So I was on the phone with my sister telling her how I met Orlando Bloom in Louisville...

You mean I didn't tell you?

How could I have forgotten to mention the highlight of the book tour?

It happened in an elevator of the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. I walked in with my escort, he walked in with his entourage, including a black lab. Naturally, I swooned and gushed, "I loved you in Titanic!

No, not really. I didn't actually speak to him. He was talking on a cell phone, and as I mentioned, he was not alone. So I couldn't slip him a copy of any of my books and beg him to produce and star in the movie. I did, however, pet his dog.

At first I was flattered that Orlando Bloom had come all the way to Louisville just to attend my book signing. Later I found out that he was in town shooting a movie called Elizabethtown with Susan Saradon and Kirsten Dunst. Unfortunately, I didn't catch a glimpse of them, so I don't know what kind of dogs they brought, if any.

So anyway, like I said, I was on the phone with my sister embellishing my story of how I met Orlando Bloom. After I hung up the phone, my son Nicholas gave me an odd look and asked, "Who did you meet in an elevator?"

"Orlando Bloom," I told him.

"Oh," he said. "I thought you said Brenda Blue. That would have been interesting."

Need something to listen to while you quilt? If you've already heard my books on tape and need something new, you could go to the iTunes Music Store and do a search for songs with the word "quilt" in the title. You could download a whole Quilt Mix for your iPod or burn a CD for your next guild party at $.99 a song.

Nope, sorry, it's not free. Do you really think I'd advocate stealing from talented, hardworking musicians? (Or even lazy, untalented ones?)

If you're a Mac user, you're probably already familiar with iTunes. You can also download a PC version by going to the Apple iTunes download page.

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, my episode of Simply Quilts will be rebroadcase on HGTV on Wednesday, August 18 at 8:30 AM Eastern time.

I sure wish they'd invite me back to do another show! I have so much more to talk about since that episode was taped in 2001...

The Sugar Camp Quilt. If you enjoyed The Runaway Quilt, I'm sure you will love this one. It stars Dorothea, Gerda's best friend from The Runaway Quilt and takes place in Creek's Crossing a few years before the Bergstroms arrive. Readers will be reunited with some beloved characters (Dorothea, Jonathan, Constance and Abel Wright) as well as a few more notorious figures (Cyrus Pearson, Violet Pearson Engle, and Mr. L.).

I hope you'll look for it in April 2005 in your favorite bookstore.

In the meantime, I'm about 20,000 words into Elm Creek Quilts #8.

Kevin Henkes.

If you're a parent or a grandparent, you need to read these books to your kids. Nicholas's personal favorite is Julius: Baby of the World, a gift from my dear friend Anne when I was expecting Nicholas's baby brother, Michael. My husband was reading this to aloud to our boys on an airplane when I realized the author himself was seated in front of us. (I confess that I snooped. I saw something that resembled my own author's book tour itinerary in his hand, and I craned my neck until I could read the name.) He was gracious enough to sign the book for us, and we had a brief chat about how we were both on our way to separate book signings. Later Marty remarked that it would have been quite a blow to the local literary scene if the plane had gone down. He's quite a comedian, my husband.

My current favorite of Kevin Henkes's books is Chrysanthemum. Sadly, I had classmates just like Victoria (who didn't?) and a teacher just like Mrs. Chudd, but alas, no amazing Mrs. Twinkle.

Michael's favorite is Owen's Marshmallow Chick, complete with finger puppet.

Happy reading!