I can't believe it - it's just like a book

It's here. At least a few advanced copies. It's just exactly what I thought it would be, and then its a surprise all over again. I wrote all this? Seriously? Actually no, I wrote WAY more than this, and this is to represent the best of all I wrote. And drew. And photographed. And designed. And dreamed. And cried. And lived. For days on end, and nights alone in the dark in the studio with a quilt on my lap, a plate of something encouraging, and very often a beer, or two, keeping me company until 3 or 4 in the morning, until I started the countdown of hours till the feet would be stomping all over the house, and called it a night. Or a morning. The two or three hours of sleep left to me after a night of writing and rewriting, were never enough to warm my icy right hand that had to stay out of the warmth of the blanket, extended out on the desk and clicking on the mouse. My computer table is against an outer wall and above the garage which is not particularly well insulated, so its a risk to work late in the winter.

But today, the warm Autumn sun is rushing itself through all the studio windows making a sunny comfortable place for this little project of mine. So I sit and I flip and I flip again and again. And I'm terrified and thrilled that so many of you will do the same. And I hope that you know that through many of the struggles with this book, I thought of the collective you. I thought of how if I could just sit you down here and we could make all this stuff together over stories and shared experiences, then the risk wouldn't feel so great. It would feel like just having you here for a sewing day and so much more. And in the end, that's what I feel like this book became. Something I made for and with you and something that I hope warms at least your hearts when you take on any of its projects knowing that all of it is inspired by my desire to share. And to celebrate. And to teach. And to care for this gift that was given to me by the all the talented women in my family. Thank you for all the encouragement that you leave here for me everyday. Its proved to be a soft handknit glove that kept my little hand warm and clicking away.

All emotion aside (as if that's possible), what are you doing between now and November 14th? Well you could be entering your chance to win a sewing machine, the book, fabric, thread and so on! My publisher has set up a landing page for the book here, and it includes a gianormous sweepstakes thanks to Wiley Publishing, Singer, FreeSpirit Fabrics, Coats & Clark. And you can enter once a day and you don't even have to buy the book to do so. Exciting stuff!

Wishing you the best weekend, and I'll be sitting on the floor with that stack again now.
love from here, Anna Maria