The Sometimes Crafter

Valentine’s Goodies To Make

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:45:00 +0000

I love an excuse to come up with a fun project to make. Valentine’s is a perfect “make something” holiday to me and I had the idea for a mini quilt for my mom in the back of my head. She has a new crafting space (yet to be assembled) and I wanted her to have a mini quilt with a photo of her favorite pooch, Lady (who passed away a few years ago now). I just love using inkjet fabric sheets and am always amazed at the quality of the print. This time I used fabric sheets I bought from C. Jenkins Co. (where I have also bought Bubble Jet Set before). This was the first time I printed on their fabric sheets and I think I have a new favorite. The photos came out beautifully! I do have to say, that while color prints look nice, printing them in black and white always looks the best. The print is always so smooth and soft and usually has a nice “creaminess” to it. In this photo I think you can tell just how nice the prints really are on the inkjet fabric. Instructions as well as alternative ideas using Washi tape or scrapbook paper are in a guest post over at the Focal Press blog Mastering Photo today.

Mini Quilt Tutorial

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There is also a second post by me up on making a fun gift for the “Him” in your life (or “Her). It’s always hard for me to craft for my husband. If I’m going to take the time I want to know he is going to appreciate and use it. Gifts always need to be useful in my mind. So the idea for a photo paperweight for his desk was the perfect project. In this guest post I talked about how I adjust my image in Photoshop to get it just the right size for printing so that it fits nicely inside the paperweight, as well as show how easy it is to assemble the paperweight. There are lots of companies on the web that sell the kits, but I found PhotoWeights.com to be the best on price (product + shipping).

Paperweight Tutorial

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I hope that you enjoy both posts and find some useful information and find yourself inspired to make your own project. I already gifted my mom the fabric mini quilt and was thinking I’d keep the washi tape one for myself… I thought wrong. My mom loved that one so much she wanted it as well. How could I say no. I’m so happy that both were loved so much and I still have my cute paper mini quilt of Norman for my walls. I thought I’d share this cute photo of Newman I took the other day. I made a “recipe” on RadLab (you can get a 30 day trial copy for free) for their contest they have going on right now. Then I thought about how it needed a cute frame. So I made an oval clipping mask from my doodles. I have so much fun figuring this kind of stuff out. I’m hoping to make some more doodle frames in the future.

Instagram + Fun With GIFs

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:06:00 +0000

Pugly Pixel has had a few tutorials up that have been on my to-do list to try for awhile. One of them was making an animated GIF. So that one is now checked off my list. The hardest part was deciding what I wanted to animate. Since I’ve been thinking about sharing some photos from Instagram lately, this was perfect. I share so much of my day on that fun little app. It’s really nice to be able to share in photos what I’m up to and see what all of my friends are doing, too. It’s a great way to stay connected. Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

And of course I think I have photos of the kitties more than anything else on Instagram. There is just so much cuteness throughout the day that I have to share. If you’ve been over to my Flickr lately you may have seen that we’ve had some trouble getting Newman use to using the litter box. I think we’ve pretty much got it taken care of, but still watching and not letting him into the boy’s room and my craftroom without supervision. But so far so good for the past several days. Norman seems to really enjoy having a friend around. Every morning we have kitty wild hour and they body slam each other all around the bedroom while I’m on the computer working. In the evenings you’ll usually find them curled up somewhere together, sometimes With one in a headlock getting a cleaning. I love having them both around. I think I have the perfect combination with a Ragdoll and Maine Coon.

Pretty Craft

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:22:00 +0000

Lots of fun blog posts coming up, one or two here and a few elsewhere. I love how pretty everything was after a trip to Collage, so I had to share. I’m so excited to get started!

That Was Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:23:00 +0000

Sometimes it’s fun to play with the tripod. I’ll just get an idea of a photo in my mind and have to try it out. I have to say it came pretty close to what I envisioned. I think I wanted my angle slightly different, but I worked with what I had and could do quickly, rather than set it up exactly. I just need those moments of creativity sometimes. This looks says: get-me-off-this-computer-and-into-the-sewing-room.

We have a new addition to our household. His name is Newman and he’s 4 months old. We rescued him from the humane society. Norman needed a friend and he’s quite happy to have one now. He was brought in as a stray, but this cat seems to be all Maine Coon, though I’m sure he’s probably a mix. He’s a doll. I’ll share some more photos soon.

Lego Star Wars + Instagram Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:56:00 +0000

I think I have more fun with my Lego Star Wars guys than a 32-year-old woman should be allowed. My collection is coming along nicely and I have oh so much fun taking photos of these little guys on Instagram. Just about everyday I manage to sneak a photo of them in.

Something Old	Lunch	My Shoes
Reflection	Inside My Bag	Happiness
Where I Sleep	Something I’m Reading	My Sky

All month I’ve been doing the #janphotoaday challenge on Instagram. I managed to get a photo almost every day. I think I missed one or two (like ‘Letterbox’ for one). These are just a few of my favorites. When I was going to buy my iPhone (with birthday money I had still saved for 8 months) my husband was like “Are you sure that’s what you want to spend your money on?” thinking that I wouldn’t use it much since I never answered my cell phone, nor do I text much. It was a resounding yes from me. I have never regretted the purchase, not even a little bit. It’s probably my single most favorite toy…ever! Although, I don’t seem to pick up my DSLR as much anymore, which is of course something I’m trying to rectify. iPhone is a blessing and a curse all in one. (You can find a link to my Instagram feed on my ‘about’ page [link at the top].)

