Do NOT roll your eyes! It's not becoming. It's true: you either LOVE or HATE paper piecing. Yes, my new book is finally in and it's all about paper piecing. Large blocks. Pretty blocks. Blocks with very, very sharpy-sharp points. How else do you think you can get them SHARP except by paper piecing?  Today I have an extensive tutorial using one of the blocks in my book ( Paper Piecing Perfect Points ) called Spinning Waterwheels. I am remaking the blocks in a new collection by Blank Quilting called Tanglewood.  Aren't these just lovely?! The Tanglewood Collection by Blank Quilting First, we cut out the pattern very close to (but not exactly on) the outer seam line. You cannot leave the pattern in the 8-1/2" x 11" size. It will cause you to place your patches incorrectly and then you may have to unsew! Cut pattern out. Fold along EVERY printed line. This is better than trying to hold the pattern and the fabric up to a light source. The prin...

Isn't that a fun title: Free patterns! Well, I was thinking about this because I want to share a few short stories about people and quilts and how they work together so wonderfully. My friend Janet died of ovarian cancer about 15 years ago and left a loving husband and 3 children under 7 years old. Blank Quilting asked me to design a quilt featuring their Inspiration 3 Collection a few years ago and I made this quilt with Janet in mind. The Inspiration Collections (there are 4) share some of their proceeds with ovarian cancer research. Memories of Janet : 48" x 48" The pattern is FREE on my Craftsy page (link above; or link on sidebar). Why did I think of this? I am on the Martingale blog email list and they shared about the passing of one of their beloved staff, Robin Strobel . Robin was a book author (among other things) and for this weekend, Martingale is making available BOTH of Robin's books as eBooks FREE. They are lovely books filled with creativit...

Winner of the fat quarter bundle is: Karen of San Diego, CA. Congratulations, Karen. Black and white and . . . green! What a fabulous combination, don't you think? Day for Night Collection by Windham Fabrics Looks like I'm getting ready to do some paper piecing. Why? Because I've pre-cut some strips. I don't do any guessing; no "grab a wad of fabric, maybe even a fat quarter, and hope it covers the patch." (I'm not kidding - one teacher said to grab a fat quarter so you would be sure to have enough fabric to cover a patch/space). You can see 7 of my paper piecing tips at the Martingale blog site . I was interviewed and I share some of my back story on how I came into paper piecing kicking and screaming. But as I went along, I threw out a lot of really bad teaching techniques used by teachers and created my own. Why? I want my students to be successful and I wanted to keep my hair intact! Hosanna Block before trimming My book has several pa...

Katie's Points of View The " Stitch This !" blog for Martingale is featuring an interview with me today about my new book, Paper Piecing Perfect Points and they give some of my back story comments and tips for paper piecing which have helped me along the way. You can leave a comment for a chance to WIN a copy of my new book. You can also see all the quilts on the " Books " tab at the top of this page. One special that Martingale is offering is if you buy the book you can download the eBook for free! This way you can print the foundations right from your computer! It's a limited time special and as an eBook (I have it), you don't have to struggle with photocopying or tracing the foundations. Now, that's a real bargain (it's normally $19.99). Here are a few of the quilts featured: One block from "Seeing Red" Toile Garden (I've made several of these center blocks) Four blocks from "Spinning Waterwheels...

No, not today or last week or last year. But in January 2005, on the front end of an 8 day teaching tour (California to Colorado) someone broke into my hostess's car and stole a suitcase with 30 (yes, thirty!) of my quilts. Why am I sharing this today? Because I found some old pics of them and wanted to revisit their beauty. I am not trying to make you feel sorry for me (or them). I am over it. I like to say that they are hanging on the Giant Quilt Rack in the sky. This first one, 98 Dancing Squares was in my first book (which had only been out for 4 months!). 98 Dancing Squares This next one I called Spinning Waterwheels and I really miss her. I did remake it somewhat for my current book. But this one was made with all Fossil Ferns from Benartex. Spinning Waterwheels OK. Another one, also from my first book (Bold, Black & Beautiful Quilts): Dresden Butterflies And one of the first quilts I made in my Cookie Cutter series. I still teach this class, but I wa...

Sunbonnet Sue mini quilt In my 20 years drafting patterns for publication, I tend to stay in themes. One theme is the reproduction of historic, early American (ie, 20th century) quilts. One of these is the Sunbonnet Sue . Isn't she cute? Why is she here today? To introduce you to these quilts and that they are now being offered at Craftsy . I never knew that Craftsy could manage the sales of my patterns so easily. I have Madame Samm to thank for that (isn't she a gem?) I'm going to show you several other quilts and then for a GIVEAWAY at the end of this post, I'm going to ask you to vote for your favorite one and the winner will receive a copy of whichever pattern set he/she desires (pdf format). The Memory Bouquet Quilt is 20 applique flower patterns, all sitting in the same blue pot (not at one time!) Blocks are 9" x 12". The quilt is 63" x 63". I own this quilt and my dear Atlanta friends from my guild (when I lived there) helped me put...