Oh my goodness! It's July already. What happened to June? And what happened to the first half of the year? I suppose the old adage about how life passes quickly when you're having fun is true. I can tell you what I've been doing -- quilting, a lot! Indeed, that is what I love to do for fun. 

Above is a photo of the quilt top my friend Judy Steward made from six wedding dresses. It depicts the double wedding ring quilt I wrote about in my new novel, The Wedding Dress Quilt. The photo was taken before I hand quilted it which I completed last night. Once the lace has been added and the binding I'll post another photo. 

Next month, on August 25th my book comes out, and then life will get a bit crazy. I've set up a half dozen programs at guilds, quilt shops, a library, and private events to share my book with readers. I'm both excited and nervous! I wrote the first draft of the story five years ago. It was a simple short story with none of the twists and turns that the story contains today. A friend read that short story and suggested that I expand it into a novel. I couldn't imagine what else I could say that hadn't already been said. Even so, I gave it a shot and before I knew it I had the beginnings of a novel. 

For several years I played with it until I thought it was worth sending to a publisher. I figured that even if it was rejected I might get some good pointers in the rejection letter on ways to improve it. That didn't happen at all. C&T Publishing accepted it and offered me a contract. I was flabbergasted. Next, they gave me numerous suggestions on changes they'd like to see, the primary one being it should be a cozy mystery. I figured, "why not?" And that's what it has become. This is not the first book I've written with a murder mystery, Call of the Whisperwind had one too and it was a doozy. It was kinda fun to write another. Just think of me as a Texas version of Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote.