Tuesday, June 27, 2017

My DL2Q Blog Books – Volumes 6, 7, and 8

My Volume 8 blog book for DianeLoves2Quilt arrived the day before yesterday. I am always excited when these show up in the mail. So far they have always come earlier than the promised date. When I went to publish a post about Volume 8, I realized I had missed writing about my previous two blog books, Volumes 6 and Volume 7. Combined in this post is a look at the Covers, Dedications, and Tables of Contents of these three volumes. Capturing my blogging efforts in books like these gives me a satisfying sense of accomplishment for both my crafting and my writing projects. I intentionally do not select uniform covers in case the publisher discontinues whatever I happened to choose. Besides, I love the array of colors as the volumes sit next to each other on my shelf.


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Volume 6:  Jul 1, 2015 - Dec 31, 2015

My grandson Isaiah's quilt, Bugs 'R Us, is on the front cover and its post was dated 7/15/15. The count for the knitted vintage Christmas stockings hit double figures and those ten are shown on the back cover. A post about them is dated 12/28/15. I created this book in May 2016.


The Dedication for Volume 6 reads

The second half of 2015 saw the arrival of Isaiah on July 16, 2015. With three grandkids, many projects are baby-centric; but there are some home decor projects, knitted items, and even one ribbon-winning quilt. Another family addition (to my sewing room) was a refurbished 1952 Singer Featherweight sewing machine.
– Diane I. Chambers

Here is the Table of Contents for Volume 6


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Volume 7: Jan 1, 2016 - Aug10, 2016
My third granddaughter Lillian's quilt, Nestling Owls, is displayed on the front cover. The post for its completion was dated 5/11/16. My blog entry for Overlapping Squares, the quilt on the back cover, was posted 6/8/16, and was my focus on ruler work to quilt the circles with my sit down longarm. I created this book in December of 2016.


The Dedication for Volume 7 reads

My fourth grandchild, Lillian was born May 11, 2016. Hers is the cover quilt. Volume 7 contains a variety of kids' projects, many knitted or crocheted besides sewn. This volume also features my growth in bravery with free motion quilting using my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen.
– Diane I. Chambers


Here is the Table of Contents for Volume 7


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Volume 8: Aug 11, 2016 -May 30, 2017

My blog entry for the front cover photo of our master bedroom was posted 12/21/16. My blog entry for the dolls on the back cover was posted 5/20/17. I generated this book in June 2017.



The Dedication for Volume 8 reads

In DL2Q Volume 8 you will find curtains & cushions for our master bedroom redecorating, dolls & pillows for the kids & grandkids, plus burp cloths for babies of friends. Progress on a challenging hexagonal quilt is here, plus purchases & winnings from craft & quilt shows. A bit of knitting & crocheting is tucked in, too.
– Diane I. Chambers


Here is the Table of Contents for Volume 8



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The online company I use is Blog2Print and I have been happy with their product. In my post for 4/17/13 I recorded some tips I adhere to when I go through the process of creating these books. One of these tips is to supply enough information in links that they can be looked up since they cannot be "clicked" in the paper copy. Some idiosyncrasies with captions I encountered are addressed in the Volume 3 and 4 post dated 03/18/2015. Also I wait for a sale to order, often as much as 30% off. This month of June 2017 was particularly worthwhile for large books – $.25 off for each additional page.

Links to my previous volumes can be found at
       DL2Q Volume 5       posted  12/16/2015
       DL2Q Volume 4       posted  03/18/2015
       DL2Q Volume 3       posted  03/18/2015
       DL2Q Volume 2       posted  04/14/2014
       DL2Q Volume 1       posted  04/17/2013

I am sharing this post with my online friends at Let's Bee Social #183

3 comments:

  1. I make blog books too!! I actually intended to keep a paper quilt journal/scrapbook, but once I started blogging, the paper idea went out the window! I actually wrote blog posts for every quilt I ever made, then dated them for the dates I finished them (as far back as 2010). The posts appear on my blog as if I started blogging way back then, but I was able to print my blog book so I have a record of every quilt I've ever made. Worked fantastic! My current plan is to just print once a year, so I won't order my book until the first of January. I love having a paper record of my quilting!

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  2. Hi Diane,
    What a fascinating post! I never heard of anyone, or thought about publishing blog posts in book format. I think that is just wonderful. Thank you for sharing your publisher. I am no where near needing that service, but it's a back-of-the-mind thing. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  3. Do you ever sit down and read your books? Every now and then I grab a photo book out of our closet and page through it, which I love doing! It's a ton of work to create books like these, but totally worth it!

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