A quiet summer ended with a kettledrum flourish. Last month, Mark Lipinski showed up at my front door with the film crew for his new TV show, Quilt Out Loud, and filmed me at home. Then, I went to Lincoln, Nebraska for a board meeting of the nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts, where they elected me president.

My life grows ever more quilt-centric, something my husband and teenage son thought was impossible. Fall marks the start of a brand new quilt season, with lots of drama, adventure, new fabric and tools. Here are the news and reviews you need to get launched.

COX QUILT SHOP INDEX RISES: GOOD TIMES COMING?

My economic indicator based on the monthly sales results of 10 top quilt shops rose more than 8% in August, to 674 from the 622 of June, and most of the shop owners I spoke with are very enthusiastic about the prospects for fall.

There are signs everywhere that frugal consumers have been working through their UFOs from stash fabrics, but heading into the quilt shop for border and backing fabrics, and finding more to buy. Karen Montgomery of The Quilt Company in Pittsburgh reports she is finding buyers again for those tempting but expensive towers of fat quarters that include a complete fabric line. She says purse paterns are still the best sellers, and customers starting new projects favor kits, to eliminate waste and simplify fabric choice.

Jan Crane, owner of the Pennington Quilt Works in New Jersey says the shop's latest "block of the month" project is selling like hotcakes. It's an applique quilt from Edyta Sitar's new book, Hop To It, and I succumbed personally to its charms: this is the first time ever I've signed on to participate in a block of the month program.

Most significant in terms of predicting an economic turnaround is that most of the Cox Index quilt shops that carry sewing machines reported a substantial uptick in sales in August after months of stagnant or falling sales. We'll see whether sales continue to build, and if pent-up demand will fuel a sustained boost.

REVIEW: QUILTPOSIUM ONLINE QUILT MAGAZINE: DEBUT ISSUE

Cruise entrepreneur Jim West launched his online publication, Quiltposium, in August, drawing many thousands of curious quilters. The first issue was a staggering 166 pages, including articles by several dozen quilt world luminaries and a "centerfold" of teacher Kaye England hugging a llama.

Although I found it took a little practice using the various icons to turn pages, zoom and print, I thought the layout was attractive and there is much worth reading. Once I figured out that the icon with two diagonal arrows expanded the pages to full-screen size, I found it much easier to read. At first, I feared if I pressed print, I would wind up printing all 166 pages, but it was easy to designate which page to print.

Tip: once you've done some browsing, print out the Contents page on paper. Then type in the page number of each article you care about, one at a time, so you don't bog down toggling back and forth to the contents in front.

Obviously the publication promotes specific future cruises of Sew Many Places (including my New England/Canada cruise next fall, on page 129), but there is plenty of meat here, including inspiration, how-tos, a recipe and patterns For anybody who ever wondered what actually happens on a quilt cruise, I recommend the article by beloved Quilt in a Day teacher Eleanor Burns (I really think she is the Julia Child of quilting), which includes photos of her classroom on a recent Alaska cruise and students with finished projects.

This is a debut issue and yes, it needs work (too many typos, for one), but I hope readers will be patient, as Jim West and his staff are working hard to improve user friendliness. The type will be larger by December's issue, and I believe there will be more emphasis on visuals. Already added is a helpful tutorial about how to navigate the icons. In the next issue, look for some fun new features, Jim says, and Ricky Tims as the centerfold. Go to www.quiltposium.com.

BID NOW: SAQA AUCTION OF SMALL ART QUILTS

I love collecting small art quilts and I always look forward to the annual fall auction by Studio Art Quilt Associates. These quilts are only one foot square and I'm amazed at how much can be done in that small space. Last year, I bought an Obama quilt by Susan Shie that hangs over my desk, and in an earlier auction, I bought a wonderful painted "tree" quilt by Linda MacDonald: these are both heavy hitters whose full-scale work I could never afford.

