Beth Ferrier’s Blog

Thanks for all the great comments, especially for those of you who were honest enough to admit that applique is not easy to love. There was a time when I would have agreed with you. A lot of applique techniques are just miserably fiddly, exacting and stressful. Not my idea of fun, for sure, and that’s why I developed a new approach to applique. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Our winners are: Kathy, Mindy and Lorraine. I’ve already emailed you, asking for your mailing addresses. Your copy of the magazine will go out as soon as your address comes in!

Speaking of coming in, look what arrived yesterday!

The first box of books has arrived! I’ve been just giddy, knowing that the book I’ve been working on since August of 08 is done and here. It’s been a big project, huge, and pretty much a joy all the way through. The wonderful folks at C&T have been patient, and kind and helpful. Never once did I have to worry that the editors would strip away my silly style of writing.

So, for those of you who have already placed an order (and boy do I love you for it!), the books will begin to ship next week. We are still waiting for the shipment of Wash Away Applique Sheets, it will arrive toward the end of next week, so give us a little more time to get those orders out.

For those of you who have been thinking about ordering, we’re now ready to take Pay Pal orders. Or, ask for it at your local shop.

I’m so excited about all the new techniques in this book. I’ve always known that there is so much more that we could do with the basic “Hand Applique by Machine” process. This new book not only covers the basics but takes us forward with fresh ideas on thread and fabric and stitches. Oh, my!

It’s almost here. After a year of working and waiting and more working and more waiting, the new book is almost here.

Isn’t it beautiful? I think so too!

For those who are new to the  Hand Applique by Machine process we’ve included the basics. But it’s the new stuff, all the possiblities of the technique that I always knew were there, that’s what I’m most excited to share.

How about adding trapunto to our applique? It’s in there. What about decorating our applique with those fancy stitches on our machines that we never use? It’s in there! How about bobbinworking embellishment our designs? It’s in there too!

Even though I was wary in the beginning, I have loved the process of working with a publisher. I’ve gone from being the boss of everything to being part of a great team. The book design is exactly what I’ve always wanted and could never quite achieve on my own. The editors have asked all the right questions, helping me to write the clearest, easiest to follow directions. And the photography is spectacular.

But Wait! There’s More!

We’ve found the most amazing stuff. This paper acts like water soluble freezer paper! It irons on, just like freezer paper, but instead of wrestling it back out of the project this stuff just washes away! I know!

I’ve been asking for this stuff for years. And now it’s here! I’ve been using it in it’s orginial form for a couple of years, and all I can says is, I’ll never use freezer paper again!

We’re set up to take early orders for the book on my website (click here), we’ll add the paper site tonight. We don’t have an exact delivery date just yet, so we’ve set up a system that will take credit card numbers without automatically charging them. (We will add PayPal when we know the books are on the way.) Our best estimate for delivery is by early December. You better bet you’ll hear when the books are on the way!

Where have I been? Um, here. Sitting quietly mostly, thinking. On the rare days when the sun is out you can find me working in the garden. Otherwise, it’s just puttering around the house.

I must admit to a new addiction. Kent gave me an MP3 player last Christmas, which I pretty much ignored until about a month ago. It started out slowly, as these things do. First it was podcasts. Talk of quilters, knitters and food filled my ears while I folded laundry or pulled weeds.

And then, an audio book. My daughter in law suggested the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series, so I downloaded the first book. Downloaded the entire book in just a few minutes. Practically instantly, right there on my computer. Oh, my, this is almost as good as my own private book mobile! I can “read” and do chores all at the same time! No more guilt about ignoring my responsiblities while my nose is stuck in a book.

Next it was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I read it when it first came out a million years ago, and introduced it to my boys when they became teenagers. To say that they loved it would be an understatement. So, with a quick teaching trip to Chicago on the calendar I downloaded book one and two in the series. I felt that I really needed to be reminded what all the fuss was about. It was a lovely distraction when the fellow next me reeked of alcohol (and consumed two more mixed drinks on the 45 minute flight) and spearment gum (as if that would cover the smell of booze).

After that is was Atlas Shrugged, all sixty-three hours! Ayn Rand’s book has been one of my lifetime favorites. I was introduced to her in high school. I read Atlas Shrugged again in my mid thirties. Considering all that is going on in this country right now, I’ve been needing a dose of self-determination.

Somewhere in the middle of Atlas Shrugged it became clear that instead of listening while working I was looking for work that would let me listen. My garden has never looked better.

And then I listened to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Absolutely charming and delightful book. Hard to imagine that a story about the German occupation of the Channel islands during WWII could be described so frivolously, but it was so lovingly told. Highly recommended!

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See is up next. I read her first two books, Snowflower and the Secret fan, and Peony in Love and thoroughly loved them.

I’ve learned that if I fall asleep listening my dreams tend to have a narrator. I find that I feel a little sad when I finish listening because there is nothing to put on the bookshelf. I’ve learned that I shouldn’t listen to a book read with an obvious accent on the way to a teaching gig. The Sookie book reader had a beautiful southern lilt, which took me three days to get out of my voice.

So, that’s where I’ve been, to Louisiana, the end of the Universe, New York and Colorado, Guernsey and next to Japan. There was also that little detour to Trenton, NJ to keep up with Stephanie Plum, but that was a real book. What a busy summer vacation!

It started innocently enough, as these things do. I found myself at our tiny local airport facing a day of travel with no book. With just one tiny little gift shop as my only source I looked hopefully over the rack of paperbacks. My rule for reading on the road is simple, happy and light in, meaty and deeper out. Books tend to stay with me and it just wouldn’t do for me to arrive at class still engrossed in someone else’s story.

