Stitching, Writing, Packing for Quilt Market!

I’m busy stitching, writing and packing for my first Quilt Market this week!

Quilt Market is the weekend before the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX, and it’s an opportunity for retailers, manufacturers, and other quilt industry trade professionals to see what’s new in the quilting world. For me, that’s my new book, Artful Improv, published this month by C&T Publishing.

I’ll be participating in a Take Your Textile Art to the Next Level Schoolhouse Presentation on Friday, October 28 at 11 AM as part of a group of new C&T authors. I’ll have 8 minutes to talk about why my book is interesting to shop owners! So that’s the writing part I’m still putting the finishing touches on. And I’m stitching a couple of small quilts to show as examples, like Framed Boxes at left.

I think I need a better name for this one, so I’m open to suggestions if you have any!

On Saturday, October 29, I’ll be doing a book signing at the C&T Publishing booth from 10-10:30 AM. And at 11:30 AM, I’m scheduled to shoot a short video about my book and my process for the C&T Publishing YouTube channel. I hope I’ll be able to post a link to it here too, once it’s edited and ready for prime time! I’m getting my words and my demo ready for that–and I need to practice it in front of a mirror a few times too.

The video makes packing a bit more of a challenge too–I have to think about how what I choose to wear will look on camera. The publisher recommends that solid colors are probably best, and no loud jewelry that will make noise for the microphone.

It’s very exciting and a bit scary, but I’m sure it will go fine. I’ll keep telling myself that anyway!

Then next week I’m back in Houston for my Artful Improv Special Exhibit at the Festival! I’ll have 16 quilts from the book on display in the exhibit hall, and I’ll be there the whole time the show is open–from preview night November 2 through closing on November 6. I’ll post more about that after Market.

Got to get back to stitching, writing and packing!

Just a reminder that Artful Improv is available from my website here (and I’ll sign it for you), from C&T Publishing here, and from Amazon and other booksellers.