A snowflake solstice

I have 2 children, both are adults now and I'm thankful every day they've grown up to be fine humans.  I remember every age; the trials and tribulations of rearing them and keeping up with their ever-changing personalities and physical needs.   I loved all of those moments.  I still love those moments; they are my babies no matter how old they are.

I love the kindness of children, their innocence, their unfettered joy of being.  I feared for their safety, their well-being.  I mourned the loss of innocence when my husband and I discussed how we'd teach them to protect themselves as they learned that in addition to very nice people the opposite existed as well.  Mean people, hurtful people, evil people. My kids have been lucky - most of the people that have been in their lives have not been of the latter ilk. I do not fool myself that I can keep them safe from all things. I wish I could.

This week has been exceptionally hard for me.  The Sandy Hook children and their family and friends have been in my thoughts all week long.  It makes me profoundly sad that they and their parents/families will not have them to teach them, to learn from them, to love them.

As I thought about my snowflake design I couldn't stop thinking about all of the children. Each one the light of a family. That no two snowflakes are alike, they swirl around for a very short time and melt away.

In remembrance I created this design. The background is storm clouds. The snowflakes are the fleeting moments we hold; perfectly individual. The candles the children that shine light for us. The light we light to remember them by.  The groupings is all of us, together we are humanity, together we must be the light for others.  The title is A Snowflake Solstice as we move from innocence to a new year where we can hopefully learn the hard lesson that we must do everything we can to keep our children safe and have conversations on how we can do that.

Hold your children and kiss them. Be brave enough to say all lights should be considered sacred and worthy of shining forth. Be the light and do what you can to keep them as safe as you can. 

Sick computer :-(

You know your computer is sick when the monitor is on but the screen is black and it won't boot up.  I broke out in a cold sweat trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I'm perfectly able to figure things out if it's software related but hardware? Nope, have no idea.

I could see the fan whirling around.  That means nothing really...I just like the words "whirling around".

The very nice thing about Facebook and having very nice friends is the generosity that is offered up.  My friend Jackie offered up her husband; he's apparently a hardware kind of guy and she somehow talked him into doing the diagnostics for my poor computer.  What a girl! What a guy!

So far the data is recoverable. Which is a relief since ALL my artwork is on it. All my programs...some of which I no longer have the disks for. All kind of photos are on that hd.  A fan is broken and based on what Jackie said I'm betting the power supply is toast too.  I hope it's not too expensive to fix as it's my daughters 21st birthday tomorrow and Christmas is right around the corner and I don't get paid again until January.  Being on a strict budget doesn't allow for computer crashes.

I may not be doing any designing until January. That fills me with fear and loathing. Drawing every day is what keeps me sane.  A different friend told me about an electronics recyling place not too far away where maybe I can get parts really cheaply. All my body parts are crossed.

So I'm using a Mac laptop.  I've installed my Intuos tablet which helps a lot and I do have a really old Illustrator ap on it so maybe I can adjust to using that. I find a laptop a pita tho.  My fingers just hate the keyboard!  And I an so awkward with the touchpad.  But I am thankful that I have a laptop to use.

Hopefully I'll be up and running in no time. I'm keeping all my body parts crossed!

Gators on your pillow!

How nice of Jamie B to send me a photo of a pillow she made using my fabric design Alligators are Evergreen in the Everglades

Isn't it so cute?  I rotated the horizontal photo so you can also see the print without getting a crick in your neck.  :-)

I really heart customers and when they take the extra time and effort to show me their work I swoon!  I <3 head="head" lay="lay" my="my" nbsp="nbsp" on="on" p="p" pillow="pillow" this="this" to="to" want="want">

Those are my naked alligators, I also have clothed alligators. They're on vacation so you know they needed to dress up just a bit. Gators on Vacation  Oh, and I also have a 4 for 1 design where you gt 4 fat quarters on 1 yard of fabric and it does include the Gators on Vacation design.  Gators and Snakes for the Adventurous!

Thanks Jamie B for buying my alligator fabric and thanks so much for sending me photos!

My Riveria Tee Detail

Partial view of my entry for the Riveria Tee contest at Spoonflower

My designs on pillows

Oh look...Pillows! Now you can buy pillows at My shop at Society 6

My surface design page on Facebook

Why yes, I DO have a Facebook Fan Page: Click here to go there! Click the Like button! I hope to see you there!

