Kim Hanson

Writing & Quilting

  • Home
  • About
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Press
  • Stories & Essays
  • Contact Kim

Annie’s Quick and Easy Quilts

January 29, 2019 | Leave a Comment

Good day everyone.

Lovely ladies, Carolyn Vagts and Barb Sprunger of Annie’s, are two of the best to work with in the quilt magazine arena. They manage both Annie’s Quilting and Special Interest publications and Quilter’s World magazine. Both are very personable, easy to communicate with and understanding when it comes to any “quilting” log jams that inevitably occur. I’d like to thank both of them for their time and energy spent on my behalf, making my projects “leap” off the pages of the magazine. Here’s to the continued, happy collaboration on new and exciting quilting designs in the future.

Carolyn Vagts – Editor


Barb Sprunger – Managing Editor

This month, Annie’s Quick and Easy Quilts, Special Edition, was released. I contributed a very quick and easy project; perfect for the confident beginner. It’s called Batik Table runner and it’s featured on page 17 of this issue. One could easily still make this project in plenty of time for Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a photo of my Batik Table Runner from the pages of the magazine.

Thanks again ladies. Here’s to you both!

Kim

Filed Under: Uncategorized | Tagged With: Annie's Quick and Easy Quilts, quilt, quilt magazines, quilted table runner

Inspiration from Rejection

January 22, 2019 | 4 Comments

As many of my quilting friends know, I’ve been working very hard on developing my writing skills. Over the past few years, I’ve taken classes via writers.com, the Alexandra Writing Center in Calgary and have kept my eye on any and all calls for submission.

Writers.com classes have helped me tremendously. I’ve met some very good instructors, some lovely and smart classmates and have learned a ton. Having a lesson per week – reading, writing and homework – is a great way to keep moving forward. The deadlines imposed on such a working structure is, for me, a very, very good thing.

A stumbling block along the writing road, has been trying to figure out which style or format of writing is for me. Can I write a good essay? Maybe non-fiction? Can I develop great, alive characters in fictional stories? Although I’ve taken classes in many different genres, I’m still trying to figure this out.

But, there’s one thing I know for sure. My greatest desire has always been to write stories for children. I want to write stories with heart…stories that will stay with the reader and mean something special. Particularly, I’d love to write stories that have a quilt as the underlying theme. That’s what I’m striving to do. I’ve been working on one particular story for more than a year now. I’ve learned that editing in the children’s picture book format is seemingly endless. One revision after another. Send out my manuscript for critique…end up with suggestions to move in an entirely different direction. My story today is much, much different than it was to begin with.

After many edits and countless re-writes, I submitted my story to a children’s picture book editor in the U.S. After two or three months, an email pops into my inbox from said editor and her review was harsh! I was a little shocked. She wrote in part, “I’m sorry to say this story does not work for me at all”. She pointed out all the things I had done wrong. Thoughts of, “obviously, I’m not good enough to be doing this” raced through my mind. “Why am I wasting my time?” “I stink!”

But later in the day, I re-read the editor’s comments a second and a third time. I printed off the email. The black cloud of doubt began to lift. I started to understand. The last line of her email read, “You have a nice idea here but I think it needs more work”. That statement began to resonate. The editor had taken the time to read my story. She had taken the time to send me her real, unvarnished comments. There was no sugar-coating here; just her professional opinions on how I could improve my work. Once that notion sunk into my brain, the doubt I had been feeling began to disperse. I felt something else entirely. Something undeniably joyous. I was inspired to keep working.

Taking the editor’s comments to heart, I’ve revised my story yet again. It’s better than it was. I now know that rejection can mean motivation and it can bring inspiration. It’s all how you look at it.

When I get my first book contract from a publisher, I will know who to thank.

Take care. Kim

Filed Under: Uncategorized | Tagged With: quilt

Quilting Arts magazine – The Last Word

December 15, 2018 | 1 Comment

Good day everyone. Sometime in the summer months, I submitted an essay to Quilting Arts magazine, in response to their call for “The Last Word”. The Last Word is, not coincidentally, on the last page of each issue of the magazine. The subject matter of the essay was, basically,  “What is your quilting legacy?”

