By Tara Reed
Tara Reed Designs; $27

Promotion is key for creative entrepreneurs who want grow their businesses, and part of that is getting press coverage. If you are stumped with how to go about getting the press to notice and write about your art, Tara Reed provides you with the blueprint to follow to accomplish this. Tara, a licensed artist who has created more than 15 lines of fabric in the past three years with South Seas, found herself answering questions from other artists about art licensing, and many of those questions were about getting press. This ebook resulted from Tara’s own experiences and that of her clients. She covers the basics of setting up a press release, what it should include, adding photos, how to distribute your release, creating a press kit and even how to make your website more press friendly.  Even if you’re an experienced press release writer, you’ll add a few tricks to your toolbox so you can become your own publicist. I’ve even comb bound my copy for easy reference.

Here’s a link if you would like to learn more about the book and save $5 off the price of the book.

501 Quilting Motifs: Designs for Hand or Machine Quilting
From the Editors of Quiltmaker Magazine
Martingale & Co.; $24.99

“Quilt as desired” can often leave you wondering exactly what quilting design works with your quilt top. What style is it? Do you want to enhance or contrast the lines of the quilt top? How much quilting do you need? Those questions and more are answered in this collection of quilting designs from 26 years of Quiltmaker. The motifs are shown as a single design, put into corner triangles, border strips with corners and squares in various sizes.The book has a hard cover with a spiral binding, which makes using the patterns easier. In addition to an index of designs alphabetically, a size index is included that shows designs in various size squares, rectangles, triangles and borders. If you are looking for inspiration for a design for your next quilt, this is a nice collection.

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.

Art + Quilt
Lyric Kinard
Interweave Press; $26.95

Lyric Kinard introduces her book by telling you it is not intended to teach you all you need to know about art. Rather her goal is to give you a solid foundation upon which to build your art. Lyric begins by introducing you to the elements of art: texture, shape, line, color and value. With each she includes ideas for gathering inspiration and then provides exercises to develop your skills. She follows the same format – information, gathering inspiration and working through exercises – as she tackles the principles of design: unity and variety, focal point, balance and symmetry, scale and proportion, depth and space, motion and rhythm. While understanding the basic concepts of art is key, ongoing practice is essential if you expect to develop as an artist, and Lyric offers a number of 30-minute challenges to get you on your way. What I found quite valuable was the discussion on evaluation and critique, whether self- or group-focused. If you want to work with others, Lyric offers guidelines for setting up a critique group and suggests elements to consider for a variety of quilts. She goes further to offer critiques of 17 of her own works. Understanding and practicing the concepts Lyric presents will help you improve the look of your quilts. You’ll also appreciate her easy-going, comfortable style and the hardcover, spiral binding so you can open the book flat while you work.

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.

Delivering Happiness
Tony Hsieh
Business Plus; $23.99

Subtitled A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, these are the lessons Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos, learned in business and life. It’s a quick read, and I found the book offered some valuable lessons, particularly on creating a company culture, including core values, and delivering “WOW” through service. In the final analysis, Tony offers his belief that we are all after the same end goal, and that is happiness. If we keep asking ourselves “Why?” about our goals, we’ll end up with wanting to be happy. I can see this is so true when I think about why so many of us quilt or make art. It makes us and the recipients happy.

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.

More Loose Change
Claudia Plett and Le Ann Weaver
Martingale & Co.; $24.99

In this follow-up to Loose Change, Claudia Plett and Le Ann Weaver offer complete instructions to make 14 quilts from nickels (5-inch squares), dimes (10-inch squares) and quarters (fat quarters) of fabric. Projects range from simple pieced quilts to quilts that incorporate fusible machine appliqué. I loved the way the authors stuck to their monetary theme. The quilt titles include Bright Bullion, Easy Money, Fortune Cookie and Wooden Nickel. Quick designer tips, aka “Piggy Bank TIps,” are interspersed throughout the text.

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

World War II Quilts
Sue Reich
Schiffer Publishing; $39.99

World War II era quilts have not been extensively studied, always being considered with quilts from the 1920s-1950s. Sue Reich became interested in this era after her family attended the dedication of the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. This book resulted from five years of researching quilts and newspaper accounts of quiltmaking from World War II years. Sue looked at five styles of quilts: red, white and blue patriotic quilts; quilts with military symbols and insignia; quilts made for donation to the Red Cross and other organizations; quilts made to raise money for the war effort; and quilts that are like other quilts made between 1920 and 1950. I found this to be a fascinating look at quilts from 1940-45, ones I had not previously considered. I was charmed by the “Sweetheart Pillow Quilts” made from silk sweetheart pillow covers that were printed with poems and military base notations. Fun, too, were the variety of “Victory Garden Quilts.” Since I recently looked at the Modern Quilt trend today, I was amused by the notation in one of the articles Sue found: “Quilting, 1943 style, however, isn’t exactly what it was for grandma.” This book adds immensely to the scholarship of quilt history.

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

No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
Brian Tracy
Vanguard Press; $17.99

Brian Tracy says that what separates successful people from less successful people is self-discipline. In this book he looks at self-discipline in three distinct areas: personal success; business, sales and finance; and the “good life.” To be able to grow as a person and achieve happiness, which is really our end goal, requires self-discipline. Not easy to achieve in all areas. Some of the material wasn’t new to me, though it served as a good reinforcement. Because each of the 21 chapters (seven in each of the three areas) includes action exercises, I think it would be useful to do one each day for three weeks to build on the discipline you are practicing. Some readers may have problems with the sales focus in part of the book. I also wish the book included a list of references.

Look for the book at your favorite book retailer or go to Amazon to learn more about the book.

By Kathie Alyce
American Quilter’s Society; $22.95

In 2004 IAPQ member Kathie Alyce introduced her Flip Flop Block template at International Quilt Market and sold out. She knew she was onto something when a few years earlier she created a four-sided curved template that would serve as a basic shape from which to create many designs. What seemed like a simple idea has endless possibilities: Imagine a log cabin fitting in a block with curved edges or even a New York Beauty block. Kathie also produces an acrylic template for the blocks, and the book includes a paper shape that you can trace onto your own template plastic to create a template to use. The book includes 18 projects that range from placemats  to queen-size bed quilts. This is a great creativity stretcher for designing outside the square block.

Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.>

Hand Appliqué With Embroidery
Sandra Leichner
AQS Publishing; $26.95

As a fan of Sandra Leichner’s quilts, I was looking forward to the release of her first book, Hand Appliqué With Embroidery. In the introduction she mentions that she’s always been fascinated by the details and how important they are to the finished product. I think if you’ve studied her work, that’s what impresses you: her attention to detail. The detail is most often done with embroidery embellishment techniques. In this book she teaches you her needleturn appliqué process and then shows you how to add texture and dimension through embellishment. To learn and build on your skills, she includes three small projects. With new skills and confidence, you are ready to create your own variation of Sandra’s award-winning “Tea With Miss D” quilt. I think you’ll be thrilled with adding these techniques to your tool box.

Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

Dual Image Appliqué
Dilys Fronks
AQS; $26.95

As Dilys Fronks looked back at her work of many years, she realized that positive and negative design shapes had surfaced in much of her work. That led to her focus on dual image appliqué. Dilys uses a fused appliqué technique and ends up with two opposite images from the same pattern. These can be used in the same project or two separate projects. The book includes 10 projects to tackle once you have the basics, each project building on or adding to the skill of those learned previously. I liked the detailed instruction and close-up photos. Patterns are included with enlargement instructions, as is a gallery of images to inspire you.

Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.