The worst Christmas gift

The worst gift I ever received was this very scary doll. My MIL loved church craft fairs and wanted to support the ladies at whatever church.

This, she so happily pointed out to me was made by a BLIND woman!  Isn't that nice?

Nice, no I don't think it's nice, I think he meant to terrorize people with them. See for yourself; Do you agree with her or with me? Don't worry, you won't offend my MIL, she's done the celestial  check out and won't be commenting here.

A pom pom full of sparkle for a nose.  Matching shoe pom poms. A festive one piece jumper complete with upside down designs!  Medium blue plastic beads adorn the appendages...I'm guessing those are where terrorizing cardboard/styrofoam headed clowns indicate where their joints are. Googly eyes! A styrofoam head with marker tattoos in it's face.  I think the red/white and blue yarn pom poms are to indicate that this was made in American, for Americans.  

What's not to love? 

A slightly closer look at it's face.  Ok, look, the danged thing was in the garage full of dust.  It scares me. It scares anyone who ventures into the garage, my camera was scared and didn't care to really focus on it.  

You see the evil eye it gives you if you move over to the side?  It's terror-inducing.  btw, you can't see it in the photos but there is spray glitter on it's hat. 

I do apologize, you might not be able to sleep after witnessing this gift. I probably should have warned you at the beginning eh?

Now, what is your worst gift you've even gotten?

My Facebook page

the Caper Chase detail

The detail to my entry for the Timeless Treasure/Spoonflower contest.

Whoa little dogie!

It's been a while since I posted. My only excuse is my daughter has been sick and there for a while all I was doing was running her to twice a day doctor visits and attending to her. But she's on the mend (fingers crossed).

In the last year or so I've been putting designs up on My profile at Society 6. I do ok there, not as well as at Spoonflower tho.

Just a couple of products by me

You can also find laptop skins, teeshirts and tote bags.  I can't really decide if the single subject items such as the vampire girls (hard to see their little teeth in this photo but they have teeny pointed creepy teeth) or the seamless repeat designs do better.  I'd really like to crack this market better.  

I often change things up a little for the Soc6 products.  The girls at SF have a spider and skulll background that they don't have at Soc6.  

I'm undecided whether I should continue on doing Soc6 stuff as it's harder than anything to get noticed there amongst al the really fabulous art.  One day I think I'll just not add things and then the next I get all gung ho.  What a quandry ya know?

Eagle eye spots my fabric design in an ad

Do you know how nice it is for someone to spot your fabric out on the web and let you know it's there?

Connecting Threads is a sponsor of True Up (a realllly great site) and Samarra Khaja, textile designer extraordinarre spotted the flashing ad while reading True Up.  Do you see it there on the right side?  Go check it out live in person by clicking the True Up link I posted.  

I know I'm still so tickled to see my stuff out on the web!  So if you see something...or you make something out of it I'll post it in my blog!

Thanks again Samarra! You made my night! 

Vampire Twins!

I've decided I need to really start paying attention to my Society6.com stuff.  Mostly I've been concentrating on fabric design and a lot of what I do can be modified to adorn cell phones, laptop skins/covers, etc.

My only wish is that they had cell covers/skins for my Razr Maxx.  But I'm tickled that there are iphones out there with my designs on them!  A recent fave of mine is this one.

Titled "Meredith and Delany: Vampire Twins".  They're kind of fun and quirky and I want them on my own phone!  Wah!  Oh well, I'm thinking I'll make them into a fabric and perhaps they'll be in a slightly different setting.  I'm sure these 2 girls are trouble in the making despite their innocent looks. I'm thinking I'd like to make a Kindle cover using these two...I've been waiting until I came up with a design that is a little darker (I use my Kindle alot!) so it doesn't show grime quite as quickly as a light colored fabric.

Oh, btw, this week only you can get free shipping on my stuff at Society6!

Off to design something fun.  If you have suggestions on what you'd like to see in my Soc6 or Spoonflower shop just leave a comment!

Virginia

Status Migrainous, DHE, Lyme

Again I have to apologize for not being around on the blog.  Not that I'm very good at posting regularly but I've been really scarce lately.

I've been learning about Lyme disease and Status Migrainous.  Having a very sick daughter who's being treated for both of these things at the same time.

