For the Love of Quilts

Quilts have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I took them for granted as a child, but now I appreciate the beauty, the skill, and the history. One day, when I finally retire from nursing, I want to spend some of my non-writing time making quilts.

My maternal grandmother lived in a wooden farmhouse with a large porch and high-ceiling rooms. The house has since been torn down, but I can still remember the large wooden frame suspended from the ceiling in one of the bedrooms. It was a frame for quilting that could be lowered down to work on the quilt and raised back up, out of the way, as needed. I never saw it in use, but I knew what it was.

My mother would pull out some of the everyday quilts and use them to make pallets for us kids when we needed a temporary bed on the floor. She would also add one to our bed in winter to keep us warm. She was a busy teacher who usually made clothes when she had time to sew; but one summer, she cut a bunch of hexagons and pieced a quilt while supervising us at the neighborhood pool.

Years later, I had some photographs transferred to fabric and made a family picture quilt top for her and my dad for Christmas. It was my first effort at piecing. The photos were different sizes, and I had to make it up as I went. Mom hired someone to quilt it, and it hangs over a display frame in her den.

I love antique sewing machines, too. When Mom got a Bernina, she gave me her old Singer. (It looks a lot like this stock image, except it's electric.) The cover for it has dry-rotted and can no longer be used to pick it up, but the machine still sews.

I joined a Facebook group of quilters in anticipation of eventually taking up the hobby. I love to see the beautiful quilts they post. The traditional patterns revive treasured memories, but I also love the gorgeous modern patterns.

The National Museum of American History has a National Quilt Collection that you can view online. It features quilts back to the 1700s. Some of them look plain until you click to expand the picture. Wow.

Do you quilt? Do you love them like I do? 

I'd love to hear your stories and your memories!

###

Would you like a free book?

What’s worse than being a mail-order bride without a groom?

Marrying the only man in town who doesn’t want a wife.

Get 'Bride for Sale' FREE when you subscribe to my newsletter! Just click the link and follow the directions.

This book has been approved for most audiences. It contains some mild cowboy cursing and a kiss or two.

*'Bride for Sale' is a newsletter exclusive and is not available from retailers.

Thank for visiting!

Comfort of a Quilt

by Shanna Hatfield

On cold, snowy days like we've had here recently, there is nothing I like better than snuggling beneath a quilt by the fire and reading a good book.

There is something comforting, not just in being tucked away from the blustery storm outside, but also in being wrapped in something made with such love.

Both of my grandmothers made quilts, although my Granny was the one who truly loved to quilt. Many times I went to her house and played beneath a quilt set up on a frame in the middle of the living room while Mom and Granny worked on quilting beautiful stitches.

My mom also made several quilts over the years. With a house full of busy, active family, though, it made it hard to have a quilt frame stretched across a room while she made the tiny, even stitches that I absolutely cannot duplicate no matter how much I try.

But I do love quilts. In fact, I'm the happy owner of quite a few.

This wedding ring quilt was a wedding gift we received from friends of my mother-in-law. 

This beauty Captain Cavedweller’s Grandma Nell made for us one year for Christmas. She knew how I love roses so.

Especially pink roses. The stitching on this is incredible and I treasure it even more since his Grandma is no longer with us.

Granny made this quilt for me when I was a little girl. It graced my little twin-sized bed in my very pink bedroom for years and years. The pattern is Parasol Lady.

My Grandma Elsie started this Tulip Basket quilt for my mom back when she was in high school. Mom told Grandma she didn’t like the colors, so Grandma never finished the quilt. One day we were at Grandma’s helping her clean and found a bag with the quilt blocks. Grandma gave them to me, so Mom put the top together and quilted it. When she get all done, she couldn’t remember why she thought it was ugly in the first place.

The blocks for this quilt came from CC’s Grandma Nell. Her mother made the squares goodness only knows when but it had to be a long time ago. No one ever finished the quilt. She gave them to me and when we needed one more block to make the quilt work, Mom did the one with the pink rose (pictured top left of the above photo). Mom sewed the top, then did all the quilting.  I should mention that Mom and both of my grandmas did their quilting by hand. No fancy machines for them. 

This is a quilt my beloved auntie gave me that her mother-in-law made. Love the vintage fabrics and colors in this one.

My auntie also gave me this one her mother-in-law made. Classic Wedding Ring, it again has great vintage fabrics and blends of bright colors on a creamy white background.

This is the quilt my Granny made for our wedding. She let me pick the pattern and the colors then she and my mom pieced and quilted it.

There was a lot of piecing and a lot of quilting and a lot of love that went into this Rose of Sharon variation quilt.

When I decided to join ten other authors for a project that centered around quilts, I knew immediately this was the quilt I wanted to use on the book cover and the pattern I would include in my story.

If you have a love of quilts and sweet romance, be sure to check out Grandma's Wedding Quilts. The stories span several decades and cover eleven cousins, all of whom receive a special quilt from their Grandma Mary.

