It's almost July and where I live it's hot and we have a lot of sunshine and we yearn for some ocean breezes. I haven't been to the beach in several years (but I'm not a fan of bathing suits and sand, btw). I published my Ocean Breezes pattern in my 2018 Quilter's Block a Day Calendar (by Andrews McMeel). Here's a digital version: Ocean Breezes: 32" x 32". 8" blocks I am considering this as a Block of the Moment (not monthly; probably weekly). Is there any interest? I've pulled my fabrics. These are Bedrock by Windham Fabrics (and a renegade green Fairy Frost). Ocean Breeze fabrics from the Bedrock Collection by Windham I've made a few of the blocks. What do you think of the Cabana? It is paper pieced and the quilt uses two of these. Ocean Breezes Cabana Block: 8" I've traced my templates for the Whale (two blocks), Palm Tree (two blocks) and am almost done with the boat, which sits in the center. I have the supply list ready, too...

Here's my Hey, Hey USA banner made with Windham Fabrics. It's their Pride and Honor collection. I shared it here last year, but it's worth sharing again, I think! What you see here is a digital rendition, but I also made a banner of the 3 blocks using an older Windham collection. The blocks are 18" and the quilt (as shown) is a whopping 60" x 81". Hey, Hey USA made with Pride and Honor These are blocks from my Quilter's Block a Day Calendar and I have my 3 block banner hanging in my kitchen . I used to have it hanging in my kitchen, but I have since given this away to a friend. These are 18" blocks! Hey, Hey USA Banner So, if you need a quick block or two to decorate your home for the 4th of July, go get the Windham FREE quilt  pattern and made some 18" blocks.

My apologies on that Etsy coupon. It seems that they only meant that for us Etsy sellers (it was unclear to me, but that's my mistake. However, since I probably got everyone's hopes up, I will HONOR THAT 20% DISCOUNT CODE! I did take the few items of fabric off, but other than that, you can find more than 100 patterns and a few real items (calendars) in my shop. Go to my Etsy store and in checkout, use this code (which I just set up): BONUS20 Again, my apologies for not reading the Etsy email correctly this morning. This coupon is good through Thursday AND IS FOR INTERNATIONAL VISITORS, TOO (pdf patterns, only)

It's finally finished. Actually, it was finished a year ago but it hung in a Virginia quilt shop to entice folks to buy some of the gorgeous Michael Miller Marble fabrics . This 7 block quilt uses the Home Circle block in a nice, large 15" size! Home Circle : 60" x 60" What? You never knew you could make a quilt with 7 blocks? I have made several and it's not hard. First, let's look at those blocks from several years ago. I used 3 colors of Marble in each one; my background solid is Kona Snow. I had a photo heavy blog post about the process in these. Four of my 7 Home Circle blocks - read the blog post I sent the quilt center to the Sewlovelee quilt shop  (Irvington, VA) where the owner, Lee, picked out more Marble fabrics for the borders and backing and then she quilted it. When you're this sassy, you don't want to go live in my closet - you want to strut your colors! So, she stayed in the shop for a year and just returned this past Friday. (She...

Most days I let my rotary cutter make the decision on what gets to peek out of the patches I cut. Most days it really doesn't matter. BUT - when you don't want to cut the head off of a little chickadee . . . English Paper Pieced block using 1-3/4" hexagon papers . . . you find out what size you need to make a template to isolate the motif. I had this lovely Festive Chickadee fabric and found that a 1-3/4" hexagon would work with the patch as shown. I cut a freezer paper hexagon to the size I would need (includes 3/8" seams). Then I cut a window out of the center. It's easy to iron it into place for cutting. Single motif Here is what I mean by cutting out a "window" from the template. I love using freezer paper because I can reuse it several times. I made several quilts with this special collection. Each time I made a window template for "fussy cutting." I've shared them before. Here is one more quilt where I made sure that chickadee wa...