The doc (a neurologist) is treating her for the Status Migrainous with DHE and antibiotics for the Lyme.  The Lyme is a possibility as she has a positive titer and one band showing but she apparently needs 2 bands showing (this might be Greek to you but that's ok..it's a PITA to be diagnosed without the 2 bands).

Most everyone has heard of Lyme so there is a sort of passing knowledge about it - it's not a good thing to have. Her neuro is treating her for it so that is at least being managed with antibiotics.

More worrisome to me is the protracted migraine. She's had it for 31 days now.  Yes, 31 days.  She's been in pain and has had severe nausea for all of this time.  She's getting IV DHE as well as steroids and a anti-nausea medicine 3 times  day. Her arms and hands look like pincushions.  The nausea, the vomiting and the heat is making her dehydrated and she's had to get IV fluids to keep her hydrated. Next week she gets a IV and a home nurse to administer the drugs and keep the IV cleaned a few times a day. Hopefully that will help so she's not getting 3 different IV sticks a day. More if they can't find a vein that will take the IV.

This is managing her pain to a certain extent but not curing her so far.  Her head hurts at a level 3 once she gets the meds. If the meds wear off she goes up to a level 8 (btw, I'm using a 1–10 scale).  She feels a 3 is manageable.  I've had migraines, I don't know how she can function at a level 3. Maybe because she's had migraines her entire life and has withstood a lot of pain over her lifetime. She's only 20 but that's a whole lotta life with migraines.

If you know someone who is a migraineur please be sympathetic and please do not minimize it as a "headache".  People have often given her a casual: "Oh  come on, it's just a headache" to either make her feel guilty that she can't just shake it off and do whatever they think she should be doing or think she is just trying to shirk off work/play/whatever. People like teachers, friends, strangers, etc. The number of people who are ignorant of migraines is a pretty large percentage of the population.

I know most of them don't mean it as a mean thing but because she forces herself to continue on with a migraine they don't always understand when it becomes too much for her.

I do want to thank every single person who understands or even if they don't understand are sympathetic to anyone who suffers from migraines.  Your graciousness and generosity is a beacon of light.

Hardest of all is watching her go thru this pain right now.  I can't fix it, I can't control it and I am totally frustrated and yes, I am worried. She's my baby.  Today I sat with her for 10 hours while she got IV fluids and meds.  She was actually there for a few hours longer as I was at work until she got admitted and then I left work to be with her.  Tomorrow we go back, rinse and repeat. I am hoping the headache breaks either from the DHE or if it's Lyme that's causing it, the antibiotics will break it.

If you read this I'd rather not hear horror stories of how long it COULD last.  I've already heard them or read them and I'd rather not focus on that...I already worry enough about it.

Maybe later I'll add links to all the things I've posted about here...education is always a good thing but tonight I'm just too tired to go looking for all those links.

After the interlude..or where I have been...just call me Mama Bear

I've been incommunicado since my last post because life got very complicated all of a sudden.

My daughter got ill.  2,500 miles away from me. Luckily she was with my wonderful family and that was immeasurably helpful.  Still I turned into a mama bear on the phone constantly trying to understand what was going on and what we all needed to do to get her stable.  She finally got on a plane to come home, had a medical emergency on the plane (was met by emergency personnel at the airport which totally embarrassed her) but got home safely.  We're in the midst of figuring out what the problem is; she's got great doctors so that's been a godsend and has kept me calm.

Because of that situation I have totally neglected my blog.  I still have exciting things happening around my fabric and now that I'm not in mama bear fighting hard for my daughter quite so much at the moment I thought I'd sit down and show you what's been going on.

The Connecting Threads and Spoonflower contest is coming to a close tomorrow, winners should be announced at some point tomorrow. If you want to read about it go here to my last post.

Connecting Threads put up an interview with me here in their blog Notions.  How freaky weird to see myself staring back at me when I open the page.  I would love to see your comments on the post so go comment.  I'm tickled pink that quilters at CT are commenting and best of all the design strikes a chord with them.  Best thing ever. I hope the fabrics sell like hotcakes!  One day I hope to be somewhere and see someone who is walking around wearing something they made out of one my fabrics!  I wonder if I would dare to say hello?

Speaking of walking around with one of my fabrics...CT also did a post yesterday that was written by guest poster  Barbara Talbert.  She did a fabulous post on making your own quilted bag.

Photo taken from the Connecting Threads blog.  All rights reserved.  

