Oh Scrap-Martingale Publishing

All good things must come to an end. Today is the last stop on the Oh Scrap blog hop. Martingale Publishing is place to be, so visit them here.  But before I finish my posts I want to tell you a few things about the quilting book world from the world as I see it.

The first year that Jennifer Keltner joined Meredith Publishing as Chief Visionary Officer, she invited me to dinner. We sat outside and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and she asked if I would be interested in writing a book.  I will never forget this conversation.

I went on to tell her how I was more like Jennifer Lopez in the Wedding Planner. I am comfortable working hard and working behind the scenes. I  blabbed several more sentences as I was trying to catch my breath at even the thought of such a thing. If any of you know Jennifer Keltner, then her reply will not be a surprise to you,

“Jennifer Lopez gets married at the end of the movie,
so you should do a book.”

It took me having brain surgery to realize that Jennifer Keltner was right, I could do this. Every time I was ready to throw in the towel, Jennifer would talk me through it and assure me I could do it.

I didn’t do it alone. I had so much help and support..

These names are just a few of the people who worked on Oh Scrap.

A special thanks to Karen Soltys who helped untwist my tongue, Brent Kane for the beautiful pictures and Brent’s son for being in the pictures, Julia Smiley for sharing her home as the backdrop, Nancy Mahoney for editing and Heidi Pridemore for helping with directions on my end. Last but not least also thanks to Karen Johnson and Jenny Wilding Cardon for marketing and social media.

This has got to be my favorite picture in the entire book and many people’s favorite quilt. Thank you to Jennifer’s daughter and grand-daughter, Libby and Eloise for making this happen.

 

I love Orange. I have never been able to pronounce it correctly and kids in elementary school would trick me by asking me questions, knowing the answer was orange and I fell for it every time.

ORANGE, ORANGE,  ORANGE! 

I also collected orange quilts because no one wanted them and they were cheap until the trend on making stuff pumpkins out of quilts became popular and I could no longer afford them. Now I make them myself.

Are you still with me? Did I tell you that GREAT things are happening on Martingale’s blog today?

Writing a book is similar to an elephant birthing a baby.

Here are some similarities I found.

  • The gestation period is twenty-two months.
  • Long developmental periods are common among highly intellectual animals.
  • Elephants are the largest living and biggest brained animals, this requiring longer gestation periods for the brain to develop.
  •  Elephants huddle around the female to protect her during birth, They also join together to celebrate the birth of the calf by digging into the ground, grabbing grasses with their trunks and throwing it in the ai

Thank you to everyone that has helped, encouraged and followed along to celebrate the birth of my baby, Oh Scrap especially the people listed below!! Thank you Jennifer Keltner, not to be confused with Jennifer Lopez for making my dream come true.

Due to technical difficulties my blog post about Fat Quarter shop did not go live. So I have a surprisegiveaway and a post for March 27th.

When life gives you scraps, make quilts!!

-modalissa

 

16 comments

  1. Karen Miller — the Redbird one... says:

    Everything about this post is beautiful Lissa. Thanks for sharing your thoughts — the “inside” story and congratulations once again on having your very own elephant baby 🙂 Its amazing!

  2. Tracie says:

    This has been the best book hop! So I am a little sad that it’s coming to an end. Congratulations, Lissa, on a beautiful finish. I loved how you included your community of family and friends in your story.

  3. Karen says:

    congratulations and I have enjoyed following along on this blog hop and reading about your book – and yes I think it probably does sometimes take brain surgery to inspire a person to do something they have thought about but never did and in your case that was to write a book. Love following along on this

  4. Leota Krantz says:

    Love love love this book. Thank you for all you do and giving so much of yourself to this marvelous industry. Keep those quilts coming and we will keep buying.

  5. I missed the blog hop, since I was out of town, and am 10 days behind on reading blog posts. I have seen pictures of your book on some of the quilting emails that I get from quilty companies. Hopefully I’ll see it in person soon. Congrats.

  6. Jenny says:

    Oh my goodness, the elephant reference <3 It's so true, and you chose a tight-knit, caring, and heartfelt herd (from a fellow author's POV – I know all about the birthing ritual!). You've written a gorgeous, inspiring book that will take quilters to new places in their creative journey. Congratulations!

  7. Laura Buchanan says:

    I already bought the book and have many plans zooming through my head!! i can’t wait to get started! Well done! Congratulations!

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