Latisha Horton offers new Alphabet Girl Fabric on Spoonflower

Congratulations to graphic designer Latisha Horton on the introduction of her "Alphabet Girl" fabric on Spoonflower.com. I can see this print as a border on a quilt - or even a lovely sundress for a little girl! Enjoy!

Kweli introduces Black Wedding-themed Fabric

Over at Kweli's African American Fabrics blog, she has announced the introduction of a new Ethnic Wedding Fabric collection. Yellow, pink, and pale blue colorwaves are available. Enjoy!

Dr. Heather Williams - Through Her Hands

The North Carolina Arts Incubator recently had on exhibit "Through Her Hands - 11 African American Narrative Quilts by Artist Heather Williams." She is an associate professor in the History department at University of NC, Chapel Hill. One of her quilts was featured on the cover of her book, Self Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. The exhibit was on from Feb - March 2010. It looks to have been a fine show! Enjoy!

Turn your Blogger blog into a book!

Ok - in just 20 mins I was able to upload the Black Threads blog and see it online as a book that can then be printed! WOW! The service is called SharedBook. I learned about it from Blogger Buzz.

Here is the cover of the book- automatically taken from the first post I had on Black Threads. This book includes all my 549 posts and comments. I've read there is a feature to allow me to edit the posts, but I haven't located it. Anyway, the historian in me wants the entire blog. The service provides about two dozen cover templates. You can get your blog as a hardcover or softcover. If you have a Blogger blog, you might try the service. I'll let you know what I think when the book arrives. Enjoy!

Update: I rec'd my book and it is WONDERFUL! If you have a blog, it is a much different experience to see the blog in book format. My book was about $180 - but it is also 425 pages and includes all my posts since 2006 through May 2010 - including comments. The book is sturdy - the pages are white and heavy stock to show the color photos in best light. One thing I noticed is that no images from video posts were included. The post are printed, just not the video image. Overall, however, I was completely pleased with the quality of my blog as a book! What a way to document quilt history!

Here's what I've learned in the process. The Blog2Print SharedBook service is very easy to use. If you have a blog by Blogger, Typepad, or Wordpress, you can use the service. You input the blog URL, decide what date range to include in your book, decide whether to include comments or not. The service can automatically format the pages to maximize page layout (I did this - and it looks great!). By default, the first two photos in your blog will be used for the front and backcover photos - or you can select your own cover photos. The service has a simulator that shows you what the interior pages will look like. The entire process for my book - all 549 posts - really was about 20 mins! Enjoy!