My Blurb Book

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:01:00 +0000

A little while back Amanda had shown me that Blurb now had an option to do journal-style books with your photos. I was really excited about this, but it was the holidays and I never got around to making one. Well, wasn’t I surprised when one arrived on my door step this week!

Amanda made me one with some of my favorite photos for a birthday present. I just love it! And I am really surprised by the quality of the photo prints on the paper used. It says the paper is 60-pound uncoated, but it feels more like a 28-pound (at most) to me.

I especially love that she did a mix of solid and graph pages. I love having graph paper when I’m working on quilt block ideas. I’m not sure what I’m going to use this book for, but I love having journals to keep track of ideas and thoughts.

My only wish for the Blurb books is that they offered a version with thicker pages. Since I tend to write in inky pens, those would easily bleed through this thin paper, but if it were a thicker, sketchbook style paper I wouldn’t have to worry about that. Plus it might be fun to add some watercolor with out the worry of bleeding through.

I’m so excited for this book and hope I can bring myself to write in it. I can’t wait to begin a new journal project with it!

Thank you so much, Amanda!

There is an update to my last post on the PoGo printer. I figured out another way to print to it thanks to Kaye’s help! Scroll down to the bottom of yesterdays post to read more.

Travel Printer

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:09:00 +0000

Something I’ve always wanted to do is journal with photos when I take road trips. I love journaling to capture the moments in life. And I have always wanted to have a travel journal. But I just can’t get excited about journaling when I don’t have visuals to go along with it. I’ve always wanted to have a little printer to capture those moments easily. I had been thinking about buying an Epson PictureMate Charm, as they seem reasonably priced and reasonably sized to actually travel with. I hadn’t bought it yet because I just wasn’t sure if I would actually want to tote it along on vacation. While most of my vacationing is road trips, I like to pack as light as possible. Then one day a few weeks ago I saw on Instagram that Karyn had a tiny little printer she was using to journal. I knew that was what I needed. I went online and researched and knew in just a few minutes that it would be perfect for me. So I bought one! I am now the proud owner of a Polaroid PoGo. I thought I’d talk a little about it since I had so many questions about it myself and also from others when I was posting about it on Instagram.

The number one thing I love about it is that there is no ink required. All I need are the little sheets of 2x3” thermal paper made especially for this. You can load 10 sheets at a time and it works out to about $0.40/sheet. Also, the back removes from these and they are sticky. So that combined with no ink makes it a great value to me. And easy to travel with. So to get started, you remove your printer from the box and plug it in to charge. Once it has a charge you should be able to print quite a few prints from it and it has a day or so of stand-by. I haven’t really put this to the test yet myself, but at this point it’s not a big deal to just plug it in. It’s really easy to get going. You just lift the lid, pop the paper in (with the special blue sheet on the bottom) and close the lid and you’re ready.

It’s a Bluetooth device and so you will need Bluetooth to print to it. It is not readily able to print to from the iPhones. If you have an iPhone you know how Apple likes to lock them down. If you do have an iPhone (like I do) and it happens to be jailbroken, you can download an app from the Cydia store for $10 that will allow you to print your photos over Bluetooth to this printer. It’s called Celeste, and that’s what I did. Works like a charm. (I should note I’m not on iOS 5.0.1 yet, still 4.2.8…so not sure how it’s working with the update yet.) If you happen to have a Droid phone, then just print to Bluetooth, no special program required. My husband has a Droid, so we tested it out with his phone. (FYI – jailbreaking your phone is not illegal at this time in the US.) This screen shot is when I was in a photo via the iPhone photo app that comes preinstalled on the iPhones. Normally the “Send via Bluetooth” is not available on the options screen. If you happen to have a Mac or a computer with Bluetooth (or a Bluetooth dongle for your computer) then you can also print from that to the printer. But Bluetooth is the only way you can print to this thing. There is no hooking it up via USB to print to it. Which of course would kind of defeat the purpose of this cute little printer.

Something I had read about and noticed was that around the 3rd print you will see some streaking on the photos sometimes. You may also see this if you haven’t used the printer in a few days. The suggestions I found said to just run that blue piece of paper that came with your paper pack through the printer again at start-up. All you need to do is put it in the bottom of the print tray, turn the printer on and it will spit it out automatically for you. I had streaking on my third print, so ran the sheet through and printed again and the print had no streaking.

I’m printing to it about once a day, so I just put the blue sheet in when I’m ready to print and have it run through first and the prints all come out fine.

Slightly misleading on the Polaroid site about the PoGo is the quality of prints you will get. They show this perfectly balanced color photo. That is not what you will get. You’re photo will have a definite Polaroid-tint to it just like the instant Polaroid images of the past. Which personally, I love. For journaling it’s perfect for me. I’m always editing my photos to that vintage look anyways.

As I said above, the sheets have a sticky back which makes it perfect for journaling on the go.

