C&T Publishing is a group of quilters and crafters dedicated to publishing products tailored to our audience. This blog is where we break away from book schedules and marketing campaigns to focus on what drives us to be creative and how this creativity manifests itself in our every day lives.
An interview with Peggy Martin
We’d love for you to get to know Peggy Martin, author of Paper Piece the Quick-Strip Way. Peggy’s strip paper-piecing technique turns out gorgeous stars, circles, and borders. Click here to watch a video clip of her demonstration in one of our spring 2011 webcasts.
What inspired you to start a career as a quilter?
I have a true obsession with quilting, and I greatly enjoy teaching other people and making that connection with students. It’s wonderful to be able to travel (Continue Reading...)
New English Paper Piecing – with a giveaway!
In this new book, author Sue Daley teaches the fundamentals of English paper piecing and needleturned appliqué, and she shows you that it’s not just about hexagons anymore. In Sue’s words…
English paper piecing dates back to the early 1800s. While many beautiful designs could be created from the traditional hexagons, the process was very time-consuming. One quilt could take years to finish by hand. But now, with timesaving tools like precut templates and glue pens, today’s patchworkers can still (Continue Reading...)
French Braid Trifecta
We recently interviewed our author, Jane Hardy Miller, to learn more about the story behind her fabulous French Braid quilts that have been featured in her three bestselling books—French Braid Quilts (with Arlene Netten), French Braid Obsession, and French Braid Transformation.
How did French Braids come to be your specialty, and what is it that you love about them the most?
I sort of started with the French Braids by accident. I had been quilting for over 30 years and I just (Continue Reading...)
Giveaway—Transparency Quilts
Mastering the illusion of transparency…when I look through the pages of Transparency Quilts by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, I do indeed feel the magic! Certain areas of each quilt seem to be floating above the rest, and my eyes rest quite happily on the smooth lines, calm patterns, and perfect color combinations.
Here’s some of what Weeks and Bill have to say about their newest book…
We love color, but we love the visual relationships among colors even more…our (Continue Reading...)
This week’s giveaway—it’s all about free-form!
Yay!! Can you see me doing a little happy dance over here? Rayna Gillman’s new book, Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts, is my latest obsession. I think the book’s subtitle says it all…A Stress-Free Journey to Original Design. Two things that really float my own creative boat are “stress-free” and “original design.” One of Rayna’s personal tenets of design is also my own artistic mantra…there’s no such thing as a mistake!
This book shows you how to use free-form cutting and (Continue Reading...)
50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks—and a giveaway!
Carol Doak has put together the perfect tools to bring quilters and cardmakers together…her new book, 50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks, is filled with adorable, perfectly-pieced 3″ quilt blocks in a variety of themes including stars, hearts, flowers, a birthday cake…even crayons, an airplane, and a candlestick!
This book is also a great intro to paper piecing for those of us (ok so maybe it’s just me) who have been a little afraid to try.
Once you’ve made all your favorite designs from (Continue Reading...)
A glimpse of PIQF
Going to the Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF) is one of the highlights of my year. Of course there’s all the fabulous shopping and fabric fondling with over 300 vendors in attendance (and I did buy some wonderful things), but for me it’s really all about the quilts. Each year I am even more amazed at the talent that shines inside the walls of the Santa Clara Convention Center.
I’ll let this gallery of pictures that I snapped speak (Continue Reading...)
How about some freebies?
Have you checked out any of the free ePatterns that you can instantly download from PatternSpot.com? How about looking through the featured designers for some new favorites to follow?
As many of you know, C&T launched PatternSpot.com this past spring. Nowhere else can you shop such an amazing variety and huge selection of ePatterns under one virtual roof! Choose original patterns for sale from designers around the world for quiltmaking, craft sewing, wearables, accessories, and fiber art. And many of (Continue Reading...)
Watch “Stitched: The Film” for FREE—3 days only!
From our friends at The Quilt Show and from all of us at C&T, we bring you FREE access to Stitched: The Film. Your special access link is at the end of this post.
For a limited time, you can watch this engaging documentary online, which is sure to give you new insight into the world of quilting and quilt competitions. Click here to watch the trailer.
Stitched was created and produced by Jena Moreno, a long-time Houston resident. After watching thousands (Continue Reading...)
Bonus weekend giveaway with a blog hop
You’ve worked so hard making your quilt…don’t you want your quilt label to give it that “just right” finishing touch? Here’s where the Quilt Label Collective CD comes in!
This treasury of 150 original illustrations from 17 artists gives you so many choices for making the perfect label for any quilt, any occasion.
You can customize your label by hand or on your computer with your choice of lettering and colors, then embellish it even further with paint or embroidery.
There are lots of (Continue Reading...)
