I'm currently attempting to update my page, but can't remember how to do it!

I'm currently working on Book 14 of the Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mysteries and Book 2 of the Permelia O'Brien knitting mysteries....

Books not listed on this page yet are 

Book 10 - Double Wedding Death

Book 11 - Quilts Make a Family

Book 12 - The Twelve Quilts of Christmas

Book 13 - A Quilt of a Different Color

And Knitting Series

Book One - Double Knit

Upcoming Events - I will be at the AQS show in Paducah, Kentucky April 27-30, 2022

This will be my first time having a booth by myself so please stop by. I will be in the bubble in Booth 4216!

Hope to see you there - and hopefully I will wrangle this page into some sort of order before then!

Upcoming Events

I have two great bookstore events coming up in the month of August!

 Saturday August 6 at 5:30pm I will be signing my newest book - Disappearing Nine Patch - at Sunriver Books and Music in Sunriver, Oregon. This will be at the conclusion of the Meadow Mountain Quilters show at the Village. This is always a fun event with door prizes, tasty treats and lots of book talk.

Saturday August from 10:30 am - 2:30 pm I will be joining 34 fellow authors at the Northwest Author Fair at Bob's Beach Books in Lincoln City, Oregon. This is a great event with writers from many genre.

 Hope to see you at one or both of these fun events!
 

Sunriver Books Signing Event!

Come see Arlene Sachitano and her four-legged pal Navarre this Saturday, August 1st from 5:30pm to 7pm.

PO Box 1990
Sunriver Village Building 25C
Sunriver, OR 97707

541-593-2525
FAX 541-593-2526

sunriverbooks@sunriverbooks.com

June 11 Mini Yarn Crawl

Join myself and Cordelia's Knitters on our own mini yarn crawl Thursday June 11. We have a charter bus leaving Latimer Quilt and Textile at 9am. Every one is welcome. Cost is $27.50...call Latimer to sign up (503) 842-8622
Happy Knits and Knitting Bee are offering 15% discount on our purchases, and Free pattern
Twisted is offering 20% discount for our purchases with a Free Twisted Baggu Bag with purchases over $10 & a coupon for future purchase

Bring a lunch or join us at Sweet Tomatoes...

Check out this delicious meal from Sweet Tomatoes Buffet ...

May 2015

My newest book, Crazy as a Quilt is now available for purchase in both printed and ebook format. You can order from Amazon or barnesandnoble.com or any bookstore can order it for you. 
As some of you know, I make the quilt that surrounds the edge of my book covers. The crazy quilt was my hardest challenge yet! More on that later.

Zumaya Publications Treasure Hunt

Welcome to the 2012 Zumaya Trivia Scavenger Hunt. We had so much fun last year with a smaller version in conjunction with a chat we decided to expand it, gather some terrific prizes and give lots of people a chance to win them by running the event through the month of September.

         A number of our authors have donated those prizes, and they are all related somehow to their books. How they’re related, we aren’t going to tell, beyond maybe a hint or two. We don’t want to give away all our secrets.

         The way the contest works is that a group of Zumaya authors are hosting a collection of links on their blogs. There will be a question about themselves or their books, and a link to where you can find the answer. Visit all the blogs, collect the answers to all the questions, then go here [https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M7C7DFG], and complete the contest form.

         Now, a contest wouldn’t be any fun if it was too easy, so we’ve added some book and author-related trivia questions just to challenge you. Take your time—the Zumaya Trivia Scavenger Hunt will run through the entire month of September. You can see photos of some of the great prizes we’re giving away at http://pinterest.com/ekburton/what-do-these-have-in-common/ and http://on.fb.me/RAZ0e9. Who knows—there might even be a few books and ebooks tossed into the mix before we’re done. We’ll definitely be giving away at least one ereader, but we’re waiting for all the new models to come out before we pick those.

         There will also be daily and weekly trivia contests, so keep an eye on Twitter and the Zumaya page on Facebook, or visit our company blog Zumaya Tales at http://zumayatales.wordpress.com/.  If you haven’t liked the Zumaya page on Facebook, now would be a good time. We’ll also have a chat at Coffee Time Romance and more on 4 September to launch, and a couple of hangouts on Google+ over the next four weeks.

         There is, of course, no purchase required, and your private information will remain between you and Zumaya. Unless we’re authorized to do otherwise, it will all be deleted when the contest ends. While we’d love it if you sampled our wares, our goal with this contest is to get to know as many people as we can, and to let them get to know us. So, welcome and have fun!

There are prizes to be won, and the way to win them is easy. At the bottom of this post is a list of Zumaya authors. On each of their websites you’ll find the answer to a question. Collect lthe answers to those questions, then go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M7C7DFG and fill in the answers. There are some regular, book-related trivia questions, too—we wouldn’t want it to be too easy.

