I Ain't Said Nothin' But A Word...

I’ve reviewed some interesting things before. This is the first time I’ve ever reviewed a quilt pattern. I was looking for a unique quilt design for my new grandbaby’s first quilt. I wanted something that represented both her parents. The new mommy and daddy are big animal lovers and since my Son-shine is a good-hearted country boy, farm animals seemed perfect. I discovered a delightful kit by Amy Bradley Designs called Animal Whimsy. The kit included full size patterns, placement sheets, and instructions to make a 42" x 54" wall hanging with twelve animal blocks and a 60-1/2" x 96-1/2" twin size quilt with nine animal blocks and nine pieced shoo-fly blocks. The technique to make the animal blocks was fusible applique which I had never done before but will definitely do again. The final product came out better than I’d hoped for and I loved every aspect of the quilting process. Sum total, from start to finish, it took me about two days to complete. I ran int

Ten years ago my very first book, Take Me To Heart was published by BET’s Arabesque imprint. It was not one of my favorites.   The heroine, Marguerite, annoyed me, and Dexter, the hero, was just too passive. The story took a different turn when the acquiring editor deleted some eighty pages and worked her editorial magic to make it a romance novel. But die-hard romance fans hated it because it didn’t follow the romance formula and one well-known reviewer commented that I might not want to give up my day job. But for every one who didn’t care for the story there were many others who gave it rave reviews. It was many years later when it hit me that the original story really wasn’t about Marguerite and Dexter, or at least it wasn’t supposed to be. They just got the spot light in the final edition. And that final edition kicked off my career. Ten years, some twenty-plus books, multiple literary nominations and one or two book awards later and I’m still trying to perfect my craft