Author news!

Koos van den Akker has done it again with another fabulous, arty and wearable dress pattern that would look good on any figure or age. Vogue 1301 is just out and has a sleeve and sleeveless version with a belt that can also be a tie around the neck as shown below. I think I need to make this dress now for Spring!

 

And to go with the new Koos dress is this clever bag. It is a flat round shape that changes when it is filled and thrown over the shoulder! Vogue 1311 is sure to be a best seller. Make one for each season!

Here is the new Jane Sassaman scarf with her Spiderweb Kaleidoscope quilt printed on silk satin!

It is so luscious and large (40” square)and drapes so beautifully! Already on sale on my website and selling fast. Limited quantities were printed so order quickly. There is a special if you buy the scarf and the book together.

This beautiful renovated dairy farm is the new Madeline Island School of the Arts in Wisconsin. Doesn’t it look inviting? Two of our authors will be teaching in this heavenly location.

Judith Baker Montano will teach Landscape and Seascape Design and Embroidery May 7-12.

Jane Sassaman will teach Abstracting from Nature July 23-27.  The school is offering many other fantastic textile arts teachers so take a look at their website and try to enroll to get your creative juices flowing!

The winner of last week’s giveaway was MWright. Stay tuned for the next giveaway/it’s a great one!

Leave a comment and tell me what you’d like for giveaways!

Marketing Patchwork Sassaman Style & Giveaway

Well the book is at the printer so now the real work starts….the marketing!

There are many steps to it but basically we need to get ready for the introduction of the book at Spring Market in May in Kansas City. So first, I think of the brochure.

It is basically last year’s brochure with the new Patchwork Sassaman Style placed in the first two pages and the other books moving to the back pages.  I also like to refresh the other books with new photos of projects or editing text so it perhaps will catch the eye where it hadn’t before.

I LOVE what the graphic designer did with this cover!  It’s so bold,colorful and graphic that you want to frame it! 

 

On the last page of the brochure we added some new items which will be released in June. The first is the scarf with Jane’s Spiderweb Kaleidoscope reproduced on silk satin. It is so luscious in person and the hand is so smooth and flowing that the photo doesn’t do it justice.

Also big news are the die cuts designed by Noriko Endo for AccuQuilt Go and Go Baby! cutting machines.  These are going to make creating confetti quilts so much faster and easier, especially for people with arthritis in their hands. Just turn the handle and lots of pieces are perfectly cut and tumble onto your table! 

Noriko’s cherry blossom die is the best way to make a breathtaking cherry blossom quilt in her style.  The die consists of full blossoms and some petals to make a realistic scene in no time! They are going to be available from www.AccuQuilt.com at the end of May (with project ideas) but I wanted you to be the first to know. (If you’d like a brochure mailed to you/leave me your address below!)

To support the brochure, we also need to update our website by adding the new book, info about Jane and ordering the book and silk scarf.  Then we can send out an email newsletter letting our devoted followers know what’s new.

At the same time, we need to design and place ads announcing the new book in some of the quilting magazines that we think have the audience that would be interested in new ideas and designs for patchwork.

Book reviewers at the magazines need copies and of course, the buyers need books to display at their market booths and for review to consider whether to include it in their inventory. Buyers around the world are familiar with Jane’s work and have given positive feedback about selling the book.  So since the books take 5 weeks to get here by boat, I need to fly in some cases for early promotion. Jane will be signing one case at the Checker booth at Spring Market so if you are there come early and get in line!

If not, watch for our blog tour this summer with many chances to win a free autographed copy! And this week, Jane has provided her beautiful new Hepburn apron pattern for a giveaway. Comment below (leave your email address in case you win) and a random winner will be chosen April 25. Last week’s winner is Carribean Cutie.

Preview of Patchwork Sassaman Style & Giveaway

 

Let me give you a preview of what Patchwork Sassaman Style is all about and why it will revolutionize how you quilt with Personality Prints (or designer collections).

Jane calls each quilt pattern a recipe because it is a guideline on how to create the quilt but is open for you to add and delete as you like. For example, you can add several different fabrics or additional sashing and borders or appliques to corners, etc.

I’ll use the example of Mirrored Triangles. Would you believe that these 3 are the same recipe? They look so different!

Each of these quilts uses only 3 different fabrics. Jane shows you how to select fabrics and how to cut them to get the desired results. Sewing it is so simple since it is only half-square triangles! That’s why these 20 recipes are for beginners to advanced quilters.

What I like best about Jane’s quilts in this book is that I can hardly see where the seam lines are! It all blends together and looks like a whole cloth quilt sometimes! You get huge graphic impact with minimal fabric as well as minimal simple piecing.  It’ll have you thinking about designing quilts in a brand new way!  The methods are adaptable to many different fabric collections that you probably already have in your stash…beautiful fabrics that you collected but weren’t sure how to cut them. Don’t we all have some of those?

 

This week’s giveaway is a Sassaman mousepad! Comment below by April 17 and we’ll select a winner at random. Jane’s silk scarf is almost ready to put on our websites. The design that you voted as the winner is my favorite so stay tuned to see the winner! Comment and tell us what other products you’d like to see in ‘Sassaman Style’!

Winner of last week’s Purse pattern is Patty Ashworth! Please contact me and let me know your mailing address (linda@dragonthreads.com)