There will also be daily and weekly trivia contests, so keep an eye on Twitter and the Zumaya page on Facebook, or visit our company blog Zumaya Tales at http://zumayatales.wordpress.com/.

My question is: What activity do all the women in my books participate in? The answer will be obvious if you take a look at all my book covers on the right hand side of this blog.

The links to my fellow Zumaya authors websites and blogs are in the post before this one.

Have fun and good luck!

Arlene

Zumaya Treasure Hunt

Cindy Lynn Speer	Rachel Green	Kim Baccellia	Rie Sheridan Rose
Mike DiCerto	Linda Andrews	Arlene Sachitano	Gloria Oliver
Alana Lorens	Wendy Dager	Mark Roberts	Christine Marciniak

InLinkz.com

At Long Last Blog

It turns out I'm not a very prolific blogger! Yet. . . It has been a busy year. My newest Harriet Truman/Loose Threads mystery came out in February and I jumped right into promoting it starting in January (I know! I did several shows before it was actually delivered).
In addition to the usual shows in Oregon and Washington, I went to the Arizona Quilt Guild Show in Mesa. Words can't describe how nice it was to be in eighty degree Arizona instead of forty-degrees-and-raining Oregon in early March.
The show was lovely and my books were well received. I was in the Craftsman's Touch book booth with Jack and Linne Lindquist which was very fun. 


In April I went to Paducah, Kentucky for the American Quilter Society show. It was as wonderful as I'd always imagined. I met a lot of friendly quilters and once again had fun with Jack and Linne. My own husband, Jack was able to come with me and he enjoyed driving to the Corvette Museum a few hours drive away. 


The show season has slowed, so now I'm fast at work on Book Six of Harriet's adventures.
My publisher (Zumaya Publications) is busy working on a web page scavenger hunt - I'll have more information on that soon. I can tell you that I'm busy making kitchen quilts (pot holders) that will be part of the prize package. Stay tuned . . . .
 

New Book

My new book came out last month and I've been racing around promoting it ever since. With each new book comes the cover question. For Quilt As Desired, everyone asked if the beautiful Victorian house on the cover was mine, and if not they want to know where it is. For Quilt by Association, everyone wants to know if it is my dog. If it's not my dog, they want to know who owns the dog. I'll let you all in on a secret - I don't do my own covers. . . I fill out a form that tells what the main themes are in my book and what the people in the book look like and then I'm as surprised as everyone else when I see the beautiful image April Martinez creates for my books. I'm just guessing but I'll bet the dog isn't hers either - she has a cat. . .

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! The quilters of Foggy Point are busy finishing up their last minute quilted gifts, and although their latest adventure kept me from making a lot of homemade gifts, I did finish my final project last night.
I'm anxiously waiting for Quilt by Association and looking forward to my upcoming events.
My first signing of the new year will be Jan 14 & 15 at the Pine Needle in Lake Oswego, OR. They always have great teachers and designers at their Winterfest so it's fun to join them - and I always find some new fabric or book I can't live without.
At the end of January I'll be going to the Oregon Garden Quilt Show in Silverton. It is always a great show and I hope to see everyone there!

Another Book - Almost Finished

 Where has the time gone? I had hoped to have my fourth quilting mystery novel in the bag before I left for the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October, but alas it was not to be. The nearly finished novel became a completely written one thanks to a lot of night writing at my desk at the Hilton Hotel. It is nearly finished with the editing process and should be fast tracked to come out in December! Hooray. . . 
 Festival was magnificent as usual. Market was productive - I met lots of nice quilt store owners and other quilting professionals and hope to develop ongoing relationships with all of them. 
I'll let you all know as soon as my new books is out - the title, by the way is Quilt By Association . . . .

Summer's Here!

I've been away from blogging for a while, but I'm back!
I hope everyone has been quilting up a storm. . . I'm not getting much quilting done as I'm in the thick of writing on my fourth quilting novel, Quilt By Association and my second Harley Spring mystery, Widowmaker has recently been released. As if that weren't enough, Zumaya Publications and the stable of authors (that includes me) are guest hosting at www.coffeetimeromance.com for the month of July - this is not just for romance readers! If you want to meet and natter with Zumaya authors, check it out! Also - as a part of our celebration, we are posting a round robin story at wordpress.com . Yours truly is about to post her first entry into the story. If you want to see how cozy quilt ladies fit in with the more hard-boiled crowd - check us out!

