Sunday, May 29, 2016

How to make a painted-block quilt. Part 1.

Aside from writing books, I also make quilts. It's something my mom and grandma taught me to do when I was little. In fact, I learned in the daycare they owned together.

Here's one I made for my boyfriend for Christmas:




Okay, I kinda lied. The only part I did for that one was painting the squares and tying the quilt. So if you have an amazing awesome grandma, this process will be even easier.

However, I finally got a sewing machine and I'm learning, so this next quilt I'm working will be ALL me. Anyway, I'd been promising a few people that I'd write a series of blog posts explaining the process. So here we go.

Supplies that you need right away:

1.) Ball point fabric paints.
I use both Aunt Martha's which you can get in combo packs on Amazon, and Tri-chem, which you order from their site.




You can also get this nifty case to hold them all.


2.) Washable Fabric pencil

3.) Quilting ruler.

The square one RULES!!





4.) Cutting mat




5.) Rotary cutter




6.) White cotton fabric.

How much you need depends on how many squares you'll cut.

Tip: You can get 42 13x13 squares out of a Queen flat sheet.

(Just get a bed sheet from a thrift store. They work great)

7.) Carbon paper

8.) The images you want to use.

Ex: 30 for a Queen Size, 42 for a California King.

You can either pick pages from a coloring book, or download any image you want off the internet.

If you're not using color pages and printing off your own, then you will need:

9.) Some photo program like Gimp, Paint.net, or Photoshop

Then, of course, you'll need access to a color printer to print the pictures.

10.) A clip board.

11.) Clippies: Um.. you, know, these things:



Supplies you'll need later:

1.) Fabric for the strips that frame your squares

I'm going with this:



2.) Fabric for the back



3.) Quilt batting for the middle




4.) Yarn or Embroidery floss for tying.

I prefer the latter.




5.)Needles

6.) Sewing scissors

7.) Sewing machine, or an awesome grandma who has one.

Pictured above: The most amazing woman in the universe.


8.) Access to a quilting frame... or study the DIY methods to tie a quilt without one.

Um, we'll get into quilting frames in a later post.

Okay, let's begin:

Step 1: Select the images you want for your quilt. Since I'm a hard core painter, I'm doing the covers of my favorite horror movies. Here's my pinterest board for that. Horror Quilt

However, for easier painting, I recommend coloring book pages. My aunt made quilts with Disney characters, for example.

If you're going my route and duplicating full color images, then you'll need to adjust your images to 8 1/12 by 11 and 300 dpi resolution in your photo program. After selecting the pictures you want to paint on your quilt, either print them out or take them out of your coloring book.



Step 2: cut the amount of squares you need for your size of quilt. For the quilt I'm making, I'm doing 30.



Step 3: Line up one of your fabric squares on the clip board, then place a piece of carbon paper, inky side down on the fabric. Place your image on the carbon paper. Make sure everything is centered before securing the layers with clips.




Step 4: Trace your image onto the fabric.



Step 5: Remove the image and carbon paper, then place a piece of paper on the clipboard underneath the fabric square because the paint will bleed through.


Step 6: Paint the squares.

The envelope was scratch paper to test paint colors. More on that later.


For tips on painting squares, see Part 2!!!





Friday, May 20, 2016

WITH VENGEANCE IS HERE!



I am excited to announce that WITH VENGEANCE, (Hearts of Metal Book 2) is now available!

Here's the blurb:

Katana James is about to become the studio guitarist for her favorite heavy metal band ever—and meet the musicians, music, and man of her dreams.

SHE MEANS BUSINESS

Twenty-three year old Katana James can shred on the guitar. Not that anyone would know, as she’s spent most of her time working on a popular news and gossip website for Heavy Metal fans since her own band broke up. But her dreams are in reach when she gets an audition to play with her favorite band, Bleeding Vengeance. Kat won’t let her gender, her anxiety disorder, or even the pranks of a malicious stalker stand in her way. The only thing to threaten her focus? A growing fascination with the group’s brilliant, mysterious bass player.

HE OFFERS PLEASURE

Klement Burke has always been the heart, soul and brain of Bleeding Vengeance. He’s the kind of rock star who stays in the shadows, a perfectionist more interested in satisfying his brain than other parts of his body. Until he auditions Katana James. At first it seemed a perfect idea, as he’s been aware of her talent for some time. But meeting her in the flesh ignites thoughts far from professional. Despite the conflict of work, the odds against her falling for a geek like him, and a secret he’s been hiding, his heart, body and soul now belong to Kat.

So far it's available on

All Romance:  https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-withvengeance-2042789-149.html

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWNT3UM

Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/637722

I'm also running a giveaway on Amazon for a free kindle copy. You can go here to enter:  https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/ae2b7ff4bba1b50d

Needless to say, I'm very excited! I hope everyone has an excellent weekend! 



Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Cover Reveal and PreOrder for UNLEASHING DESIRE!

I'm delighted to present to you the cover for Unleashing Desire!


What do you think? I'm pleased with it because not only did I find a stock photo of a REAL ruined castle in Romania, but I also found stock with models that look exactly like the characters! Thanks so much, Grigoris Drakakis and Angel!

I'm very excited about this book. It's the much anticipated 4th volume in my Brides of Prophecy series.

And here's the blurb:

 A setup so perfect… it might just be fate. 

Radu Nicolae has spent centuries in a guilt-induced hibernation beneath the ruins of his family castle. The only time he awakens is to feast on the occasional vampire hunter. When Lillian Holmes invades his lair, trying to kill him for a crime he did not commit, he decides it is time to rejoin the world. As he feeds on the inept, but delectable hunter and sees her memories, he realizes that he is being used as a weapon to murder her. Radu does not like being used. 

Agent Lillian Holmes, of the Abnormal Investigation Unit, is sent on a mission to kill the vampire who murdered her father. But when she tries to stake Radu, he awakens. When his fangs sink into her throat, she thinks she’s a goner. To her surprise, she wakes up a prisoner. Furthermore, Radu did not kill her father. The AIU killed Joe Holmes and sent Lillian to Radu to die. 

Together, they strike a bargain: Lillian will help Radu travel to the United States to reunite with his long lost twin brother. In return, he will help her take down the men who killed her father. As their relationship deepens on their journey, so does the danger. Not only must they keep government agents from finding out that Lillian is alive, but she also has a secret that will rock the foundations of the vampire world. 

This book picks up on several loose threads from previous books. Radu Nicolae is the missing twin brother of the vampire, Razvan Nicolae.

As for the heroine, I hope her last name and job description rings a bell. Lillian is the daughter of Agent Joe Holmes, a scientist with the Abnormal Investigation Unit who experimented on Akasha in Wrenching Fate and escaped with Akasha's eggs and Silas's blood at the end of the book.

We'll find out what he did with those in this book.

Get ready for a wild ride!

Unleashing Desire is available for pre-order on Amazon.
And it will be up with the other etailers shortly. :D

I hope everyone's having a great week!


Sunday, May 8, 2016

KISSING VICIOUS won the 2016 Reader's Choice Awards!



The Romance Review - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=19451#sthash.0gomFQZ9.dpuf

I am excited to announce that my Heavy Metal Romance, KISSING VICIOUS won Best New Adult Romance in The Reader's Choice Awards over at The Romance Reviews!

This is the first award I've won for a published work. (My short ghost story, Tesemini, won first place in the Idaho Writer's League contest years before it was published).

So now I need to update my website and put this nifty badge with the book profile.

This is excellent timing since the second book in the series, WITH VENGEANCE is coming out on the 19th!


Now to resume jumping up and down.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!