Book Signing

May has been a crazy month. All good but I am happy to go into a time when there is less going on in my life. 

I will be doing a book reading and signing, Quilts in the Attic: Uncovering the Hidden Stories of Quilts We Love,  on Thursday, June 7 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at Pieceful Heart Fabrics, 2723 Maple Ave., Lisle, IL 60532; 630.718.0112.

 Light refreshments will be served. Please pre-register ($5.00) so we can have
enough books on hand. Attendees will receive a 15% discount on purchase of book. (Retails for $24.) Meet & Mingle at 6:30 p.m., Reading at 7 p.m.  I am excited to share some details about the book that aren't in the book!

If you can't make the book signing, I will offer you this: Pay the retail price for the book $24 (IL residents must pay sales tax), I'll pay the shipping (U.S. only, I'll see what I can do for everyone else). Just email me.

Quilts in the Attic Update

I thought I would share some news about my book, Quilts in the Attic: Uncovering the Hidden Stories of the Quilts We Love. The first is that Checker Distributors (they wholesale to quilt shops) has decided to pick up and sell my book. This is good news for those quilt shops that would like to carry my book and hopefully they will offer it in their shops.

Next Connecting Threads, Vancouver, WA. is now carry my book and I was told that it will be featured in their next catalog. When I checked out the May issue, it was not there so hopefully in June. For me this is personally touching since in the past they have only offered how-to books to their customers. It's a great place to get batiks. They only charge $6.96 a yard. Will sell 1/4 yards pieces either linear or fat! Great service and fast shipping. Oh, and they have wonderful thread too!Life is good!

Meeting Janette Dwyer and My trip to Geneseo

The Geneseo Community Park District Quilters Guild was wonderful! One highlight was getting to meet Janette Dwyer. I will admit to having a moment of panic when two tour bus full of teenagers pulled up to the restaurant right before I was to meet Janette, but all went well.

Janette has a story, I Will, in my book, Quilts in the Attic. I also got to see the quilt (shown behind Janette) in the story in person and it's so interesting. Janette was a delight and a kind and caring person too.  It means so much to have met her.

The only downside to giving my lecture is it always makes me miss Georgia (country not state) and my friends there. Hopefully I'll get to see them soon. For now, I have lots of new friends in Geneseo.

The ride west towards Iowa to Geneseo is not filled with many interesting things to see. It's flat and the view is pretty much right now plowed fields. I did come across an interesting sign advertising the "Middle East Conflicts Memorial Wall" in Marseilles (pronounced Mahr-seh-less, not at all like its French namesake), a hamlet of 4,800. I wish I would have had time to stop and check it out. Of course, when I got home I Goggled it. After all I live by the saying, "Curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction brought her back." I realized it's been a while since I drove down Rt 80 because the wall has been there since 2004 or on my last trip, I simply wasn't paying close enough attention and missed the sign. Honestly, I'm not sure which one it was and I'm not sure it matters.  Anyway, if you too are curious, the organizations link no longer works, but you can read a nice article from WBEZ's blog from 2011. Life can be so interesting and I'm learning I need to build in more travel time so I am free to explore. Have you found anything along your travels like this?

My House

I am updating my Power Point Presentation so I thought I would share the new photo of my home. I share a photo of my house because painting the shutters on my house periwinkle was a turning point for me. Although I did not know it at the time. When we moved into our house, the shutters were a medium brown color. I begged my husband for three years to allow me to paint them but it seemed to strike terror in his heart every time I mentioned it. I love painting things and the joke in my extended family is that if you stand still long enough, you might just get painted. I have an ornament from my sister Becky that has a woman with a paint brush in her hand and hair and a can of paint. Of course, she also has paint all over her. That's me! Anyway, one day I was at my local Ace Hardware store where I discovered a gallon of paint that was exactly the color I imagined my shutters to be and it was only $5.00.  I felt the universe was telling me to go for it. It just also happened when my husband was going out of town on a business trip. I can tell you that before his ride even made it to the end of the street, I was out painting. I remember when I was standing on the roof painting the shutters on the second floor and turned around to see all the guys in the neighborhood standing on the sidewalk watching me. The good news is my husband loved the change as does everyone in my neighborhood. My ugly shutters are gone and my house now reflects me! The woman who lives here is no longer worried about what other people think. So what have you changed in your life that when you look back was a bigger change than what you originally thought?

Geneseo, IL Here I Come!

I will be giving my lecture, Connecting Cultures: An American Quiltmakers Pilgrimage, at the Geneseo Community Park District Quilters Guild (514 E North St) at 7 p.m. on Monday May 14. In addition, I will get to hang out with Janette Dwyer who has a story, I Will, in my book. It's a great story. I wish I had Janette's luck.  If you can come, please let me know. I haven't given a lecture in a while and I'm excited! I'm bringing lots of quilts and textiles from my journeys. Can't wait!

I'm a Winner! Unforgettable Tote Bags

In all the years of leaving messages on people's blogs for give-aways, I won! Actually I wasn't going to even attempt except that I really wanted Eleanor Levieto know how much I appreciated her post on Fiber Philadelphia and especially being able to see Babara Schneider's leaves. Winning a tote bag book makes me laugh every time I think about it. You all know how much I love making tote bags.

I want to start by saying how much I respect those who believe so strongly that they self publish their books. I know it's easy these days to self publish but it is still a major undertaking. Next, Eleanor wants us to to be creative AND "respect Mother Earth." We must be kindred spirits!

There are 20 different projects from "celebrities" like Virginia Avery, Lonni Rossi, Rachel D.K. Clark, Susan Shie, Diane Gaudynski and Kaffe Fassett. The book is packed with information. Even better, Eleanor is now offering the $21.95 book for $14 (shipping in the US included). Check out the details here. I see more tote bags in my future!

Glimpses of the Dark Angel

When I saw the call for "I'm Not Crazy," I knew I had to create a piece. I won't know until June 27th if my work was accepted. It doesn't matter if it is accepted or not. This piece has been waiting to be made for a long time. I call it "Glimpses of the Dark Angel." It's 23.5" w by 31" h.  The toughest part was writing an artist statement that could not exceed 25 words. I'm a concise writer but this was tough.

"Thomas Mann said that depression had its own angel with unique insights and a special vision. It took me thirty years to embrace his wisdom."

 I am really happy with this piece and how I took something inside my head and made it reality.

Promise to review the incredible Judy's Challenge Fabric quilts soon. I am waiting on photographs. You won't be disappointed!