Rating: 
Summary: Take a class using this book--it'll be easier!
Review: Absolutely a great concept and will make wonderful blocks, quilts, etc. Good pictures at the front to let the reader understand the stacking and cutting. But somehow the instructions could be a whole lot easier to find for your specific project. Luckily I took a class, but that was a few months ago and so now I have taken a week or so to re-review the book to try to find measurements I can use for any others. Also, the book makes the piecing much more involved and too many more pieces than necessary. I would wait for her updated version of this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent guide to easily making kaleidoscope quilts
Review: As a beginning quilter, I found this book to be an excellent guide for easily making kaleidoscope quilts without mirrors or extensive measuring and cutting. As a paper crafter as well, I found the technique great for collages.The book starts out by explaining how to choose fabric and pick colors. It's a great plus that almost any fabric that has a repeat pattern can be used. Then, there are lots of great tips on rotary cutting, machine piecing & pressing. Next, the stack-n-whack process is demonstrated in detail with step-by-step instructions and full-color photos. Fourteen different quilt projects, in 7 different styles follow. Illustrations are used instead of photos for these. The quilts themselves are beautiful. There are large color photos of each one. In the back there are guides and patterns for all the projects as well as lesson plans for classes.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, detailed book on a new technique.
Review: Bethany Reynolds has brought to the qulting word the greatest new quilting technique in a very long time. It is an exciting new concept in making kaleidoscope quilts: faster, more beautiful, and so much fun it is addictive. The book is excellent, clearly written, with many suggestions on fabric choices, as well as understandable diagrams with the directions.
Rating:
Summary: Magic Stack-N-Whack Quilts
Review: Exciting - Fresh - Fabulous - Beautiful! Bethany Reynolds and her staff did a remarkable job of explaining in detail how to create a fabulous heirloom kaleidoscope quilt. Quickly, I made two for my best friends - they loved them. The instructions were very clear - I've been quilting for only two years and was able to follow her instructions very clearly. It was a joy to create and ever so wonderful. Thank you Bethany. Denise Lupinacci
Rating:
Summary: Easy to follow
Review: I am an avid quilter and this has become my favorite quilting book ever. Every time I shop for fabric in a shop or catlogue, I am always drawn to the fabrics that would be suitable for these designs. Quilting can be predictable. You know what the designs look like from the art on the chosen page. But.....the joy of this quilt is that you don't REALLY know EXACTLY what each piece will look like until last seam is sewn, unfolded and the final lovely design revealed! Each quilt is a joy and a delight...from the simplest design to the very advanced. Thank you, Bethany for this marvelous book!
Rating: 
Summary: Magical Results--With a Guide
Review: I am an experienced quilter with 14 years under my belt and numerous classes, too, and I was excited to own my own copy of this beautiful book. In fact, a good friend wanted a quilt from it, but I was dumbfounded by the instructions and had to put the book away in frustration for two years--until I was able to take a class at a local shop with someone who could explain to me how to read the charts! While I understood the basic concepts of stacking the fabric carefully to take advantage of the repeats and of cutting the shapes and of sewing to make hexagons, 8-point stars, or half-square triangle patterns, I was baffled by formulas for calculating yardages needed for star points, background fabrics, and the like. Now, after taking a class with an enthusiastic and clear teacher, I have purchased the next book, too (STACK-N-WHACKIER)and signed up for the next class in the series. The teacher, who is president of the largest (and best) quilting guild in this area, claims that a motivated beginner can master the stack-n-whack method--but even she admitted that it is easier the first time around in a classroom setting with a little help from friends (and a knowledgable instructor). Therefore, I recommend this book for inspiration--and use AFTER a class with a good instructor.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding how to book, for beautiful quilts.
Review: I ordered this book based on seeing an episode of "Simply Quilts" which showcased Bethany's technique and her quilts. I almost never buy a book without seeing it first, but in this case the quilts shown on TV were gorgeous and the technique appeared simple and fast -- I was sold. I was NOT disappointed! I received the book one afternoon and by the next afternoon had purchased fabric and put together all the kaleidoscope blocks for a wall hanging. I am hooked. I have the fabric for another bed sized quilt in the book and now look at large scale print fabrics in a different light. I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: For quilters who like to play!
Review: Karen's Stack-n-Whack technique is easy to use, results in great quilts, and is FUN! Once you've tried it, you will be evaluating every fabric you see for its Stack-n-Whack possibilities. This is so easy that with my help a friend of mine made one of these as her FIRST quilt! Warning: addictive, leads to large purchases of fabric and hours of happy sewing!
Rating:
Summary: Clear instructions for a great new quilt-piecing technique
Review: Magic Stack 'n' Whack features one of the most exciting quilt-piecing techniques I've seen recently and Bethany Reynolds does an excellent job of taking the reader through the process step by step. The photographs and diagrams are clear and helpful and there is a good range of projects for relative beginners or more advanced quilters who are looking for something a bit more challenging. Every quilter I've talked to who has read this book is running to the quilt shop for new fabric to stack 'n' whack.
Rating:
Summary: Original, Clear, Amazing Results
Review: This book should come with a warning lable. Highly addictive, proceed at your own risk. You run the danger of buying endless yards of fabric for future stack 'n whack projects. Every once in a while a book comes a long with an idea so simple and clever, that you think why didn't I think of that? Buy enough yardage of fabric to have the desired number of repeats, stack each of the repeats of fabric precisely on top of each other and whack the pieces to form groups of identical repeats. The beauty of this method is you can quickly make blocks with as little as 12 pieces that are stunning. The instructions are clear and precise with a number of quilts to get you started. The technique adapts easily to other things. The only negative comment I have is that almost all of the quilts pictured were on the loud side and some might assume that it all the method produces. That is not the case. You can make anything from muted, to classy, to wild, depending on your fabric selection.
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