This contest is OVER; Sallie W from Texas is my winner. Congratulations, Sallie! Yum, yum. I love cream and sugar - in my tea. Only cream in my coffee. But the new collection by Windham Fabrics: Cream and Sugar is so delightful that I could eat it up (no calories, btw). This collection by designed by Ampersand Design Studios - Morgan and Carrie, two very talented young women (not to be confused with one graying old woman here). Cream and Sugar by Windham Fabrics I cut some squares for a simple piecing project I cut some squares to go with my Arrowheads template set (similar to the Tri-Recs tool). Squares, half-rectangle triangles and some covered buttons and felt "bling" What do they make? These are my Tilt Blocks. First appeared in my first book (2004) I even did a pattern for Windham from years past and the pattern is STILL available. Here is the quilt called "Tumbling Dice" using the Play Collection . Click that link for the free p

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? (More about my book in a few days; I certainly will have a giveaway!) Check out the interview on Martingale's blog - they share a lot of info about my book: Paper Piecing Perfect Points . 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. If you stick with me, you can have a chance to win a bundle of 11 fat quarters!  Contest is over. Aren't these just lovely?! The Tanglewood Collection by Blank Quilting - 11 fat quarters can be yours! First, we cut out the pattern very close to (but not exactly on)

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&quo

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