And I’ve been having lots of fun with casual journaling of my photos everyday. I can’t wait for a road trip!

UPDATE

So after talking with Kaye about how she prints to her printer I had to give it a go for myself. That evening after I did this initial post I updated my phone to the iOS 5.0.1 and did the jailbreak on it…and of course Celeste is not working with the new iOS. But it looks like they are working on the update for it…at least at last tweet. So for the time being I thought I might be stuck not printing to my PoGo (sad day). But, after talking with Kaye, I now have a solution! So one of the ways she prints to her PoGo is to connect her camera directly to the printer via it’s USB cable. I have the Canon 60D which allows for printing via the camera interface and it worked like a charm. I’m so excited. So as long as I have a decent print to begin with, I get a great print from the printer. Very happy about this! Printing directly from my camera would make me just as happy as printing from my phone on the road trip. Either way, I don’t need a computer!

Next on my list to try…uploading a photo from my camera to the iPad, editing on the iPad and then printing to the PoGo. Either via Celeste (I haven’t updated the iPad in a long time, so should work on there for now) or by putting the image back on my camera’s SD card and then printing from the camera interface. Not sure how all of that will work. I’m guessing I’ll need to find an app that will allow me to put photos from my iPad back onto the camera’s SD card. I’ll be sure to post about that if it works out.

No. 37

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:06:00 +0000

We have a winner for the spot in Stitched In Color’s {Premium} Curves Class with a copy of my Retro Flower’s pattern! Congratulations to Blue Crab Quilting! I hope if you have any fears about piecing curves you will consider taking Rachel’s class. I think curves might be up there as the number one fear in sewing, but I will say it time and again, they don’t have to be hard! I think as quilters we sometimes psych ourselves out about techniques we are unfamiliar with, but it just takes a little practice to master any of it. (Remind me to give this advice to myself should I ever trying quilting a quilt on my domestic machine again.)

It seemed like such a daunting task to sew together all the curves for the Retro Flower’s quilt, but it really went together quick and the I would piece each flower completely before moving on to the next and with each one I had the push to get another one done. I really miss my mornings in the sewing room with my cup of coffee, sewing up the blocks. I keep thinking I’m going to make another one, maybe a flower each week to share, as Rachel did on her blog. I will have to see how I can work it in with everything else on my plate right now. I’m thinking it may be just the de-stress I need each day. I think for any curves I work, completing a block of curves is good motivation to keep me going. Once I see a completed block, I’m always inspired to make more.

And I can never say enough good things about my Curve Master Foot. I love that thing!

Unsure About Curves? {Giveaway}

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Photo by Stitched in Color

Well do I have just the class for you! Rachel at Stitched in Color contacted me awhile back about her Curves class, due to start February 1st, and I was only too happy to offer her students a discount on my Retro Flowers pattern. Speaking of, did you see all of her posts on her mini quilt using this pattern? Just fantastic, and I especially love that she felt that sense of achievement with each flower constructed. It’s funny to think you will be so proud of yourself, even if you’ve made curves for many years, but you just really do when you get a petal and then a flower put together.

I knew when I released this pattern that there would be a lot of readers that thought “Curves are too hard.” but I swear to you they aren’t! Sometimes it just takes seeing how to do it from someone else to really hit home. Week three of Rachel’s curves class deals with precision curve piecing and will be just the information you need to make those perfect curves on the Retro Flowers pattern. While my pattern walks you through the instructions and tips and tricks, Rachel’s class will give you that hands on information you need to make it happen if you are still unsure.

Photo by Stitched in Color

In particular, I love that her class deals with all kinds of curves, not just drunkards path’s. Each week is a new concept in curves as well as a project to complete so that you are keeping up and really learning. Her class will only be available for viewing online for a short time, so that you are sure to get the most from all the information presented. I really like this, because so many times I buy into a class that has unlimited access and then I forget about it and never seem to actually do the class. This is a much better format for someone like me, and I’m betting a lot of you, too!

She currently has two options available, as her first option (Curves Camp) sold out! I’ll let you read about it in her words:

"In the past you may have been intimidated by tight little curved seams, even downright petrified by curvy quilt blocks and more than a little skeptical that a curvy outlook could be in your stitchy future. That all ends now. No longer shall ye be limited to the straight edge. No longer shall ye look with fear upon that which inspires you..."

“The super affordable Curves Class includes everything you're used to seeing from me in the way of detailed, step-by-step picture-packed tutorials and access to all projects at $45. Curves Class {Premium} adds extra helpful (and time-intensive) features like videos and a PDF eBook of the course (delivered in April) at $65.”

Her post about the class can be read here. She details each weeks topic and gives a sneak peek to some of the projects.

Photo by Stitched in Color

Okay, now the fun part! I’m giving away a spot to her Curves Class {Premium} as well as a copy of my Retro Flowers Pattern! (If you already have the Retro Flowers pattern you can choose to receive another of my patterns instead.) Head on over to the post here and let me know which curves you would most like to learn {more} about. I would really LOVE to know more about Improv Curves! I’m terrible with improv, and want more precise, so this is a great topic for me to learn more about. A random winner will be chosen on Sunday! Good luck, everyone!

