Thank you so much to all of you who commented. We’ll be doing this once a month so stay tuned.

Yes, Dee, Willie’s in the book, thanks for asking!

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

First up is a copy of my new book Easy Appliqué Blocks: 50 Designs in 5 Sizes, generously provided by my publisher, That Patchwork Place.

Easy Appliqué Blocks by Kay Mackenzie

I’m just thrilled with how this book came out! There are 50 different designs, all different subjects, ranging from traditional-looking to fun and whimsical. I kept ‘ease of appliqué’ in mind for all of them! There’s also in-depth, fully illustrated instructions for two types of hand appliqué and an overview of machine appliqué. The thing that I love most is that there’s a CD included that enables you to print out the block you want in the size and orientation you want, right at home! No more blowing up or reversing of patterns.

So let me know if you’d like to win this book by leaving a comment before 7:00 p.m. California time on Friday, October 16, 2009. U.S. and Canada only, unless you’re willing to pay the shipping.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

“I am a big fan of all things Quilt Puppy! Our small quilting group in Spicewood, Texas, is making a quilt to be raffled for the Highland Lakes Animal Shelter this summer. The center square is the icon for the shelter.
I hope you will enjoy seeing that your patterns are put to good use.”

Opportunity quilt by Donna and friends

Are you kidding? I LOVE seeing my patterns put to good use. In fact, great use! I myself am a volunteer at the Santa Cruz County Animals Services shelter here in my town so I can doubly appreciate the effort that Donna and her friends have put forth to benefit the animals in their community. A round of applause!

In this quilt top I see designs from both Easy Appliqué Blocks and Home: A Heartfelt Nap Quilt (center row, either side of the shelter logo).

Thank you, Donna, for sending me the picture to share and for caring about dogs, cats, fish, mice, and all their cousins.

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Sarah spotted the Welcome Banner in the book’s ‘Little Gallery of Ideas’ section, where we provided information about the block sizes, sashing, and border dimensions in case quilters would like to make something similar. I couldn’t wait to see Sarah’s happy pineapple banner.

Happy Pineapple by Sarah Vanderburgh

She did not keep me waiting long. Soon after, Sarah sent me this picture! “Just finished putting together my banner. Thought you’d like to see it! Haven’t quilted it yet. But did almost all of it today. The CD is a great asset to your book. Your designs are simple and very inspirational. I will be using many more.

“You can see I didn’t make the middle ‘hole’ in the W,” continues Sarah. “I fussy-cut the batik from scraps and really liked how full it looks. This will hang on a closet door you see when you enter our side door. Thanks again for a great appliqué resource.”

My pleasure! Thanks for sharing your banner, and I hope it makes all your visitors feel welcome.

Sarah blogs about sewing and quilting at Sew Joy where, as she says, “Traditional patterns + Contemporary Colours = SeW JoY!”

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

The first day of the tour is Friday, March 27. Start over at All About Appliqué and I’ll send you off to the Easy Appliqué Blocks launch party! Maria Peagler is throwing the party and everyone’s invited! Loads of fun things at the party, and we’ll give away a copy of the book, so don’t miss it.

Start back at All About Appliqué every day through April 5 and I’ll shoot you through cyberspace to the next stop on the tour. We’re traveling from the southern U.S. up the east coast and across Canada to Alaska, down the west coast, and ending up our tour in the Heartland. Check out my Book-A-Round page for more information and a really cool Google map.

Each one of these quilty blogs is fantastic to visit, and there will be chances for a prize at each stop, so strap yourself in for a fantastic tour!

See you then!
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Easy Appliqué Blocks by Kay Mackenzie

I’m so proud of this gorgeous book, which features a library of easy-to-sew blocks in thumbnail format. Flip through the book, choose your design, then stick the companion CD into your computer and print it out in any one of five sizes. Plus, we give reversed versions! How cool is that! No more figuring percentages or trips to the copy shop. There are also detailed, illustrated instructions for hand and machine appliqué.

The book ships this week to your favorite quilt shop. Ask for it there! It’s also available on Amazon and from the Martingale & Company website.

Copies signed by moi are available at my website, Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs.

Yahoo!

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs.

I was in great company. My neighbor on one side was another local resident, renowned quilt artist and teacher Vicki L. Johnson, author of Paint and Patches and many articles in magazines.

Vicki knows all about painting on fabric. Here she is with her gallery of exquisite art quilts plus hand-painted fabrics, notecards, and painting supplies.

Here’s my booth with my new laptop set up to show how the CD for Easy Appliqué Blocks works. This also gives you a sneak peek of some of the projects shown in the book’s “Little Gallery of Ideas” for inspiration. (I made the Four Roses wall quilt after the book went to press.)

You can also see my Peekaboo quilt which is a stand-alone pattern, and my quilt Home: A Heartfelt Nap Quilt, which has a pattern booklet.

My neighbor on the other side was another guild member, Tracey Brookshier. That’s Tracey on the left, with a fellow designer. Have you heard of a little pattern called Bento Box? That’s Tracey’s pattern, one of the best-sellers for a long time now. You can see one peeking out on the left-hand side of the photo. Tracey has oodles of other fabulous patterns as well, and a flair for the Asian.

Sigh. Another whole year until our next show.

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

And here’s the blurb from the back:

__________________

Here’s a jam-packed block book just for appliqué lovers! Find 50 designs in traditional, modern, and whimsical styles, many with large, easy-to-stitch pieces. A bonus CD includes all the blocks in five different sizes (from 6″ to 12″) and in reverse (for fusible appliqué) for endless variety.

• Shows each design in a line drawing as well as stitched in fabric
• Includes basic instructions for hand-stitched appliqué as well as fusible appliqué

It’s a great day for appliqué!

__________________

If you’re interested in the process of thinking up a book, making a proposal, writing the book and working with the staff of a publishing house, you might be interested in my series “A journey to a book” over at All About Appliqué. Just click on that category and it’ll bring up all the posts.

The book is scheduled to ship to quilt shops March 9, 2009. Did I mention that I’m excited??

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs