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 The Meeting
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Introduction | The Meeting Place | Show & Tell | Quilt Events | Ask The Experts | Product Demo | Home |
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Meet
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Alternating the Snowball and Nine Patch blocks creates a secondary pattern that looks similar to the traditional Farmer's Daughter block. Debbie says, "Because these ladies live inside a border of Log Cabin blocks, I thought they must be the "Homesteader's Daughters" (49" x 61"). All quilt photos by Mark Frey, Yelm, Washington, courtesy of Debbie Caffrey. |
Debbie's creativity was apparent long before she began designing quilts. She had sewn many things, from clothing to home decorations. I was told in 1972, she resourcefully made two sleeping bags entirely from the rip-stop nylon of an old parachute and 1"-thick foam rubber. One of my most vivid childhood memories is shopping for school clothes every fall. While other kids went to the mall, Debbie took me to the fabric store to look at patterns. Because she made all of my clothes, I never had to worry about the social faux pas of showing up on the first day of school wearing the same outfit as several other kids. She also made stylish travel outfits whenever our family went on vacation, even sewing matching mother-daughter swimsuits.
From student to teacher
As much as Debbie loves sewing, her real passion is teaching. In 1981 she began teaching craft and cooking classes at local community schools. That's also when she took her first quilting class in 1983. At that class Debbie was first introduced to the rotary cutter - something which she cannot imagine living without today. Her first attempt at making a pieced quilt was a pathetic-looking Log Cabin in drab colors with only a sheet for the backing. I was not so brutally honest in describing this quilt at the time it was made. But since her quilts have improved so vastly since then, we can both look at this first quilt and laugh. Although this Log Cabin quilt has little aesthetic merit, it is the foundation upon which Debbie's career has been built.
| The borders of Debbie's "Gingersnaps" (34 1/2" x 43") is made very simply with Double Four Patch blocks that are attached to the end of the rows. It couldn't be easier! |
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Within a year of that first class, Debbie began teaching piecing classes at community schools and local shops. At that time, she did not consider herself a quilter but rather a seamstress who could do piecework. She was still uneducated about quilt history and many traditional methods.
Because Debbie was a math major in college, it was easy for her to draft traditional patterns. She searched the market for quilt patterns that were appropriate for the classes she wanted to teach, but she was constantly frustrated by the limited number of patterns available then. This was when Debbie realized that writing her own instructions for a handout required less time than searching for the elusive ideal pattern. So she started designing her own quilts, writing her own instructions and teaching classes based on these original works.
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Debbie invites you to play a matching game! There are 17 pairs of blocks and one that doesn't have a mate in "Who Has the Old Maid?" (53" x 67 1/2"). Can you find the odd block? It's the traditional Old Maid's Puzzle, which is in the second row from the bottom, the second block from the left. |
To prepare for class, Debbie would make a quilt as a model to hang in the quilt shop where she taught. Students in her classes benefited from her instruction, but when other customers saw the displayed quilt and asked for the pattern, none was available. Finally, after countless requests for Debbie's patterns, the shop owner encouraged her to start publishing them. In fact, the owner promised everyone that Debbie's first pattern would be available at the next sale in the store - two week later! Getting a hundred copies of her first pattern ready to meet this deadline became a frantic family project. We finished it late on a Friday night just 10 hours before the sale!
| A whimsical frog print sets a playful tone in "Snips and Snails" (40" square). Debbie set off the blocks in the sampler quilt with small Nine Patches and three-stripped sashing. |
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In 1990, Debbie began teaching in other towns throughout Alaska. She traveled to Cordova, Tok, Denali Park, Kodiak and Palmer. In 1995, Debbie taught outside of Alaska for the first time when she traveled to Illinois. Since then she has taught outside the state for shops, conferences and guilds. She has also made numerous presentations at Houston's Quilt Market and Quilt Festival. She strives not just to meet, but rather to exceed the expectations of her students. She shares everything she knows with her students so that their projects will be successful. Many of Debbie's students have gone on to become teachers themselves. Helping her eager students become independent quilters and teachers is the greatest reward that Debbie enjoys in her career.
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Pinwheel blocks are alternated with Up the Down Staircase blocks that appear to be ascending and descending - right into the border! Debbie calls the quilt "Step in Time" (37" x 49") because the rhythm of the alternating blocks reminds her of a chorus line. |
Debbie is probably most well known for teaching her "mystery classes." At first, she was not wild about the idea of making a mystery quilt but reluctantly agreed to teach a class. She was determined to make the fabric selection simple and fail-proof. The quilts from that class turned out beautifully. When her second mystery class rolled around, 48 people signed up! Debbie presses, rips, and cooks for her students, and even the meal itself is sometimes a mystery! "Quilters will make anything if you bribe them with food," Debbie says. After her second mystery class was over, she named the quilt "Lasagna" because she prepared that dish for her students and ate the leftovers for three days in a row. Teaching mystery classes eventually became one of her specialties. Since 1994, the creative teacher has designed more than 40 mystery patterns.
| With only twelve 6" blocks, "Gemstones" (46" x 56") could have been a smaller sampler quilt. But Debbie found that adding sashing, an on-point setting and oversized side triangles quickly enlarged it. |
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The suspense of making a Mystery Quilt builds up with each installment. You never really know what your quilt is going to look like until it all comes together at the very end. Debbie Caffrey is a wizard at creating Mystery Quilts. She knows how to give you just enough of a design to arouse your curiosity so you'll want to continue but not too much so it's apparent what the end result will be. The fact that Debbie's completed Mystery Quilts are great to look at is just icing on the cake. Debbie's three-part Mystery Quilts have appeared in several issues of Traditional Quiltworks ("Sew What" Issues #58 #59 and #60, "Cat's Meow" Issues #61 #62 and #63 and "Second to None" Issues #73 #74 and #75).
When asked what is the driving force of her career, Debbie answers, "My desire to teach and my love of working with people." This popular instructor finds it so gratifying to be successful at what she loves to do. Every class is a new adventure and Debbie finds that she learns more and more everyday from some very great teachers - her students.
Debbie Caffrey is available to teach at your guild or quilt event. For more information about her classes or patterns, write her at Debbie's Creative Moments, P.O. Box 70, LaJoya, NM 87028-0070).