Another Year, Another Photo Folder on the Hard Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:55:00 +0000

You’ll notice I didn’t do a “Year In Review” post. I don’t usually. I don’t like to see that I didn’t accomplish as much as I’d like to think I did. And I know this last year has been minimal when it comes to crafting in any respect. Brice is a lot more work these days, mainly requiring more of my attention. I’ve also been in a little funk the last two years in regards to blogging. Last year I bought myself a shiny new camera, and I haven’t really taken many photos since then. Not my usual anyway. I guess I was in a photography-funk last year as well.

I love the new year. It’s like a chance to start over and beginning anew. A new year means another year older for me. I turned 32 yesterday. Only, this photo was taken last week when my dad was in town. Yesterday I went to IKEA where kid whined the whole time, then we went to Home Depot for paint and the grocery store for some much needed items. I know how to celebrate.

I have been in so much upheaval this last week that I haven’t had that ‘it’s a new year’ feeling yet. I don’t do well with messes, and my house is a major mess right now! ALL of the rooms are being swapped around and the living room has become the landing ground. But, the good news in all of this is that I will no longer be sharing my sewing space with my stepson on the weekends and my husbands {cluttered} computer space.

The boys are getting a new, bigger room…husband is getting his own little man-cave, our bedroom moved to the warmer part of the house with beautiful southern facing light coming into my computer desk (love this part the best) and my sewing room is going back into a little bit bigger space. I haven’t decided how everything will be laid out yet, but I’m looking forward to having it back in order and sitting down at the sewing machine again.

If you’ve read my blog for awhile now, you know that I like to set some flexible, easily attainable goals for myself each year. If I don’t reach them, that’s okay, but I like to know that I have something to work toward and try and not let myself down. This year I’d like to blog more (because I really enjoy being in that groove) and get back into photography. I’d also like to be crafting more this year. Crafting keeps me happy and there was not enough of it this last year. While my first passion is landscape photography, a close second is craft photography. If I’m not crafting, I’m not photographing, so they really go hand-in-hand for me and I hope with one the other will follow. And when I’m crafting and photographing, why not put up a blog post?

So, to recap, for 2012:

More crafting! More photography! More blogging!

Really, it’s a win-win situation for all of us!

Oh yeah! And I’m going to start collecting the Lego Star War’s minifigs from movies IV, V and VI. I kept trying to get Brice to want them so I could justify buying them (he’s way into the Lego Harry Potter right now). I just decided I would collect them for myself since I wanted them so badly.

Norman loves Lego Star Wars, too.

A Field Guide To Fabric Design

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:58:00 +0000

I had at one point saw that this was a title due to release soon and thought to myself: I need to check that one out. Then the holidays happened and I forgot about it. I figured I run across it in the bookstore and take a peek to see if it was something I needed to own. I may have even flipped through a preview online and thought: maybe. I like knowing what I can about design and how certain elements of a design are achieved (like repeats or coloring in items on the computer), but not sure if I actually want to design fabric. Perhaps as a hobby with screen printing (I’m still bummed about last years YuDu fail and their inability to get back to me about damaged product I contacted them about via their website’s contact form).

We were at the beach a few weekends ago and I went into one of my favorite quilt shops, Center Diamond in Cannon Beach, when I spotted A Field Guide to Fabric Design on a shelf. I pulled it down, did a quick flip of the pages (you know the one, where you just do a quick flip with your thumb, fanning the pages), and quickly tucked it under my arm. Seriously, just with that quick flip of pages I knew I had to have this book. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to want to own this book. Not that it wouldn’t be fabulous, but I was thinking it probably covered most of what I already knew. I was wrong. I learned SO much from this book.

Questions I had about doing repeats and half-drop repeats on linoleum blocks for block printing…answered! I think that alone was enough to sell me on the book. Not only are the instructions easy to understand, but there are fantastic photographed images to get you through each step. The layout of the book is very pleasing, and I think one of the better Stash book layouts to date. Kimberly also walks you through the steps of creating patterns in Photoshop and Illustrator. There were lots of techniques that were new to me. The instructions was quick and to the point, and most likely for those that have at least a basic understanding of the programs.

There were lots of question and answer sections, with quotes from various fabric designers. It was nice to have honest insight and opinions from so many different designers. I truly enjoyed reading what everyone had to say.

There are sections dedicated to block printing and screen printing. There are very thorough instructions on screen printing and creating repeats on large pieces of fabric. It was amazing what she explained in one chapter that whole books on the subject haven’t taught me. There are even instructions for building a table for screen printing large runs of fabric.

There is a rather large section discussing color and the color wheel. And lots of information throughout on color selection. Personally, this was of less interest to me, but someone that is very interested in color and how to go about selecting it will find this very useful and informative. There was one bit that I liked very much in this section, her idea of creating color jars and pulling from that when creating color palettes. I could actually see using this for just quilting in general, and having it be very helpful to me when selecting fabrics for a quilt. So even though it wasn’t my favorite section, it was still of great use. I just kind of skimmed most of it and figure I will pull from it what I need when I need it.

These pages give you an idea of how she explains the steps in Illustrator. Photoshop explanations are the same. The instruction is, as I said, quick and to the point and the images are relevant and really explain what you need to know.

