Keeping Me in Suspense

I ordered a supply of books last week. I found out yesterday that I will probably receive them early next week. I can't stand the suspense! I would really like to see a finished copy of my book! Everyone is asking me if I am excited about the book...I think I'd be more excited if I knew what it looked like! Guess I expected that, being the author, I would receive one of the first copies off the presses! I'm learning a lot...just have to be patient! In the meantime, I have lots of sewing projects I need to be working on! Better get back to my machine! :)

It's Official!

Today is November 20th! As of today, I'm a published author!!! My first book, Start With Scraps, came out today!

It is showing up on various websites...as far away as New Zealand and Japan. Fun to see that!

I haven't yet received my copy of the book...I can't wait to see it! Remember, you can go to www.clotilde.com and order your copy. Encourage your friends to do the same! The scrappy piecing technique explained in the book is fun and the projects are easy. I know you will enjoy making them!

Happy Scrappy Stitching! Carol :)

Planning Ahead

For the past week, the radio station we wake up to has been playing Christmas music. They actually waited a little longer to begin this year...usually it starts right after Halloween. I'm sure you noticed that the stores didn't wait until after Halloween to bring out the Christmas merchandise! That seems to start earlier and earlier each year as the merchants vie for our $$. Soon "Christmas in July" will be just that! Actually Christmas is my favorite holiday...I love everything about it. And I shop for Christmas year round.

I also sew for Christmas year round. I'm sure you do, too. The quilt projects we make take time, so we need to start early on them! Are you making anything special this year? Do you need anything new to decorate your walls? My "Scrap Nick" wall quilt is fast and fun. It uses the scrappy piecing technique that is explained in my new book--but this project is not in the book. I designed it after the book proposal was sent off...The wall quilt measures 16" x 20". (It would be a great gift for someone special, too! ) If you are interested in the pattern, send me an e-mail: cloessel@yahoo.com.

Happy scrappy quilting for the holidays! Carol :)

Have You Seen It?

Have you seen the December issue of Quilter's World magazine? Right there on pages 24 & 25 are instructions for two little projects designed by ME! :)
If you have been following my blog, back in June I was telling about all the deadlines I had that month (see the Sunday, June 14th blog, titled "Deadlines"). One of the deadlines I had was for a BIG project...that big project was finishing all the projects and instructions needed for the BOOK that House of White Birches is publishing for me!!! It is coming out on November 20th. The book is called Start With Scraps, and features projects that can be made using my scrappy-piecing technique.
If you go to www.clotilde.com and look under the new book section, you will find my book listed and will be able to see a preview of some of the projects. I have not seen the book in its entirety--have only seen what you will see there. But I love the photos they took and I really like the way they wrote up the projects in Quilter's World magazine, so I can't wait to see the entire book.
I hope you will take a look and think about adding Start With Scraps to your quilt book collection! You can order it from clotilde or if you'd like a signed copy, you can order it from me! But remember, it will not be available until November 20! (Hey, that's less than 2 weeks away!!!) Happy Scrappy Stitching! :)
Carol (cloessel@yahoo.com)

Back in Business!!!

You don't realize how much you miss the Internet until you don't have it! We had a power outage on Saturday (Halloween) and when the power came back on, I had no Internet service.
After doing some of my own diagnostics, I suspected that something had happened to the modem. Of course AT&T doesn't have techs that work on weekends, but I called in the problem anyway, the first chance I got. A work order was written up and I was told that I'd be called Monday morning...great! I had to be way across town at a 2-day workshop all day Monday and Tuesday! I followed all the instructions I'd been given, and kept my cell phone on, but got no phone call. When I got home, I again called AT&T. This time I was told that the work order was for Tuesday, and that someone would come out late in the day Tuesday, at a time when I told them I'd be home. When I got home Tuesday, there was a flier on the door that, indeed, someone had been there!!! (But obviously I wasn't!) So I called the local number that was on the flier and left a message. This morning I called that number again. I got the local service manager who sent someone out within the hour!!! I was right---the modem had "blown" with the power outage. New modem, new passwords, and I'm back in business. The tech laughed when I let out a big "Hurray!" :) And after that exclamation, he didn't believe me when I said that I resent the time I spend on the computer. I didn't tell him that I'd rather be quilting!
Hope you have a good stitching day today. I hope to get back to some sewing, after sitting in income tax refresher classes for two days!!! Yes, I'd rather be quilting!

Final Day of Camp

Sunday morning was a misty one, but that only added to the beauty of the trees across the lake! The night before, I'd left this finished block of my niece's quilt lying on my sewing table. Taking a fresh look at it Sunday morning, I was pleased. I think it will turn out just as I had it pictured in my head! That is a good thing! :) (Unfortunately I haven't done anymore on it in the few weeks since Camp! Too many other projects to work on!)

After breakfast I packed up my sewing machine and cleaned up my sewing area. I spent the morning working on the embroidery project I'd taken along (Christmas ornaments). I also walked around to visit with others and see the progress they'd made on their projects. And I took a tour of the wastebaskets to see what others had thrown away. Amid the banana peels and apple cores (euuuuw!) I found a whole collection of clean, dry 1/2 square triangle pairs. Those will be fun to work with! I didn't find much else, though. Either others have started saving their scraps or my table-mate got there before I did! I learned that she collects and saves even more than I do! She's got a big box full of teeny-tiny cut-off points and is dreaming of someday doing a "snippets" project!!!! Not for me. I'll gladly let her have THAT stuff!

There were to be several hours of sewing yet after our noon turkey dinner, followed by show and tell. But I knew that I had a long drive ahead of me, and I wanted to stop at a quilt shop on my way home (that closed at 3pm). So I reluctantly packed up and told everyone good-bye. Another wonderful Camp weekend had come to an end. I can't wait to do it all again the end of April!

Second Day of Camp

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning! Sooooo beautiful! I couldn't resist taking pictures.

After breakfast I was all set to put together those quilt blocks. There were 9 of them, with sashing in between--piece of cake!!! I had my layout all set and they went together beautifully. As I was showing off my project, I realized that I had sewn them together completely backwards! What to do? They didn't look right the way they were, so I began to un-sew!

By the time I got them unsewn, laid out the correct way(again), and then carefully sewn together(correctly, this time) it was mid-afternoon. (Yes, it took that long. Had to do some visiting with others to see what they were up to, had to have lunch, had to press the blocks again, etc.) This project wasn't supposed to be so stressful! The completed top is pictured below. It is my scrappy interpretation of Birds in Air. It needs some applique yet, but I hope to finish that now that I'm home.

Since it was a sunny day, I decided to go for a walk to work off some of the stress. I'm glad I had packed my winter jacket because it was windy and chilly. The walk around the camp grounds turned out to be very refreshing--just the thing I needed.

Now I was ready to tackle another project. This time the shop model. It only needed some blanket stitching on it and a bit of applique, so it didn't take me long to complete that.

Later in the evening I started on my niece's quilt. I stitched some Thangles blocks--enough to piece at least one block of her quilt. I knew in my head what I wanted it to look like, but would it look that way in real life? (I also had a chance to teach the friend next to me about Thangles, and how easy they are to use!) One block was completed before bed...I left it out to look at it the next morning with a more critical eye.

Except for the un-sewing, I was happy with what I'd accomplished that day!