Sweet Americana Sweethearts

Friday, December 9, 2016

New Quilt Series ~ Magic Happens

Quilty by Association -- Yes...That's me.

I confess...

I have never made a quilt.

My mother, my sister, my aunts--you name it--and several of my friends have quilted. Their lasting heirlooms are things of beauty to behold. I have been dragged...uh...I mean, I have accompanied them at one time or another to quilt shops or fabric stores and to quilt shows. I must admit, seeing all the beautiful patterns and fabric actually makes me a bit euphoric. So many possibilities, so many ideas start rumbling through me.

I have the patterns to make a wall hanging and also a table runner...someday when I am no longer writing stories. Those patterns call to me from under the bed where they are tucked securely in their storage bin.

Someday...

William Morris said this in 1880, at a lecture he was giving titled the Beauty of Life. I think he could have been talking about pioneer women...and me.

Might I also add to Phylicia's quote by saying...we, the authors of Sweet Americana Sweethearts, came together to write a book series (about quilts)
and yes...

Magic happened!

The Grandma’s Wedding Quilt Series is the brainchild of Zina Abbot, the founder of the Sweet Americana Sweethearts Blog. From the start of the blog, she has had a vision for all of the authors to come together on a project. We were all at different levels in knowing about putting together a production of this magnitude, but the ones with more experience have been nothing short of fantastic with those of us, ‘cough, cough’ who have never independently published before. I am in awe of their knowledge and professionalism. Yes, indeed…magic is definitely happening…

And it will soon be here!

Since I have never made a quilt, why would anyone think I could write a story based on a marvelous sampler quilt? Well...that is part of the mystery and you will have to read the book to see if I pulled it off.

My contribution to the series is Gloria's Song and I am so excited to share here, for the first time, the cover and a short description!

Cover by Shanna Hatfield

Gloria Palmer has always done the proper thing expected of her as the daughter of a shipping tycoon. The approval of her family and friends mean everything. And yet, when the perfect suitor offers for her… she hesitates.

Colin McDougal has little use for those living on the fancy side of the trolley tracks. He’s too busy managing the family pub and, in his spare time, writing down the lively tunes in his head. So, when Miss Palmer asks for his help to prepare for a music audition, he is flummoxed. What does he know of highbrow music?

But with each practice session, their feelings for each other grow. When it comes time for Gloria to make a choice between what is proper and what she desires, will she realize that if music can cross class lines, it might also be able to harmonize two hearts.

Check back often this month as the rest of the authors give you a sneak peak of their stories for this series.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday! Please plan to join us in the new year as we debut our stories!

Kathryn's: Website Amazon Author Page

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Inspiring Fragrances

by Shanna Hatfield

When I'm writing a story, I try to engage as many senses as possible.

One thing that helps me, as I develop the characters, is to imagine how they might smell to their love interest.

A while back, I ordered a bottle of "genuine" Ogalalla Bay Rum just to see what it smelled like. In truth, I could see how it might have set girlish hearts aflutter back in the heyday of those long cattle drives.

For my latest release, I tracked down a bottle of Tabu perfume because I mention it in the story.

Created by Jean Carles in 1932, the perfume is sweet, ambery, spicy and complex. Tagged as "the forbidden perfume," it was a great fit for the character wearing it.

I also delved into other perfume of specific eras which led me to Bésame Cosmetics which offers a line of perfumes that highlight decades of the 1900s. <Disclaimer: Bésame Cosmetics doesn't know me from Adam's off ox and this is not a paid endorsement. I just like their awesome products.>

It's so fun to be able to smell a fragrance and imagine my characters wearing it (or in the case of the heroes in the stories - admiring it!). For Garden of Her Heart, my new release, I chose the 1940s fragrance which is an aromatic, floral scent that was absolutely perfect for the heroine of the story.

Do you have a favorite fragrance?

***

Can forbidden love blossom

amid the constraints of war?

The moment the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, life shifted for Miko Nishimura. Desperate to reach the Portland Assembly Center for Japanese Americans, she’s kicked off the bus miles from town. Every tick of the clock pushes her closer to becoming a fugitive in the land of her birth. Exhausted, she stumbles to her grandparents’ abandoned farm only to find a dying soldier sprawled across the step. Unable to leave him, she forsakes all else to keep him alive.

After crashing his plane in the Battle of the Atlantic, the doctors condemn Captain Rock Laroux to die. Determined to meet his maker beneath a blue sky at his family home, he sneaks out of the hospital. Weary and half out of his mind, he makes it as far as a produce stand he remembers from his youth. Rather than surrender to death, Rock fights a battle of the heart as he falls in love with the beautiful Japanese woman who saves his life.

A poignant, sweet romance, Garden of Her Heart proves love can bloom in unlikely places even under the most challenging circumstances.

Available on:

***

USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes character-driven romances with relatable heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

Convinced everyone deserves a happy ending, this hopeless romantic is out to make it happen, one story at a time. When she isn’t writing or indulging in chocolate (dark and decadent, please), Shanna hangs out with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Find Shanna’s books at:

Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:

Monday, December 5, 2016

Quilting - What is the fascination?