Aren't they just darling?  She used Sunkissed Flowers and Windblown Dots. You can buy the patterns at Connecting Threads if you're dying to make something fun over a weekend.  I love the post, it's got great info and I must say...great fabric choices!

I was also highlighted in a blog that is written by Patty Sloniger aka Beck and Lundy.  She's a fellow fabric designer and she designs for Michael Miller, take a look at her oh-so-cute-and usable fabrics here. Not only did she write a post but she bought a boatload of my fabrics too and is going to make something out of them!  Wooot!  I can't wait to see what she makes..she sews quite well ya know.

I have a lot to be thankful for...my family in PA who took care of my daughter while she was there, my daughter making it home when she was so ill (all the parametics, firement, police, doctors, nurses and airline personnel get many thanks from me), my designs highlighted in blogs all over the web, my friends spreading the word about my designs, my my work for being understanding about my excitement over my collection being released and letting me off of work to attend to my daughter. And really many thanks to my friends who've been such good listening ears during all of this.  You know who you are.

I have great bounty in my life.  On many fronts.

What a week!

It's been quite the week! First my collection of fabric designs - Hello Sunshine - was released by Connecting Threads.

Woot!  There I am with all 19 fabrics on the first page and projects on the second page

Gorgeous projects to purchase! 

The back cover of the catalog! 

Are these not the most fantastic items?

Oh look!  The name of the collection by me on the selvage! 

Now that's not all...Connecting Threads and Spoonflower  have paired up to do a fantastic giveaway for 5 winners.  You'd get fat quarters of all 19 of my Connecting Threads designs and 5 of my Spoonflower designs.  And here they are here:

That's a total of 24 fat quarters.  That's a lot of fabric!  

So do you want to win them? You'll have to go here to the Spoonflower blog and make a comment for a chance.  Oh come on, go on, you can't win unless you do it! And you know you want free stuff right?  If you're a Facebook user you can go to the Spoonflower fan page and comment there as well. You can also go to the Connecting Threads Facebook page...there is a link to the contest there too.  While you're there you should LIKE them...because they're both worthy of likes!  Oh and go cruise around both sites; tons of fabulous buys! 

If you win I'd reallly like to see what you end up making. Pretty please? Nothing gives me more pleasure than to see finished projects.  Ok, maybe there are other things that give me that much pleasure: dark chocolate, really good cheese with fruit, latte, my husband (ahem), my kidlets...but seeing those projects is right up there on my list!

I hope you you like what I created because I'm always busy creating more!  I'm mad for fabric design! Mad for fabric! If you want to follow me at Spoonflower go to my profile there, rather here, sign in at Spoonflower and click the Follow This Designer link. And don't forget to comment! I love comments!

Ok, I'd better get going before I go way off the deep end!  

Virginia

Dreams do come true

Last Aug I won a fabric design contest.  At Connecting Threads, a really fabulous Internet (and catalog) fabric company.  I was so excited to win!  I had some worthy competition and that made it nerve-wracking and thrilling at the same time. Like watching your kids on a roller coaster. You know they'll be ok (right?) but you're just not sure that they can handle the fear of the loop to loop and up and down so you sort of close your eyes but you peek out between your fingers.

That's how it was for me.  After I won it took me a concious effort to breathe again! I started working with the staff at Connecting Threads, they were so easy to work with and I totally enjoyed every tweak I did (which they made so easy–it was minimal).

Well, all that roller coaster fear and thrill came back to me today. One year later. Served up in a tall glass of OMG, Look at that~my designs online with my name on it.  It was totally worth the wait.

Shut the front door as the youngsters say.  Errr, maybe that's what the oldsters say!

Hello Sunshine by me for Connecting Threads

Aren't they beautiful?  I think they are.  The colors are juicy and summery and I'm dying to sew more stuff with them.  The fabric has a gorgeous hand; I sewed my first quilt (see it here) with it last week. I must learn how to really quilt.  That said, I almost always think of quilters when I am designing fabric.  

Oh, so do you want to see the entire collection?  Well, don't wait any longer click here! There are kits to make, 19 different fabrics in the collections with a number of colorways. They've also made it easy to see other coordinates that you might be interested in. And thread! Don't forget to buy thread to match!

When I first started designing surface design I hoped I'd get good enough for someone to actually buy some of my fabrics.  Other than my family that is.  Today I get to pinch myself and say, "Yes, I guess others will buy my fabrics!"

