Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A fun quilt: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Whenever someone buys one of my fabrics I hope to see a finished project.  It doesn't always happen that someone sends me a note with a photo but when it does it makes me really happy.

Today a woman named Donna W in western Australia found my Facebook page and sent me a photo of a quilt she made out of my Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My fabric. 

Isn't it darling?
I totally love it, it's very cheery isn't it?  I love her backing fabric and I love that it's for a little kidlet and that it lives in Australia.  Isn't it wonderful that I can create something here in California and it lives with someone in Australia?

I have to thank Donna for hunting me down and taking the extra time and effort to show me her fabulous work.  :-) You totally made my day!  Wheeeeee!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Blog recommendation: Ellen at nouveaustitch.com

I follow a few blogs, I love peeking into the minds of others.  A week or so ago I got an email from a lovely woman who followed breadcrumbs of mine and found me just to comment on my fabrics at Connecting Threads.

Now that my friends is a huge compliment that someone follows web breadcrumbs.  And to go the extra mile and make a comment!  Really flattering.

I answered the comment and didn't really check out the name before I posted.  Once I posted the comment I followed her name to her blog.

Totally gobsmacked as my friend Sharon would say.  Beautiful blog; filled with yummy writing and photos of fabric, quilts, deco and all gorgeous.  And she's got tutorials up.  I started reading...and reading....and reading.  I kept thinking...I must do more of what she does my blog is so, ummm *looking around* bland.

Go on, click that link.  Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in for some loveliness and make sure you say hi to Ellen!  She's been fabulous to get to know; I love finding people who have similar interests and who live in totally different environments. Totally an armchair traveler right?

So cool.


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Victory of sorts

Today I did something I haven't done in (hmmm) 20 years at least.  I went to Joann's and didn't buy a thing.

N O T H I N G

I did help a friend pick out a beginner pattern, some fabric, scissors, thread, and pins.  But I stopped short of looking to buy something for myself.

Unheard of.

Freakish.

It helped that Joann's has such a dearth of good fabrics; especially for garment sewing. I did stop to fondle some decorator fabric, contemplated taking a photo with my phone and stopped myself because I'd want it once I got home and looked at that fabric.  Not to mention it was probably a 45.00 a yard fabric.  Which I can't afford and have nothing to make out of it.

Good strategy on my part eh?

It was a victory on my part to not even think about buying anything (seriously!).  I can't really remember the last time I went into a fabric/craft store and came out with zip, nada, nothing.

Aren't you proud of me?

Course once I got home I realized I should have picked up a walking foot because I don't have one.   Duh.  I have to drive 20 miles round trip (on surface streets) to get there so I don't go very often.

Like I said, it was a victory of sorts.

Friday, January 4, 2013

My Kindle 3G Frozen - Amazon FAIL

I'm a big reader.  I'm addicted to reading. Always have been.  I read 4 to 5 books a month on my Kindle, sometimes more.  I read magazines and newspapers as well.  I still read actual books but my mainstay is reading on my Kindle.

Aug 2010 I bought a 189.00 Kindle 3G. I loved it from the moment I turned it on.  I raved to everyone about it.  All of my fears of missing the feel of paper, of turning pages, of the sound of turning pages were nothing in comparison to holding that Kindle.

I love clicking a book and buying it with one-click.  Sync and download and I've got a few hours of reading in my hands. I'm fine with the older technology of the Kindle 3 (keyboard). I'm an early adopter of electronic technology and can use that for my internet needs (where I read even more on a daily basis). But I like the e-ink for reading.

What I don't love is my 2.4 year old Kindle DIED. I read til 2:30 a.m., set it down on the nightstand and the next morning the screen was all streaky.  It was mostly pixelated but I could still see some words. It would not hard boot even tho I knew it had a 70% charge on it.  The light turned amber when I plugged it in so I thought maybe it'd drained overnight and all it needed was a charge. I charged for an hour. It turned on but froze after trying to turn one page.  Called Amazon customer support.  She asked me to hard boot it which resulted in nothing happening. She asked me to plug it in for 2 hours and she'd call me back.

