More Gift Ideas: Quilts, Quilts, Quilts

Rocky's Mountain Books is showcasing gift ideas for the holidays. They're coming whether you're ready or not!

Not everyone's a quilter but every one who is seems to have a seventh sense about combining colors, textile and design. Most of us know a quilter, and these gift suggestions are for them. Big, beautiful books with bold colors and designs that will bring joy to a quilter. Three books, all by one of the Doyennes of Quilting, Yvonne Porcella.

Six Color World, by Yvonne Porcella, her seventh book, offers techniques as well as patterns for wonderful quilts and wearables, and continues with sugggestions for experimentation with the process of fabric painting and working with color.



Art & Inspirations, by Yvonne Porcella, her fourth book presents a retrospective of Yvonne's career. The beautiful, vivid images highlight her use of color and imagery in weavings, wearables, and quilts. 


Learn more about Yvonne's artistic journey from her early career as a weaver and maker of wearable art to her present passion for creating art quilts.

A Colorful Book, by Yvonne Porcella. In this beautiful volume, Yvonne provides a window into her own personal expression of color. The book is divided into groupings of some of her favorite color combinations.

The informational portion of the book includes fabric painting and simple strip-piecing techniques Yvonne uses to design garments or quilts.




(To view more details and/or purchase any of these books, click on the title of the book above. That will take you right to Rocky's page. Click on the 'Add to Cart' button to complete the purchase)

Sunday Crusader

Another great holiday gift idea:  The Crusades, The Illustrated History is a big, richly illustrated book that would make a great gift for anyone interested in learning more about the history of the struggle between Christianity and Islam in the Near East. It provides a basis for understanding many modern day conflicts, from the Balkans and Lebanon to Palestine and the War on Terror.

The book contains a wealth of information, but is broken down into short, manageable sections filled with illustrations of beautiful ancient artifacts and maps. Contributors are all university professors of medieval history. It is a book that you will go back to again and again in tryinig to make sense of the complicated religious history of the region.

(To view product details, click on the following link: Crusades, The Illustrated History . To purchase, click on the Add to Cart button on the same page).

My Best Day!

500 Sales as of today for Rocky's Mountain Books!

Wow! Thanks to everyone for all your support and good wishes!!

Three Months and Counting...

You know it's that time of year...the stifling heat of summer is slowly giving way to the changing season. Then one Saturday morning you wake up, look at the calendar and say, "Holy Gift Giving, Batman! Christmas is only three months away!"  Yes, gift-giving season is upon us, and Rocky's Mountain Books wants you to know that we're here to help!

Over the next couple months I will showcase books from  Rocky's inventory that I've specifically selected for gift-giving purposes. In most cases these are very gently-used...books that I would feel comfortable giving or receiving. My 'Condition Notes' are honest and straightforward, and I encourage you to check them (as you should do when making ANY amazon.com purchase). Do keep in mind that I generally only have one copy of a particular title, so don't hesitate too long in clicking the 'Add to Cart' button. Once it's gone, it's...well, it's gone!

Dog Joy, The Happiest Dogs in the Universe is a wonderful compilation of photos categorized by 'Laughers', 'Adventurers', 'Waterdogs', 'First Friends' and more. We all know someone who'd love this book. There's a certain unique joyfulness about dogs and that's why we love them so. There are hundreds of photos of happy dogs, and opening just about any page is guaranteed to make you smile. Yoda's one of my personal favorites...

(View and purchase this book by clicking on the Title and then clicking the 'Add To Cart'  button on the same page)

Dare To Dance The Tide

I love this photo, taken recently at beautiful Evergreen Lake. Beyond the obvious, there is a LOT going on in this photo. There's a man and his dog taking a nice leisurely paddle on a quiet little lake. But I can't get my dog to stand on the scale at the vet's office...these guys made at least 4 loops around the lake and that dog never moved. Mutual trust and faith.

You see a man, who's fit, completely confident and at ease with his physical abilities. Clearly this team has done this before. They're working well together (the man's working, the dog's cooperating) and each knows their proper place. The man is all business, but relaxed enough with his level of competence in the task at hand to enjoy the beauty of his surroundings. Preparation.

What you can't see and don't realize (unless you're familiar with Evergreen Lake), is that this team is dangerously close to the edge of the spillway. Now we're not talking Niagara Falls here, so it's not like they're going to any second get swept over the edge. But still, despite the serene nature of the setting they are skimming along the very edge of danger. Risk.

This picture embodies many of the elements at work in starting a business. Putting yourself or your product out their for the world to see involves a certain Risk. In order to sell your product or service, you obviously have to lay the groundwork through Preparation. Believing in yourself and your ability to be successful requires Faith.

As I sit here pondering my next steps with my own little business, this line from The River keeps coming to mind:

So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance the tide.

- Garth Brooks, The River

Think Desolation. Think sub-zero (sub-human) temperatures. Think blinding blizzards and harsh living conditions....

Sound a little like last winter on the east coast? Not hardly. Go back farther in time and head south, WAY south...the South Pole to be exact, early in 1912 to Robert Falcon Scott's "doomed quest for the South Pole".

Many great books have been written about this failed expedition, and  Rocky's Mountain Books has three of them: (to find out more about these books, click on the title; to purchase click on the 'Add to Cart' button on the top left of the book detail page)

• Scott's Last Expedition - The Journals, by Robert Falcon Scott: Scott's personal, detailed, journal entries of his observations and experiences up to his last entry on March 29, 1912.
• The Coldest March, by Susan Solomon: Since the time of Scott's expedition, his competence and ability to carry off the mission has been debated by scientists and historians. Susan Solomon, a Senior Scientist at NOAA uses meteorological data and her scientific knowledge and understanding of the Antarctic to shed light on the staggering struggle endured by the expedition.

• Cherry, A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, by Sara Wheeler: Apsley Cherry-Garrard was the youngest member of Scott's last expedition. He wrote his own riveting account of the expedition, The Worst Journey in the World. As part of the team that was to meet Scott upon his "victorious" return from the South Pole, Cherry-Garrard was hampered by the impending winter and brutal temperatures. The following spring he was part of the search party that discovered the bodies of Scott and the remaining members of the expedition only 12 miles to the south of the original search. This is  authorized biography of Cherrry-Garrard "brings to life this great hero and gives us a glimpse of the terrible human cost of his adventures".

I guarantee reading any or all of these books will make you feel about the miserable weather next January!