I have so many people to thank.  My family of course. My friends who didn't laugh and point but said, "Oh, those are pretty good/cute/funny/beautiful."  My designer friends who always have encouraged me and gave advice when I asked.  I even have to thank those who were indifferent to my designs because I fought to win them over.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Spoonflower where I experimented; even the crash and burned designs taught me something.  My customers at Spoonflower! Every sale is thrilling and I always want to see what they've made!  And finally Connecting Threads...you've made a dream come true for me.  Truly and wonderfully I hope not to wake from this fabulous dream.

xo

Meatloaf anyone?

My fellow Spoonflower designer, friend, designer for Robert Kaufman and all-around fabulous quilter Cynthia created the best meatloaf pillow ever. She included my bacon design in her pillow and I couldn't be happier to be part of her household that way.

Go take a look at her blog entry about her pillow here Cynthia Frenette's blog

And then check out her art quilts here  She creates the artwork and quilts them as well as embellishes them with amazing textures using beads and crystals and all kinds of fun stuff.

Her stuff makes me want to hand sew.  Speaking of which last week I made a quilt. Yep, I did.  I've never made a quilt before...I've made things that are like a quilt but never really pieced anything together.  Mostly I've done cheater quilt type things.

It's a really, really simple quilt and I didn't use a pattern.  I tore strips of fabric into varying widths and then sewed them into a quilt.  I used a lot of white because I wanted it to be somewhat minimalist.  As I sewed it all together I found the balance of color was off some so I tore it in pieces over and over until I got something that looked balanced.  I stitched in the ditch for the quilt.  Here it is below.  See? Simple.  I did hand sew the binding which took longer than I thought it would but by golly you can't see any stitches so I'm pretty danged happy!

I made the quilt for some friends who expecting their first baby.  I can't wait to see him all wrapped up in it...although it might be some months since he's not expected until Sept and it'll still be hot here.  But he can lay on it!  LOL.  

I hope seeing Cynthia's stuff makes you want to do some quilting.  I hope you do because colder weather is just around the corner and you'll be glad you made it now. Happy sewing!

The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library and me

A month or two ago I got an email notifying me of a Spoonflower sale.  I sell designs at Spoonflower regularly so an email isn't unusual.  A fat quarter sale, a few yards, even 20 yard sales can happen and have (and I jump for joy each time) but a 69 yard sale?

S i x t y n i n e yards. My eyes popped open at that one.  My first thought was "errrrr, I wonder if the buyer made a mistake and wanted 6 nine yard pieces?"  I had to verify the sale!

Verified, yes the sale was correct.

Now what in the world would someone do with 69 yards of fabric?

If you're the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library (with a central library and 22 branches) and you have a summer reading program called Gear Up you buy a boatload of fabric with gears as a way to decorate your branches!  Exhibits and displays are put together and my Gear Up fabric can be used in any way the participating branch wants to use it.  At the end of the program they announce the winning display.

I'm a HUGE reader. I usually have a couple of books going at the same time. I have a book near my bed, one in my car and one at work.  Depending on how good the book is I might end up carrying the most compelling story with me from home to work and will read in the parking lot while I wait for my daughter to get off of work.

When I was a kid I'd ride my bike 2 miles to check out 10 books a week.  That was the limit and I always got 10 books.  I filled the basket to the brim each trip.  I read everywhere...including while riding my bike. Ok, so I can't really recommend steering while reading but I wanted to start that book now.  I'd read at the kitchen table before dinner...until my mom would get dinner on the table and tell me to put the book away.  I'd lay the book face up on my lap and try to sneak more reading in by pretending to be downcast that I couldn't prop my book up on the other side of my plate.  She caught me every time tho.

I read in bed under the covers with a flashlight so my sister wouldn't be bothered by the light.  I read in the bathroom, in the bath, in the car...everywhere.

The only time in my life that I didn't read for fun was when I had 2 small children and they seemed to need me during all of their waking moments. Eventually I put my foot down and taught them if I was reading they'd have to ask their dad for whatever they needed.

I think reading is part of my DNA.  One of my biggest nightmares is not being able to read.  There is a Twilight Zone episode where a man who loves to read finds himself in the midst of a world calamity. Everyone is gone in an H-bomb blast and he retreats to the local library where there are books galore.  He accidently breaks his glasses and is left with thousands of books that he can no longer read.  He yells out: "It's not fair, all the time in the world and I can't read!"  (or something to that effect).  Oh that scared me to death!

