Trunk Show Presentation

Recently I did a Trunk Show for the Souhegan Valley Quilt Guild in Milford, NH What a fabulous time we had! I have discovered that I absolutely love presenting trunk shows of my designs and everyone there was really appreciative and welcoming. The only down side to this presentation was that I had to drive home in a blizzard with visibility so bad I almost went off the road a couple of times. The joys of living in northern New England!

Anyhow, I brought some of my earliest quilts just for fun (to show everyone how far I have come since I began designing and making quilts). I also brought ALL 28 quilts which will be featured in my new book, “Moon Dance”. We were lucky enough to be able to hang most of the quilts on the walls and on a couple of large quilt hangers and the rest we held up to show around the room.

It was a really impressive to be able to see all of the quilts together in one room, most likely the last time they will be all in one place (except as photos in the book), since some of them had to “go home” to their owners. However, the wonderful group of quilters who made so many of the quilts (in addition to my own) have been kind enough to offer to loan them to me whenever I need them for future trunk shows and to take to Pittsburgh in mid-May, when I present the book to one of the two major wholesale quilt shows in the country.

I want to publicly thank Lise Belanger, Nicole Boucher, Teejay Christopher, Trudi Costa, Eleanor Flanagan, Regina Frederickson, Anne Hatin, Denise McKinnon, Lillian Oczykowski, Peggy Rogers, Shirley Stockmeyer and Sue Ann Walker, members of my Guild, Amoskeag Quilters Guild (Manchester, NH).

A huge thank you also goes out to several very competent testers Diane Reichle, Kari Lippert, Debbie Shepard and Patti Oakley (of Batiks by Design ), for your thoughtful and constructive feedback on my original “Moon Glow” pattern as well as for the beautiful quilts you made for my book.

I also want to thank the Quilt Pattern Testers Yahoo Group for being a wonderful resource to quilt designers everywhere. I needed only to post my request for testers and was flooded with responses from all over the country!

And special thanks to Nancy Dill, of QuiltWoman.com for showing interest in this project and offering to be my publisher, and to her capable staff of graphic artists, editors and proofreaders.

Everyone has been asking me “so when is this book going to be available??” The short answer is SOON – we are in the very final phase of editing and tweaking before going to press. So hold onto your hats and watch for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT coming to a newsletter or blog near you.

Welcome Visitors!

Greetings to all of you who have found your way to our blog. I am excited to see so many people from all over the USA and the world visiting a group of six quilt designers from New England! So far we have had visitors from 22 US states and 10 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Egypt, Estonia, Italy, New Zealand, Poland and the United Kingdom! You are in good company!

One of the things we are very interested in is hearing your comments about our blog site, our individual posts and, of course, our designs. We have recently improved our ability to accept comments and there is a place at the end of each post where you can leave a comment, if you wish.

For example, a few weeks ago, I wrote about the book of quilt designs I am working on (and will publish in February) and I asked for feedback about what kinds of quilting books you like, and what would make you choose one quilt book over another (assuming both interested you equally in content). I would really like to know what other quilters look for and value in the quilting books they choose to purchase. (Scroll down to see the oriiginal post.)

We would also like to hear about what kinds of quilt patterns you like best. Do you prefer small projects that are completed quickly, ones that teach you new skills, large projects, such as bed size quilts, simple designs or more complex and challenging designs? It would be really helpful to each of us in the NE Designer's Cooperative to know what quilters are looking for in patterns.

We want to hear from you! What kinds of quilting do you do, what are your favorite techniques, are you a beginner or experienced quilter - anything you wish to share with us. And don't forget to visit our individual websites to see more of our work. The links are listed on the right.

Soon we will be offering incentives of various kinds to our readers to come back and visit. There may be prizes! For now - we are glad you are here. Welcome!

Cary Flanagan
Something Sew Fine Quilt Design
www.somethingsewfine.com

My Book is on Its Way!

I am so excited! My book, "Moon Dance" is finally off to my editor, Nancy Dill of QuiltWoman.com. I am still working on some of the diagrams and there is still a lot of fine tuning to do before we can get it off to the publisher in February, but at least I am one step closer. We will be introducing it to the public at Spring Market in Pittsburgh in early May.

This has been such an amazing experience. I have always loved writing and I am good at it. I also love designing quilt patterns and sharing them both retail and wholesale through quilt shows and quilt shops all over the country. But it never occurred to me until a member of one of my quilt guilds suggested it last winter, that I could actually write a book of quilt patterns!

The book is based on my best selling pattern "Moon Glow". (Please click on the June entries at right to see a sample of that design made by Patty Oakley of Batiks By Design.) Once I discovered how popular that pattern had become, I began experimenting with other designs that evolved out of the concept of using a center panel as the focus of a quilt. I thought about publishing a series of individual patterns, then decided on writing a book. Suddenly my design ideas just took off - multiplying like rabbits until I actually had to make myself stop or I would have so many designs no one would be able to even lift the book! (Maybe I will just have to write another one next year!)

With the help of many of my quilting buddies, we have been hard at work making sample quilts - we have more than twenty quilts already! Next step is professional photographs of each one. I can't wait to see them all in print! (And my quilting friends are all just as excited as I am.)

This leads me to a question: When you are consideriing purchasing a quilt book, what features are most important to you (assuming you have found a book with a subject that interests you)? What makes you choose one book over another?

Lots of color photographs? Detailed diagrams? Clear and well written instructions? Tone (is the book informal and friendly or more serious and focused?) Price?

What other features do you value or require when deciding whether or not to purchase a particular quilt related book? I would love some feedback from you. I want to make my book the book you choose!

Stay tuned for more information about this book and other new pattern designs as they come closer to completion.

Cary Flanagan
Something Sew Fine Quilt Design
somethingsewfine@comcast.net