The Mystery is Solved!

For an author, the receipt of a box of one’s books, delivered right before release time, is a long-anticipated joy. I got mine the other day, ripped open the cardboard, and held the just-birthed book in my hands, proud as a new momma. At last. A Stitch in Crime was ready for the shelves and it was gorgeous!

Assault, larceny, anonymous threats. Who knew quilt shows could be this dangerous?

Inspecting my new, cozy mystery cover, I marveled at the crazy quilt adorning the upper two-thirds of the design. How did my publishing company get it so right? Sure, I’d had input…lots. Perhaps, a bit too much. But at the time, I’d been guided by James 4:2 – “You do not have because you do not ask.”

Not wanting to make that mistake, I asked. Then surfed the net for good examples of an appropriate quilt. Though I didn’t find the one, I came up with some (okay…a bunch of) guidelines for the cover designers:

• It must look antique, but elegant;
• The stitching should be exquisite and some beading would be nice;
• Nothing too modern looking;
• Nothing too busy (it shouldn’t look like a map of the USA);
• No polyester or lace;
• And BTW, a spider web signified good luck in Victorian times. Just sayin’.

The result was an engaging cover from Abingdon Press, achieving elegance with overtones of suspense. I loved it. But where did they find that quilt? It was a mystery.

Sooner than expected, the mystery was solved. The maker of the original quilt, Angela McInnis, left a comment on my blog, telling me how excited she was to have her design chosen for my cover. What??? I quickly found her email and wrote back, asking questions about how the design came to be. (There’s that asking part again!) And she poured out the story behind the cover quilt. Angela and her son own/run an antiques & collectibles shop called Dwellings just outside Florence, Mississippi on Hwy 49 South. And it all started with a treasure-hunting trip.

“My husband and I traveled from Mississippi to Lancaster, PA so I could purchase  some redware, salt glaze pottery, and an Amish quilt. Long story

Amish Crazy Quilt piece – a $2 find – all framed!

short, I purchased the pottery, but the price of the quilt was way out of my pocketbook range. On our way home, we made one last stop and deep in a basket of linens I found a very plain Amish quilt piece. When the lady said $2…I asked if she meant $200 – since all the real Amish quilts were so high. She assured me it was $2! I brought it home, framed it and admire it to this day.

“However,” Angela continued, “as I admired the stitching, I decided to try my hand at doing a little crazy quilting of my own. The result was a wall hanging that I eventually had framed and it still resides in my hallway.” She used Amish colors but says it was “not Amish at all because I blinged it up.” Angela added the spider web for interest and for good luck.

Original crazy quilt crafted by Angela McInnis & used in A Stitch in Crime‘s  stunning cover.

I wondered what fabric she used in her original crazy quilt…wool? Flannel? Old or new? Angela said the fabric was felt. A good choice in my opinion; it gives the look of wool, but fresh and new and clean. Her handwork is lovely, the finest craftsmanship.