Here is a fun quilt I made and had published in a Fons and Porter magazine in 2010! While the fabrics are no longer available, I'm sure you can find and use just about any fun novelty print for this quick and easy kid quilt. Playful Pups : 38" x 41" There are five 10" blocks made using those sets of four pups in the attic window setting. Then I added some rectangles of floating dogs on black so that I now have a 3 x 3 block setting. Adding the different borders gives this a fun feel - and also, I didn't have enough of any one fabric! If you do a search on my blog here for "magical mitering" you will find several lessons with lots of pics to help you with the 3 page pattern. I just did a lesson last week - Magical Mitering - so you can start there. Can I show you one other quilt I made with this fun collection? I've since given it away. This uses a different colorway for the doggies. Playful Pups #2 Here is the panel. Isn't it cute? I realized I...

I shared these quilt tops in June and my local longarm quilter finished them and I put the binding on. They are sure to delight 3 little kids for sure! Do you remember the fabrics? Little circus animals and sweet prints! Rumble by Windham Fabrics (2015) Check out the link and you will see how I constructed the quilts. I made the fabric do all the talking! Here they are quilted and bound. 4 Blocks with large center squares surrounded by triangles 3 Nine Patch blocks with extra strips Four Nine Patch blocks with sashing They all measure about 38" x 38" and are perfect for a baby or toddler. You don't have to be fancy for little kids' quilts - just go with some fun novelty prints and they will be thrilled. These quilts make me smile and I hope they do for you, too!

I created this Magical Mitering Lesson 10 years ago and never published it here on the blog. I thought you'd enjoy this easy technique that I developed 25 years ago. I still use it when I want that extra special diagonal border treatment in the four corners of my quilt. Lovely garden themed fabrics: Savannah Collection by Benartex One of my most requested techniques is that which I refer to as "Magical Mitering." The Savannah Collection is perfect for this in that I will treat groups of 4 small panels as a "window" unit. For example:  Two sections of 4 small panels Two groups of panels with "attic window" strips Each set of 4 panels measures 9-1/2". I commend Benartex on making sure that the black sections between each panel measures 1/2" so that I didn't have to destroy one panel to cut out another. I was able to get the required 1/4" around the outside. I cut the two contrasting strips (yellow and black prints) at 2-1/...

I can still remember my very early quilting years when I signed up for my first class (probably 35 years ago). It was with a "famous" teacher, well known for her lovely designs and charming personality. In preparation for the workshop we were to cut 60 strips 3-1/4" x wof. That was a LOT of fabric and it was very costly for me. But, I did what I was told. Sample of pre-cut strips (not the ones for this class) We didn't have much information other than a description of the quilt. Remember, this was before the internet. I really didn't know what we were going to make! Came the day, the class and the project - yuck! But I had all of these 3-1/4" strips, right? 195" worth = 5-1/2 yards! I learned a very valuable (and painful) lesson: Always cut and sew a sample block BEFORE cutting out all your fabric!  If you don't like the first block, you won't like 24 of them.  If there's an error in the construction or templates - you discover that BEFORE y...

Last day with this magazine issue from early 2007. Quilt Magazine #73 surprised me with all it contained of mine! You can bet that helped pay down the college loans that we had for our  3 daughters. Page 82: Chain of Squares is based on a vintage block called Asian Mosaic, but it is sewn in rows, so it's hard to see the block. Chain of Squares: 64" x 64" Here are the two different colored blocks: Asian Mosaic (Chain of Squares) blocks I left the best for last - my Galaxy of Stars quilt . It was a BOM here on my blog in 2015. The blocks are no longer available, but you can the entire pattern with all the blocks in my Etsy store . She made the cover (for which I was paid a generous bonus; no other magazine gave me anything for making their covers!). Here she is both as shown in the magazine on page 54: Galaxy of Stars quilt : 80" x 80" And as seen flat against a wall: Galaxy of Stars quilt The center block (Woven Star) is a whopping 24" x 24". There are ...