Amazingly, my essay was chosen to be published in this month’s issue! December, 2018. I was so delighted when Vivika DeNegre the Editorial Director of the magazine (which is owned by F+W Media) contacted me to let me know my writing and photos would fill the last page of the last issue of this year. Yippee!

It’s a curious thing; to write about what one would like to leave behind when they are no longer here. Can quilts become your legacy? Will your loved ones appreciate the meaning behind the quilts you have made? Is there a little piece of your heart that resides in each and every quilt you have ever made?

If you’d like to get yourself a copy of this month’s Quilting Arts magazine, you may do so here –

https://www.quiltingcompany.com/store/quilting-arts-december-2018-january-2019-print-edition .

.

 

I’d love to hear about your quilting legacy! Leave me a comment and I will read it.

Thanks so much.

Kim

Filed Under: Uncategorized |

A December Contest

December 6, 2018 | Leave a Comment

In honour of the snow

we are having another contest on our Facebook group page, Quilting for Kids. If you love to quilt for your children and/or grandchildren, why not join us? You can do that by clicking here.

Once there, you can enter the contest by reading the first post. The contest is open until the end of December, 2018.

The prizes are a fabric bundle containing ten fat quarters and a copy of the December issue of Quilting Arts magazine.

 

So have some fun! Enter our contest. You may just win!

Kim

Filed Under: Uncategorized |

Missing a Deadline

November 21, 2018 | Leave a Comment

Something crazy happened to me a few weeks back. For the first time ever, I missed a deadline.

Heather McArthur, the editor and publisher of Quilter’s Connection magazine asked me to do a smallish project for the Winter issue of the magazine. She wanted a project featuring some machine embroidery. Naturally, I pounced on the opportunity! I really love working for industry magazines, but especially for Heather.

So, I went about my business as usual. I marked down what I believed to be the deadline on my work calendar and chipped away at my to-do-list. In September, one full month before Heather’s quilt project was due, the quilt was well underway. I was humming a happy tune, just so completely proud of myself…I was on track!

Then, an email popped up in my inbox from Heather. I’m thinking she’s likely just checking in…to see how my quilt is progressing. Instead, I was beyond shocked when she asked me if my project was ready to ship. Wait! What? Ship? I hadn’t even begun to machine quilt yet. Evidently, I was a month behind! A month! I’d been mistaken about the deadline and I got it completely wrong.

As is my habit (I like to blame this one on my Mom!) from childhood, I started the mental bob and weave game. What could I do? What could I tell Heather? What was my excuse? Perhaps I could tell her the quilt was in my car and the car was stolen. Or even better, the dog rolled around on my beautiful quilt top, soiling it irretrievably and I had to start over. Maybe, I could blame my husband and tell her that he inadvertently used my precious quilt to mop up a mess in the garage.

Nope. None of those excuses would do. Sheepishly, I responded to Heather’s email with the simple truth; I had totally messed up the deadline. As is her style, Heather was gracious. She commiserated with me and just asked that, “I ship the quilt as soon as I could.”

Needless to say, the quilt was bumped up my to-do-list to the very top. I stitched and stitched, a little frantically, and finished it in a hurry. Shipping from Calgary to Port Coquitlam, B.C. is very fast, so Heather had the quilt soon after its completion.

I checked online today and Quilter’s Connection winter issue is now available in digital format, and will be on the store shelves very soon. Looks like my quilt is on page 19. Love the snowman on page 8!

Thank you Heather for your patience with me. It was so very much appreciated.

Kim

 

Filed Under: Magazine quilts, Quilt Patterns, Quilters, Quilts, Quilts and Machine Embroidery, Uncategorized |

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 31
  • Next Page »

Meet Kim

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Links to some of our favorite places!

Designs by JuJu
Mary Engelbreit
Sarah Jane Studios
Cmemag.com
Lila Tueller
Robyn Pandolph
Riley Blake Designs

From Instagram

Copyright © 2019 · Simply Charming theme by Restored 316