Review By: Cate Prato,   Quilting Arts Magazine - October 1, 2008
“A world-renowned quilter and teacher, Katie compiles her wisdom into this book that offers 10 approaches to designing art quilts, with techniques for everyone, from beginners to those with experience. Readers will learn how to combine colors, explore shapes, use photos for inspiration, and paint their way to a design, as well as construction and finishing techniques. One of the most facilitating lessons shows how to zoom in on a detail and then expand it for a dynamic design.”

Review By: Penny Haren,   Checker Newsletter - October 6, 2008
"Katie has come full circle in her latest book - Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter.  Her 30 year love affair with quilts and fabrics began when she made a traditional wedding quilt for her sister.  But in 1978, she attended a lecture by Michael James, and suddenly the potential of this new medium opened all new possibilities! It seems that every five years, Katie recreates herself and her art - and explores a whole new design medium.  This book is no exception.  In her latest effort, Katie shares the entire process - and it is fascinating to see how her mind works! She shows us how to transform an inspiration into a stunning work of art - by viewing everything through a painter’s eye.  Composition, color, space, scale - all are explained in vivid detail.  It is fascinating to see the transformation from photograph to art quilt.  The depth and texture of the fabrics bring the images to life. Her abstract paintings are works of art - but in this case, works of fabric.  The shapes, repetitions and rearranging the pieces of the images - my favorite -  make for stunning quilts. This is a book that teaches you everything you wished you would have learned in those required art classes!  Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy every word - that’s right - actually read the book!  THEN, savor the pictures - the photography is breathtaking.  But, most of all, enjoy - it isn’t often that we get an inside look into the mind of one of the world’s top artists! Katie will be signing copies of her latest book at the Checker booth in Houston next month.  I can’t wait to see some of these quilts in person!  

Review By: Sandra Lauterbach,   SAQA Southern California - October 6, 2008
"...It is a neat book with lots of ideas. The book is especially interesting because it includes photos of the initial inspiration--be it a photo or, as in my case, painting--and then the resulting quilt."

Review   gloriahansen.com - October 16, 2008
"Katie Pasquinin Masopust’s latest book is a winner.
I have all of Katie’s books, going back to her Mandala-creation days, probably some 20 years ago.  Although I only know Katie from seeing her on ocassion at shows, I know her through her work and books.  As her style grew over the years, so did mine.  However, she was always leaps and bounds ahead of my abilities and her work always inspired me.
Her latest book is a doorway into her latest approach to quilt design.  While the results of her designs are often translated into exquisite works, the instrution she shares genuinely encourages readers and quilt makers of any level to understand the concepts and apply them to their own work. Taking the time to do the lessons can result in original work that can push you as an artist. In the beginning of the book, Katies goes through tooks and supplies, composition, and color. The 'meat' of the book is methods of explorating design approaches through using paper, paint, and eventually fabric, should you want to convert a design exercise into a quilt.  The explorations include shapes, lines, details, repetition, blind painting, watercolor painting, watercolor vignettes, inear reflections, palette knife painting, and the freeze frame.
While there is a section on quilt construction, it’s  brief.  The designs you create, however, can be translated into whatever style you’re comfortable working in (for example, fusing). Design Explorations gives you to tools to learn prinipales of design and apply them to your quilt making, regardless what technique you prefer.  if you have any interest at all in learning pushing yourself as an “art” quilt maker, get this book."

Review   Quilts and Creativity - November 2, 2008
"All about taking inspiration from photos and artwork and using them as a source for your quilts. Katie professes not be good at drawing realistically, so she takes her photographs and sketches and turns them into abstract art.  How’s that for turning a challenge into an opportunity?"

Review By: Kimberly Wulfert,   antiquequiltdating.com - February 3, 2009
"The text Katie writes is focused on her own thinking processes of analysis
and alternatives as she plans a quilt from finding the initial concept to
the various ways you can turn your idea or photo into a one-dimensional
design. She includes her methods known as ghost layers, fractured landscape
and the painterly painterly approach. Katie presents a great deal of
information in such a way that anyone could follow her method or use it as a
reference for idea generation and color and design compositions."


Review By: Dale Anne Potter,   My Creative Ramblings - February 10, 2009
"...I always enjoy Katie’s books, reading her deisng process is always inspiring!  In this book, Katie reminds us of the different colour schemes on the colour wheel, she gets us exloring geometric shapes of design, designs with lines & exploring the details.  Her chapter about exploring repetition was just what I was looking for for a design I was stumped with. The most exciting chapter of this book, for me, was the idea of blind painting - using music to inspire us.  To me, this was therapy! Exploring watercolour painting & watercolour vignittes were inspiring - something I’ll continue to explore.  Palette knife painting was like being back in kindergarten again where we were ALLOWED to play with our paints!
Exploring the use of freeze frame designs on our own photographs was another tool we can add to extend the use of our photographs resulting in so many design possibilities from just one photo! Katie describes using a proportional scale to enlarge our designs & I will have to buy one of those tools as graph paper isn’t cutting it anymore for me.
This book is well worth the price & should be in every Art Quilter’s library!!!"

