Quilts in the Attic: Uncovering the Hidden Stories of the Quilts We Love
Karen Musgrave
Voyageur Press; $24.00

Are you ever interested in “the rest of the story” when it comes to the quilts you
see? So much is unknown about the quilts we see and that’s what Karen Musgrave set
out to remedy with Quilts in the Attic. She has explored the background and personal
history of 30 quilts and their makers in a period that spans more than 200 years.
The stories are fascinating. I started with the first one, “Nettie’s Beauty.” Karen
captured me in the first sentence: “Nettie Miller Sours was found dead in her bed
with her hands neatly crossed on her chest – a true Virginia mountain woman to the
end.” I went on to learn about how the quilt was won at auction and then about the
personal life of Nettie. I enjoyed learning more about Ruby Short McKim in “Legacy
Reclaimed,” especially since one of my first quilt book purchases in 1977 was One
Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns. I was fascinated to learn about the gift in
2010 of “Night Flight” by Andrea Scadden to Bill Volckening, Oregon Quilt Project
coordinator, who just volunteered that he loved free quilts. This quilt had been
in Quilt National in 1983 and now its maker is a Buddhist living in the Himalayas.
Just pick the book up, read any chapter and you’ll find a treasure.

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.

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.

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.

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.

At our recent Creative Arts Business Summit, we asked the attendees for a testimonial that we could use to market the event in the future. Testimonials are a terrific way to help market your quilt or creative arts business. It’s word-of-mouth advertising, only you get to decide who hears it and what is heard. While you may get unsolicited testimonials, it’s a good idea for you to actually ask for a response. In some cases you might want to offer a thank you gift for the comment. Here are some ideas to try:

We Love Color: 16 Iconic Quilt Designers Create with Kona Solids
Susanne Woods, Compiler
C&T Publishing; $23.95

Who doesn’t love color? We Love Color is a collection of 16 quilts made by some
of today’s leading designers in the modern quilt movement. They all use solid Kona
cottons from Robert Kaufman Company. Some of the quilts look quite traditional,
some abstract. You’ll find structured pieced quilts and free-form landscapes. I
was particularly taken by Orbit by Jennifer Sampou made with improvisational circles
and strips. The book also includes an interview with Denyse Schmidt about her Paper
Bag Piecing technique, which she uses to help student choose and combine colors
to create their own one-of-a-kind quilts. A resource guide showcasing all the Kona
cottons used in the book is included.

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.

I do some of my best thinking in yoga class. I think it’s because I have fewer distractions.
Last week our instructor, Heather, was talking about how different people are able
to hold specific poses for quite some time. She also noted how some of us have more
difficulty finding the right pose, and, of course, it’s different for all of us.

It’s easy to look around the room and see how someone is so able to hold a balance
pose for what seems like forever when I start to waver. Then I can see how my revolved
triangle pose is very open and I’m aware that not everyone is as open through the
upper body as I am. As we went through the class, several people commented on the
progress one woman had made with her pigeon pose since she’d been coming to yoga.

So what does this have to do with your creative arts business? Here are the lessons
I took from the class.

1. We all have different skills and abilities. Focus on what you can do at the present
   time and build on that.
2. Don’t compare yourself to others. It’s not about being as good as, or better
   than, someone else. In the end, your only real competition is yourself.
3. You can only start in one place, where you are now, and grow from there.

So, what’s stopping you from starting?

Please share your thoughts below.

Sneaky Piecing by Beth Ferrier
C&T Publishing; $26.95

I’m always in the market for a tip that will make my work go faster, easier, be more accurate. How about you? That’s what you’ll find in Beth Ferrier’s Sneaky Piecing. Beth shares little tips and tricks she’s picked up in decades of quiltmaking, everything from using a “landing strip” on your sewing machine bed to using 1/4″ masking tape to measure a seam allowance offset to shortcut recipes for blocks. And, once you’ve got a handle on Beth’s sneaky tricks, you can put them to use in the six projects included. You’ll enjoy Beth’s humorous writing style and her witticism, e.g., when referring to color, “A quilt that is all medium is neither rare or well done.”

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.