And she did. Trouble is it would not unfreeze. The light was green this time so it was fully charged but it would not unfreeze. She told me my options were to buy a replacement as mine was out of warranty. Said they didn't have the Kindle 3G anymore (which is wrong since it's sold on the site) but I could gt a Touch for either 70. and some change or the next model up for 100. and some change.

I'd read some threads at Amazon and know there can be battery issues and a new battery might fix the problem but repair is not an option. My only option is to buy a new one, discounted but still there is a pretty good chunk of change to lay out.  Probably stings more because my 5 year old pc just blew the motherboard.

I declined the offer.  I have other options. There are 4 computers in this house, 2 tablets and 2 laptops. Plus my pc at work and my phone.  All of them have Kindle and Kobo loaded on them. So it's not like I don't have a way to read.

But I am mightily pissed that I should only expect a Kindle to last 2 years and a few months.  My Android phones last longer than 2 years, my computers have lasted longer than 2 years, my tablet is still working fine after 2 years.  But I shouldn't expect my Kindle that boasts it can hold 3,500 books on it to last more than 2 years.  That's a big FAIL. And why would I want a refurbished Kindle Touch for 100.00 if it's not going to last?

So I'm not buying a new Kindle. I'm extremely lucky that I'm gaining one from a friend who has an extra.  But since I'm a Prime member I may use that only for my free monthly lending book. I may go ahead and use Google Play to purchase my books or borrow from friends who have Kindles.  I suppose it will depend on how tired my aged eyes get from being on the computer all day at work and then reading on a back-lit screen.

In this day and age of throwaway everything I cannot believe that Amazon expects I'll throw away my old Kindle and hand over more money for a refurbished one.  I think I'll go find a replacement battery and see if that will revive mine. So before you buy a Kindle go Google "frozen Kindle". You'll find gobs of posts about it.  Make your decision after you read all the issues around frozen Kindles.

Big FAIL.

Or just go to Ebay and find an unlocked refurbished one for about 60.00.


Thursday, January 3, 2013

My snakey, slithery ikat

For this weeks Spoonflower contest the theme is Snakes.  I choose to do an ikat design. I wanted earthy and it needed to be heavily textured to mimic the warp and weft of a real ikat.  Here is a good wiki entry about ikat if you'd like to read about the real weaving process. 


It was pretty fun to do and gave me all kinds of ideas for future designs.  This pillow shown above is available at Society6, along with a cell cover, skin, laptop skin and a canvas.  Or it's available as fabric in my Spoonflower store (or rather it will.be as soon as I proof it).  Go on by and give it a Like or make a comment about it.  :-) 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

I'm back!

I took the rest of December off to relax.  It was nice to have those 18 days off!  During that time I participated in a Secret Santa exchange, did the whole Christmas thing with the family. Spent ALL our money for the month of Dec., and generally sat around the house playing on the computer and chatting with friends.

Look! My secret Santa was none other than Cynthia F, renowned fabric designer, quilting extraordinaire and all around nice human.  Really, go check out her blog to see how talented she is and what a nice human she is. And she blogs all the time which gives me fun things to read on a regular basis.  

I must resolve to post to my blog more often!

I'm quite in love with her stuff, have coveted it and wish I could sew as well as she does.  I've sewn for decades but really, I don't have the patience she does because her work is perfect.  

I also sent off a few things to my Secret Santa person; she does a lot of hand drawing so with that in mind;  I created a quilted cover for a drawing pad and a pencil bag, and I stupidly didn't take any photos so I lifted the photos from the person who received the gifts.  


I love those technical pens and I love Strathmore paper. Those are my fave pencils and while the erasers are ok, the black pearl eraser is standard in my drawing kit.  Oh and have you ever had those white chocolate candies? OMG, they are to die for. Melt in your mouth goodness.  In any case it seems like she liked the gifties. :-)

I still owe some gifts to some people...I think I have an aversion to the post office. I resolve to get those things out the door too before too many more weeks go by.

Tomorrow I go back to my 8-5 daily job and must close so I can get my stuff ready for the week. The best part about going back to work tomorrow is getting paid tomorrow. OMG, running out of money and having to wait for a paycheck is the worst!  So yay for tomorrow!