Author Archives: Mary Kate Karr-Petras

About Mary Kate Karr-Petras

Mary Kate is an associate editor at Quilters Newsletter.

A day at the museum

A couple of weekends ago I took my young daughters (a preschooler and a toddler) to the Denver Art Museum. The DAM is amazingly family-friendly, but my motivation was to catch a temporary Georgia O’Keefe exhibit before it closed. I’m … Continue reading

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Mary Kate’s Best Weekend Quilt

A couple of months ago, as we were wrapping up production on Best Weekend Quilts 2013 — the latest special publication from Quilters Newsletter on sale now in quilt shops, newsstands, bookstores and online – I had a bright idea: … Continue reading

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Earth Day and organic fabric giveaway

[Please note: this giveaway has ended. Congratulations to our five winners: Julie, Richard, Karen, Stephanie and Naomi! Thanks to all who entered!] Today is Earth Day, a wonderful excuse to talk about one of the articles in the April/May 2013 … Continue reading

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On the set of “Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting”

Here is something I never expected I’d say: last week I got back from a whirlwind trip to Iowa to tape a guest appearance on a TV show. To be specific, I taped an episode of “Fons & Porter’s Love … Continue reading

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Who’s on First giveaway

  Costello: Well, then who’s playing first? Abbott: Yes. Costello: I mean the fellow’s name on first base. Abbott: Who. Costello: The fellow playin’ first base. Abbott: Who. Costello: The guy on first base. Abbott: Who is on first. Costello: … Continue reading

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Thursday Morning, 3 AM

I was up very late last night sewing. Actually, I was up pretty much all night and well into the early morning finishing a crib-sized quilt top. My husband got up at his customary early hour and came downstairs at … Continue reading

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Hand quilting inspiration & resources

Here at Quilters Newsletter, we really do get to see the best of the best in all quilting techniques. Whatever your favorite type of quilt is, chances are we’ve had it here to have it photographed. I love getting to … Continue reading

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A getting-ready-to-quilt giveaway

It’s National Quilting Month, and I am on a mission. I’ve decided that for all of my blog posts during March, I am going to try to convince you to quilt. Not to cut and piece but to quilt, to … Continue reading

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Baby steps in machine quilting

I’ve blogged before about my halting attempts to learn how to free-motion quilt using my very basic, mechanical sewing machine. Last winter I wrote about finally using my open-toe embroidery foot for the first time, and in October I mentioned … Continue reading

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Downton Abbey Sew-In Week 7

Was this you on Monday morning? [Warning: some spoilers ahead if you haven't watched all of season 3 yet.] As I mentioned a few weeks ago, while perusing the Internet for “Downton Abbey” images to share via my blog posts … Continue reading

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