Most of the best sellers before me were crime novels, how depressing. But there, between John Grisham and James Patterson sat this small book, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Hey, it’s for kids, right? A quick read, and not too challenging, topic wise, how perfect. I’m a big softie, I don’t do spooky or gruesome, but this book was written for teens, even I should be able to handle that.

Well, what can I say? I loved it. Always feeling like an outsider myself, I felt a kinship with Bella immediately. Between flights and layovers (and a nap on the second flight), I devored three quarters of the book before arriving in Virginia Beach.

Quilt with Me, the shop in Windsor, VA that had hired me for this trip reserved a room for me at the lovely Smithfield Inn, owned by the folks who make the hams. My room was beautiful, decadently decorated, and the bed felt like sinking into the best feather bed ever.

After a wonderful dinner with the shopowner, Jackie, and her family, I returned to my room ready to rest and more importantly, finish my book. Just as I was deep into the climax of the story, poor Bella about to be killed by the evil vampire, I heard a ruckus out in the hall.

The innkeeper was conducting a tour. Outside my door I heard her say, “and this is the Sykes Room. It’s the scary one, it’s haunted.” Her voice trailed off before I could hear any more of the story. Haunted? Vampire stories? Dark and stormy night thrashing at my window? “Oh, hell no,” I said to the room, finished the book, sank blissfully into the bed and dreamed of being young and desperately in love.

Fans of the book will love that the next morning I discovered that I would be teaching in a dance studio.

So, in the last week I have devored the remaining books in the series, book two while on retreat, book three for the travel day home. And book four because I had to get these people out of my head so that I could concentrate on the book I’m supposed to be writing.

 I guess what touched me the most about the story was that I remember so well being young and hopelessly in love. Even though it’s been decades, mostly good years, but some very hard, I still see my guy as the seventeen year old that I fell in love with. He will always be that tall, handsome, gentle young man who held me safely in his arms and taught me about unconditional love.

We’ve been working day and night to get ready for baby Alex’s first birthday party. Summer is a busy time for us in general, just trying to stave off the inevitable decline in an old house. Add in a celebration, and the push was on to gussy up the old girl (the house, not me) for the big day.

Alex was his usual precious self, a year old already. The party was fun, lots of family, lots of food and lots of laughter. You can see more pictures on Alex’s web page.

In the days since the party I’ve been regrouping in preparation for diving headlong into finishing the next applique book. I’ve made a terrible mistake in picking up a copy of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Oh my. Steamy and well told, who can write when there’s something like this to read?

I let a random number generator (what did we ever do before computers?) select the winners.

Debby wins Quilt along with Emilie Richards Endless Chain project book!

Dot in Portland wins the Lover’s Knot project book.

Lois Fisher wins the Touching Stars project book.

Ladies, please email me at beth @ applewd.com (remove the spaces, I’m trying to confound the spammers, silly me to think I can), with your snail mail addresses.

Thank you again to Emilie Richards for the opportunity to offer these books to you. I was excited to see how many of you are also new to Emilie’s books. It doesn’t matter how successful one might be, an author can always use new fans! I truly did enjoy the book, the characters were very real and engaging. Even though I hadn’t read any of the earlier books in the series I didn’t feel as though I’d come in at the middle. I do want to find the other books in the series, though, because I just like the way Emilie tells a story.

In the meantime, the most precious grandson in the universe is about to turn one. We will be having a celebration for him here next weekend. Which means we’ve been working like crazy to get the gardens and house up to snuff. When you own an old house the work is never done. If you think of it as chores, though, it will drive you crazy. We like to consider the house as our (mostly) favorite hobby, almost a member of the family.

This spring we removed the boxwoods from the front of the house. They were too big and too close to the house. That part of the yard gets very little sunlight. It was also time to repaint the front of the house. The boys finished the job this weekend, finally it was time to replant. A trip to my favorite garden center was in order to search for shade plants.

Isn’t this lovely? A robin’s nest right there in the pots of ferns! Momma robin perched a short distance away, remarkably patient while we shopped. A chirp every now and then reminded us that she was watching.

I don’t think there is a prettier color than robin’s egg blue.

Reading has always been one of my favorite ways to unwind. Because I tend to dive in and forget the world around me. I used to feel guilty about reading when my boys were young. For however long it took for me to finish the book they would see only my eyebrows above the pages. Long simmering sauces were the meal of choice: easy to stir and read at the same time.

Kent was also not so crazy about being ignored while I devoured my books. Once, at a teacher’s conference he remarked (rather snidely, I might add) about how much I loved books. The teacher reached across the table, patted my hand and said, “good for you! What a wonderful example you’re setting for those boys!” So there!

When Emilie Richards contacted me about reviewing her newest book, Sister’s Choice, I jumped at the chance. If Kent wanted to give me guff about having my nose stuck in a book I could just say, hey, this is for work!

Now I know that Emilie Richards has written dozens of books. How could I have waited so long to read one? How did these terrific stories get past me all this time?

The latest in a series, Sister’s Choice is a tale of two sisters learning how to be grown ups together. Being the oldest of six sisters I enjoyed that the story was told mostly from the younger sister’s point of view. Like Kendra (the elder sis) in the book, I, too, was often the designated grown up in my family.

It’s a wonderful love story, stories actually. Sister love, romantic love and love of place. Oh, and did I mention there were quilts? I can’t wait to find the rest of the books in the series!

Sister’s Choice is in the book stores now. My local Barnes & Noble had them in stock. It’s also available from Amazon.

And now for some real summer time fun. Not only did Emilie send a copy of the book for me to read, she also sent three of the project books from the earlier titles to give away! And she signed them! How cool is that! They are very pretty books, lots of color and lots of quilts.

So, you have until midnight on July 4th, to leave a comment (one entry per person, please!). Tell us your favorite book, quilty or otherwise. I’ll draw the three lucky winners on Saturday morning.