I digress.

To me, having a one of my designs in a library is the perfect use. Mixing design with reading 2 of my favorite things in one place.  Libraries are one place where at your fingertips you can go anywhere, do anything, be who you want to be.  All for free.

The staff at the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library have been great. They've shared a few pictures with me (and they'll send more as their contest winds down).

Support your favorite library, there is always something new happening there.  And if you haven't been to a local library recently: GO! Oh, and I'd love if you left a comment telling me of your favorite books or what you're currently reading. 

Photo credits to the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library, used with permission.

Graphic by me. :-)

A costume print

The next Spoonflower contest is for a theater company putting on How To Succeed in Business. The brief is a mid-century modern print on an 8 inch swatch.

This is what I came up with; it's shown as if it were under stage lights.  The colors are a deep blue with green and lavender elements.  Since it's a very small print I thought it would be good to have something that could change easily under lights that might have gels.  Lavenders can glow white in certain lights so they might be a nice softer color than a stark white.  There are also vertical lines to keep a nice vertical line on the chorus girls. The colors are also dark enough so the main character singing will stand out in the crowd.

If you want to see the actual print you'll have to navigate here to Spoonflower. Wish me luck, I think it will be hard to see how the design at SF will translate to a dress on stage under stagelights.  

Google image search and copyrighted material

I highly recommend using Googles image search to find your copyrighted images that may be shown on websites you haven't authorized.

The address is images.google.com.  Once the page loads you'll see a familiar text box with a camera icon over to the right. Click the camera and it'll ask you for an uploaded file or a web address to check against other images on the web.

That's how I found my bacon fabric out in the vast web.  The guy illegally selling my design on Zazzle products intimating that he doodles in MS Paint and thought he'd make some money off of his doodles.  I also found a low-res photo of the bacon on the Food Network.

The Food Network has a blog entry displaying my bacon fabric and has a link directly to my fabric.  I had no issue with them doing such but did ask that they replace the non-watermarked image with a watermarked image.  Within 24 hours it was changed out and I am one happy camper. They were easy to work with, communicated with me easily and it totally made my day.  They gave credit to me via the link from the time the post was first published, and they did use a low-res image originally so yay to them for doing the right thing in the first place!

Zazzle has been a little more difficult to work with. My original email to them was 6 days ago.  I sent links to the Zazzle products and my copyrighted upload which includes some dates (although the dates are vague by not showing exact upload date/time but does include copyright marks with my name on top of the image.   I asked that it be taken down and an accounting of the sellers commissions be given to me. My next email was to swear under perjury that the image belonged to me. The 3rd email offered up original photos (my design is seamless not just a single shot of bacon), I offered up an exact upload date and asked them to compare with their sellers info.  In the midst of all of that they asked if I wanted to exchange contact into with the seller.  I'm stymied why they don't suspend an account while there is an investigation going on.

I still have not gotten notification from Zazzle about the state of my design. Nor do I have anything that shows how much money he's made off of my design despite asking for that in my first email.

I wanted to be the nice girl about it, give the guy and Zazzle a chance to do the right thing.  Now that we're closing in on a week the attorney letter on letterhead is being written.  I'm lucky to have lawyer friends!  I really hope it doesn't come to me to have to send an attorney letter, I would really rather have a cooperative exchange like I did with the Food Network.

Zazzle.com and a stolen design

About a week ago I found one of my designs being sold on Zazzle.com.  Illegally I might add.  I did not give Zazzle or "theJakeness" permission to host or distribute my design for sale or otherwise.

My bacon design is hosted at Spoonflower.  It sells pretty well and I've licensed it to others but I did not license it to the Jakeness. Here are all 5 of the products he's offering at Zazzle using my design. Click here.

Here is my bacon fabric design hosted at Spoonflower.

Zazzle wrote me an email the other day asking if they could distribute my contact info to the guy who stole my design. I said no. I do not want a thief to have my email address because I'd rather Zazzle do the investigation and remove my design from their site.

Today I get an email from them, in part it stated: Please find below the contact information provided to us by the user in question so that you may reach out to them directly to resolve this issue:

And then it listed the email for the thief.

I've again asked them to remove it, I can provide upload times and dates where my original design is hosted. I'd like Zazzle to compare my upload time/date with his because I can guarantee that mine was first. Not to mention that I can provide the original photos where the bacon is not in a seamless repeat.