Review By: Karen Platt,    - March 11, 2009
"... She is one of my favourite all-time quilt artists. So I am thrilled to be reviewing not only one of Katie's own books but also her DVD. This book is subtitled 'Easy-to-Follow Lessons for Dynamic Art Quilts' and there you have in a nutshell just what this book is all about.
What do I love so much about Katie PM's work - she's extraordinary. I love her multi-talented design that encompasses colour, shape, texture and form. I love the way she has developed her work - she does not stand still - what will Katie do next?
This is an 80 page book that simply knocks you of your feet. I don't think Katie's work could be better portrayed. hats off to C&T publishing, they went to town on the photography to bring Katie's vibrant use of colour to full life. What will you learn form this book? All about the process of design, from initial idea to colour explorations to putting a quilt together. That's a lot to learn in a small book. Each steps is bite-sized, so you don't feel overwhelmed.
The creative process starts with your tools and materials. Katie then looks at the composition of a quilt and explores lots of ideas. She then gives one of the best analyses of colour that I have seen in a crafts book on any subject. She then looks at shapes and lines in design, repetition - ways of splitting the fabric into smaller pieces to form a coherent design. We then come to perhaps the most interesting part of the book in many ways - Katie discusses different ways to motivate all those people who believe they can't - can't draw, can't paint, can't make. She helps you discover your inner artist with some very basic and simple exercises I bet you have never tried. I tell you - it opened my ideas to a whole new world, a world of fantastic possibilities. Thanks for sharing this Katie. 
In 'from design to pattern', Katie shows the whole process of selecting an image, transferring it to paper and cutting, placing and piecing fabric together to make a beautiful, finished art quilt. Throughout the book, there are example not only of Katie's art quilts - worth buying the book alone for these, but also some of Katie's colleagues and students. 
The 10 fun approaches to designing art quilts are essential and work for everyone no matter what skill level. The approach is clearly explained. Katie is a great teacher. You should definitely get a copy of this book, it's superb."

Review   On Track! - January 1, 2009
"Katie Pasquini Masopust shares her particular creative thought process, analysis, and method to create the contemporary abstract designs she is most recently known for. Don't worry, if you've never tried creating an art quilt before, this book will take you through a very concrete process that will surely give you satisfying results. Katie's goal with this book is to help readers 'Come up with an idea or design…Draw the design as a well thought-out composition…Make the pattern…' and construct the quilt either by sewing pieces together or machine appliqué or a combination of both. The book breaks down into very simple terms the ideas of composition and color and offers a process to analyze your designs before you ever sew a stitch. Katie's approach will educate and inspire avid art quilters and will nurture and teach those who want to learn. If you admire Katie's work and want to gain insight for your own work from her approach, or just learn how she creates her own works of art, I recommend you read this book.”

Review By: Judie Bellingham,   Bella Online - April 13, 2009
"When I tell my husband that “I’ll be in my cave with Katie”, he knows exactly what I’m up to.  My cave is my quilting studio and the Katie I refer to is Katie Pasquini Masopust, one of the worlds most dynamic and vibrant quilters.
I’ve got to know Katie through her previous publication Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter which she wrote together with Brett Barker. So when her latest publication titled Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter came under my radar, I had to have a look and see whether she has been able to bring to the viewer the same freshness and easy to understand concepts of designing within quiltmaking, in this new publication.  Well, I must tell you that not only has Katie achieved to continue her patient explanation of her ideas, but the illustrations and photographs speak clearly for themselves.
This book is like a very good bottle of red wine. It needs to be opened, sampled, then left stand for a while, whilst the reader absorbs each delicious page of concept, theory and details.
The first few chapters of this incredible publication gives a review of the principles and elements of design and then in the further thirty odd pages, Katie explores shapes, lines, details, repetition, Blind painting and watercolour painting. Is your mouth watering yet?
And as if that’s not enough, Katie then takes the reader through the process of Design through to Pattern. As with other Pasquini Mosopust publications, a number of vignettes are included, to explain elements that are mentioned in the text. For instance, Enlarging your Design is explained extremely well, including a very clear explanation of the use of the Proportional Scale Wheel that many quilters have purchased, and may be (like me), not completely understood how to use.
C&T Publishing, Inc is continuing to bring to quilters all over the world the most comprehensive range of expert craftspeople who are able to communicate extremely effectively their passion for quilting and pass on to readers their approach, style and method that enables them to achieve the creation of phenomenal quilts.  I happily recommend this publication Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter to quilters, where ever they might be traveling in their journey of quilting. "

Review   Quilters Newsletter - September 1, 2009
“Seven years ago, renowned quilt artist Katie Pasquini Masopust revised her approach to design and developed new ways to teach students not only how to master fabric as an art medium, but also how to work more freely and creatively. Ten design methods, each illustrated by full-color galleries of work by Katie and her students, are presented here. Jump into pure abstraction with Katie's blind painting technique or read the chapters on exploring detail and repetition of you prefer to work from photographs.”