Buy my book or I'll kick this puppy

I am delighted to announce that my book, long in the making, is finally published and ready for purchase!  I've written about it in the past but to recap, the premise is that you don't need to use other people's patterns to make beautiful quilts.  Instead, I start with a traditional quilt block -- the Rail Fence -- and use it as the foundation for a bazillion variations.

So who needs to buy this book?

It's been my experience that millions of quilters are willing to invest lots of time and effort into improving their technical skills.  They attend workshops, buy tools and equipment, read blogs, magazines and books to learn better technique.  But they don't invest commensurately in design skills.

As I write in the book:  "Why are so many quilters willing to learn and stretch when it comes to execution, but not when it comes to planning?  I've known women who have been quilting for 30 years and turn out exquisite quilts by the dozen, but still use other people's patterns.  No matter how many state fair ribbons they've won, they're still not confident enough to make up their own designs.

"To me that's sad.  My great joy in making a quilt is not that I've sewed straight seams and gotten it to lie flat -- heck, any Third World sweatshop worker can do that -- but that I've made a pleasing design, and that my quilt is unlike anybody else's.  This part has the creativity and the joy, and I want to do that myself, not buy it from somebody else."

If you know somebody who needs a bit of a kickstart for the confidence to develop design skills, get her a copy of this book!

Or if you enjoy making the occasional non-art quilt, whether it's for a new bedroom, a new baby, or a charity, maybe you'd like a copy too, for a new take on how to whip out attractive and unique quilts.

Click here to go to the bookselling site.  If you're in Europe, hold on for a couple of days; we're still arranging for publication there so you won't have to pay for shipping from the U.S.

I'll be giving you some little sneak peeks from the book in the next couple of days, and giving away a free copy of the book to people who leave a comment before midnight, August 10.