What started out as a book boasting a unique story and practical challenge has quickly spread to become a national success story. With the author almost unable to keep up with the demand for speaking engagements and appearances, her book is proof that America’s creative fire is still burning bright.

Dallas, TX -- (SBWire) -- 01/24/2013 --Dubbed by many as one of the most unique books ever released, Alicia Diane Durand’s ‘Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos’ fuses a compelling story with a practical challenge to create a quilt that expresses each readers’ interpretation of the book. Since its release last summer, the reception has nothing short of overwhelming.

The author has since travelled the country as her demand to speak at Quilting Guilds grows by the day. With Frisco, McKinney, Rowlett, Waco and Marble Falls already under her belt, critics are framing Durand as a dynamic fresh face in the quilting world.

“It has been an incredible dream of mine to launch my novel and have it appear at these locations and it is happening even faster than I could imagine,” says Durand, who places a big focus on meeting and interacting with her readers.

She continues, “People are just doggone excited about this book. It is a whole new type of quilt novel that really tells the story of a more modern quilt shop yet it is set in the sweet hill country of Texas - Marble Falls, Tx. Coupled with its post-story quilting challenge, it is truly a unique read.”

While the quilting world is rapidly modernising and changing, ‘Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos’ is the first quilt novel to follow a young quilter who is caught between the traditional world of quilting and her burning desire to be creative in the modern world.

“I want to continue to touch and inspire women of all generations about how important it is for them to live in the creative process. Quilting is a creative process where you are loving and blessing moments in life. A birth, a marriage, a loved one who has moved on; you are blessing lives and these quilts we make will outlive all of us. We need the younger generation of quilters and we need to fire them up and inspire them. This book does just that,” Durand adds.

Official Book Synopsis:

“In 1991, Marble Falls, Texas - A series of crimes plague the little quilt shop Marmie & Me, after a mysterious man in red boots demands the return of his unrepaired sewing machine.

Cricket, a senior in high school, Candy, her mother, and Bea, her grandmother, are on a mission to understand why their shop is at the centre of the small town crime spree.

Over the summer, the ladies of little quilt shop partner with the other merchants in the strip mall, the owners of the Local Taco restaurant and the hooligans of the Indigo Ink tattoo parlor, to stitch together this patchwork mystery.

Cricket is a third-generation quilter, and while she tries her best not to repeat her mother's life, she finds herself in the centre of the quilting community. As her grandmother says, “You can’t change fate. Quilting is in our blood and our blue jeans.”

Many who know Durand speak of her unbreakable focus when a new idea comes to mind. As she explains, her debut novel is a product of this fierce passion.

“I was riding in the car one day and I said to my mother, ‘I swear that sign said, ‘Tacos & Tattoos’.’ That was the birth of this amazing journey into the trilogy of Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos,” she says.

While displaying creative flair far beyond the norm, Durand is a somewhat unlikely candidate for such a unique book. Juggling the operation of her own business with the care of her two young Daughters, Durand was forced to jump through many hoops to see the success she now relishes.

“Most would say I am too busy to write a book, but that simply isn’t true. I want to show others that achieving their dreams is more than possible,” she concludes.

Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos is available in both paperback and Kindle formats, available for purchase from Amazon.com.

For more information, please visit the author’s official website: http://www.aliciadianedurand.com

About the Author: Alicia Diane Durand
Alicia Diane Durand has been sewing since she was a little girl. In her quilting, she combines a strong sense of color with childlike drawings to create dynamic, playful, engaging art. Over the years she has made hundreds of quilts and has been coined, “The fastest quilter in town.” When she gets an idea you better watch out.