Quilters and crafters enjoy recipes and often share them at quilting bees craft fairs and online groups.  They also compile cookbooks as fund raisers.
Also, they can put together e-cookbooks or CDs to give as free items to customers, readers, and blog/web site visitors.  This is one way authors have promoted their books and crafters their other products.
Over at Home Biz Notes, I described how I’ve been involved in creating free e-cookbooks as promotional giveaways for my books.  This was a project initiated by author/publisher Kathleen (Katy) Walls.
Check out the post, Developing a Free e-cookbook for PR, and learn more about the two …read more

Mysteries are my favorite reading, whether they’re for children or for adults.  I also enjoy mysteries that take place in actual settings, so I can learn more about other parts of the country and the world.
Do your youngsters like to read mysteries? Here are a few mystery books to check out for the youngsters (tots through teens) in your life:

The Boxcar Children Mysteries
Boxcar Children Graphic Novel Mysteries
Joan Lowery Nixon (author) mysteries
American Girl Mystery series
Ghost Cadet
Mysteries by Carole Marsh (Historical & geographical settings)
Mysteries by Beverly Lewis
The Undercover Kid Mysteries
Hardy Boys Mysteries
Mystery Kids Mysteries
The Adirondack Kids Mysteries
Mysteries by Mary Downing Hahn
Spine Chiller …read more

It was exciting to see Yvonne Russell’s article, The Web – Your Partner in Promotion, at Grow Your Writing Business and discover it included an interview of me and one of the other blogs I write for b5media.
                          (Mary Emma)
Since many quilters are writers, or at least contribute patterns and information for books, so you may find the advice  Yvonne offers on her blog of great interest.  Her general advice also applies to businesses, which would include those offering quilts, fabric art, fabrics and other supplies. 
Much of what Yvonne offers here concerns promotion via the Internet and blogs.  She and I discussed this topic …read more

         I look at nature and photography with different eyes and insight since watching the interview of Joen Wolfrom on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. 
Joen explained how she chose colors from her photos for her quilts and quilt hangings.  These weren’t landscape replicas as I had expected.  She chose the colors from her photos that inspired her and incorporated them into her work.
In fact, Joen said she matched her photos to her fabric stash and selected colors for her work that way.  She also mentioned staying three hours in one place to get the photos that inspired her.
After watching …read more

Writers say they have “muses” that inspire them with their work.  Once at a writers’ workshop I attended, the teacher instructed us to describe our muse, either in words or a sketch. 
 Until then I didn’t even know I had a muse or was supposed to!  However, as I put pencil to paper, a whimsical lady appeared, who seemed to be floating in air above a desk with my work.  Now when I’m asked if I have a muse she comes to mind. 
         Does this apply to my quilting, too.? Could you say that someone or something inspires you…one person or …read more

“Jelly rolls for quilters!” I wondered, when I first saw this term used at an online store.  “Are they selling foods for quilting bees online or sustenence for quilters when they’re working long into the night on a project?”
Further research revealed that these jelly rolls consist of fabric pieces.   They’ve been introduced by Moda Fabrics and consist of a roll of fabric, tied with a ribbon.  These jelly rolls are comprised of forty 2 1/2-inch strips from a particular collection, then rolled up. Some of the collections in Jelly Roll form mentioned at Quilters Buzz include Kansas Troubles, Gervais, Minick & …read more

You don’t need to be a quilter nor write about quilting to design a patchwork type of table cloth for your booksignings or book events.  However, if you are a quilter/author, this is a great way to incorporate your art into your book signings or book sale table.
When I read mystery author, p. m. terrell’s instructions for “Creating an Eye-Popping Booksigning Tablecloth” for her events, I realized, “This is a form or quiltmaking!  It’s great for quilters and non-quilters.”
To learn more about how p. m. terrell transposes electronic images of her book covers onto tablecloths for her booksignings, visit her …read more

Last year, second graders from a New York School invited several author/illustrators to contribute an illustration for a quilt block.   The youngsters were studying about children’s authors and reading their books.
Although my children’s stories have been published mainly in magazines and I’m a writer more than illustrator, I did sketch the illustrations for an anthology, Tales of Adventure and Discovery, which consists of several of my stories.
“Would your students like one of my illustrations?” I inquired.
“Definitely,” their teacher e-mailed me.  Then one of the students sent me a piece of fabric, cut to the desired size.  I was simply to illustrate with …read more