In short, awesome book! If you have any interest in fabric design, or just design in general, I would definitely recommend this. I’m glad I found a copy to flip through and bought it. Well worth the investment.

A Field Guide to Fabric Design by Kimberly Knight of True Up

Kimberly’s post on her book found here. And a post by Stash Books here.

Where I Talk About A Book On The iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:23:00 +0000

With the holidays, I had a lot of things get put to the side. Unfortunately one of those things was blogging about this fantastic book I contributed to. I kept saying to myself “You need to blog about this!” and I’d sit down, edit the photos a little and then get distracted with something else. (Not to mention I’ve been battling all kinds of infections these last three months.) As of now it’s just an eBook, thus the photos of the iPad. The paper version of the book will be released in August, but I wanted to be sure to talk about the eBook as a lot of the projects can be adapted for all year long. It’s hard to convey my honest opinion when I’m actually part of the book, but I’m going to do my best. I REALLY love Pretty in Patchwork Holidays! Even if I didn’t have projects in it, I would still be buying it and telling you how much I love it. It is honestly one of the best holiday craft books I’ve come across in a very, very long time. John Adams (the books author, and Quilt Dad as many of you might know him) did such a great job of assembling crafters and all of the projects are unique and beautiful. John himself contributed lots of patterns and the quilts are amazing. There were quite a few that I thought “I’d make that!”

I’ve had the iPad going on almost two years now (have they really only been out two years?!?!) and one of the main reasons I wanted it was to have an eReader. I love reading books on the iPad (well, now I read them all on my iPhone it seems) but was resistant to the thought of magazines and craft books on it. I still like the feel of an actual book. Well, that point of view has changed recently with respect to magazines. Now I want to skip the paper version and just have it delivered to the iPad. This was my first experience with a craft book on the iPad, and I have to say that I’m really liking it! When I buy patterns from online independent sellers I love to email myself a copy of the PDF and open it in the iBooks app and just have my iPad on a stand on my cutting table. Turning between the pages is so easy and I’ve found it’s a great way to use the eBooks as well. I think the other positive thing about having the books on the iPad is that I’m saving precious shelf space. Now, the only problem with the eBooks is the printing of the patterns, but as long as you have a computer with printer that is pretty easy. And I imagine if you are using a service like Kinko’s, it would be pretty easy to have them help you print what you need. I haven’t explored it, but I know there are lots of apps that allow you to print from your iPad now (I think iPad2 had this built in…?). Within the Zinio app for this book on your desktop computer, you just tell it to “Print Current Page” while on the template pages and it prints perfectly.

Okay, so on to the book. I’ll just talk a like about it now so that when I have the physical book I can gush all about it again, especially since it will be right before the holiday season at that point. So this is the first project I contributed – wine bags. Or whatever kind of bottle you might be gifting (maybe sparkling cider). There are two versions of this bag, the main version is a drawstring top and the other is with an open top and handle. The front is customizable for the holidays or for gifting at any time of year (birthdays, weddings, showers). There are templates for a pumpkin for the fall, a tree for the winter, a cake for celebrations like weddings or birthdays and an option to do just a W (for wine) for any occasion. The bag itself fits around a wide bottom bottle nice and snug (I used Sokol Blosser bottles as my test-bottle…one of my favorite wineries for Pinot Noir and of course their Evolution!).

The other project I contributed was some tiny patchwork ornaments. There are two in the winter theme (snowman and tree) and two in the Hanukah theme (Star of David and Dreidel). Now I know that hanging of ornaments is not a Hanukah kind of thing, but maybe there is a gift that needs some adorning or there may be other ways to incorporate the tiny patchwork into other items for the holiday. Or maybe there are some that celebrate both Christmas and Hanukah and what a great way to blend the two. Really, who can resist tiny patchwork?! Aside from that, the book is beautifully designed and the basic instruction chapter at the front is well presented and relevant. To see a preview of the book (you can scroll through it all at a very small size and zoom in on 3 pages) and download a copy for yourself you can go to the Zinio website. If you don’t have an iPad or Android, you can still view this on your computer (this isn’t viewable on the iPhones yet, not sure about the Droid phones). Zinio has a free viewer that you will download and then sign in to your account. Once in your account you can download what you’ve purchased (books and magazines). And of course, because you are signing into your account, you can view on all of your devices with purchase.

Pretty in Patchwork Holidays: Zinio | Amazon – Not available yet

Zinio eReader: iPad | iPhone | Android | Desktop

Pretty in Patchwork Holidays: Flickr Group | John’s Blog Post

In short, this is absolutely a book I would buy and love to own. I receive nothing from you following any of these links. Yes I contributed to the book and received a free digital copy for doing so, but even if I hadn’t, I still would have bought this. Go take a look for yourself! (And I’ll talk more about this again in August when I have a paper copy in my hands!) Tomorrow I’m going to have a post up about a book I bought at the beach a few weekends ago. I casually flipped through a few pages and was like “I’m buying this!” so of course I have to share it with you.

