Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts...and me (oh my goodness), the author!

what?!?!?!? a book, you say?

i know!!!!!



oh my gosh...it is still hard for me to believe that this book actually exists.

and will be on a shelf in a real bookstore.

and comes up when i google it...on amazon!

and is beginning to arrive on the doorsteps of the crew who contributed to it (you'll recognize a lot of them, i think)...ack!! i hope that they, and you, will have a little smile when your hands run across the cover...



and when you open the book...

(but i'll leave that last little bit as a surprise for you!)

those 18 lovely ladies and 1 fabulous fellow are listed over there on the right. yes...right there! it may take a while to visit them all, but i promise that you will not be wishing you had that time back. inspiring, funny, talented, amazing people...all of them.

i have so much to share with you about this whole wonderful (and sometimes daunting) experience, but i think that i am suffering from a bit of stage fright. really, i started writing this post earlier today, and it's taken all day to get here! strange and true.



i think i need the quiet hours of late night to pull my thoughts together. after all, that's when i wrote (and re-wrote. and re-wrote...again!), pulled fabrics from my stash, drew, cut + stitched, and emailed (and emailed. and emailed...again!) the very best editor-friend in this whole wide world. amanda carestio, i still thank my lucky stars every day that we are in this together!!!

so, i'll leave you with some details and then come back to tell you more when the girls are in bed for the night:

• lark crafts is the publisher of Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts, the first book in the Pretty in Patchwork series (which will explore the sweet spot where sewing and quilting come together...the second book is being authored by a certain someone who appears in my book, and i couldn't be in better company!)
• november 1st is the release date, and the book can be preordered here and here!
• inside you will find 24 little quilts to piece, stitch, and love (made by 19 top designers...and me!), along with instructions, helpful illustrations, and a basics section offering a crash-course on piecing, quilting, binding, and more (like a sweet dolly apron, made by amanda; you'll also be able to stitch up the dolly, dragon, and bunbuns that i made for the book...more on that later!)
• here's a little sampling of the names of some of the quilts (from the back flap...i ♥ the flaps!): A+ Doll Quilt, Arches, Mushroom Hunting for Baba Yaga, Catherine Wheel, I Spy, and Scrappy Asterisks (this mod log cabin with my bunny girls shows up in all kinds of handstitched goodness on that back flap...which i ♥!)

speaking of the back flaps...i can't even begin to tell you all of the little details of this book. i was truly overwhelmed when i held it in my hands for the very first time. the photography of the quilts is just so good; i love that there are close-up shots of bits and pieces of the wonderfully crinkly quilties. the fact that lily, eme, and cate are in the book, too, makes my heart so happy (many thanks to a hometown girl for coming to clotilda for a photoshoot!).

and this...



um, wow!