I am super excited about a series that authors from Sweet Americana Sweethearts are putting out in January, 2017. The premise of the series is Grandma Mary’s Wedding Quilts. All of her grandchildren, with stories of their own, will receive a quilt with a different block for a wedding gift. All sweet romances based in mid to late 1800s.

Now I can’t be the only woman around who is totally clueless about quilts! Come on!

I have never understood the hubbub about quilting, though many people I know find this pastime fascinating. I know at first, pioneer women sewed together any scraps of material they could find to help keep their families warm. (I made a Halloween costume for my son, years ago, and it didn’t last the whole night! If in one of my previous lives I was a Pioneer woman – my family would have froze! LOL)

Only in later years, when fabrics were being manufactured in America and were more affordable, did the more artistic type of quilting become more widespread.
In the 100 years between 1750 and 1850 thousands of quilts were pieced and patched, and many of them are preserved. Many of these quilts were so elaborate that years were spent making and quilting them. It is no wonder they are cherished as precious heirlooms and occupy honored places in homes and museums.

I asked a friend of mine who is HUGE into quilting – “Why?” Below is her answer.

“I love the geometric designs and the way colors work together. I also love to touch the fabric, and actually get an adrenaline rush when I walk in a quilt shop and see all the wonderful fabrics, threads, and samples on the wall. Quilting allows me to stay busy, and never get bored. There's the piecing, the actual quilting, and then binding, which is usually done by hand. There are projects that people do completely by hand, such as applique, redwork, embroidery, hand quilting, etc. I think a lot of people don't like to just sit, and having handwork helps to keep them busy, and their minds occupied. The act of being able to give someone a quilt that you have spent many hours completing just for them, also makes quilters happy. You are giving a little part of yourself when you give someone a quilt that you have made.”

I guess that explains it!

My book, Chase’s Story, is number nine in the series and will be released January 18. We follow Chase to the Arizona Territory outside the little town of Hackberry and since things are still pretty secretive - keep watching for more to come!

Friday, December 2, 2016

Pioneer Quilting Bees and Grandma's Wedding Quilts Series

by Kristin Holt

In preparation to write my upcoming new release, Pleasance's First Love, I came across a treasure--a book that covers quilting and quilting history, with glossy pages filled with photographs and original-sources--in my chosen location of Colorado! What I discovered within The Quilt That Walked to Golden stoked my imagination and helped me come up with historically accurate, fresh ideas that would fuel my plotting of this novella.

Pioneer Quilting Bee, p 31, The Quilt That Walked to Golden

Women quilted alone, but with more leisure time and better transportation, they came together for afternoons of sewing. Quilting bees "were a purely American social custom, unknown in foreign countries," according to historian William Rush Dunton, Jr., author of the classic, Old Quilts... [Women] joined quilting bees because they wanted to socialize and enjoy themselves--and to show off their sewing as well as their culinary skills. "Our readers must not think that these feminine pastimes are a thing of the past. The old custom, hallowed by fond memories[,] is still observed: and Saturday Mrs. H.L. Wyman entertained a number of her lady friends with an old fashioned quilting bee," The Greely Tribune reported on March 9, 1893. "Ten pairs of deft hands aided the hostess in evolving a pattern that would have gained the approval of a Puritan matron and on the conclusion of the labor the mystic eleven sat down to a table loaded with good things gotten up for the comfort of the inner woman."

"Quilt-making was a social event that my mother looked forward to with pleasure," recalled Hazel Dalziel, whose family lived near Longmont. "...A quilting bee gave women a chance to get together in the home of one of the group and talk, perhaps to gossip. It was a friendly and relaxed atmosphere , and the women were making something of which they were proud. It was a vacation from the long workdays."

~ Source: The Quilt That Walked to Golden: Women and Quilts in the Mountain West, From the Overland Trail to Contemporary Colorado, by Sandra Dallas

Introducing Sweet Americana Sweethearts' Authors' New Series, Grandma Mary's Wedding Quilts.

Twelve Titles, including a Prequel.

All stories are connected by family ties--all main characters are grandchildren of Grandma Mary, who ensured each of her grandchildren received a quilt from her on the occasion of their weddings.

All novellas are Sweet, Clean reads, and all set in historic Americana--and all are as unique as their characters.

Brought to you by USA Today Bestselling, Award-winning, and Bestselling Authors who contribute to Sweet Americana Sweethearts. Look for this new series to debut in January 2017. Titles will be available on preorder later in December and release beginning January 3rd, 2017. See release schedule, below.

Cover Artwork by Shanna Hatfield.

My title, Pleasance's First Love, is book #5 in the series, and will release on January 13, 2017. We'll see her family gather to quilt together the top (pattern: Flying Geese)--a gift from Grandma Mary, and the bottom which Pleasance pieced together over her courtship with Jacob Gideon, and the astounding surprises that come to light when they're put together on the quilting frames.

Victorian Women, photographed with quilts. [Source]

Hi! I'm Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author.

I write frequent articles (or view recent posts easily on my Home Page, scroll down) about the nineteenth century American west–every subject of possible interest to readers, amateur historians, authors…as all of these tidbits surfaced while researching for my books. I also blog monthly at Sweet Americana Sweethearts (first Friday of each month) and Romancing the Genres (third Tuesday of each Month).

I love to hear from readers! Please drop me a note. Or find me on Facebook.

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