Necktie Quilts
Christine Copenhaver
C&T Publishing; $24.95

Those of us who have been quilting for some time remember when necktie quilts were popular. With the arrival of Necktie Quilts Revisited by Christine Copenhaver, we may see more. Christine set out to write the book for three reasons: to share her technique of stabilizing the necktie material with fusible interfacing; to provide practical information on sewing with neckties; and to offer fresh ideas for quilts made from neckties. Her discussion on the nuances and how to use necktie patterns was fun to read, particularly the significance of the colors. The book includes instruction for 17 projects and a gallery of additional quilts. I know I have a stash of ties in the back of a closet, so a necktie quilt may be in my future.

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

Color Play: Second Edition
Joen Wolfrom
C&T Publishing; $29.95

As a fan of Joen Wolfrom’s original Color Play, I was excited to hear that she had updated this wonderful resource. This new edition has been completely rewritten and reorganized, and it includes more than 100 new photos. What will you find in this edition? Chapters include historical facts and basic color information; the five most beautiful color plans and their color partners; the importance of value and how to use it; the characteristics of the major color families; a color reference for each of the 24 colors in the Ives Color Wheel; and how-to steps to create depth, luminosity, transparency, shadows and other landscape illusions. Joen’s work is based on the Ives color wheel with primary colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan (turquoise blue), rather than the traditional yellow-red-blue color wheel we learned in elementary school. This shift will make a significant difference in how you develop your color sense in your work. Nature also becomes the key to organize color, with four unique color groups. This is wonderful introduction to color theory to those needing one, and a valuable reference for all creative artists.

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

Pictorial Art Quilt Guidebook
Leni Weiner
C&T Publishing; $29.95

I have a fondness for collage, and this highly usable, user-friendly guidebook teaches you how to take a photo and translate it into a fabric collage. Leni Weiner’s premise is that the photo frees her from figuring out the proportions, perspective, light and shadows. Using a photo, Leni creates a full-size pattern, traces sections onto freezer paper and uses the pieces to cut fabric. (One tip Leni shares is to use the free program GIMP to work with your photos.) Leni divides the book into three sections. First, you will learn about color (without needing your color wheel), value, print and scale. She has a wonderful value scale of gradations in gray, from white to black, so you can identify what value your fabric is. With the fundamentals in place, Leni takes you step-by-step through making an art quilt from a photo. When you are ready to venture on your own, you can use her practical ways to approach common elements, such as trees, rocks, and animal and people features. An additional project is also included. I cannot wait to delve more deeply into the process.

If you have tried Leni’s techniques, I would love to hear about below. If you would like to learn more, you can look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon  if you would like to learn more about the book.

Quilting … Just a Little Bit Crazy
Allie Aller & Valerie Bothell
C&T Publishing; $29.95

Both harboring a love of Victorian crazy quilts, Allie Aller and Val Bothell joined forces to create this resource for traditional and innovated crazy-quilting skills. The book includes 30 techniques giving you a variety of options. One of their major goals was to show that crazy quilts could be functional, and they succeeded at that. More than half the 10 projects are lap-size or bed-size quilts. I liked looking at two different approaches to the same concept. If you would like to try your hand at a crazy quilt, either using your stash or new fabrics, you will find ideas here.

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

The Better Bag Maker
Nicole Mallalalieu
C&T Publishing; $26.95

I’m a sucker for bag patterns; just check my pattern files. What I like about The Better Bag Maker is it’s about learning the techniques behind handbag design so you are more successful in creating bags. Author Nicole Mallalieu is a well-known Australian designer with an international reputation for bag making. Technique covers the first third of the book, from specifics of materials, such as how to select the correct interfacing; to key sewing skills; to basic techniques, such as altering patterns. Once you have got the techniques down, Nicole suggests making a basic bag from which the other bags are derived. Instructions are included for an additional ten bags.

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

Embroidered & Embellished
Christen Brown
C&T Publishing

Embroidered & Embellished is a wonderful visual guide to 85 stitches that use thread, floss, ribbon, beads and more. Christen Brown divides the instruction into four sections: traditional embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, raised and textured embroidery, and bead embroidery. For each, she teaches you specific stitches with detailed, up-close photos, and then she includes two different projects that utilize the stitches. If you are new to embroidery, Christen offers a good discussion on the materials to use. I thought her Embroidering With Confidence chapter offered lots of good tips for the novice as well as a refresher for those who have not picked up an embroidery needle for a while.

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

I’m really excited to announce that The Professional Quilter is becoming part of the International Association of Professional Quilters.

Over the last few years most of you have noticed that we’ve harnessed the power of the Internet to offer more information to help you, the serious quilter, create business success. We publish this e-zine with business tips, tools and techniques to help you build your business. We regularly sponsor teleclasses and longer teleseminars all geared to guide you as you grow your business.

