Dallas, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2012 -- Alicia Diane Durand isn’t your regular author. In fact, her main professional passion of quilting has birthed creativity that makes her first book one of the most unique titles ever released. Guaranteed to stitch-up fans of quilting around the world, Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos is unlike anything ever released.

While the readers of most titles put a finished book down and move on to the next, Durand ensures that turning the last page is just the start of the fun. Following the story’s conclusion, readers are invited to complete the book’s quilting pattern and also create their own quilt that expresses their personal interpretation of a description given within the book.

“A series of quilting challenges will take place over the next six months,” explains Durand, who is so quick with the rotary cutter blades that may have dubbed her ‘the fastest quilter in town’.

She continues, “People will be able to submit quits based on their own interpretation of the description given in the book that will then be used to create a Quilt Companion Book.”

Any great challenge begins with a great story. When it comes to Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos, the course for success is firmly set.

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

* The author’s first book signing is next week in Texas, August 10-11, 2012 at Plano Quilt Show from 11-1 PM and at Happiness is Quilting in McKinney, Texas from 2-4 PM

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.