Ellen Anne Eddy's Thread Magic Studio: Thread Magic is Back!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Thread Magic is Back!

4:19 PM |

Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy |

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Twelve years ago, I wrote Thread Magic. That's not really true. I wrote it over a period of 10 years before that. I wrote about the many quilts I'd made. I told why and how. I tried very hard not to offer it as a cake recipe without all the ingredients. I knew I'd done different things than other quilters, and I wanted to document what I'd done. I was more than a little shocked, after 12 rejects, when it was accepted.

It wasn't the best selling book of that year. But it struck a cord. When, 7 years after, it went out of print, it began to sell first for $50, and then for $150, and finally settled out at $450 per copy until it was reprinted.

I wrote about my own artist's journey. I showed what I had done and did the best job I could of documenting it so that other people could go there as well. I didn't do it because I thought my journey was so important. We are all in some way on that journey. What else can we do, but chart the ways we've taken? Somewhere, maybe 50 years from now there will be a young girl who discovers the art quilt movement. We're the only art movement run almost entirely by women who are old enough to have some wisdom, some savvy and something to say. It's a grass roots movement. It came really out of no where. It's supported its artists as teachers, and made unique opportunities within guilds where you can, as a quilter, learn from the very best. What will that young girl find?

My suspicion is that she might have to really dig to find out what we did. Why. How. Women's history tends to disappear. But if we all write about our artist lives and selves, we will be there for each other now, and for her later. Who knows what she will do, if she knows what we did? Who knows what we will do, as we watch and cheer for each other?

C and T is now reprinting Thread Magic again. I'm shocked Thread Magic is back in print. But I'm grateful to be part of a movement that has said it's truths over time. I hope my journey illuminates yours.

You can order your copy at my web site at www.ellenanneeddy.com I'll sign it for you.

5 comments:

Virginia Greaves said...: And at $450 a copy, I still wasn't willing to sell mine. ;); February 14, 2011 at 4:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Me either! Glad your book is back in print.Hope it sells well for you again.; February 14, 2011 at 10:17 PM
Anonymous said...: I waited for Thread Magic to come out the first time. It was so exciting and my go to book. It is a treasure. I am so pleased it is being reprinted so another generation of quilters can have that thrill and dicovery. Congratulations!; February 19, 2011 at 1:22 PM
janice said...: I bought the book when it first came out and I still marvel at your work. Glad to see that others who may not have been doing art quilts back then can now get your book without having to spend $450, not that it isn't worth that much. To me it's worth much more. I must also say that I love seeing pictures of your greyhounds.; February 23, 2011 at 5:58 AM
Deborah OHare said...: This book is timeless. It was one of the first of it's kind that I bought, and it is still my favourite.
Deborah; March 8, 2011 at 2:34 AM