Brainstorms are the best storms to have, especially when they’re with other creative people.

A couple of days ago, I posted a few cover design ideas here, and asked some designer-type friends what they thought.

A lot of great ideas came back with the neap tide, among them one from my friend Chris who focused
on a different facet of the cover of Scandinavian Stitches. Here’s the cover:

While I was focused on the little quilt of the house,
Chris took a look at the whole piece.

Hey, she said, if The Road Unsalted is the first in a series (which it is) then why not use the shelf
as a place to put things that are important to one character or another with a quilt to match?

So last night, I sewed up this test block for a quilt made by Elizabeth Weston Brown, grandmother of Gideon Brown,
one of the driving forces in The Road Unsalted. Elizabeth was a traditional quilter, and her grandson adored her. Which is why his grandmother’s quilt is draped over the arm of his favorite chair.