Happy Holidays!

Wishing you all good reading, good writing, good quilting and an excellent year with your creative muse!

Faux Applique is in the House!

Our latest book, Faux Applique, by Helen Stubbings, is available and what perfect timing for a holiday gift! Helen's Colourque (a registered name) technique allows anyone - anyone! - to master perfect applique by using colored pencils, shading, machine quilting and textile medium. No needle turning, no raw edges, no fraying! Helen creates her show-stopping, award-winning masterpiece quilts with her sister, Tracey Browning, from their homes in Tasmania, Australia. Pick up a copy (or several) of her elegant book today from our web site: www.americanquilter.com to make your holiday gift-giving even to the non-quilters on your list complete.

Congratulations AQS Houston Winners!

Quilt Festival 2008 is now history and it was an historic show for several AQS authors! Check out these winners' books on our web site, www.Americanquilter.com and learn from some of the best!

Best of Show - Sharon Schamber, for Spirit of Mother Earth. Her books include Piece-by-Piece Machine Applique (AQS item #7073) and Piecelique: Curves the New Way (#6681). Congratulations, Sharon, and thank you for creating and sharing this stunning masterpiece!

Superior Threads Master Award for Thread Artistry - Susan Stewart, for Oriental Lace. Susan also won Third Place in Mixed Techniques for Glory Hallelujah. Magnificent achievement, Susan! Learn how Susan makes her award-winning quilts in her book, Heirloom Machine Sewing for Quilters (#7495). Congratulations, Susan! "Artistry" truly is the word to describe your work.

The great team of Sue Nickels and Pat Holly won Second Place, Mixed Techniques for Tea at Tenby, and Pat won First Place, Miniature Quilts for Himalayan Garden. Outstanding accomplishments, Pat! Sue and Holly teamed up for Stitched Raw Edge Applique (#6897). Sue's other AQS books include Machine Applique: A Sampler of Techniques (#5855); and Machine Quilting: A Primer of Techniques (#6299). Follow their lead to make exceptional quilts.

Rami Kim, whose first AQS book, Folded Fabric Elegance (# 7492) will soon be followed by next Spring's Quilted Elegance (#7925), won First Place, Wearable Art for Secret Garden in the Starry, Starry Night. Congratulations, Rami; your workmanship is impeccable and is justly rewarded!

First Place, Innovative Applique - Small for The Legend of Guimar went to Suzanne Marshall. Well done! Suzanne's AQS books are Take-Away Applique (#5012) and Adventure & Applique (#7600). Several of her amazing quilts are currently on display at The National Quilt Museum in Paducah. If you can, stop by to see why her work is so award-winning.

Soon-to-be AQS authors Sandra Leichner and Renae Haddadin each won a First Place prize: Sandra in Art, Whimsical for Poppy Soliloquy, and Renae in Computer-aided Machine Embroidery for Beauty from Within. Congratulations, ladies. We look forward to having you join this impressive list of award-winning AQS authors!

And talk about impressive -- from Best of Show to hand applique, machine applique, machine embroidery to computer-aided machine quilting and from miniatures to large quilts, these AQS authors truly cover the world of quilting with their creativity and artistry. It's an honor and a pleasure to work with each and every one of you!

Three New Books Are Available!

It's always a great day when a new book comes back from the printer, so imagine how grand it is to have three new releases at once! Get your reading glasses on:

Beyond the Block by the Crafty Ol' Broads (wonderfully fun sisters Linda K. Johnson and Jane K. Wells) lets you let go of block "block." Instead of being trapped by size restrictions or shape limitations, the C.O.B.s show you how to improvise in a controlled way. The results are wild, colorful yet still traditional. Show your flair for color and thinking "outside the block" with this bright, inspiring book.

If you love beads but hate hand work, All Beaded Up by Machine is the book for you. Terry White, author of Thread Painting Made Easy (AQS, 2008), once again shows how the sewing machine can be a terrific artistic asset. Her super simple techniques yield amazing results; no one will ever know how easy all that beading really was. A must-have for embellishment addicts.

If you spend your days in a cubicle dreaming about the quilting you'll do that night, Quilts in My Cubicle will hit the spot. Barb Holtzman, herself a cubicle dweller, has created 12 quilts that are small enough to actually finish and delightful enough to cheer up any cubicle anywhere. Smart tips and hanging suggestions round out this happy little book that will keep you stitching and have your colleagues glad you did.

Talented people work at AQS (if I may say so) and graphic designer Lynda Smith proves it with her first-ever author effort, Quilt This! Practical Patterns for Everyday Quilting. Her original designs are shown as motifs and borders and are suitable for hand quilters or those using any type of machine. No more dreaded "quilt as desired." Instead, Quilt This!

It's been a busy autumn for AQS; stay tuned for three more books coming soon!

What a Great Show

Des Moines Quilt Expo was a wonderful show! Everyone raved about how beautiful ALL of the quilts were, AQS Contest Quilts and those from the Greater Des Moines Quilters Guild as well as the special exhibits from Nancy Kirk, Sandi McMillan, Judy Martin, and The National Quilt Museum.

The Iowa Events Center is a new facility, so spacious that we never had that "sardine" feeling even though attendance was tremendous. And plenty of restrooms!

My week was spent meeting authors old, new and wanna-be, and every single one was delightful. We received interesting proposals and scoured the vendors for what's hot and what will be The Next Big Thing. Too much fun to call it work!

If you can, put the Des Moines show on your calendar for next year: October 28 - 31, 2009. It's a lovely city at a beautiful time of year and now that we've been there, we know the quilts will be spectacular! Join us!

Ten Years of Magic

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bethany Reynolds' amazing Stack-N-Whack technique with her latest book, Stack-n-Whack-ipedia.

Bethany revolutionized quilting design and brought back fussy cutting when she unveiled Stack-n-Whack ten years ago. Legions of quilters have made extraordinary quilts using her technique, and now here are more lovely patterns and ways to amaze.

Whether you have tried Stack-n-Whack or not, you will love Bethany's clear, concise instructions and cutting charts. Light some candles and celebrate this milestone in quilting history with AQS's newly released anniversary edition!

Des Moines My Way?

Midwest quilters are very excited that AQS is hosting a new show in Iowa's capital city. And with good reason! Not only will there be 500 outstanding quilts to see and hundreds of vendor booths to shop and loads of great classes, but also the sights and sounds of Des Moines, one of America's best kept secrets. This metropolitan city still has a small town ambiance and the people couldn't be nicer.

If you've ever wondered what it takes to write a quilt book, stop by the Workshop Desk or Admissions Booth and ask for me, Andi Reynolds. I'll be glad to listen to your book idea or answer any questions you might have.

See you in Des Moines, and practice smiling and waving. Those Iowans are friendly folks!