Sigh of Relief

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:55:00 +0000

The day after Christmas is probably the hardest day of the year for me. It’ so hard to adjust after all the rushing around to get everything done. For weeks I’m swamped with shopping, decorating, planning, and making and then all the sudden it’s done. I feel kind of lost without all of the work to be done and procrastination ahead of me. I’m finally free to do what I want. Of course all I want to do is pull down the decorations and then sit on my butt doing nothing. Now of course I have the time to work on all of those sewing projects for myself, yet I just can’t seem to motivate myself to actually do them. I deserve a break after this hectic time (hosting two dinners and a breakfast for three different sets of family members in two days time), yet for some reason can’t justify just sitting when it’s been go, go, go for so many weeks.

We had a final holiday get together this morning. Now it’s time to relax. But I know I will probably just head out to the garage for the holiday bins when I’ve posted this. Once Christmas is over I just want the house back to being bare and clean for the new year. Now it’s time to think about organizing! (I’m a Capricorn through and through – I love organizing!!) This year will be some big reorganization in the house. Rooms are being moved around again, but first new carpet has to go in one of the rooms. I’m hoping we can handle that next week, as the craft room will be moving and I can’t seem to sew until it’s in it’s new space. Brice received a boat-load of Lego’s, but I don’t really want him to put them together until we are in his new, bigger room. Of course I know trying to make a 3 year old wait will be near impossible. When I have a big project ahead of me, I just want it done…like, as of yesterday. So it’s going to be trying my patients to wait until next week to get going on everything. Patients is a virtue, and unfortunately, a virtue I don’t posses.

I did order some calendars this year to sell (photo above). But silly me unchecked the di-cut box and therefore I’ve been having to cut them myself. I have a few to gives to friends, and will likely sell the rest. I’ll be sure to keep you posted. I still have to cut out May-December.

Tutorial: Creating a Photo Pillow

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:27:00 +0000

I have another post up at the Focal Press blog Mastering Photo. This time I talk about making a photo pillow to give to loved ones. I’ve made several of these for gifts over the years, and this particular pillow I made was a request from my soon-to-be sister-in-law for my brother, who will be headed overseas after the holidays. It will be a lovely reminder of the love waiting for him at home in such an harsh environment.

In other news, we headed to the beach this weekend with family. It was lovely, just the thing we needed for this hectic time of year. Of course now I have to get decorating and Christmas shopping…

Simple Photo Tote Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:21:00 +0000

As you may know, I really love so many of the Focal Press photography books (especially this one) and have had the honor of guest posting on their blog before about craft photography. Today a post went up for constructing a simple tote with a photo printed on inkjet fabric sheets. Seriously the simplest bag you could ever make, and so cute! …if I do say so myself! A perfect bag for gifting special gifts this holiday season, or as a gift in itself. There is no lining, but your raw edges are all encased and safe from fraying. Head on over to the Mastering Photo blog for the tutorial and more information on using inkjet fabric.

Doodling On Quilts

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:16:00 +0000

I seem to be my most creative when I’m procrastinating. I was working on quilting a clients quilt and the thread kept breaking and it was frustrating me trying to figure out what was the problem, so I stepped away and started to clean up my fabric piles on the cutting table. At the bottom of the pile were a few "mini quilts” destined for nothing. I had made them up and wasn’t happy with them and ultimately would have probably just tossed them (terrible, I know!). Instead, I went to my desk and grabbed a fine tipped pen and got to doodling quilting designs.

I didn’t take a before picture, but seeing this blank half you get the general idea of the ‘before’. The white just wasn’t working for me as the background here. It was too stark.

Now this I like. The doodles fill in the white space nicely and give it lots of interest. It doesn’t necessarily look fantastic with this, but it’s much more interesting and I’m looking forward to finishing the other half and having it hang on my walls with my other mini’s.

It’s mostly just doodles of the designs I quilt on my quilts. I love doodle quilting. I am hoping to do a whole cloth quilt this coming year, just doodling without a plan.

So this is another one I had sitting around. I was trying out an idea to see if it would work and this had no plans. It was just a tester. Again, the white was just too much on this, but I took a permanent marker and filled it in and I am very happy with this. I think the doodles fit the fabric nicely. This one is now on the walls and being enjoyed.

Originally I had just done some stitching with red thread around the open circle and then the outside edges of the piece. I was testing out another way of doing reverse applique I like. My attempt worked. This would have made the perfect pot holder/trivet if I had only used some insul-brite.

And here’s my little Norman (6 months now) in his USPS box next to my sewing table. Sometimes I have to load sample fabric and do some test quilting to get my tension right on the longarm, or to test a design and I shoved a few of those in the box for him. Quite often I find him all curled up in here when he goes missing in the house. I’m so glad he likes his little bed. I suppose I’ll have to make him a real bed at some point.

Update: Regarding the quilt block name...I don't know. I will have to research it and get back to you. I don't remember where I saw this, but I know it was a picture and I just drafted the measurements myself. It's a traditional block so it's out there somewhere.

Norman Likes To Help

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:52:00 +0000

I was gone most of Sunday helping my mom install some laminate flooring, and once I was home again, Norman didn’t want to leave my side. The whole next day he spent next to me, as well as yesterday. Yesterday he was being particularly “helpful” with the sewing and photographing. He decided he needed to get pins for me and then thought he knew best how to stylize the photos. The printer fascinated him to no end. He had to be sure and cram his face in there. Seriously, though, I have to go buy more pins. He has been pulling all the pins out of the pin cushion . I finally caught on and started putting it in a drawer. I had wondered why the heck I was so low!