Did you download my FREE June Wall Calendar of blocks? If so, you will notice that today's block is an Asian inspired Cloisonné with both appliqué and Sashiko stitching. It first appeared in my 2007 desktop calendar. What does it look like? Cloisonné Block I used this block often in subsequent calendars. I first designed it in 2005, but the idea is NOT original with me. It is a century's old pattern. Here is the quilt I designed. Lots of great images! Asian Delights, 2007 I planned on making one of these blocks a few years ago and even cut out my freezer paper template. I ironed fusible webbing to the back of a large square. But I lost my motivation. If you're interested in getting this free block , let me know. Send me an email: kratovil@his.com and I'll send the small, 3 page pdf for the original 12" block size. I ALSO include the full size template for the 8" size. (The 12" size is the half-template, easy to use with folded template material). You do...

Today is the longest day of the year - Summer Solstice - when the daylight hours seem like forever (and we love it). Windham Fabrics released a gorgeous collection of fabrics called Solstice in late 2020 that really captivated my quilter's heart! Here are just a few of the prints designed by Sally Kelly. Solstice has 28 prints! You can see the blocks I made in last year's blog post . Simple Square in a Square and Circle blocks. In case you haven't seen my SpiroGlyphics quilt, here is a recent finish which I donated to my local guild's charity endeavors. I used all my samples from the workshop (since I've retired it). Isn't this fun?@ SpiroGlyphics quilt: 30" x 30" I put my Solstice blocks all together last week and this is what I came up with. Same center as the quilt above; I added inner and outer borders. I just love this! Solstice SpiroGlyphics quilt: 40" x 40" But, along the way, I made another quilt. This is my Nosegay quilt using Solst...

I have sewn with Benartex fabrics for almost 20 years. They were generous with sharing them when I worked for Quilt Magazine and continued through the years. One quilt I designed using the Arianna Collection (2010) was picked up and patterned in the Spring 2011 issue of Easy Quilts by Love of Quilting (Fons & Porter).  Arianna's Garden: 53" x 53" My pattern is a wonderful way to capture the beauty of a large scale print. The quilt is 54" x 54" and if you missed the issue, you can get it from their shop (for $7.99) as a digital pattern. Since I'm not paid for that pattern reprint, I'm not going to give the link! Here is a digital photo of the quilt: Hey, guess what? I found all the directions and art that I had created when I sewed this quilt. You can have the pattern for the above quilt FREE - yes, I said FREE. Just click this link:  Arianna's Garden , and it will take you to the 4 page pdf, in color, from my web site. These are NOT the same inst...

This is a repost from 2014. I still love this quilt and will be using it in my next workshop on English Paper Piecing (MAQ, July 2022 in Gettysburg, PA). This is the finished quilt, which was a favorite of a student from a previous class. Her name was "Lori" and so I named this "Lori's Favorite Garden." Clever, huh? Lori's Favorite Garden. 12" x 18" blocks I LOVE FLOWERS! Yes, I still love  FOSSIL FERNS Spring colors make me happy. I love the greens and the   purples and pinks, and - well - all of it! I made these 2" EPP hexagons using   my bits and pieces of  Benartex's Fossil Ferns . Did you know   that  Fossil Ferns  have stayed strong for almost 30 years? And   there are 100 colors. That's unheard of in the quilt fabric   world. I didn't know what I wanted to make, but I knew   something would hit me eventually. I have the 2014  Palm Springs    Collection  and selected a neutral backg...

I was sent a set of fat quarters of  Birdsong  in 2018 and I kept taking them out and stroking them. Such lovely, sweet images. I have finally finished the quilt I began 4 years ago! Birdsong  by Clare Therese Gray for Windham Fabrics These prints include butterflies, flowers (of course!) and bird eggs. This color combination is one of my favorites and I put my thinking cap on to see what I could come up with. I was only going to make a few blocks. Ha! I pulled out one of my upsized birdhouse paper pieced block which I call  Home Tweet Home . This design dates back to 2002 when I created 12 paper pieced birdhouses in a much smaller size. This was very quick to paper piece because I had already worked out the cutting size of the different patches! I made it as large as I could fit onto a standard piece of 8.5" x 11" paper. This is included in my  Big Birdhouse Bonanza  paper pieced pattern set of 10 Birdhouses (and a paper pieced cardinal) on Etsy. (There ar...