As I talked with subscribers and participants in our programs and looked at what we offered, I knew the best way to help you uplevel your business was to package these products together, along with some other goodies. Members of the IAPQ will receive:

• The Professional Quilter, our quarterly business journal;
• access to monthly teleclasses with experts both in and outside the quilt world;
• access to a monthly tele-networking/ mastermind event;
• a free consultation with an intellectual property attorney;
• an IAPQ lapel pin designed by our art director, Kim Bartko;
• discounts on our books and other resources;
• and more.

The actual value of these benefits easily exceeds $700; the value of these benefits to you is priceless as you build and grow your business. You can see complete details of the benefits on our redesigned Web site.

If you are a subscriber to The Professional Quilter, I know that you are interested in how your current subscription converts to IAPQ membership. Effective immediately, we will no longer accept single subscriptions. The regular price of the IAPQ membership is $137. Through December 31, 2009, we are offering an introductory price of $97 for the first year. We will never offer a special at this rate again. When you convert your subscription online and input the expiration date shown on your address label, you will be credited for the amount remaining on your subscription, in most cases $7.49 an issue. Details are on the Join Page on our site.

I know that networking with other professional quilters is important. Please join me on our new IAPQ Facebook group page where you can interact with like-minded quilters. Here’s the quick link.

I look forward to helping you uplevel your quilt business. Our mission at the IAPQ is to provide the resources to educate and empower you to create your own success in our industry. Whether you’ve been in business for years or you’re just starting out, you’ll find the resources you need to create your own success at the IAPQ.

Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership here.

I left Baltimore on Thursday, Oct. 23 and the trip got off to a good start. Do you know that the ladies rooms at the airport have vases filled with fresh flowers! I did touch them to make sure they were real, and it definitely gave my day a boost. Should have taken a picture.

Got set up some Thursday and continued on Friday morning. Here are some before shots of the hall. First up is the Superior Thread booth. Guess the crates are filled with thread! The second shot is the Michael Miller Fabrics booth, which in its finished state won one of the booth prizes.

Friday was filled with Schoolhouse, classes geared to shop owners to help them market products in their shops, and a variety of educational lectures. Friday night is Sample Spree, a hugely popular event. Here’s a shot of the masses of people waiting to get in. The spree opens at 8 pm and attendees get in in two waves. The first person was in line at 2:30 pm!

The show opened to the trade on Saturday morning at 8:30. It’s such a transformation from vast open spaces to small shops and displays. I saw several new notions. Anyone need a whacker? It’s a hammer to use to whack those pesky seams flat. And, everyone seems to be eating at the same bakery: lots of jelly roll, turnover and layer cake fabrics, books, patterns. Still fun decorator prints in bright colors, though I did notice some browns creeping back in. Overall, you can find colors that appeal to anyone’s desire. Plenty of people stopped by the booth during the show. Here are some shots.

Here’s Jake FInch, who is has a new book on Community Quilts with C&T and was just named Managing Editor for Mark Lipinski’s Quilter’s Home.

And speaking of Mark, he popped in, too.

Did some walking on the floor and ran into Jay McCarroll, Project Runway’s 2005 season winner. Jay has now designed two fabric lines for FreeSpirit Fabrics. You can see bits in the background of the photo.

I’m lucky to have area quilters loan me quilts to hang on display in the booth. One of those quilters is Kim Ritter. Here we are in front of her quilt “Trowel and Error.”

The last two issues of the The Professional Quilter included articles on blogs by Maria Peagler. Maria stopped into Market to make contacts and sales of her book Color Mastery that comes out in early 2009.

Ricky Tims also stopped by.

And, my booth was catty-corner across from Linda Taylor and she stopped in for a visit.

Since I’m the editor of The Professional Quilter, I know lots of the editors at other magazines. Jan Magee, editor-in-chief of Quilters Newsletter and I compared notes on the show.

We have a break between Market and Festival, starting back on Wednesday evening at 5 pm. I’m looking forward to seeing the quilts, something I save for Festival. More in a couple of days.

Innovative Fabric Imagery
Cyndy Lyle Rymer and Lynn Koolish
C&T Publishing; $27.95

Every year we see more and more quilts with images that have been created with digital technology. In 2007, C&T sponsored an Innovative Fabric Imagery special exhibit at International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston. The majority of Innovative Fabric Imagery for Quilts features a gallery of more than 40 of the inspiring entries in that exhibit. The book also includes the basics of working with photos on your computer and 19 projects. The projects range from “Ocean Sunset” by Gloria Hansen, which features a large photograph printed in four sections, cut into squares and then fused on a background, ending up with an attic windows look, to “Gramsie” by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero, which turns a photo into a kaleidoscope as the focal point of the quilt. The book is full of ideas to inspire you to put your computer and its imaging software to creative use.