At Quilt Market this year we found the long-sought cure for quilter's math, that annoying condition that requires the artistic quilter to dirty her hands with primitive calculations so she knows how much fabric to buy. Check it out here!

Purr-fect Quilts for Cat Lovers
by Janet Kime
Martingale & Co., 2005. 128 pages, list price $22.95.

Over 90,000 of the first edition sold!

Ten years later, quilters who fancy felines still love The Cat's Meow! This special 10th anniversary edition features Janet Kime's popular litter of cat quilt patterns, plus one dog quilt. Now in full color!

• Nineteen adorable projects include "Cowboy Cats," "Santa Claws Is Coming to Town," and "Fish Dreams"

• Use easy rotary cutting, speed piecing, and appliqué

• Creative fabric choices range from snappy polka dots and plaids to dreamy pastels and lace

Get it at a discount from Amazon!

Sunny Girls, Mosaic quilt by Pat Durbin of Eureka, California
International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX

The Quilt Channel/Planet Patchwork crew has just finished two exhausting but exciting days at the Houston Quilt Market, where we walked miles in the aisles of the Houston Convention Center, previewed new products, watched demonstrations, and talked with authors, editors, and teachers from all over the world. We also got an early look at the marvelous quilts and dolls in more than 30 juried exhibitions. As always, they were simply amazing.

We'll have news of the latest labor-saving products and inspiring books for quilters in further entries, but first we want to talk about the quilts. When we get home, we'll be posting a gallery of selected quilts from the show at Planet Patchwork for those who were not able to get to Texas this year. Among the more interesting exhibits was a small, charming collection of quilts entitled "I Remember Mama," which paid textile homage to mothers in a variety of ways, many including photo transfers. As follow-up to last year's "Women of Biblical Proportion" exhibit, featuring small wall quilts based on women from the Bible, this year we had "Men of Biblical Proportion." There were two striking things about this exhibit -- it was sponsored by last year's group of women quilters who did the Biblical quilts, and all of the quilts in this year's collection were designed and quilted by men. You find the occasional male quilter in any environment, but the huge number of quilts by men in this exhibit was astonishing. (A CD-ROM of this entire exhibit is available from the International Quilters Association, with proceeds going to the Multiple Sclerosis Society).

Another colorful exhibit featuring a male quilter was Kaffe Fassett's "Victoria and Albert Quilts." We were fortunate enough to attend a tour of this exhibit led by Fassett, who talked about how the quilts were inspired by the large textile collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, with many given a modern twist using Fassett's fabrics. An exhibit celebrating the work of quilt artist Carol Doak featured many examples of her work, including a quilt which included all 350 of her paper-pieced stars.

There was also another large collection of Journal Quilts, a genre which has gained great popularity in recent years as a way for quilters to explore their creativity by making series' of small wall hangings as a form of autobiography. We could have spent hours studying these thoughtful and wildly diverse miniature quilts.

A dramatic series of flower quilts was displayed under the title "In Full Bloom" and a very unusual collection of three-dimensional quilts was presented as "Tactile Architecture." Last but not least, there were the cloth dolls. One of the challenges this year was on a Gypsy theme, and the energies released by this theme were truly amazing.

One nice thing about seeing the quilt exhibits during Market rather than Festival is that it is much less crowded, and we were able to spend "private time" with many unique and stunningly beautiful works of art. One of our favorites was Pat Durbin's breathtaking mosaic shown above. This quilt contains more than 23,000 half-inch squares!

The Houston International Quilt Market & Festival is just days away (the Market for retailers this coming weekend, and Festival for general-interest quilters the weekend after), and Planet Patchwork / Quilt Channel will be there!

We'll be taking pictures and bringing you news of new and interesting quilt products, personalities, and more!

When looking at the falling autumn leaves or the winter snow hanging off the trees, Carolyn Cooney sees more than the beauty of nature — she sees her next quilt.

Hooked on quilting since her first class more than 30 years ago, Cooney's recently earned top prize in "A World of Quilts" competition in Somers, N.Y.

Read the full News-Times article about Carolyn Cooney here.

Today Planet Patchwork announced its Electric Quilt Design Contest with a $500 prize for the quilt design that wins Best of Show. $250 prizes will be awarded for the best entries in each of three categories, and a number of prize packs will be given away as well. Quilts may be designed in EQ4 or EQ 5 and must be submitted by December 1st 2005.

Check out the contest details at Planet Patchwork.