Day Four. Same magazine issue! Here are 2 more quilts to inspire you. This is Garden Walk for Windham Fabrics. I used a traditional appliqué pattern of a basket and some dancing leaves. Dancing leaves? Garden Walk: 9" blocks. 48" x 48" quilt Here is a digital photo of the quilt: Assembly Diagram as it appeared in magazine Let's see one more quilt. This is a set of 6" paper pieced Palm blocks that I set into a pillow. I used some lovely batiks in Autumn colors. Not sure where this pillow is now, but it was fun to make. Palm block pillow with flange: 24" x 24" You can find my Palm quilt pattern in my Etsy shop for 7" blocks. Paper piecing is easy using pre-cut strips. This is how my quilt appears: Paper pieced Palm quilt . 7" blocks set on point Yes, I have the last 2 quilts to share tomorrow. And I'll still be in the same magazine issue!

 Here we are on Page 64 with the Gretchen Quilt. This is an updated version of the vintage block from the 1930s. Here is how it ran in the Kansas City Star: Page from the Kansas City Star, 1932 How do you like those templates? I certainly didn't and decided to work some magic with my rotary cutter. Now we cut out two sizes of squares and trim them after adding the small triangles. This is what I got: Red, black and White Gretchen quilt : 9" blocks. 61" x 70" quilt This became a popular workshop and I still teach it. Students are always shocked at how easy it is to make and how we work our magic with the rotary cutters! Check out that link to see several other quilts in a variety of fabrics and colors, like this one in Kaffe Fassett prints: The Gretchen Quilt : 48" x 48" Back to an earlier page called "Shopping the Net" which described the NEW activity of shopping online. Remember, this was almost 20 years ago and it was like the Wild West. Page 16...

To Grandma's House We Go (page 28) is a quilt I designed for Benartex Fabrics. It was from a collection called "Grandma's House." When I first saw this fabric all I could think of was the song from elementary school days: "Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go." No - that's not me in the photo! Grandma's House: 8" blocks; 51" x 59" quilt I started with a basic house block and threw in some hourglass blocks. I had fun with the printed words on one piece of fabric. Just cut them out and machine appliquéd them to the top. I added a pillow with "shhh" on it, too. I don't have a digital pattern for this, but I do have a funny story about the quilt. I was flying from Atlanta to California for my dad's funeral in 2008. I was bringing this to my sister Kathy for her to have when her grandkids came for a visit. It was in my carryon bag. I had to fly through Denver and there was a tornado warning...

You can't get where I am today using the path I used, because quilt magazines are on their way out. I was fortunate to "meet" the editor of Quilt Magazine in an America Online quilting bulletin board in early 1993 - that's 30 years ago! I was a quick learner and soon she was publishing everything I could produce. Sometimes real quilts. Other times, lessons which we called "how-tos." December/January 2007 The magazine shown above is what the other editors liked to call "The Debby Kratovil Issue" because I had 9 features with my byline! Six of those involved quilts. That doesn't mean I produced all of those since the previous magazine, but the senior editor pulled from what she had photographed and what I was continually producing. Let's see a few of those each day this week, ok? Let's look at the Fabric Stash feature on pages 14-15 and you can have the FREE patterns for the blocks. These feature fabrics that were new in 2006/2007, thoug...

First book came in 2004. Proposed in 2002. I had been an editor with Quilt Magazine for 10 years and knew my way around designing, sewing, and publishing and figured I would be picked up immediately. Ha! I was rejected by the first publisher (C & T) and was so depressed. Then, after attending a local writing seminar where I heard - just pick yourself up and go to another publisher. This happens all the time to writers who later become SO famous (can you say J. K. Rowling?) Royal Star appeared in 2 of our magazines I wanted to feature quilts made with black. I wanted to call the book "Black By Popular Demand." They didn't like it, so we named it "Bold, Black and Beautiful." I didn't think it was so catchy, but the publisher holds the purse strings. They also didn't mind that the eventual cover quilt had graced a magazine cover. Royal Star on book cover The contract was fair - a standard document recognizing my rights to my Intellectual Property and ...