This year again SAQA has more than 200 quilts to choose from, many by up-and-coming art quilters for as little as $75. The first group of quilts is already sold, but there are two more weeks of auction, with exciting quilts coming up from such celebrated quiltmakers as Yvonne Porcella, Linda Colsh, Therese May and Nancy Erickson. Since this is a reverse auction, the prices start high ($750), dropping $100 or more each day at 2 pm. It's easy to bid on the organization's website, where you'll find complete instructions.

TV REVIEW: "QUILT OUT LOUD"

Let's be honest: I can't possibly be unbiased considering that Mark Lipinski, editor of Quilter's Home magazine, and his co-host for this show, Jodie Davis of QNNtv, are friends of mine. Mark might be the number 1 fan ever for my book, The Quilter's Catalog, and Jodie and I serve together on the board of the Alliance for American Quilts.

But I think I can safely say that if you are a fan of Mark's effusive style and humor, you'll love this show. If you don't like Quilter's Home magazine because it makes fun of some aspects of quilting and features only a handful of projects, this probably won't be your cup of tea. Mark actually knows an amazing amount about quilting and all manner of domestic concerns, anything from gardening to making cupcakes, and his over-the-top personality is a nice fit with Jodie's more calm demeanor. She's the straight man here (ouch. my computer's bad pun buzzer went off), but she too takes the show to unexpected places, like her Georgia garden, where she cultivates cotton!

Like The Quilt Show, co-hosted by Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, this new program airs on computer screens and only to paid subscribers. Quilt Out Loud is presented by the same outfit that does QNNtv, however, so your $24 also buys you access to multiple other quilt TV shows hosted by the likes of Eleanor Burns and Fons and Porter. (This isn't like network tv where you can only watch a show at its scheduled time, more like the on-demand feature on your cable.)

The show features a nice mix of tips, reviews and interviews, including "ambush interviews" at quilters' homes. The first few episodes had some rough spots with uneven sound levels and so forth, but the professional crew gets smoother and the co-hosts mesh better as time goes on.

One thing I really appreciate about Quilt Out Loud is that the show releases a couple new segments every week. You have the option of waiting to the end of the month and watching an entire episode, but I love being able to watch about 15 minutes of show when I've got a modest window of time before heading out on errands or to pick my son up at school.

As I said at the top of the newsletter, Mark and his Quilt Out Loud crew showed up at my house in Princeton, NJ not long ago: you can get the grand tour of my home and office if you tune in for the October show. Sign up at www.QuiltOutLoud.com.

TWO NEW BOOKS I LOVE

I love to read widely including within the category of quilt books. One of my new picks is a pattern book and the other covers quilt history.

Applique Outside the Lines is the latest book by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins, the duo known as Piece O' Cake Designs. The two are excellent teachers and I love their sensibility: their applique projects are fresh, bright and un-prim. But this book breaks new ground in loosening the rules, showing designs that are much more free form and playful than those typically seen in needle-turn applique.

This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces by Kyra Hicks is more like a mystery story than a work of scholarship. Freelance historian Kyra Hicks set out to write a bibliography, gathering information about a famous quilt made in the 19th century by an ex-slave considered the "mother" of African American quilting. Along the way, the author uncovered a wealth of fresh information about the woman and her quilts and it's Kyra's enthusiasm for the quest and her findings that make this such a delightful read. She doggedly writes letters to possible sources, searches archives, questions conventional wisdom and eventually, strikes gold. Read it yourself to see what she found.

I'd love to hear from you: what are the books, magazines, fabrics, designers and projects that make you excited to be a quilter right now?

Next month, we'll check back in on the quilt shop owners I met last year at Quilt Market in Houston to see how they have fared. This year, I'm skipping Market but headed for Festival. I hope you'll come looking for me on Thursday and Friday afternoon (Oct. 15 and 16) at the Craftsman's Touch booth.

Quilt on!
love, Meg