By Kathy Emmel
C&T Publishing, 2005
96 pages, Suggested price $24.95

Over the years, two of the most frequent questions we've received at Planet Patchwork have been "How do I make a t-shirt quilt?" and "How do I make a group quilt with children?" The question about t-shirt quilts boils down essentially to one of technique – do I need a backing? How do I deal with different fabric weights? For a children's quilt, however, the issues are more wide-ranging. What media are appropriate for kids? Do they have to know how to sew? How do I give kindergartners a simple way to make a quilt block? How do I organize the group for a fun and satisfying experience?

Now C&T and Kathy Emmel, a 24-year teacher who has made quilts for 17 years with her students, have brought out a book dealing with all of this in a colorful and creative way. The book outlines a wide variety of techniques that work for kids, from fabric crayons to stencils to textile paints, and also provides advice on all the social and practical problems that come with group quilting. What if I don't have the room for a large project in my classroom? (Set up in the library, or in a large hallway.) How do I keep the students organized and on-task? (Recruit volunteers, including parents and older students.)

Finally, a group quilt is an absorbing and rewarding experience for a group of children, one in which, according to Emmel, they interact, learn, and lead their lives. In a school environment increasing focused on educational standards and testing, quilts must also contribute to the mastery of the curriculum, and Emmel addresses these needs as well, with suggested projects based on mathematics and social studies. Finally, though, a group quilt is about shared creativity, not about cloning a project from a book. This wonderful volume, full of illustrations and color photos, provides the practical inspiration for a successful and memorable group project.

Get this book at a discount from Amazon!

See more great books at the Planet Patchwork Bookstore!

Planet Patchwork recently published the final set of instructions for the latest Block of the Month by Diane Hundley.

This theme is different from all the previous BOM's offered here at Planet Patchwork. Our goal is for you to get into your stash and pull fabrics from previous projects, smaller pieces you're not sure what to do with, fat quarters and whatever else you can find to create a Stained Glass effect quilt. Choose a standard background fabric and then just sit back and make 2 blocks each month. These blocks can be identical, or can be of different fabrics. Think stained glass, and let your imagination run wild. What do you see when you see stained glass? Just think of the fabric combinations you can put together. The more fabrics you use, the scrappier the look. The results will be fabulous.

These instructions will only be available on Planet Patchwork until the end of October, so the time to go grab them is now!

"We will make a quilt to help us always remember home," Anna's mother said. "It will be like heaving the family in backhome Russia dance around us at night.

And so it was. From a basket of old clothes, Anna's babushka, Uncle Vladimir's shirt, Aunt Havalah's nightdress and an apron of Aunt Natasha's become The Keeping Quilt, passed along from mother to daughter for almost a century. For four generations the quilt is a Sabbath tablecloth, a wedding canopy, and a blanket that welcomes babies warmly into the world.

In strongly moving pictures that are as heartwarming as they are real, patricia Polacco tells the story of her own family, and the quilt that remains a symbol of their enduring love and faith.

Get it at a discount from Amazon!

Find other great quilt books at the Planet Patchwork bookstore!

For the past year, a group of women who like to quilt have been working on a project to remind others, and themselves, that every name matters.

They had to wait a full year until the number of casualties among the 2nd Brigade Combat Team members in Iraq stopped at 68. Now they are piecing together a quilt in honor of those soldiers who once were stationed in South Korea as part of the 2nd Infantry Division.

Read the full story at the Stars & Stripes web site.

Kokoro no Te: Handmade Treasures from the Heart
by Kumiko Sudo
Breckling Press, 2005, 158 pages, list price $27.95

Kokoro no Te is a Japanese phrase that connotes the loving connection of handmade things as gifts from the heart. Every quilter and crafter knows this connection; it is part of the special charm and authenticity of hand-made crafts. Kumiko Sudo has put together another fine book which contains 30 small sewing projects that make unique gifts or keepsakes. Arranged in chapters on purses and totes, fashion pins, sewing kits, and miscellaneous fun stuff (including a miniature kimono), this book is a feast of beautiful things in the Japanese miniature style, many of them based on natural objects.

Printed on fine paper in full color by high-quality Breckling Press, Kokoro no Te is beautiful enough to adorn your coffee table as well as your sewing table. Among my favorite items are an "apple pocket" which makes a charming container for a gift card for a teacher, and a "Kara Lily caddy" which is just the right size for a CD containing family photos. This is a great book for ideas on gifts to make (and it has instructions for all of them) or to give as a gift itself. It's not quite out yet, but is due to be available at the end of October.

Preorder at a discount from Amazon.com

See other great books at the Planet Patchwork quilter's bookstore!