Sunday, January 10, 2010

Mail In, Mail Out

Woohoo, my manuscript is off to the publisher!!! What a relief. Of course that was just the manuscript, the illustrations, photos, and samples. I still have plenty more to send them by the end of the month, including a quilt I'm currently hand-quilting and two that need binding.

Still I'm done with some of the horrible monotonous stuff, like creating a number for every illustration and photo and placing those consecutively in the manuscript. What a lot of work that I never knew had to be done. Luckily I got a one week extension, otherwise I think I might have lost my mind.

One stumbling block was iPhoto losing nine months worth of photos. (I'm blaming that on you, Snow Leopard. How could you embarrass me this way, especially after all the grief I gave my dad over his 2-weeek upgrade to Windows 7?). Thank goodness I recovered those, even if they are incorrectly dated and scattered around. Fingers crossed, I think I'm set now, although I have something like eight copies of every photo and no idea how to get rid of them.

Next month, I'm hoping to be a much more relaxed camper and more frequent blogger. After I got home from the post office, I discovered a reward for my hard work. A belated Christmas present: gorgeous fabric from Chris Daly of Dye Candy. It's overcast (not to mention cold) here so I didn't take great photos, but I wanted to share these incredible colors:


And here's the whole bunch:

Chris kindly sent me some samples last year so that I could find out how well these fabrics hand-quilted. The answer was marvelously - the fabric has a tight weave but wonderful to work with. I didn't stick with ordering one of her already packaged groups, but instead picked a bit of this and that so I could fill in some of the gaps in my hand-dyes/solids collection. My shelf is looking much brighter and lighter now:

Remember how I bought myself some future prezzies at the big quilt show in November? Mmm, yummy handwovens from India. The solids are shot cottons with two colors running through them. They don't appear to be flimsy, which is marvelous. Just wish there'd been more to choose from.
Especially now that both Jackie and Wanda are playing with older Kaffe Fassett prints that I didn't buy back when I had the chance. I'm kicking myself now.

I know, I know... like I need any more fabric...

Clare and Michele are challenging liberated quilters to make a quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Please, check it out and participate!

Meanwhile, I have to stop goofing off and get back to work. Happily for me, that means lots of hand-quilting right now. I can finally get caught up on my tv watching. Ya'all take care.

21 comments:

laura said...

What incredible challenge! Am so excited for your work to be in print. Envious of all the goodies, the colors are so deliciously clear. But you forgot one of the most important ingrdients to your post... kitty pics.

Darlene said...

Oooh, I'm drooling over those beautiful colors! Everything here is gray and white and covered with snow, which is pretty in its own way, but I do enjoy seeing those bright colors.

Are your kitties behaving? Mine got into a case of cat food yesterday, and was wandering around the house carrying a can of cat food around in her mouth, like it was a kitten. I didn't see it, but my husband said it was hilarious. I'm glad she doesn't have opposable thumbs. Heaven only knows what she would do then!

Sharon said...

Congratulations!!! That must be a relief AND exciting. You must have done a big sigh of relief.

At least the hand quilting is more relaxing. Hope the fingers hold up!

Beautiful colors! I can see your palate changing with the move to Florida. You're much more "tropical" and brighter now. What fun colors to see, especially in the winter.

I hope all the kitties are happy and healthy. Do they sit on you when you're hand quilting? *grin*

Bonnie said...

Congratulations on all that hard work. And then a fabulous reward! those colors are just great - so tropical looking. Heavens know we need the extra boost around here with it being so unusually cold.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

What FaNtAsTiC colors in those Fabrics! Wonderful! Happy Paying in all those Brights!!!

ilovebabyquilts said...

Those are some amazing hand dyes! Those blues really speak to me. You were right to seperate them, they photographed much better that way. I always thought you should have a book! You have such wonderful and extensive tutorials! Both the wonky houses and the free pieced letters are on my 2010 resolution list.

Elaine said...

I'm in the same boat -- Snow Leopard has caused ALL KINDS of problems on my little MacBook. I'm going to completely back up my hard drive, erase the OS, and install it new instead of as an upgrade. Maybe THEN it will work like it's supposed to.

Photoshop is crashy and slow now, my keyboard and touchpad will randomly stop working, etc. etc. etc. Irritating. Never had any of these problems before Snow Leopard. :(

Kristin Shields said...

Congratulations, Tonya! I just love those hand dyes. I'll have to look into them. The problem I've had with hand dyes in the past was with colorfastness. I attributed it to amateur dyers. How do you find them for colorfastness?

Marit said...

Good luck with finishing the book, and enjoy your hand-quilting!
The dyed fabric looks delicious!

jude said...

ha! clearing a space for a great new year...

Barb said...

gorgeous fabrics!
congrats on completed the first faze of the book.
I just started iphoto, yikes, hope that doesn't happen to my photos.
I'll have to check out the challenge.
barb

Diane said...

How relieved you must be to finally have that manuscript out of your hands and into the publisher's! Writing a book is an arduous task but just think of all the grateful quilters out there who will be thrilled to have the secrets of liberated letter making in book form.

Your new fabrics are gorgeous. Happy quilting!!!!!!!!!!!

Rene' said...

Great progress on your manuscript. I am so looking forward to seeing it in print. I accepted the challenge and just emailed AAQI about my three quilts...just waiting for an email back with what to do next. I had a similar problem with my photos in iPhoto when I transferred to new laptop. Now I, too, have about three to five copies of each photograph...but different resolutions. What a mess. At least I didn't lose the pictures, but now have to go through them and delete the duplicates. Love the eye candy you received. The fabrics represent such beautiful colors.

Rosalyn Manesse said...

I'm so excited for you that you have gotten your book on its way! I know what hard work that can be.

Clare said...

I've fallen in love with the Kaffe stripes on Wanda's blog and have just clicked on Jackie's link - wow! Fantastic! I've found a site based in Orleans which sells them so the postage isn't too bad.

Your hand dyes/solids are such wonderful colours. I agree with Sharon. Since moving back to the sun your colour choice has changed.

A huge woohoo about the book. Is it going to be published this year?

LeanneKahn said...

Congrats on the submission, Tonya!

You have a lot of nerve complaining about the weather....

We're all together again, sans luggage...

By the way, your fabric colors ARE gorgeous. Makes me want to quilt!

Jewel said...

I just wanted to say I got my LQ II book toady and I saw your quilt. How exciting to be featured in Gwen Marsten's book. CoOngrats!

SubeeSews said...

I have my copy of Liberated Quiltmaking 2 in my hot little hands. And I scanned through the book quickly to find your quilt. Beautiful!
I cannot wait to get your book! Please keep us all informed.
I love your kitty stories. I have 5 kitties that "help" with my quiltmaking.
XOXOXO Subee

Cheryl Arkison said...

Congratulations!
When it comes to promo time I have a wonderful quilt in my head, inspired by you. I hope to make it by the end of the year.

Cher said...

a huge woohoo! on getting your book into the mail..I am sure it felt like it took forever to get to this moment. Fabulous yummy hand dyes..I may have to do a bit of shopping myself..nice to know they hand quilt nicely. enjoy watching tv and quilting-a tough assignment but I know you can handle it.

Chris Daly said...

I'm really looking forward to your book. How exciting!!!

Thanks so much for the write up. I hope you have lots of time to create soon!