It upsets me to no end that this guy has sold my design on product and is making money off of my design. Money that is rightfully mine.  It upsets me that Zazzle wants me to contact the guy directly when I have an issue with Zazzle not doing the investigation and banning him as they have others who are using copyrighted materials.

Jakeness and Zazzle: please remove my bacon design and be upright and send me a check for the products you've sold using MY design. Thank you.

red comparison

The top red is the red from the Derby fabric, the lower red is from another fabric.

PA., NJ., NYC vacation

What a whirlwind trip.  9 days and everyone one of them filled up with things to do. First the wedding: Touring the grounds, visiting the butterfly house and some of the animals, being AT the wedding, hugging family thru the entire 9 days. 

A butterfly in the butterfly house

A baby goat wondering where her grass is. Funny, they got so excited if you hand-fed them the very same grass they had on their side of the fence. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence! 

The newly wedded couple

I love that groundhog, he was watching us have photos taken while chomping on fallen apples.  

Next up New Jersey.  At the shore.  Which was foreign to me. First the shore and then the boardwalk. 

My daughter having so much fun in the kid teacups.

I don't have any shore photos on my camera so these couple of boardwalk photos have to stand in to show I really was in NJ.

Off to NYC

Yes, we toured on a bus.  We did a whole lot of walking so this helped a ton. I also took this photo because the whole family there are wearing poof hairdos.  

The Empire State building and a church, I've forgotten the name of that church. St. Peters? 

The south pool.  It's so loud.  Like the noise you hear while watching footage of the buildings falling.

A different angle

A nighttime view from the Renaissance Hotel.  There were throngs of people below.  

hahaha, I am not a very good photographer and I always forget to take photos when it comes right down to it.  I have many more photos but I won't make you sit thru the slideshow.  But thanks for viewing this small offering.

I didn't do a whit of designing when I was back east.  Too busy and even in my downtime I preferred to sit on the deck and listen to the birds sing.  It was heavenly.  I loved hanging with my family.  My PA family comes out to California far more often than we travel anywhere but it's nice to see them in their natural habitat! I also loved that both of my children came out to be there with all of us.  As much as I wanted my husband to be there I was very happy he was at home taking care of our animals.  Now, when can I go on vacation again? 

Flitting about the country

I've been on vacation.  My niece who lives on the east coast got married and I had to be there for this momentous occasion.

I took a automobile, a plane and a train to get here.  It was an adventure as the airline booking got messed up and they nearly didn't let me (and 5 other people) on the train.  Not to worry tho, we all just entered the train without a ticket and the Amtrak ticket lady was fabulous and let us ride anyway.  I was sweating it!

Eastern Pennsylvania is gorgeous.  Not as gorgeous as my niece tho.  Here we are in a candid shot.

I love this shot because we're so concentrated together while there is a big expanse around us. That's how this farm was...rolling meadows dotted with huge trees.  It's also how I see this area of PA.  It's so green and lush everywhere.  The weather here has been unseasonably hot and humid.  

I've seen fireflies! They're so pretty! While it's dark and they're lit that is.  I enjoyed looking at them while I sat on the dcck of my SIL and BIL's backyard deck.  Actually all the flora and fauna in PA is great.  I saw cardinals and robins and tons of butterflies.  We don't have cardinals in So Cal and the butterfly populations are finally coming back after years of not really being seen.  That makes me happy.  I didn't really enjoy the 5/8 inch black ants tho.  They're kind of hugely giant if you compare them to our (nasty) little black ants that are less than a quarter inch.  However, the giant black ants don't march in a mile long by 1/2 inch line either so there is that.  Oh, there are squirrels here that steal the birdseed.  We do have squirrels but they aren't so brazen.

Oh yeah, I saw a couple of groundhogs.  I have a photo of one that was watching the bride and groom get their photos taken but dangit, it's on my dead camera at the moment.  A photo for another day.

I also have photos of the boardwalk at Wildwood, NJ and photos of NYC. All on my camera.

I travel home (I leave for the airport in 30 mins) so maybe tomorrow I can do a new post with MORE photos.  Uhhhh, and don't expect too much.  I'm only a point and shoot kind of gal so some of the photos will be abstract art. hahahaha.  

Until then, bon voyage! 

