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. . .