Quilting Modern is Getting Out There!

Reviews of the book are starting to appear. It's available for preorder on Amazon and should be appearing in a store near you very soon! Thanks to all of you who have told me that you've ordered it sight unseen.  

For all my friends and family in Canada, Canadian Living has done a review for you. Head on over to comment to win a copy of the book. Canadian residents only though!  Pretty cool that my family in Canada gets a first chance at the book! Giveaway ends April 3rd.

I know the blog's been quiet.  Life takes precedence over blog.  Hope to be back to posting regularly soon.  I miss you guys too.  Enjoy the weekend.

Three Little Quilts

These three little quilts will be making their way to the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative with the group coming from the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.  There are going to be a whole bunch of great little quilts added to the sale list soon.  This is a great guild service project.  Making the quilts doesn't take a whole lot of time, but a bit of an investment pays off in a big way.

From left to right:  Sands of Time, Life is a Circle, and Not Lost in the Woods.

Thanks for all the kind words about the book.  It's exciting to know that other quilters are interested and willing to buy it.  I'm beyond thrilled.  On a side note, the book has made its way into the Top 100 in the Crafts/Hobbies category on Amazon.  I don't have a clue what that means, but for now I'm thinking it's a good thing.  

It's Real...it's really real!!

Interweave overnighted an advance copy of the book to me on Thursday. It's hard to find the words to tell you how it feels to hold your book for the first time.  I will tell you I was shaking when I opened the package! Pretty awesome, a bit humbling, and kinda jaw dropping.  It's even better because it's everything I wanted it to be.  It's heavy too.  176 pages of quilty goodness.  21 projects...2 sets of pillows, placemats, a table runner and quilts...17 of them.

I wanted it to be beautiful.  It is.  Interweave put in all those little touches that make a difference.  I won't share much of the inside of the book today.  You'll see plenty of that later.

As with any project like this, there was a great team behind Katie and I.  I can't thank them enough!

The best part, my friend Kate was here when the book arrived so she shared the joy of opening that package.  My new friend Tricia came over and let me gush over the book to her, and I got to share the book and my enthusiasm with my new Chicago Modern Quilt Guild friends yesterday afternoon.  Life is definitely good.

It's due to arrive in the warehouse at Interweave, April 2nd.  You can pre-order it on Amazon and see a peek inside too, in case you want to see a bit more.  I hope you all will love it as much as I do.

Quilting Modern...Introducing....The Cover Girls!

Cover girls...not me or Katie, but some of the quilts in the book are the cover girls of the Spring 2012 Interweave Books catalog!

Katie and I are so happy...there is dancing in the streets in Chicago and Seattle.  Interweave has also posted more info on the book on their website.  You can see the table of contents and also get a peek inside the book.  We are chomping at the bit to show you the whole thing.  April can't get here soon enough for me...a little over 4 months and counting!

The design folks at Interweave did a stellar job on the book.  They must have an on staff mind reader because they created our vision for the book to a tee! I have to say, it's simply beautiful.  It's bursting with color and they used the quilts to design the art for the book.  As an author, it's amazing how little things make a difference.

Sorry to gush, but I can't help myself.

Oh Happy Day!

It's official! It's real! I pinched myself and I'm wide awake. It's not a dream! The book is finally on Amazon for pre-order. I have one of those permanent smiles on my face today!

I'm so proud of it.  I'm hoping you all will love it as much as we do. The next milestone will be actually holding the real thing in my hands.

Oh Happy Day!

Oh happy day is right! The quilts for the book are done and in a box ready to head to Colorado. I will say it's tough to let them go. Twenty-six projects and 7 months of work. Katie and I are so proud of them. It's been hard not showing you and now we all have to wait.
It's a new year and time for new things. I have to say I'm excited to get things back to normal around here. I have so many unfinished projects and so many ideas. It's hard to know where to start. First up for me will be a thorough studio cleaning and then a project organization. I'm not even sure what's in that closet of shame.

I'm sure those projects will be happy to see the light of day again.

Happy New Year everyone!

I've Got A Secret...and now you know it too!

Some of you perceptive bloggy friends have noticed that the quilt production in the studio has dropped dramatically lately. Stacks of fabric have been turning into quilts, just not ones that I could show you. Well, I have a good reason and today I get to tell you.

Turns out that a couple of publishers got the idea that my work might make a good quilting book. Honestly, I couldn't wrap my head around that concept. I wasn't ready. Then in December the phone rang...and on the other end, a blog friend with an idea. To make a long story short, we took, as she so aptly puts it, "a leap of faith." We finally met in person last April, and turns out we are two creative, improvisational, process-focused peas in a pod.

I'm so happy that I can shout it from the rooftops that I'm writing a modern improvisational quilting book with the fabulously talented Katie, the woman behind Sew Katie Did. I can't even tell you how wonderful it is to collaborate with someone like Katie. I'm learning so much from her and she puts up with me. We’re working with Interweave Press, you know the fabulous folks that publish Stitch, Quilting Arts, and Studios magazines. We’re thrilled to be working with them. The book will be a little bit traditional, a lot modern, and a bunch improvisational. It’s going to be quite a journey, we hope you’ll come along and be with us in the end.

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