Local quilt shop owner publishes book

The owner of a local quilt shop has co-authored a quilt-making book published by the American Quilter's Society (AQS).

You may remember Marlene Oddie's "Rosie's BOMb" quilt, which hung in the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center last year during an exhibit featuring strong women. It won a second-place prize in the society's Des Moines, Iowa, AQS Quilt Week in 2013.

That's where co-author Leila Gardunia met Oddie and the two discussed pushing the skill-builder concept, which Gardunia had originally put online for a quilt-along, into a book.

"You Can Quilt! Building Skills for Beginners" is being promoted by the society as a standard for new quilters. It's available in Oddie's KISSed Quilts shop on Main Street in Grand Coulee, from AQS, or on Amazon.

After pitching the book idea to AQS, the authors learned theirs was only one of several block-of-the-month type projects presented that was accepted to be published.

As they worked diligently to get the content ready for publication, Oddie says, many local quilt makers tested the patterns via Oddie's classes.

"I'm so grateful for the confidence and trust that many locals have put in my teaching abilities," she says. "We've had a lot of fun and it is great to see their progress and confidence grow."