Geometric

A friend of mine suggested I do a tic tac toe design for the newest Spoonflower contest.  Sheesh, I was just going to do a plain chevron - I am so out of ideas.  Here are the O's of the game or if you prefer the hugs in hugs and kisses.

Looks like when I exported I cut off the top of the 2 O's but the design itself here at Spoonflower Click here to see it is perfectly fine and not cut off.And I didn't do any clean up of small white lines (I'm in a terrible hurry right now).

The choice of color was part of the brief rather than my own choice.  I'd probably do it in lots of color so it were bolder.  I'm ok with the green, I'm less fond of the grape color. 

The next contest is Endangered Animals and that should be realllly fun and way more to my liking.  Yay.

Ickly sickly

Oh, it's been a tough couple of weeks.  I was sick, sick, sick.  Flu? Walking pneumonia? Whatever it is, I've still got the tail end of it and it's wiped me out.

How many weeks can you cough because of icky goo?  So far albout 3 wks.

My sister was in a car accident: a few injuries and she'll survive but dang, hearing that the inside of her Camry is now only 24 inches wide sorta puts a bit of fear in you.

Got my ticket to go to PA for my nieces wedding. Huzzah. Even got a ride to the airport from a really nice friend who will drive me 60 miles there and then her 90 min drive home.  Boy, do I owe her!

Ok, that's it for tonight: I hope to do a post with some crafty things by this weekend!  Or at least post something funny or entertaining or something (I hope).

Night night.

Number 17!

What a great experience to take part in the SewMamaSew.com 2012 giveaway.  I loved checking the comments and seeing really yummy and fabulously easy things to make and eat.   You all outdid yourselves with every kind of yummy choices for me. Thank you so much! Without further ado:

Drum roll Please!  

Using the True Random Number Generator the winner is #17!  SewLindaAnn!  So, Linda Ann I've sent you email and when you reply with your address I'll send out the apron kit to you asap!

Scooters and Sidecars

I've created a whole slew of coordinates to go with my watercolor scooter fabric here at Spoonflower .  It's currently entered in the Motorcycle contest there (if you choose to vote in the contest the link is here

I wanted to make a kid design, specifically boys.  Those poor boys they rarely have a big choice when it comes to fabric design.  I like this because it's geared towards toddlers both boys and girls.  If you look at my coordinates you'll see designs geared for both styles of kidlets. .

 

 When my son was teeny I could basically find cammo or truck fabric.  Both are fine but I wanted MORE.  He loved vroomy things so that's what I kept in mind as I drew the scooters.

Oh and I might end up using this as a coordinate too.  :-)

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway! Woot!

Yahoooo!  It's time! I'm participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!  See this logo proves it!  Isn't it exciting? You could have a free cut and sew kit in your hands in just a week or two if you just continue reading.

You cook right?  And cooking can be messy right? Especially if you have a 3 year old who wants to get his or her fingers right into the bowl and then after licking their fingers must wipe the rest of it up on your clothes.

Well, I have just the kit for you (even if you don't have a 3 year old and even if you don't actually cook...you could use it while cleaning the house, but it really is cute in the kitchen especially if you have FiestaWare dishes).  You can win (ding, ding, ding!) this apron kit by simply posting your favorite easy recipe (or a link to a recipe) and in a few days (on May 25th to be exact) I'll randomly choose one of you to receive a A Tribute to Fiestaware apron kit!  It's that easy.

It'd be great if you followed me (that would be swell), you don't have to make 500 of your twitter followers follow me with a link back (but if you have 500 twitter followers I'm suitably impressed), all you have to do is the recipe thing AND include a way for me to contact you.  If I can't contact you I have to choose another! I will ship internationally so don't be shy, comment away!

Ohhhh, you wanna see the apron?  It's free you know!  But here it is modeled by my best friend.  And here it is with some fab Fiesta dishes.

If  you want to see the pattern kit go here to Spoonflower (btw, I have tons of designs there: cruise them if you're in the mood to check out a slew of fabric designs) the directions are printed right on the kit, all you need to do it cut it out and sew it up!  What could be easier? I know, having your significant other go out and get a fabulous dinner for you would be easier and if your partner does that then you can still WEAR the apron so you'll match the dishes you'll surely eat from right?

Ok, commence with the recipes...I'm hungry and I really want to try some out!

Oh and p.s. All my commenters so far have blogs! Go read them, give them some bloggy love!