Art Quilts of the Midwest: The First Copy Has Arrived!

Last week, just before leaving for QuiltCon, I got an email from the University of Iowa Press saying that one copy of my book was available for me to pick up. It was a Monday and I'd been back for two days from Minnesota and was leaving in a day for Austin. I was harried, so I didn't respond right away. I was also afraid. There's this kind of magic time in between when you write a book and make your edits and hand it all over to the designer and the Press. You can say "I've got a book coming out," and everyone is very encouraging and excited and it's easy, because it's all out of your hands. Though I've definitely been doing some marketing work, it really just an idea of a book because the physical object didn't yet exist.

But apparently it now it did. When I talked to my husband and told him it was there he said "If you don't get it, I will!" That would have been a little embarrassing, so off I went. It was kind of a quiet visit—I guess I thought everyone might come out and cheer or something—but it was nevertheless wonderful. I gave Karen, the production manager, a hug because she did so much work to make it so lovely and because it was so amazing to hold it in my hands I just had to hug someone.

Then I took it home and put it in a plastic bag and ran around frantically packing and watering plants and doing last minute errands. I really didn't look at it until I was on the plane. There was a lovely, satisfying moment when I pulled it out (and secretly hoped that my seat mate would ask me about it—no such luck) and paged though it and felt the "book-ness" of it. And for the next four days I carried it around, whipping out my book-in-a-baggie and whenever appropriate (and sometimes even when it wasn't appropriate, just because I couldn't help myself).

I'll share more about the book itself, but for now know that it will be available in the next week or so at Prairie Lights, if you're local or through your local bookstore (you can ask them to order it), on Amazon, and through the Press. I hope you'll take a look!

More QuiltCon posts at UPPERCASE

Here are two more posts about QuiltCon. Sorry for the lack of photos here—some computer issue—but there are plenty on the UPPERCASE blog.

http://uppercasemagazine.com/blog/2015/2/22/quiltcon-3#.VOyiBkLr-AY=

http://uppercasemagazine.com/blog/2015/2/22/quiltcons-lasting-impressions#.VOyiJULr-AY=

QuiltCon 2015 Follow-up

It's been a wonderful few days in Austin, where I'm attending QuiltCon.

Admiring City Center by Angie Henderson at the QuiltCon 2015 exhibition hall

There's really nothing like being with folks who love what you do. On Thursday morning I started chatting with a young woman from Victoria, B.C., as we walked across the lobby floor. She said "I want to live here!" And I said "In Austin?" Her response was that the location didn't matter so much, but she wanted to be with people who loved what she did on a day-to-day basis. She'd tried to describe her passion to her work colleagues, but they didn't understand and were glad she was going where others did, because they'd heard enough. My guess is that she won't stop talking when she returns—she may be so pumped full of enthusiasm that she makes a few quilting converts.

I may or may not have purchased some of this fabric at Stitch Lab's booth in the vendor area

For coverage of QuiltCon, visit UPPERCASE's blog—though she was on of the three jurors for QuiltCon (along with Carolyn Friedlander and Stevii Graves) UPPERCASE editor Janine Vangool wasn't able to attend and asked me to to cover for her. You can find words and photos about QuiltCon 2015 here and here, with more to come. 

QuiltCon, Here I Come!

I'm back from the better part of a week in Minnesota with my aunt, and getting ready to head out again, this time for Texas. (And while I dearly love my aunt, at this time of the year I am definitely looking forward to going south, rather than north!)

UPPERCASE issue #24: Note in the right-hand column, 1x1-inch squares of actual feed sacks grace the covers

I'll be covering QuiltCon for UPPERCASE magazine, which I'm quite pleased to have been asked to do. I've written for UPPERCASE over the years and for issue #24 I got to write about feed sacks, one of my favorite topics.

The real thrill of writing this piece was getting to talk with people who remember wearing feed sack clothing—I found their names through the comments on the Etsy feed sack post I wrote in 2011. The interviews were delightful, and I loved that neither Joyce, who grew up on an Iowa farm, or Nancy, who lived in Ohio, ever felt deprived because their clothes were feed sacks. On the contrary, they loved them. When UPPERCASE #24 arrived at her home, Nancy even sent me the photo below of a feed sack quilt that included scraps of a sack she'd picked out for a dress. It had simple mathematical equations on it, and she remembered thinking when she chose it that it could come in handy when she was in school.

At any rate, if you'll be at QuiltCon, I hope you'll join me for what they're calling "a demonstration" on Friday at noon in Exhibit Hall B. In addition to giving away 10 copies of UPPERCASE #24, the one with actual feed sack squares affixed to the cover, I'll be talking about feed sacks. (Also, Janine is offering a special QuiltCon discount for an UPPERCASE subscription. http://uppercasemagazine.com/quiltcon)