 

This Litigious World We Live In

Okay, this post has nothing to do with writing, quilts or knitting - but . . . when I came back to Portland (from Tillamook) today, I turned the television on and a commercial was telling me that I might qualify as a claimant in a class action suit that has been brought against a long list of lawn mower manufacturers for overstating the horsepower of their mowers. . . Honda for example had to pay $7.5 MILLION dollars while denying any wrongdoing. I could get either $35 or $75 depending on my mower. Now I ask you, is the average person mowing their lawn injured to the point of deserving a cash settlement just because their mower has slightly less HP than stated? Is this the best use of all these peoples time? Multi-millions of dollars because of lawn mowers? It is clearly stated all over the claim that this is in no way a safety issue. . . 
I'm thinking of how much more good that money would do if we applied it to health care, or hunger or jobs. . . but lawn mowers? ARGHHH. . . .
Here is the link to the settlement

Cats Cats Cats . . .

I learned last week of the passing of my friend Suby's cat Sampson. 
I know many people have had cats pass from their lives, but Sampson was special. He was so special, our vet sent Suby flowers and a hand written note of condolence. He noted that Sampson was the oldest cat he'd ever treated! This cat was 23 years old (I'm not sure when his birthday was, so he may have even reached 24!). I was amazed, so I looked up feline longevity on Google and discovered that cats can actually live into the low 30's! If they are mostly indoor cats. . . I had no idea.
On the home feline front, my own dear cat, Lydia, has decided that on the days my granddaughter comes to our house, she needs to be the nursemaid. She sits within a few feet of the toddler at all times, which means she gets patted and pulled on and has her tail run over by the toy stroller at least twice per day.She's generally exhausted by Tuesday nights. 
I just finished reading Mary Stanton's new Beaufort and Company book - Avenging Angels. It is the third in the series and a good read. If you like a mystery with an unusual premise, these are for you. The main character finds herself defending the souls of the dearly departed in the Celestial Court system and at the same time, running a normal law practice. 
As I said, a clever premise.

Tillamook Times

It was nice to get back to Tillamook and the Cordelia's Knitters this week. The group has been busy knitting hats, socks, scarves etc. Latimer Quilt and Textile Center got more new yarn in while I was gone. The long awaited Malabrigo Yarn order arrived while I was in Texas. I can hardly wait to see what the knitters create with that. The group helped pick out some Mountain Colors yarn while I was gone also, so now we're waiting for that. 
On the book front, I sent in my galley corrections for the long awaited sequel to Chip and Die - The Widowmaker.  I'll let you all know when it's available to order. 
Lydia and I finished listening to The Collectors by David  Baldacci this trip. She gave it two claws up for being long and having a male reader with a deep voice. I enjoyed the fact that the crime solving quartet were older than thirty. . . and the fact that Lydia liked it enough to listen. . . 

Clark County Guild Show

It has been a fast and furious return to Portland for me. After one day of laundry, appointments etc,
I spent three days selling books at the Clark County Quilt Guild Show. It is a great show with very competitive quilts and a good selection of vendors. 
As promised, here is a small update on the residents of Foggy Point - I spotted about half of the Loose Threads quilt group at the Clark County Show. I thought I saw both Mavis and Jenny buying fat quarters of dog print fabrics. I'm not sure what they plan on doing with them, but I thought it was significant that both were buying the same type print. 
I hope everyone had a great Easter and I'll have more updates soon.

Home Again, Home Again

My Texas trip finished on a high note all the way around. My last stop in the Dallas area was at The Old Craft Store  in Carrollton, where I met with the store book club. The group was very enthusiastic and the store was very charming, housing not only the quilt store but also an old style post office. 
Beth and I then headed home to College Station where my four nephews were putting on a 60th birthday party for their dad. We got home just in time for the festivities and a good time was had by all. If you have read my latest book Quilt As You Go you will have met pastor Mike Hafer. What you probably don't know, is that he is a real person, a real pastor and my brother-in-law Hank's cousin. 
Well, Mike was at the party, and Beth spilled the beans and told Mike that not only was he in my book, but that I'd made him a Methodist. That would be great except for the fact that Mike is actually the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in College Station. Fortunately Mike was a good sport and reminded us that we are all God's children no matter if we are Methodist or Lutheran. 
Monday, Grandma Bohne surprised us with a lemon meringue pie for dinner - my personal favorite - which was a perfect end for my visit. 
Tuesday I had a late flight, so I went with Beth to her stitching group followed by lunch with the group and a quick stop at the local quilt store. I finished the near 80 degree and sunny day by flying for hours to 41 degrees and raining Portland - Home Sweet Home - once again. . .

