Books about quilting and patchwork

[snickersnack]

I've been given some book tokens and would like to buy a couple of good introductory books about patchwork and quilting - am a bit bewildered by the choice when I look on Amazon. Any recommendations? I can sew fairly competently on a machine, but my hand sewing is appalling, so it probably needs to be aimed at machine sewing if possible.

I think the books by Lynne Edwards are good. She wrote one called The Sampler Quilt Book which lets you try out different techniques for each of the blocks and tells you how to put it all together to make a quilt. She is an experienced teacher, English, and the book is suitable for beginners. Her other books are good too (Making Scrap Quilts and also Stash Buster Quilts).
Like cookery books I often try to get things from the library and have alook before I buy.
I have lots of quilt books so if this is not what you are after shout out and I'll make some more suggestions!

Those look great - just what I'm after. I've asked our bookshop to order them for me. Very exciting.

One other question - what kind of ruler do I need? I had a library book that seemed to suggest I needed two different kinds of triangular one, but that seemed a bit over the top...

Hmmm. I do not have ANY triangular rulers and have made loads of quilts. I usually cut squares and cut in half to get triangles. My advice would be not to but any equipment until you know you will use it. You can end up spending £££s. However as far as rulers go I have a 6inch x 18 inch rectangular one and more square ones than you can shake a stick at! If you want any more help just ask.