 My contribution to the series is Tad's Treasure (Book 12). It releases Jan. 20, but you can pre-order it now for only 99 cents! http://a.co/2b97MgE

Tad's Treasure is also the prequel to the Baker City Brides series, so if you've enjoyed those stories, you'll want to be sure to read this sweet novella. 

  He never intended to fall in love with her

     Tad Palmer makes a promise to his dying friend to watch over the man’s wife and child. Years later, he continues to keep an eye on Posey Jacobs and her precocious little boy. The only problem is that he’s not sure his heart can withstand the vow he made when he falls in love with the widow and her son.
     Posey Jacobs misses her beloved husband, but her wrenching grief has given way to hope for the future as she finds herself falling deeper and deeper in love with Tad Palmer. However, the infuriating man doesn’t seem to notice her interest and treats her as he would his sister.
     Throw in a goat who thinks she’s a dog, a town full of quirky characters, and this widow has her work cut out for her if she wants one handsome cowboy to give her his heart.

Also, be sure to read The Prequel. That's my octogenarian mom on the cover. http://a.co/fbaF6UC

Be sure to join us today for a Facebook party. Each author will give away prizes and you can find out more about the project! https://www.facebook.com/events/389526298059972

The party runs from 3-6 p.m. (Mountain Time - 2-5 p.m. PT, 4-7 p.m. CT, 5-8 p.m. ET).

***

USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes character-driven romances with relatable heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

Convinced everyone deserves a happy ending, this hopeless romantic is out to make it happen, one story at a time. When she isn’t writing or indulging in chocolate (dark and decadent, please), Shanna hangs out with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Find Shanna’s books at:

Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple | Audible

       Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:

ShannaHatfield | Facebook | Newsletter | Pinterest | Goodreads | You Tube | Twitter

Quilt Blocks & Book Plots

Wow! My day already and I am up to my eyeballs busy putting together quilts to be tied for my church's humanitarian aid project. 

So, today I am going to reshare with you a quilting blog I published on my own Zina Abbott Books blog about a year ago. It ties in nicely with not only what I am doing now, but with my Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series:

Design for Sophie Ann's Quilt

 [Back when] I finished my third novella in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, I thought this was my all-time hardest story to write. It took me far longer to finish than I had hoped or anticipated. One reason was because life happens. But, the other reasons are far more subtle. They can probably best be described by comparing my writing to my quilting experiences.

This third book titled Her Independent Spirit starts with Beth Dodd giving a quilt she made to Sophie Ann, the two week old daughter of a prostitute whom Beth helped deliver. We first read about this quilt in the second book, A Resurrected Spirit.

Unlike some of the artistic quilt masterpieces we see today, this quilt was made from white flannel that Beth had originally bought to sew into a new nightgown, red flannel from some of her late husband's long-handle underwear, and blue and white striped cotton from one of her late husband's shirts that had been torn and stained. It was far from being a work of art. But stitched together neatly, it was serviceable. 

Primarily Blue

 Sometimes putting together story plots reminds me of what it is like trying to design and assemble a patchwork quilt top. 

I can keep it simple and serviceable. But, to be pleasing to the eye, it is necessary to have a good blend of color, dark, medium and light shades, compatible fabric design and piece shapes. It is also important that the fabric chosen be compatible with the overall theme of the quilt.

Some like Primarily Blue made mostly of the primary colors on the color wheel have a basic, straightforward plot.

Nascar Spin

   
Fortunately for me, my first quilt with three basic colors turned out quite well in spite of my combining all cotton and cotton-polyester blend fabrics--a big no-no in the quilting world. The colors and designs balanced well. Likewise, my first completed novel turned out well even though it was not my most skillfully crafted writing effort.

Rock Star

Pugs In a Garden

Other quilt tops have a plethora of colors from all over the pallette. Some block pieces are bold and eye-catching and others are muted and restful to the eye.

I love writing parallel or entwined novel plots, sort of like the climbing rows of bold alternating orange and blue-green blocks in Rock Star. 

But, just like colorful quilts such as Rock Star require a lot of balance of all elements of the quilt design, it takes skill and often a lot of rewrites to piece entwining plots together so that the overall story moves forward smoothly. That was my challenge in writing Her Independent Spirit.

Some novel plots like Pugs In a Garden are soft and sweet. They provide a relaxing read, a get-away break for a few hours. I picked this floral fabric up in another quilter's yard sale. The design and color pallet was 10-15 years old--old-fashioned in the world of quilting fabric--but it suited my sister to a tee, so I snatched it up. Soft and sweet in an old-fashioned way is one reason many readers snatch up the historical romances we write.

Other quilts are gripping, intense and, like my veteran's quilt, Gung-Ho!, keep your mind moving hours after the reader has finished the book.

Gung-Ho!