Two More Down, One to Go

Yesterday we went a new quilt shop in Arlington Texas, which is owned by our old friends Pam Pape and Kelly Millett - formerly affiliated with a different shop we had visited in the past. Magnolia Quiltworks is a light and airy shop with lots of fabric, including some frog print fabric I couldn't live without. The shop also has a book club which was great! I talked to the group and signed books and had an all around good time. They also win the prize for having the most comfortable chair at my signing table of any place I've ever been. 
If you are ever in Arlington, Texas - check them out. 
Today we signed books at Common Threads Quilt store in Waxahachie. I took a picture I will post when I get home. All you Civil War reproduction fans who don't live within driving distance should be jealous - They have the biggest and best collection of Civil War fabrics I've ever encountered. If you use the link above to go to their website, you can check out their online store. I cannot tell a lie, I did buy more than one or two treasures there. 
Something I also saw at Common Threads were samples from a class taught by a lady who brings her own patterns and samples. They are adorable quilt blocks that are like paperdoll dresses come to life. Each block is a child's dress complete with smocking, embroidery, and other embellishments. You can see pictures and patterns at the teachers website Kreations by Karon . She has a cute pattern that is a combination of redwork and red little girl dresses. You might like it!
Tomorrow it is on to The Old Craft Store in Carrollton, Texas. I hear they have a book club that is going to read my books!
 

Where is Joshua?

Today found Beth and I on the road again. We were headed for our bed and breakfast in Waxahachie which will be our home base for the next three days. We had planned a stop at Country Stitches Quilt Shop in Burleson, Texas but when we were still miles away from there,  Beth commented that there was a store with lots of batiks, so I got out my trusty iphone and said "Let's go find it." We determined that the shop was Batiks Galore and was located in Joshua, Texas. It didn't look too far off the beaten path so away we went. 
We couldn't help but notice that our highway became a two lane, which became a gravel road which became very rough. We drove (in Beth's Cadillac sedan) down a rutted lane, past a big wall in a field and then found that we were looping back into Joshua proper. Well, we decided we better try calling the shop. They assured us that we'd driven right past it and that we should have seen their sign which was right by the big wall (a sound barrier we later learned). We  back tracked, bouncing and jouncing as we went and turned by the big wall where there wasn't a sign, and finally found the shop. The owner explained that local hoodlums steal their sign on a regular basis. Once inside any difficulty finding the location was forgotten as we were confronted with over 2000 bolts of batik fabric as well as a wall of Bold Over Batiks and a lot of batiked panels. 
If you like batiks, I recommend going to the Batiks Galore website. 
After that delightful surprise we went on to Country Stitches Quilt Shop in Burleson, which is always a fun place to visit. This shop has lots of reproduction fabric as well as country prints and and an assortment of other quilting delights. From there we decided to find a quilt shop in Midlothian that we'd heard about. I once again got out my trusty iphone and we discovered it was  Quilts N More. I was shocked to find that they didn't carry any quilt fiction, so I left them with a review copy of my latest, Quilt As You Go and gave them some cards. Hopefully they will like it and choose to carry it in the future. 
We finally made it to our Bed and Breakfast - the Chaska House in Waxahachie where the proprietor Louis greeted us with "Welcome Home!"
More about that later . . .
 

From Giddings Texas

Today found my sister-in-law Beth and I back out on the road again, this time bound for Giddings, Texas. As near as I can tell, it is most of the way to Austin from here (College Station). We met Gerline of Gerline's Quilt Shoppe at her store and then went with her to the LaGrange Quilt Guild meeting. The speaker was informative and we also got to hear how their recent quilt show had gone. Gerline announced that I'd be signing books back at her shop, so we grabbed a quick bite at Sonic drive-in and headed there. 
Gerline was having a 25% off sale on all fabric, so loads of people came to the sale and then bought books. Beth and I enjoyed chatting with one of the quilt angels, a group of women who quilt every Monday on charity quilts that are given out to the fire department and other worthy charities.  We got to see the Angel's next charity quilt in process. It was made completely of one and a half inch squares! The corners were great and the scrappy colors vibrant. It should bring in a lot of money when they raffle it.
When the action finally slowed, Gerline's granddaughter went back to Sonic and brought us all ice cream drinks which were greatly appreciated.
Beth helped me choose fabrics that will appear in Quilt 4, if everything goes well with my plan and if Harriet is able to make the quilt. 
I also found some bird fabric to use in the nature quilt Tresa (of Quilts by Nature) and Ruth will help me make for my new laundry room in Tillamook. 
Beth and I finished the day by visiting a yarn shop one of the quilters told us about called Yarnorama. You can google them and see their pretty yarn. They have lots of local fiber. 
They also are located on a little road that turns out to be a short cut to the highway we needed, so we saved a little time going home. . . . 
After a good nights rest, tomorrow we will go on to Waxahachie.