Instead of having an index with all the blocks listed (whereby you could pick which one you want to work with) - you get to figure out which section your block falls into alphabetically:
Australian Magpie - Butterfly ... Camel - Cow ... etc. etc. etc.
I have to say - that is one ODD "index". There are some excellent instructions on the CD, but you have to choose from 3 instruction categories, and then use arrows to get to your page - you can't directly access the page you want. Again - this is
is an extremely odd and inefficient way to do things.

If this CD is the "new wave" of crafting books, then it either needs a LOT of work, or else its going to go the way of Beta video recorders. The *concept* of a book on a CD is a good one, but the product - in this particular case - needs a lot of work.

Moderately useful
This software includes all the patterns from _The Quilter's Ark_, pluse some new patterns, including DINOSAURS for your little boy! (So many quilts look feminine that this is a bonus!)

However, I am getting indifferent results on my computer. It takes forever for the patterns to print, and some, like the flying eagle, will not print at all.

I have no problem with the limited sizes, but I do wish that the author had broken the patterns down into sections and included the standard 1/4 inch seam allowances for each one.