Yikes! I'm a dog person, but Keepsake Quilting just sent me an email announcing that today is National Cat Day. I'm not celebrating, but I do have some cat patterns. This is the quilt in my 2019 Quilting Calendar that I call "Cats Under the Moon" quilt. The blocks are 6" with the two cats and Moon/Star blocks being appliqué and the pumpkin is paper pieced. I should make this a pattern, but at least I can show you the quilt. Cats Under the Moon: 26" x 26" Here's one of the cats: Scaredy-Cat Block (6") And the other . . . Moon Gazing Cat Block (6") I may make this a pattern in time for NEXT Halloween. But, thought you'd like to see my two cats. I have made that paper pieced pumpkin several times. But I can't find a pic of any of them! Back to the drawing board (or sewing board) I guess. This is as far as I go to celebrate National Cat Day. If you need a FREE cat pattern fix, go to this link:  Fat Cat in the Ci...

Remember my 2018 Tea Party Block of the Month? I shared all the blocks I had made several years ago (and some new ones) and used for a workshop in Atlanta. These were free each month and are now available in my Etsy store . I especially had fun making several more tea cups! Stacked Tea Cups Do you remember this pic of the scattered blocks? Various blocks in various sizes As I was putting this quilt together with VERY simple sashing, I could NOT find the last block: the December crock. Actually, I had made two of them. Maybe that was because I had moved Thanksgiving weekend and they were hiding in a box somewhere! I since found them and promptly lost them again. Sigh. December Crock Block #1  And the second one (I think they are scheming somewhere deep in a closet): December Crock Block #2 I went ahead and put the quilt together - minus the two Crock blocks. As you can see, I had an abundance of those tea cups! I quilted it last week on my HandiQuilter Sweet 1...

It's only been a few hours with over 20 comments and only 9 leaving a legitimate email. Most come through (to my email) as a "no reply" return address. If you're worried about leaving your email (so that you can be entered into my giveaway contest), then just EMAIL ME: kratovil@his.com More blocks from the Kansas City Star. This is a series called " Quilting Patterns and Motifs " which features 27 quilting motifs from 1930 to 1938. Remember, this is an orphan block that is included in the giveaway. The unknown maker decided to use it for embroidery. Lovely, huh? Kansas City Star Motif: November 21, 1934 Contest is over Friday night . One digital copy to an international visitor (I must know this by you telling me; I have no idea what country you come from via your email!) One CD copy AND this block will go to a USA visitor. The reason for this post is BECAUSE . . . The following comments from this morning's post have NO email: ...

Contest is over and my two winners are: Ellen M. from Spain (digital copy of the pattern) Vivian O. from Pennsylvania (CD of pattern and this lovely, embroidered block) Many thanks to ALL who commented! More blocks from the Kansas City Star. This is a series called " Quilting Patterns and Motifs " which features 27 quilting motifs from 1930 to 1938. I redrew each of these stencils using Adobe Illustrator. They are NOT scans of the old newspaper clippings. This is an orphan block I got about 20 years ago when I was an editor with Quilt Magazine. The unknown maker decided to use it for embroidery. Lovely, huh? Kansas City Star Motif: November 21, 1934  The pattern fits a 6" square, so you can center it on a larger 12" background fabric: 6" motif embroidered These can be quilting stencils or embroidery patterns. Your choice. But, what do the other 26 motifs look like? I'm glad you asked. Here is my pattern cover (front) Designs ...

I received this bundle of 25 fat quarters from the Michael Miller Tropical Batiks collection. I have had it for several weeks and didn't bother to open it until I was on the MM website and saw all the skus. Big WOW! I couldn't believe the motifs and the rich colors. Fat quarter bundle of Tropical Batiks by Michael Miller Oh. You want me to open it up and show you all the fabrics? I can do that! Tropical Batiks in all their glory! I'm still trying to figure out the best pattern to showcase their beauty. I have worked with batiks for about 20 years and find that the simpler the pattern, the more the fabric gets to do the work. These are fat quarters and that challenges me to make the best use of the fabric. I developed a series of patterns in the early 2000s that I call Magic Stax. They all start with 10-1/2" squares and are stacked in a small pile and are cut at the same time (ie, stacks of 5 or 6 or 9). Then the patches are shuffled, swapped and stitch...

My husband and I went to lunch at our friends' house on Sunday. I took a little housewarming gift. These were made in 2017 and were just waiting for that perfect occasion! Much of this blog post comes from when I stitched these in 2017. I thought you'd enjoy seeing it again. Fabric isn't as exciting as seeing something sewn with it, right? You know I had that in mind when I received 8 fat quarters of Amanda Murphy's Winter Games. 8 fat quarters of  Winter Games I am revisiting a tried and true paper piecing pattern of mine called  Coffee Cups . First, here's the original pattern as it appeared in the Kansas City Star in the 1930s: Coffee Cups pattern using a lot of odd shaped templates My pattern is for a 7" block. I created a freezer paper fussy cutting window to center my motifs in. Freezer paper "window" to fussy cut my motifs Here are two of motifs centered and ready to cut: Fussy Cutting the skates and snow boards ...

I honestly don't think I have shared this quilt here before, yet it's one of my favorites. I made it at the end of 1996 and it was published in Quilt Magazine in 1997. My inspiration came from two vintage blocks: Oak Leaf and Rose Wreath ! Oak Leaf and Rose Wreath : 51" x 51" A red and green quilt is a timeless color combination. The blocks are 14" square. I actually started this as a hand appliqué project and not too long into the first block, I threw the whole thing in the trash can and grabbed my fusible webbing and happily stitched the whole thing by machine using raw edge methods. I didn't like hand appliqué and haven't done it since. Don't be shocked! To each his/her own. Here is the Oak Leaf Block. The pattern calls for two. Oak Leaf Block  And the Rose Wreath (also, needing two): Rose Wreath Block Here's a flat shot of the quilt as it hung in a display of my quilts at a private club years ago: Oak Leaf and Rose Wr...

Last November I made a sweet quilt using the Festival of Lights fabrics by Michael Miller. But I didn't get around to quilting it until this weekend. What do you think? I even put a rod pocket on the back so that it can hang in a special someone's home. Festival of Lights: 32" x 32" I have shared the paper pieced Dreidel block several times. It's easy and has been published multiple times. I used it to make some gift bags. Dreidel Gift Bags Let's see the one using the Fairy Frost and Festival of Lights fabrics: 6" Paper Pieced Dreidel block I was thrilled to discover that I could replenish my Hanukkah fabric stash using this collection. Here's a pic of them (along with selected Fairy Frost) before I started cutting. Festival of Lights fabrics along with some Fairy Frost I am going on to another project using these same fabrics. I needed more white Fairy Frost fabric and Michael Miller is sending that. But I was able to squeez...