Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Borders is no more. But the Border Babes will go on forever!

New Book available NOW!

Patsy is having a bad week!  She finished Machine quilting her latest quilt only to turn it over and see a long crease sewn into the backing.  This puts her over the edge.  She goes into the bathroom and swallows all the sleeping pills she can find.

She wakes up two days later in the hospital on suicide watch and surrounded by her friends, a quilting group that meets in the local Borders Bookstore cafe, who call themselves the Border Babes.  One by one these women tell her their stories and help her find the strength to share her own reality, a past that would have killed a lesser person, which is now intruding on her present life.  The Border Babes remind her about what's important in life, Love, Friendship, Helping, Caring, Artistic Expression, and feeling all the emotions in life, both good and bad.  Quilters know the meaning of Life, and they aren't afraid to share it with whoever asks.

The Real Border Babes!

This book is a tribute to the Real Border Babes, those women who through the years have met at Borders ever week, and continue to meet in that spot even though the store is now called something totally different.  I started this group around 2003 or 2004 because I had a whole lot of Applique and handwork to accomplish and I wanted two hours per week dedicated to getting it done.  I sat in the store for a month, every Thursday from 10 am to Noon hoping that someone would come sit with me.  Finally after a month, two women came in and sat with me.  For a long time it was just the three of us.  Then a few other people started getting the word and they came.  Within a year our group had grown to a dozen people.  Always there was a core group of about 6 to 9 people who came every time and had regular seats at the table, and then others would show up at intervals.  Most of us were from the quilting group known as Rumpled Quilts Kin which was a guild that met in Interlochen once a month.  But others from the community who were not RQK members started coming by as well.  We welcomed everyone.

Some of the characters in the book are based on the core group of women who first came to Borders.  Alana, Barbie, Audrey, and Zoe, undoubtedly will recognize themselves in the book.  Linda Sue is an amalgam of several characters in the original Babes but her story is made up in my fevered brain.  I wanted to depict a mother and daughter who were both into quilting so I made Linda Sue Audrey's daughter.  The real Audrey has only artistically inclined sons.  And as an aside, I have Linda Sue married to our famous Quilting Doctor from Traverse City whose work has been in many of our Quilt shows over the years.

As for Patsy, I named her for the next door neighbor that Audrey had who did indeed commit suicide.  So she is a tribute to this poor soul whom I personally have never met.  The character of Patsy is about 75% autobiographical.  I never had an abusive father and my mother, although she caused me much embarrassment over the years, never abandoned me.  I have made peace with my brother in our mellowing of old age even though in the book I depict him as unchanged from his youth.  He's really a good guy now, and sibling rivalry when it's not dealt with in a positive way in childhood can be far reaching into adulthood which I think was the case with us.  Most of the abusive situations in the book are exaggerated for dramatic effect.

Upcoming Events:

I will be in Dixboro at the General Store on October 28, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM to sign books.  I will have both "The Ghost of Dixboro" and "Border Babes" for sale at the event along with a few copies of my other titles as well.  Even if your not a reader and would like to say hi to me come on in.  I'd love to say hi to old friends!

Then also on November 5th I will be back in Bellaire at the high school for the annual Bellaire Gift show.  That event is from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  I look forward to seeing my Elk Rapids friends there.  You know who you are!!!

Also I will be getting my act together this winter and maybe doing some Library talks and more Bookstore signings.  So stay tuned!

Thank you to Susan Bouwsma, Terese Gavar, and my son Jacob Krol for coming with me to various shows over this past summer to help me out.  I'm grateful for the support I've gotten from friends and the community.  And of course, I want to put a big shout out to my husband Jeff Krol for supporting me in every way he knows how.  Without his support I could not have done any of this.  Thank you Honey!!!