Trails End Quilters Book Nearing Publication

In order to get my Trails End Quilters book finished, I've changed the idea for the first one and simplified.  My sister is anxious to see a copy for one of her poetry/family story presentations at the assisted living home where she resides.

So I've decided to simplify.  This will be a fun book for the family, and I'll proceed with the more detailed one incorporating more character interaction and story, publishing it later.  Perhaps publicity from the current book will enlist more interest in a follow-up.

At any rate, I'm having an enjoyable time putting the current book together, using some scrapbooking and mixed media techniques with it.

Too often, as writers, we put off what we can do today by aiming for a large project that might be beyond our scope to finish at the time.

Trails End Quilters Book

A friend has been encouraging me to get more done with my Tales of the Trails End Quilters book.  I've been working on a cover design and have made up postcards using the cover illustration.  So I'm planning to use these to promote the book.

Next, I've been making an outline of who and what I want to include, along with photos of the quilters and their work when any of this is available.

Putting the book together will involve more research about the first quilter (my great grandmother, Mary Barker Coon).  I do have photos of her and my grandfather's description of her quilting in one of his journals. 

• Do I need drama? 
• Should this be mainly a book for my family heritage?
• Will other quilters be interested in reading it?
• Should I include patterns for some of the quilts described and pictured?

So many decisions to make in deciding what to include and what direction a book should take.

Postcards to Promote the Elm Creek Quilters and Trails End Quilters

I've used postcard promotion for a number of my books, including The Magic of Patchwork.  I sent out the postcards to announce the new release, even printing an order blank on the card. I've also had extra cards printed without order blanks and use them when I correspond with fans, family and friends.


However, I'm very impressed with the use of postcards to announce Jennifer Chiaverini's new Elm Creek Quilts novel, The Union Quilters. Jennifer mentioned on Facebook that she had 20 postcards and a Union Quilters' pin, to send to the first 100 people who responded with an e-mail. She would appreciate their distributing the cards, which announced her new book and listed her upcoming appearances.

I responded in time to receive the cards and have been handing them out to my daughter's quilt group, the local library and a local bookstore where I teach workshops. I'm also mailing them to friends who read the Elm Creek Quilts books and/or are involved in quilting.

I must think about utilzing postcard PR when I write my book about my Trails End Quilters' Heritage.  Perhaps it could be a book of tales of the quilters of various generations.

Do you have unique ways of using postcards to publicize your books?

Updating Trails End Quilters

I must get back to writing about my Trails End Quilting heritage and discover more about these ladies. Also, in the present, my daughter and granddaughter have continued with their fabric art.

Granddaughter Kara was home from college for three weeks. She has two fabric art pieces in her dorm room. While home, she went through her mom's collection and selected some more to display. It's fun to have a college age gal desiring fabric art rather than pop posters for her room. I guess her rommate doesn't mind either.

My daughter Beth continues to explore all types of new fabric art techniques. She was involved in a two-month long exhibit at the Gilmanton Public Library here in NH.

Happy Quilting in the New Year!

Baking Bread with Auntie

One of my favorite Trails End memories, in addition to quilting, was baking bread with Auntie. The Trails End kitchen always was redolent with fabulous cooking and baking aromas since Auntie loved to cook. Nanny had, too, when she was younger, I was told. However, my memories of her were from her more invalid days.

One of my favorite of Auntie's foods was fresh baked bread. She let me cut the crust, or "heel" from the warm loaf and spread it with her home churned butter. What a delicious treat.

Mother know how to bake bread, but didn't have much time with her work on our dairy and chicken farm. So I learned how to bake bread from Auntie.

Some of those memories:

• the scent of yeast dissolving in warm scalded milk
• watching the yellow butter melt and float over the top of the milk
• the fun of kneading the spongy dough before shaping it into loaves
• checking to see if had risen in the pans enough to bake
• the smell of the bread as it baked in the woodstove oven

I have a photo of me, standing on the south porch of our farmhouse, holding a loaf of freshly made bread. Mother and I were so pleased I'd made it all on my own that she took photos, with her Brownie box camera.

I recently used that photo when I taught a class to young writers (ages 6-14) on writing stories about their lives. I wrote my memories about baking bread.

What are some of your favorite younger recipes? Are any connected with quiltmaking or cooking?

Recipes of the Trails End Quilters

In addition to memories of quilting, when I visited my mom's home, Trails End Farm, I recall with fondness those of cooking and delicious meals. My aunt and grandmother lived in one end of the farmhouse. My uncle and his wife in an apartment added onto the west end.

Auntie, who lived with Grandmother or Nanny, cooked such tasty meals and allowed me to cook with her. From Auntie, I learned to bake bread, churn butter, make cottage cheese (called pot cheese in those days), stir up desserts and other items.

My mom cooked, but she also worked on our farm and took care of raising chickens and getting eggs ready for market. So, when she found I liked to cook, she let me do all I wanted, as well as prepare the family meals. Tidbits I picked up from Auntie came in handy.

I realized that this blog should encompass some of those Trails End memories, too.

Researching Mother's Wedding Quilt

Today the Trails End Quilters came to mind as I pulled my mom and dad's Wedding Quilt from hiding. (Actually it consists of pieces of a well worn quilt.)

My daughter Beth and I have been trying to find old fabrics or reproduction fabrics to match it. There are very few pieces that aren't worn, so we'll have to "start from scratch." However, finding matching fabrics is a challenge, especially the sashing.

When the Hancock's of Paducah catalog came in the mail today, I thought some of the fabrics looked similar to that in the Wedding Quilt. So that inspired me to get out a few of the quilt pieces.

Nothing seemed to match, nor even be a near match. So, we'll have to keep searching.

History of the Wedding Quilt

My dad and mom were married in November of 1934, so fabrics would have been of that year or earlier. If Mother ever told me who made it and gave to them, I don't recall, although I keep hoping the name will come from the recesses of my mind. There are no signatures that we can find.

A quilting friend is taking a picture of some of the quilt pieces to a quilt shop where she works and will see if she can match any there.

Do you have old quilts in your family?

This seems to be a popular topic on my Quilting and Patchwork blog.

The Delights of Blogging About Quilting
Kristen's Teddy Bear Quilt from Granny
Photo of Kristen's Teddy Bear Quilt

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen