Happy Mail!
Deborah Boschert is an art quilter, author and teacher. She lives in Texas - though because her husband is career Navy, they and their children were in the Annapolis MD (right! home of the midshipmen and women!) area for several years. I had connected with Deborah's work through her blog in mid 2000s, the Twelve by Twelve website and subsequent book (in which she and eleven other quilters collaborated on).
When I learned that Deborah was in the area, I encouraged my quilting group to invite her to do a talk & trunk show and teach a workshop, using her technique. Deborah's signature is the art quilt collage: the marriage of fabric, paint and stitch. We did and Deborah's workshop was not only wonderful, it was inspiring and fun.
In September 2016, Deborah's book Art Quilt Collage was published by CTPublishers. I bought the book in late December and briefly looked through it, setting it aside to return after I finished my Flower Garden quilt! Through Deborah's weekly newsletter, I learned she'd also self-published a delightful workbook: Head, Heart and Hands, designed to help the artist develop her creative voice. So, I ordered it from Deborah's Etsy site. The workbook arrived after the Weekend of the Women's March and still, I was busy in the throes of finishing the quilt, so I set it aside, too!
The workbook came packaged in a white mailing envelope, decorated on the outside with magic markers by Deborah. Delightful. Inside, in addition to the workbook, a postcard promoting her book; a marketing card; and a handwritten addressed-to-me thank you note. Plus, a couple days later: a follow-up email that had a link to all the worksheets in the book, so I could make work sheets and not just use the ones in the workbook. This is indeed what I call Happy Mail!
I did browse through the book and now that I have finished with the Flower Garden, I am free-er to develop my creative voice, to play with some of the techniques Deborah introduces in the book and workbook. And that is top on my stitching/quilting/creative agenda for weeks to come! I am eager to start exploring and playing. You can learn all about Deborah's works on her website.
Here's to a grand week - mail and otherwise - for you! Hop on over to Sian at From High in the Sky and friends sharing their happy mail...especially this week's! Did you get your valentines mailed?
Cheers~