Gravy!

All I can tell you is, when this finally arrived yesterday, I was excited and anxious at the same time.  I nervously handed it over to my daughter Grace to proof read, so she could break any 'bad news' to me gently.  (I'd mentioned the problem I'd been having with it here. ) She eagerly sat down and started going through it page by page.  I stood there a few seconds trying to read her expression, listened to the wall clock tick too loudly, and tried to catch my breath.  I dashed to the kitchen for emergency chocolate, to calm my nerves, and found (to my surprise) that these wonderful daughters of mine had baked a gigantic tray of triple chocolate brownies while I was busy working at the other end of the house.  Oh my--they were good!   What perfect timing.  Yum.  I was in the middle of my second mouthful, when Grace came running down the hallway waving the book in the air with a huge smile on her face, and shouting "third time's the charm!"  We jumped up and down like we were on pogo stix and hugged ourselves and got brownie crumbs all over.  It was a sweet moment.  And a huge, huge relief.  I did it!  I feel a sense of accomplishment having done a self-imposed crash course on desk-top publishing.  At times, pregnancy and birth (having lasted just as long), seemed easy compared to some of this.  I honestly couldn't tell you which was more painful.  Though worth all the effort in the long run.  I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve that I'm already working on now. 

Ok, so about the book...in case you don't know, Blanket Statement is 100 pages of mostly felt crafts made from a thrifted wool blanket.  I'd been sharing these creations on my blog for a couple of years and as I was nearing the end of the project, with nothing but scraps left of the blanket, I decided to put everything into a book.  For fun mostly, and for prosperity sake, as blogs will come and go.  It's only inevitible.  There are pictures and patterns and projects that hopefully will inspire you and will live on, having made the leap from cyberspace to CreateSpace.  I hope you like it.  So... without further ado, Blanket Statement is currently available for purchase from my e-shop.  I'm told that, eventually the cover picture will be added--this is out of my hands.  The fabulous news is, the book gets printed on demand.  Which is so brilliant, because there's no inventory gathering dust or any pressure to sell it.  Delivery only takes about a week.  For those already asking for autographed copies, they 'll be available in a few weeks, shipped from *yours truly*.  I'm making a list so I know how many to order.  If you want one personalized for you or someone else, just email me or leave a comment so I can contact you, and I'll send you a Paypal invoice or something when I get them in.  I'll also try and get a link in my sidebar so you can find it without having to read this crazy long post again. 

Just one more thing, regarding vintage pattern orders, there's always a lot of them the day after Halloween as the holiday crafting season kicks in and I'm still digging out.  I hope to get everything on it's way very very soon and appreciate your patience.  Again, no inventory here, it's all POD one pattern at a time. 

Have yourself a crafty weekend!