Bear Paw

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:46:00 +0000

These are on their way to becoming a bear paw quilt. I’m very excited to finally be working with these fabrics. I’ve mentioned it more than once, I love working with primitive prints. This is a bit more of a traditional quilt for me, but I love traditional and am glad to be adding it to my quilt rotation soon.

A Bit of This and That

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:42:00 +0000

I received some delicious goodies from my very good friends Amanda and Jeni. It was a swag package from their trip to Sewing Summit. We had all planned on going, but lame me couldn’t round up the funds to go. I was so bummed about not going, but this little package made me smile big. They know me perfectly and I love every single goodie. I couldn’t wait to get started knitting with the Madeline Tosh yarn they sent (and the little draw string bag Jeni made – tutorial here). I already whipped out a bandana cowl (which I’ll have to take photos of and share). I’m thinking the Little Apples charm pack is going to be a simple quilt top with white sashing. I wish I could get going on it now, but of course Christmas crafting is waiting.

She.

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:40:00 +0000

Comments are now closed. Random.org chose #10 as the lucky number this time.

Congratulations 'dragonfly'! An email has been sent. Thanks to everyone who participated!!

I enjoy journaling, and I enjoy journaling with photos. Sometimes a photo says it better than I can. I’m not really a scrapbooker, but I enjoy the idea of photos and words and some light embellishment. Last year I signed up for an online art journaling class, and I really enjoyed the lessons. As much as I enjoy writing, sometimes I struggle with what to write about. I have always thought of journaling my life as being something important. I want to one day be able to pass on my life stories (no matter how mundane) to my children or grandchildren, so if they are interested, they can get a true glimpse into my everyday life. This is of course hoping I will have some grandchild that is as interested in history as I am.

Katie (a longtime blog friend) at Gadanke is the designer behind this fun journal I’ve been working on for a few months. I bought it back in March, and I’ve been filling in the pages ever since. What is especially wonderful is all the prompts throughout. I love having a few minutes to myself, and just opening the pages and writing whatever I feel like, in no particular order. The other day I printed some of my favorite Instagram photos of late and added them in. I’m loving the doily that was inside!

I especially love that the journal has a little pocket for holding treasures (and came with a blank sticker for me to decorate) and old library cards.

I have filled in pages with words, but obviously those are mostly personal so I haven’t shared them here. But I love the opportunities for filing out and adding in photos and other memento's. It’s such a fun, cute journal. If you’ve ever wanted to have more of an “art” journal, this is a great first step with all of this fun items inside. And this is not the only journal! There are so many other variations – recipe, kid’s, Christmas, baby, home… Really, something for everyone.

- - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - - ♥ - -

Katie has graciously offered up a $25 gift certificate to Gadanke for one lucky commenter. Head on over to their site and take a look around at the different journals let me know your favorite. I’ll pick a random winner on Sunday!

Here is a little more from Katie on the topic of the journals:

♥ The best thing about Gadanke journals (if you ask me!) is that they're accessible and usable for anybody.

♥ They're for people who say they never know what to write about. Gadanke journals have lots of writing prompts to help keep the ball rolling.

♥ The journals are small, so they fit in your purse. A lot of women take them to the coffee shop. You could even journal sitting in the carpool lane!

♥ The books give you a place to put your stuff. Date night movie ticket stubs? Vacation postcards? Paste them in or open the loose bindings and pop 'em in.

♥ And for those who wish they were craftier or want crafting to be easier and more fun, the tags, envelopes and cool papers in the journals help bridge the gap and inspire you to start embellishing your pages.

And because the story behind why Katie started these journals is so close to how I feel, I wanted to share it here with you:

“ A couple of years ago, NPR's StoryCorp was in town. It was also my grandma's 90th birthday.The two of us decided to hop into the recording studio to capture some pieces of her story. I had all sorts of prompts to help her with her story telling. (I was always the listener, the one who asked question after question.) The only problem? My grandma couldn't remember. Too much time had passed.

Later, my dad turned to me and said, "Katie, I need you to write down your story." I knew he wished he had his mom's stories. So I started writing. I started wondering about all of the other women who have stories deep inside of them, and I started thinking about how my tendency to just listen and ask could help put those stories onto paper. Gadanke was born with fabulous writing prompts and recycled papers. I feel so lucky to be living my dream!”

Good luck everyone!

Treats For Me

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:49:00 +0000

I got an email in my inbox earlier in the week (as I’m sure many others of you did) from Brooklyn Tweed announcing their new fingerling weight yarn, Loft. The Look Book of projects was fantastic, and I knew I wanted to work with it. I decided to knit up the Pei cowl for a Christmas gift. It’s going well so far.

I got very lucky in my purchase of these, as Knit Purl across the river in Portland sells Loft in their store. How’s that for instant gratification. I hurried on over and picked up these two colors, with Brice in tow. (The yarn colors are Fossil and Postcard.)

