Archive for February, 2008

Getting Credit for Your Quilts & Images

Georgia Landmarks quilt @ Buisson Center

I’ve noticed on my blog statistics that I get the most traffic from images of my quilts on the major search engines. I know that people are downloading these, even if my art is copyrighted. It happens.

So how you do make sure you get credit for not just the image but for the art itself? Title your photograph with the name of the artwork and your name. The photo accompanying this blog is titled with both the name of the quilt and my name, so any sneaky downloads will reference back to me.

Thanks to Alyson of ArtBizBlog and Brian at ArtStudies for this tip.

Shipping My Babies

Tile at Epcot

Since I’m buried under manuscript pages, I thought I’d share this image from Epcot in DisneyWorld where we visited last year at this time. This is a design on the outside of a building in the India section of Epcot. Doesn’t it just beg to be a quilt design?

Back to reality. I shipped nine quilts last week out to California to be photographed for the book. I felt as if I were sending my own children in a cardboard box to be driven cross-country with no word from them until they get there. I shared my anxiety over letting go of all the hard work I had done over months and years with the shipping clerk, and the well-meaning woman gave me some advice. “Have you read The Secret?”

She then continued to tell me how I shouldn’t think about anything bad happening to the quilts or else it would happen, and I should think positively. I know she had every good intention, but I found the advice to be rather sad. I leave every detail in my life up to a much higher power than positive thinking, and you’ll be happy to know that the quilts are being delivered today!

Much of my posts in the next month or two will be about my book, because it’s taking over my life at this point. I’m still teaching classes, but today my head is swimming with numbers after reviewing the technical edits of my project instructions. I’m so thankful to have a fantastic creative team to collaborate with on this book.

My goal is to be done writing at the end of this month so I can send the manuscript to the editor in March. You’ll be seeing sneak peaks of the book along the way, so stay tuned!

Checking In to Say “Hello”

I’m sneaking this post in between bath and bedtime for my kids, writing on my book, coordinating with illustrators, graphic designers, the photographer, technical editors, and it’s all so fun. Life right now is one of those crazy busy fantastic times, and I’m trying to soak in every single moment.

This is the busiest month for me as my deadline is March 1. After that, the book schedule will be mostly revisions for me and will ramp up for the rest of the creative team. I can’t wait for you to meet the people involved and see the results. I can post bits and pieces as we go along. Can’t wait to share with you!