If I'm not careful, I can find that my writing gets too chopped up, or too dark like this star-studded black sashing. To add balance and to lighten up this veteran's quilt, I added the red binding to draw out the red in the scrappy strip blocks. 

In my writing I find I sometimes have to change elements of my story or surround it with a coordinating, but uplifting theme, to add balance and not allow it to sink into darkness or distraction.

Like the colors in these scrappy blocks, it is important to keep them from becoming too choppy. Although each block is unique, there is balance. I did this by scattering the lesser colors of orange and white throughout the entire design. Same with parallel or entwined plot lines.

There is also the issue of being cautious about research sources in order to keep plots believable. The themed fabric to the left was purchased online. In the online images, the primary sea color appeared to be more turquoise than aqua, and the main design appeared to be more vibrant and well-defined. The actual fabric I received appeared much greener and washed out when sewn into the quilt.

That is why I try to balance my online browsing with other forms of research. Just as the color strips separating the blocks ended up providing the most vibrant, eye-catching color in this quilt, so can the book research and onsite locality research make the difference between my writing being ho-hum okay or a more accurate, believable story to be remembered long after the reader reaches "The End."

Floral Medley

Sometimes, in spite of my best efforts to blend compatible colors, balance the contrast of lights and darks and have a good mix of small, medium and large coordinating fabric designs, once it is all put together, I just don't like the overall effect. 

This floral large block quilt I intended from the start to donate to charity had all my favorite colors in it. But, when I was finished, I sincerely hoped whoever received it liked it better than I do. Novel plots are like that sometimes. They start out as a good idea. But, by a couple of chapters into the work, I'd just as soon abandon the project so I can move forward writing something else that excites and pleases me.

So, what made Her Independent Spirit so time-consuming? Unlike the first two books in this series, the storyline follows two women and their romances, not just one.

Beth, still engaged to Val, pursues her goal of getting her own house on her own land so she has a place to which she can bring her sister who is still back east. To do that she must get her late husband's estate settled and navigate the land laws and legal issues that applied to women in her day.

At the same time, Louisa Parmley, known at the Blue Feather as Lulu, decides to leave the brothel and start a new life for her and her baby, but needs Beth's help to do so. Both women realize as long as Louisa lives in the mining regions of the West, she will always be at risk of encountering people who recognize her and know her past. Louisa agrees with Beth that her best option for a decent life for her and her baby is to move back east and settle in a new city. She plans to travel with Beth when Beth goes for her sister. 

Noah's Arky-Arky

 But, a complication arises neither anticipated at the beginning. Of course, it involves a man. What man, you ask? To find out, you will just have to read the book and piece it together yourself.

Writing Her Independent Spirit was like designing this Noah's Arky-Arky quilt.

I started with the main blocks and several color coordinating fabrics that set off the colors in the blocks beautifully. Unfortunately, most of the patterns were just not right for a baby quilt. I needed fabrics that would complement each color in the main design AND each of the little animals in the two repeating baby themed blocks. And, bright colors for a baby quilt? Yes. A lot of dark colors like navy and maroon? No.

In the novella Her Independent Spirit, the time frame starts in mid-April, touches on the the Independence Day holiday, and includes an actual event that took place in Lundy on August 21, 1884, an event that changes the course of both Beth's and Louisa's plans.

For the quilt, some of the fabrics I considered had designs that were too large or contained colors that were garish enough that they detracted from the Noah's Ark blocks in the quilt. 

Likewise, in Her Independent Spirit I couldn't afford to have a lot of extra fluff that did not move the plot forward through the months of April to September. In both cases, I had to stay focused. That meant, like a quilt top, I cut out the pieces, stitched them together, ripped them back out, shopped around for something that worked better and tried again. More than once.

For both this quilt and this book I felt forced to design each element connecting one section to the next scene only after I finished the one before. I could not picture the overall effect in advance.

For the quilt, it took me two trips to the fabric store and three fabric purchases just to come up with the right fabric design and the right shade of light blue with polka-dots for the outside latticework. For the plot, once I got the primary scenes written, I had to review my research, plus write and rewrite in order to connect each scene to the next and and keep the events in the proper order--calendar-wise and development of relationships-wise--so the action flowed.

Archie - R.I.P. - We miss you.

Was it worth it? Yes. In spite of the extra time, aggravation and effort, I love how Noah's Arky-Arky turned out. 

Likewise, I'm pleased with the end result of Her Independent Spirit. It is almost ten thousand words longer than each of the first two novellas in the series. But, I was finally able to put it to bed as a story I enjoyed telling. To me, it was worth the effort.

My publishers agreed. I have since had published the fourth book in the series, Haunted by Love, and the fifth book should be published within the next few months. Now that they are all available on Kindle Unlimited, I suggest you read them all in order, starting with Big Meadows Valentine.

Have a great day and keep piecing together those plots!