Its Real!

I got 2 boxes full of my books yesterday. So, I guess they're real! I haven't actually seen one on a quilt store shelf yet, but that's the next reality check.
I'm having a book signing "meet and greet" event on January 10 at Quilter's Haven. I'm rather excited, actually! (Unless no one shows up. Oh, great. Now I've got something else to worry about!)
They were printed in China, which I found quite amusing! They've already been a long way!
The last of my "babies" (quilts) were also sent back to me from Martingale. I've missed them! They've been gone over a year! I was happy to see them again.
Check this out, too. My book is on the newly released page of Martingale.

No Fanfare?

Yesterday was the official release date of my book! Wait... what? No fanfare? In fact, it felt pretty much like any other day. Huh... I guess I'll go do the dishes.

Baby has a home!

My baby long-arm machine Ginny*, finally has a permanent home! She has moved into the basement. Doesn't she look happy? She has been very agreeable having her own space. (If only my 17 year old were as accommodating!)
*When Julie Thorum owned the fabric store she started naming the long-arm machines like hurricanes. The one she brought was Annie; then she bought Baxter, who was a brat, just like his name; then Chloe, that Paul & Stacy took home when they closed the store; Dexter that someone purchased off the dock; Ellie, that was a little purple HobbyQuilter that was so noisy no one could stand her, and Julie sent her back; "F" was sold off the dock; then I got Ginny! (From Harry Potter) Just think, if I'd been one machine later, I could have had Harry himself! Oh, well. Ginny is the next best thing, and she's been a wonderful machine!

End of an Era

The quilt shop where I've worked for 5+ years, Threads of Time, is officially closed. I worked for 3 different owners! Its kind of sad, because I'll miss my friends! These are some of my favorite memories!
Cris: Ordering lunch from Applebee's. When she picked up the food, the order was all wrong. So, sticking up for herself, she called the manager and complained. The manager offered to deliver the right order, and threw in a couple of desserts, too! Only after the manager had left did Cris realize that she had called the Layton Applebee's when ordering, and picked up at the Bountiful Applebee's!
Cris: (again) Sticking her Harry Potter wand up her nose (Ewww!) When we told Paul to be careful because we didn't know which one it was, he licked it and said, "Nope! Not this one!" (Double Ewww!)
Cris: (yet, again!) Anonymously calling on the phone and asking if we had a beige fabric with small beige flowers, and kind of a beige background.
Mary: Doing ballet moves, or figure skating! Also, we would imitate what our children would do if we threatened to spank them (even though we never did!)
Mary: (again) "Why do you ever doubt me?" I don't know why, because she was never wrong!
Late night sewing... About 11:30, Janice would start laughing uncontrollably, for no apparent reason! Then we could go to bed.
Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. (Gee, I wonder why I gained 10 pounds working there?)
Classes, and learning from each other and just sewing for fun.
Tons of regular customers who became friends. Customers who couldn't leave fast enough! Crazy shop hops, open houses and block of the months.
Laughs. Lots and lots and LOTS of laughs!
I'll miss you, my friends! It was fun!

Cover Me!

My fame-pointer-outer, Valerie, told me that I made the cover of the Martingale catalog. Wow! Was I ever excited! Then yesterday I got an e-mail from my author liason at Martingale, and she told me that she had received advance copies of my book. She's sending them along to me this week. Yay! Exciting things are happening!

It Really Exists!

Yay! My book has finally arrived on the "coming soon" page at Martingale! See it here. It also has a preview of 4 of my quilts, along with the cover quilt. Maybe this thing will really see the light of day!

Babies come home!

Yes, some of my babies have come home! (My quilts, in other words.) Martingale still has 4 of my quilts. At least 2 of them are going to quilt market in Houston.
Its funny, because I've sort of forgotten how some of my quilts looked! (They were cute, by the way.) I've missed them, and I'm happy that they've come home. They're happy, too.
As far as I know the release date for my book is December 8. Hopefully I'll get some promotional materials before then to get to some local quilt shops! It still hasn't shown up on Martingale's site, but it does have a section for new releases coming soon, so maybe it will be there soon!

Teenage Wasteland

I'm finding out that having two teenagers brings twice the "joy"! Although Natalie is technically only 12 1/2, oddly, she still manages to scream at me as if the magical age of 13 had already occurred.
Yesterday I managed to make both of them angry at me. I'm such a mean mother! Natalie screamed at me when I helped her with her homework, and when I didn't help her with her homework. She wasn't speaking to me by the time she went to piano lessons. Adrian was pretty nice until he realized he wouldn't be able to get his "cell phone device" back as soon as he thought he could.
Ah, the joys. By bedtime, all I could do was fall over in a stupor!
Make sure you have good self-esteem before teenagers, because they'll do everything they can to break you down!

Back-to-school Bliss

Ah, yes! The wonderful sounds of silence! That beautiful time when all the children go back to school.
Adrian, 17, was not happy to return to school, even though its his senior year. Natalie, 12, was excited but nervous to start junior high.
We always take our traditional picture of their first day clothes laid out.


Then, of course, the first day of school pictures.


We're hoping for a great year, with limited trauma!

Contractor woes

So, we have been finishing our basement as a new home for my long-arm machine. (Yes, it has been a 3-year project, and yes, it was supposed to be "temporary" having my machine in the upstairs family room.) We're finally ready for sheet-rock bids, and working with contractors is always a fun prospect!
The guy this morning seemed to need to point everything out that we did wrong, and had to say everything at least 3 times... Low bid? I really hope not!
On the upside, its actually looking like it will be done relatively soon! Yeah! 3-year projects are WAY too long, let me tell you.

13! (Again)

Most people know that I fell last winter and broke my front tooth out. Well, now it looks like the other front tooth will have to come out, too. It doesn't have enough bone behind it, and so the gum has receded, also. I look so adorable with my fake tooth out! Sort of like a pirate or something.
So now I get to return to my childhood, or rather teenage-hood, and get braces on again. This will supposedly bring the bone and gum down farther so that they can do the implants without me looking like Bucktooth Betty. I always loved being 13! I can hardly wait to go through it again!
Ah, my dental woes continue! Maybe I'll have my own "Julia Roberts" smile soon? One could only hope.

Fame! (I wanna live forever!)

So, my friend Valerie called me (she's my "fame-pointer-outer".) I was mentioned in Annie Smith's podcast! (program 128) She was doing a podcast on Utah quilters, and re-interviewed Jenny Wilding Cardon. (I quilted her quilts for her Little Box of Baby Quilts.) She talked about me at length and about my upcoming book! Jenny's great, and has always been so kind to me when she's been interviewed, etc.
Valerie also had a great interview she had done with Annie at Threads of Time, where I work. She has quite a few patterns out, now, and also told Annie about my book coming out!
"Fame is a fickle thing, Harry."
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Editing fun!

A lot of people ask me what's happening with my book. Well... nothing! Or, maybe a lot, I don't really know! The publisher (Martingale) has it at the moment. I've gone through 2 rounds of editing, which is quite interesting. After I sent the manuscript in, they sent back the first edited version, which didn't even resemble the original manuscript. I didn't know whether to be grateful, or offended! I decided to be grateful for great editors that know how to make the instructions understandable. 

The next round had the illustrations and pictures all in place. It was a bit more exciting, because it is what the book will look like. The illustrators are terrific! Only... they had one whole quilt's worth of illustrations backwards, so that it didn't work in the end. I guess that's why they have editing! 

I sent it (corrected) to the technical editor, and now its back in "publishing unknown land" again.

What a learning process!

First-time blogger

It looks like I'm learning to blog!