Put Your Big Girl Panties On and Kick Your Fears in the Ass
Jane Lovas
Lovas Consulting; $9.95

Did you catch our call in the PQ Café yesterday with Jane Lovas? Jane, the author of Put Your Big Girl Panties On and Kick Your Fears in the Ass, and I talked about how to get past the fears that are keeping us from playing a bigger game. Jane’s book cleverly lets you look at your fears by drawing them and learning how to let all the parts of you work together. I loved her touch of humor and vulnerability in letting us see her fears and how she works through them. Hint: art helps. The book includes questions to ask and space for your own drawings or you can just color in Jane’s.

Look for the book at your favorite book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book. You can also order directly from Jane’s website, www.lovasconsulting.com

I can’t believe it’s time for Quilt Market already. Yes, it usually happens around the 3rd weekend in May, yet it always seems to arrive so quickly. You can find lots of tips on our blog if you search for Quilt Market. I thought I just share three tips that will make a difference.

1. Set an intention for your time at Market. I find if I have an intention associated with an activity, it’s more likely to come to fruition. Your intention might be to build your mailing list. It might be to sell a certain number of patterns. It might be to find a certain number of new designers to include in your store’s offerings. Before the show starts at the end of the week, take some time to think about what you want to get from your time at Market.

2. Evaluate your results. At the end of each day, look at where you stand with the intention you set and think of what you can do to get back on track, if that’s what you need, or to stay on track, or to exceed your intention.

3. Follow up. When you get back home, set aside time to follow up on all the notes you took and commitments you made. I’ve always heard the power is in the follow up. Not everyone will take the time to do that. As Tony Robbins says, “Success comes from taking the initiative and following up.”

Please share your tips on the blog.

The Muse is In: An Owner’s Manual to Your Creativity
Jill Badonsky
Running Press Book Publishers; $18

I had so much fun with this book. The author, Jill Badonsk is a creativity coach and artist, and you are bound to find something to grasp onto in this reference book. She starts with getting in the right frame of mind, ways to power up your creativity and some tools to think about your creativity. She also talks about troubleshooting, you know, how to attack those niggling little ways you hold yourself back. I found lots of nuggets on every single page.

The second half of the book offers day-by-day “maintenance” with prompts or quotes to get your creative juices flowing. For example, today’s prompt is to “modify the meaning of R.I.P.” Two examples she offers are “raucously instigate passion” and “romanced inner passion,” from a member of her writing club.

You don’t need to start on page one or even read the book cover to cover. Rather just open it to any page and you’ll probably find a little gem to get you unstuck and rev up your creativity.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

How effective are your efforts to engage and connect with your fans on Facebook? Perhaps you don’t realize that many of your fans never even see your posts. On average most Fan Pages reach only 12% of its fans. Not much for the effort you are putting in to try to engage your fans and develop leads. What can you do to increase that percentage? Here are a few ideas:

1. Post more often. Yes, you are already trying to post once a day. Consider that not everyone will see you post if you post once a day at the same time. I’ve heard that posts “live” for three hours, that’s the amount of time you have to engage someone. You can post more often and see if you get results. And, this is easy if you schedule your posts.

2. Post something people can respond to. That means ask questions, take polls or surveys. Think of ways that you engage the reader to respond or have a conversation.

3. Use graphics or photos. According to Hubspot, photos on Facebook generate 53% more likes than the average post. Think about your own experience on Facebook. Don’t you tend to respond more to posts with pictures? I know I do.

4. Pay attention to the analytics on your fan page and make adjustments accordingly.

The bottom line is that the more engagement (commenting, liking, sharing), the more likely your are to increase your fan base and the more exposure you will get for your business,

What are you doing to engage with your Facebook fans?

Learn to Sew Easy Curves
Jen Eskridge
Leisure Arts; $14.99

Curves: You either take them in stride or you are in the “fear the curves” camp. I usually take them in stride, but I will admit that sometimes the curves could be neater in my work. If that’s the case for you or your students, try Jen Eskridge’s faced appliqué method for flawless curves. She teaches you how to attach a facing to your curves, whether single, double, reverse or closed appliqué pieces. Once you’ve got the technique, Jen offers you eight fresh-looking projects ranging from mug rugs to full-size quilts.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Modern Neutrals
Amy Ellis
Martingale; $24.99

Neutrals – from lightest ivory to deep chocolate brown or bright white to soft black – offer lots of options for a quilt. And, of course, we often include neutrals in our quilts to add a resting spot. How about a quilt that is just neutrals? Amy Ellis has 15 quilts to chose from in this collection. My favorites were Pleated Patchwork with its pleated blocks and Placid Curves made of rectangles and squares, and filled with movement. This lets you look at your stash in a fresh way.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Print with Collage and Stitch: Techniques for Mixed-Media Printmaking

Val Holmes
Interweave; $26.95

I loved my printmaking class in college and still have the plates I made. They were all relief printing. In this book well-known teacher and embroiderer Val Holmes shares everything you need to know to use collagraphy in your textile work. Collagraphy uses a plate for printing, only elements are added to the plate rather than taken away yielding exciting and unexpected results. She goes into great depth about how to make a plate and add elements, including stitching, to it. Once you’ve created the plate, you need to make the print, and you aren’t limited to a traditional press. She discusses burnishing, printing with a roller or a flower press, even using your car tires as a press. I found her summary of materials table of what can be added to a plate and how it can be printed useful. And, if you want to use a simple press, Val gives you outlines for building a flower press, a screw-down hand press and an etching press. I found this book to be filled with exciting possibilities.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Last Wednesday I discussed different ways of asking for testimonials for your business. Of course, now that you have them, what do you do with them? Here are some specific ideas. Be sure to share how you use testimonials on the blog.

1. Create a page for testimonials on your website. We have one called Success Stories. I’ve seen them called Testimonials, Kudos and Praise. You could also intersperse them throughout your site. Look for ways that you can refer potential customers to see your testimonials.

2. Include testimonials in your catalog. For example, a pattern designer might include a testimonial about how easy-to-follow her instructions are.

3. Include testimonials in your brochure if you are a teacher, do longarm or commission work. It lets potential customers know the value of your work.

4. Include testimonials in any of your print ads. This will be very effective. Study ads in magazines to see how testimonials are used and what appeals to you.

5. Include testimonials on your product packaging, if space permits. It might be limited to a few lines, but it could make a difference in someone buying the product.

6. Add a testimonial after your email signature.

Lastly, remember that you don’t have to use the whole testimonial. You can use an excerpt; just be sure to keep it in context.

How do you gather and use testimonials. Please share your ideas in the comments section below.

First-Time Beading on Fabric
Liz Kettle
Landauer Publishing; $24.95

Are you hooked on beads – the colors, the sparkle, the variety? Or are you hesitant to use beads in your work, not knowing the “right” way? In First-Time Beading Liz Kettle lets you master nine stitch techniques while completing either a small stitch sampler quilt or a stitch sampler book. You’ll learn the stitches and have something practical to refer back to, either to create your own design or to complete the Beaded Garden Quilt included. One of the books big pluses is that you’ll find hundreds of large, step-by-step photographs to guide you. You’ll also find beading inspiration from the more than a dozen pieces completed by other artists.

Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.