Friday, January 12, 2007

It's A New Year

Happy New Year!

I was doing all right until one minute ago. I was distracted by a call and somehow, the really long post that I have been working on and ready to publish, is lost in blogland. Agh!

I have been busy the past few months. I just wrapped up a book with Martingale & Co. [That Patchwork Place]. I finished another one for them in October too. The most frustrating thing that I encounter with maintaining a blog is the inability to post about my projects until they are actually published. I usually work about a year or so in advance so there's that big gap between finishing and publishing.

I had a lot of magazine work published in the past few months. I had a quilt, "be Merry" on the cover of American Patchwork & Quilting, some holiday cards and an interview in Quilts & More, and pincushions in Quilts & More. Look out for some cool placemats in the next issue of Quilts & More. They're quick and easy to make and are funky.

I wrote four books last year and I am so stoked about them. I can't wait for them to be published! It's worse than Christmas, which for me is a really bad thing. Don't ever tell me that you've purchased a present for me. I will ask you everyday from the day you tell me about it until the day that I open it. My husband pretends that we're not going to exchange gifts and then he pulls out something fabulous. I'm not so into jewelry and bling but he's bought some iPod and Patagonia items in the past. Now, if only a very large Apple product would end up on my desk ...

Back to my books. I've expanded the product range and look to include knitting and scrapbooking. Of course, there is the usual quilting book. Some of the look will reflect my personal taste. My signature look in quilting is bright but I love bright and luxurious likened to Designers Guild and muted colors dominate my home, knitting and scrapbooking tastes run more classic.

I discovered a couple of things when I was writing my scrapbooking book. My main loves are paper and photography but sometimes I prefer that they run separately. Yes, I know, you can't tell from this site but I love black and white photos with a photojournalistic touch. I think that I can call myself a digital documentary director. I almost have 20,000 digital photos alone and I love to take photos that say something without saying something. I think that has to do with the fact that I keep a separate diary/journal and I feel that a visual should just jump out at you and give hints at what's going on. The remaining interpretation is up to you. I found that I preferred an uncluttered look when it came to designing a page. Classic and clean with an unusual touch. I think that this book brought me back to my roots of design.