Quilting is really rocking my world right now. The quilt I made for my son's school gala fetched $800 at auction. And the quilt I made for the Alliance for American Quilts "Crazy for Quilts" contest was snapped up on eBay by a quilter in England.

Not only that, I won a few choice quilts myself in the Alliance auction and I'm off-the-charts jazzed to own a funky, heavily embellished quilt by Canadian quilt star Pamela Allen. Like all her work, this one is covered with buttons, lace, beads and whimsical doodads like miniature clothespins. "One Crazy Hot Mama" is the quilt's name (she carries a fan for her hot flashes, which I may borrow), and hanging from beads near her waistline are the letters: LAUGH. This quilt helps me laugh every day, even in this fraught, frantic holiday season.

"STAR" QUILT WEBSITE GOES NOVA
Seriously, there is no other way to describe the gargantuan burst of growth and light emitted by the Quilt Index online. Already a must-visit-obsessively site with archived quilts from four centuries, the Index literally doubled in size last week to 50,000 quilts. The cyber-staff at the Index has been working overtime for months, adding about a dozen new collections all at once, most from massive state documentation projects. To name just a few of the states just added, there are now quilts from West Virginia, Louisiana, Wyoming, Minnesota and Rhode Island. Don't get me started on the 667 vintage quilts from the Hawaiian Quilt Research Project. Breathtaking!

But when the Index people finally lifted the curtain on the beefed-up site, there was far more on view than just loads more quilts.

The "facelift" of the Quilt Index site also includes some revolutionary new tools that allow you to both zoom in close to a quilt's surface, and to compare different quilts side by side. We all know quilts look best in person and studying them on a computer screen can be frustrating. Now, these nifty high-tech tools allow quilt connoisseurs the chance to study the fabric, seams, stitches and embellishments up close.

Among other things, the zoom feature makes it possible to actually read the names written and embroidered on quilts, which is especially helpful in browsing one of the new Quilt Index projects, a collection of signature quilts. What's groundbreaking about the Signature Quilt Project is that these aren't quilts from a museum or personal collection, but a total of 60 quilts owned by many individuals around the country willing to photograph and document their quilts according to the high standards of the Index. This is a pilot project that opens the door for future long-distance online collaborative efforts. Making the project even richer, the Index staff searched its existing contributor projects for 2,000 additional signature quilts, creating a motherlode of treasure for signature quilt afficionados to be mined by quilters, historians and genealogists for years to come.

The Quilt Index is a collaboration of the Alliance for American Quilts; Michigan State University Museum; and MSU's MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences. Go and play with the new toys at www.quiltindex.org. 

For more detail on how to find cool stuff on the Index, turn to my latest article in Quiltposium, the online quilt travel magazine, going live tomorrow (December 1) at www.quiltposium.com.

GREAT HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR QUILTERS
Kaffe Fassett Fabric Cuff Bracelet, $12.50 (fits small and medium wrists). Available at www.gloriouscolor.com starting December 1, where you can also buy KF dishware, pajamas, fabric and more. Ricky Tims' new holiday CD, "Christmas in a Small Town," $14.99. This lovely CD includes some classics but also some of Ricky's own songs, including the title track. Find it at iTunes, or go to www.ChristmasInASmallTown.com and listen to the songs before deciding to buy.

My Two Favorite Project Books This Fall:
Intuitive Color & Design: Adventures in Art Quilting by Jean Wells. $27.95. Even if you are a traditional quilter, snap up this book because the exercises are doable and envelope-pushing. Her mostly small projects expand your mind about color and free-form cutting. I love her "Off-the-Wall quilts which are 3-D and about the size of the glass bricks used by some architects. 

Unforgettable Tote Bags by Eleanor Levie. $21.95. Too many totes and purses are forgettable, me-too projects. Not these which are practical but whimsical designs by such big name quilters as Lonni Rossi, Susan Shie and Diane Gaudynski. Jane Sassaman actually does a tote designed for a bicycle basket. These are fresh and fun, just like Levie's two books on table runners. And, since Eleanor did the technical editing for my book, The Quilter's Catalog, I know she writes clear directions.

Simplicity Bias Tape Maker, $99. I know. I hesitated to put something this costly on the list, but this is the slickest new device in ages. Maybe you and a guild buddy can buy one together and share. It folds and presses bias binding automatically and comes with attachments for different widths. I became a fan after using the 3/8 inch tip to make a white decorative border to outline an element in an applique quilt: it saved me a lot of hot fingers trying to make a perfect flat strip with my iron. I hear Simplicity is coming out with some even thinner tips: sign me up.

ADVENTURES OF A NEW QUILT SHOP: FINAL EPISODE
This isn't the last installment because the Missouri Star Quilt Company didn't make it. Au contraire. But I decided to document only their first year in business. I met the mother-daughter owners at Quilt Market in Houston in 2008, just before they opened their doors.

One measure of success: exactly a year after we met, Sarah Galbraith and her mom Jenny Doan were back at Market, listening to teacher Pepper Cory cite their blog and website as great models in her Schoolhouse lecture on internet marketing. They really have used their site, www.missouristarquiltco.com, to attract customers way beyond the tiny hamlet where they live. Posting lots of very simple video tutorials helped, and also their "Quilter's Daily Deal," which keeps pulling browsers back to the site. The website was launched less than six months ago and now draws thousands of visitors daily.

I asked Sarah, a mother of 5 who is still learning how to quilt herself, what this whirlwind has been like, and what lessons she learned. "I learned that it's harder than you think, but also easier," she said. "It does take a LOT of work. There's a reason everyone isn't an entrepreneur. We had breakthroughs, but also days when I hit brick walls and wanted to give up. One of the rewards was that we did it as a family, and it pulled us close."

It's been fun watching Sarah and Jenny launch their shop, and I hope they stay in touch.

MY FIRST CRUISE: JOIN ME IN SEPTEMBER
I'm really juiced about the 8-day fall foliage cruise I'm doing that leaves out of New York City on September 18. We'll stop in Boston, Portland, Maine and several Canadian coastal towns. While at sea, my students will work on a special signature quilt and I'll also give a lecture on family traditions, the subject of my first two books. I'm thrilled to be working with two great teachers: Penny Haren will be doing a simplified applique technique, while shop owner Rita Fishel will lead a mystery quilt class. Lovely Janome sewing machines will be provided in the classroom, but the quilting tribe will also meet onboard for cocktails and other mischief. I promise you, this will be fun.

For details, go to www.sewmanyplaces.com and click on Our Trips.

QUILT SHOP INDEX SWITCHING TO QUARTERLY REPORTS
If it's good enough for major government economic indicators, it works for me. After a year of reporting the Cox Quilt Shop Index of 10 major quilt retailers, I'm switching to quarterly reports. The next one will be in January, 2010. Will it ever get back to the level of last December? Stay tuned.

That's all folks. Sorry to be so late this month (can't get any later than the last day, yikes), but I've been overwhelmed with writing deadlines. My policy is to first write the stuff for which I get paid. Among other things in the pipeline is a column I developed for a brand new magazine, The Quilt Life, coming from Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson starting with a February/March issue. My lips are sealed, but I think you will like it.  I'll share more closer to publication.

Quilt on!
love, Meg