Afterwards we headed over to Powell’s. I was looking for a green housekeeping book that was recommended to me, but they didn’t have it in stock, but I did find another one that a friend has that I knew I wanted. As we were getting ready to go to checkout, I scanned the sewing section, but didn’t see anything to catch my eye. I happened to stop to look at an end cap, as it had some interesting looking books, and on the top shelf was this lovely book, Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess. I hadn’t heard of it before, but loved the cover so much I had to open it up. I flipped through a few pages and knew it had to come home with me. I am hoping to use some of these same techniques with fabric, but I might also like to try my hand with dying yarn, too.

Finished…For The Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:52:00 +0000

It took a week, but I think I’m done with the blog updates for now. My sidebar is a little barren at the moment, but I’m sure that will change in time. If you’ve read me for awhile you know that I like things to be clean and organized, and this is about as clean and organized as you can get with a blog, I think. The information from the sidebar is all still here, I’ve just moved it around. I moved the Flickr group photo button to the top as just a text button, the Sampler Quilt-Along and Photography buttons are now under the categories listing and the rest of my categories are organized there as well. I moved the about, subscribe and contact information to the top. I don’t have the email subscribe box anymore, but that’s because you can subscribe by whatever means you like (email included) from that ‘subscribe’ link.

When I am doing my blog design, I pull from lots of sources that inspire me. Right now I have been heavily inspired by the Pugly Pixel blog. It’s been a blog I’ve enjoyed for sometime, but had not visited in awhile. I reconnected with it a several weeks ago (and signed up for her Membership Extras – well worth it!!) and had been looking for a way to do away with my header, but still have a top identification, and her design was the perfect solution. I also liked how she grouped her categories into a more cohesive listing with sub-lists under main categories. Because I did away with the Blogger top nav-bar, I added in a search box for easy searching of the blog.

My about page got a revamp as well (that’s the screen shot at the top). I added in a lot of links to the end of that. There you will find my other blogs, links to my different shops (although those are on the side navigation still), all of my social network links, a listing of where I’ve been published and guest posted, an ever evolving FAQ and Blogroll. All of these things that were feeling cluttered on my sidebar now have pages of their own.

This is getting to be a rather lengthy post, but I wanted to point out all the subtle changes and give a big thank you to Katrina at Pugly Pixel for being such a source of inspiration. I have learned so many things from her Tutorials on her blog and just so enjoy her day to day posts. Be sure to visit her blog!

And now I’m off to the fabric store to pick up some fabric to finish kids costume. Happy Halloween!

Makeover Time

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:33:00 +0000

The blog is long over due for freshening up. I’m going to be making changes all weekend and getting it how I want it. Not quite sure yet how that is, but I’ve been working on a few things this week and it’s time to start implementing some of them. So, if the blog look a little funny, don’t worry, I know. Crossing my fingers that next week sees everything looking all put together again!

- ♥ - Elements :: Epic Collab @ Oscraps | Stitch Brushes @ Pugly Pixel | Font :: My Type – ♥ -

Hard To Resist

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:28:00 +0000

I was telling Aaron this weekend “It’s been over a week since I’ve made it into the sewing room!” How sad is that!? Well, I did make it into the sewing room yesterday….to take a few photos of Norman. He has found the window in there and loves to lounge in the warm sunlight (when we actually have some sun). He has been fighting a kitty cold since shortly after bringing him home. It was pretty bad there for awhile. He wasn’t eating because he couldn’t smell and then I had to start feeding him with a syringe. After that he started to eat again. Anyways, long story short, he is doing much better. Still not fully recovered, but the sneezes are getting less and less. He loves to cuddle in my lap and is totally my shadow…until Aaron gets home. Then he’s all about Aaron. He especially loves to sleep between his legs at night, and Aaron’s one stipulation about a cat was not having it sleep on the bed for just that reason. But he’s a sucker for Norman, and just moves him next to me and we cuddle the rest of the night. I really could not have asked for a better cat. I am really craving some time in the sewing room, where I do some actual sewing. Maybe I will get in there this week.

Three Little Pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:12:00 +0000

I’m sure there’s a rhyme for that… ‘Three little pumpkins, sitting on a fence…’ or something like that. Anyways, these little pumpkins aren’t sitting on a fence, but they are still darn adorable! Fat Quarterly has put out a special ‘Fall Inspired’ issue with tons of great things to sew! These little guys are in there…and wouldn’t just one of them make a great coaster?!? They do. I use one all the time in the sewing room now.

I love quick seasonal projects, and this is just that. The technique for the pumpkins may be something new for most of you, but once you complete one you will have the hang of it and start thinking of all the possibilities.

My awesome orange gingham ribbon and tiny pom-pom trim came from The Ribbon Jar. It’s my go-to ribbon shop and pretty much the only spot I buy ribbon. A local friend I know through the guild owned it and then passed the reigns to her mom, and she is just as fantastic about the ribbon she stocks and how quickly it’s shipped. So if you’re ever looking for ribbon, I can’t recommend The Ribbon Jar enough. Definitely worth a bookmark for later.

Anyways, back to the special issue – it’s a GREAT deal at only $5. There are quite a few projects I’m hoping to find time to make. There’s quilts, bags, embroidery… I’d love to see these little guys if you happen to make some! It’s such a great way to display all of those fantastic orange fabrics.