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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

iPhone-o-Gram! Blurry vision!!

This is a view of my world right now!

I have had a small accident with my glasses – or maybe it's a big one!

After my shower this morning I sat down on the bed only to find that I had sat on my glasses!

Don't ask me what they were doing on the bed in the first place instead of on the nightstand – all I could tell was that one temple piece was broken off and everything else was bent to heck!

I'm at Sam's Club right now sitting here at the optical section hoping that someone can help me fix these because I have a program in Wilkesboro North Carolina tonight--

And I am blind as a bat without them!

Worst case scenario? Looks like Santa will be getting me new glasses for Christmas! :-)

15 Minutes of Play Give-Away!

My friend Victoria FIndlay Wolfe aka Bumblebeans has a NEW BOOK!

When she asked me to participate in her blog hop, I jumped in whole-heartedly.  We’ve been friends-of-friends for years, and we really do have so much in common.  I told her “Absolutely!  We are *Cut from the same cloth!*”  and it’s true.  And I think she is absolutely scrappy crumby lovely!

In describing her book, Victoria states:

My goal for the book is to show you how my process and my inspiration is born; how to find your creative flow, keep it and let it SOAR! Giving you confidence to try new things, look at your fabrics in a different light, and build quilts that are unique to you!  Also, to provide you with OODLES of inspiration and eye candy to get your JOURNEY ready to create!  Building your TOOL BOX of techniques to make you a better quilter, each and every time you set about making a new quilt.

When I received my copy of her book, I was drawn in right away by the colors ---color is the one thing that drives me as a quilter. I love color, and lots of it!

But inside, I learned of Victoria’s relationship with her grandmother – an avid scrap quilter, and her story pulled me in.  I learned where Victoria found her love of scraps and her passion for quilting – her grandmother!

In this book you will find:

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Victoria’s Giant Hexagon!
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Giant Whirlygigs!
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Mod Strips!

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Would you like to win a copy of 15 Minutes of Play?  Simply leave me a comment below!  I will draw a winner on December 12th!

You must be a registered user to comment on my blog.  Anonymous comments are no longer an option.  Please take a few minutes to register for a google ID, a wordpress ID, or an Open id which includes AOL and others.

You can enter on any of the blogs on the blog hop below:

Nov: 26: "Victoria Findlay Wolfe", http://www.15minutesplay.com/
Nov 27: "Bonnie K Hunter", http://quiltville.blogspot.com/
Nov 28: "Alissa Haight Carlton, http://www.handmadebyalissa.com/
Nov 29:  "Pat Sloan", http://patsloan.typepad.com/
Nov 30: "Kimberly," http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
Dec 1st: "Karen Griska",http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/
Dec 2nd: "Angela Walters", http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com/
Dec 3rd:  Generation Q, http://generationqmagazine.com/
Dec 4th: "Tonya Ricucci", http://www.lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/
Dec 5th: "Michele Foster",http://quiltinggallery.com/blog-posts/
Dec 6th: "Scott Hansen",http://bluenickelstudios.com/
Dec 7th:"Amy Ellis", http://amyscreativeside.com/blog/
Dec 8th: "Rachaeldaisy",http://bluemountaindaisy.blogspot.com/
Dec 9th:"Jackie Kunkel", http://cvquiltworks.blogspot.com/
Dec. 10th: http://www.ctpubblog.com/

US winners receive a hard copy of the book
International winners receive a Electronic copy of the book, direct from C&T.
You may comment on each of the blogs until Dec 12th, 6 pm.
Make sure we can reach you by email!


Monday, November 26, 2012

Linky Tutorial!

*NOTE*  This page does NOT include a real linky.  It is just a tutorial!

If you haven’t used the Linky before, I know it can be intimidating.

There may be aspects to your own blog that you are unaware of.

I thought some pictures would help, and a bit of describing.

If you look at the top photo of this post…Think of the Main Blog Address as being Piringer St SW.

Piringer St SW is a destination, but it is not enough to find that particular house.  There are many houses on that street, just like there are many posts in your blog.  We need to add the house number to the main address to find the right house.  ((Don’t you love analogies?!))

The Main ((STREET!)) address of my blog is Quiltville.blogspot.com.

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Screen capture of my main blog address.

See the arrow pointing to my main address in the top bar of the browser??  This is your MAIN address.  But it is NOT your post address.  It is the post address that we need in the Linky.  The reason being, these linky  posts are archived FOREVER.  And if someone clicks your link on last year’s mystery and you didn’t link to your specific post---what they are going to get is your whole blog, and your most recent post.  Not the post you wrote showing your progress on last year’s mystery.  It’s like giving someone the name of the street where you live, but not the house number. 

To find the full address of your specific post – click on your POST TITLE!

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Each post that you write has it’s own unique address!


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After clicking my post title, the address in the browser bar shows the address or URL for that particular post.  SEE?

THIS is what we need in the linky.  Copy THIS address.

Alternately, if you are on your main blog address (Look at the top bar to see that it is your main one) you can hover your mouse OVER the post title you want, and right click on it to get an option that says something like “Copy Link Address”.  If you don’t get that option, it is likely that you are already on the specific post.  Again, check the browser address bar at the top of your page.

You can always get to your "main blog" by clicking on the header picture of your blog.  Clicking that picture will take you "home".

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With the address copied, you are ready to fill in the Linky form.  Click the button that says “Add your link” and a form will drop down.  The space that says URL is where you want your complete post address to go.

Again –your main blog address is NOT ENOUGH.  If you are on Blogger, your post address will end in html.  If you are WordPress it may be a bit different, ending in a / but it won’t be .com!  Remember to NOT include the http:// as that will be automatically added for you.

Continue to fill in the form and hit Next Step!  On the next page you will be able to click an image that you want to appear as your thumbnail.  From there it is fairly straight forward to get your link to work with everyone else.

PLEASE include a link back to my post within your own blog text so folks know where to click to view the linky and see who else is participating.

You can also link a flickr page -- but you can NOT link to Facebook.

I want you to have fun with this, and I know it can be frustrating, but once you learn it you are good to go!

Happy Linking, Everyone!

Moth Blocks Found! ((And Other Stuff!))

First off -- an oops post!  I was writing my post for tomorrow's 15 minutes of Play Blog Hop -- and hit POST instead of SAVE so...ha!  It posted when it wasn't supposed to! I Caught that one and it is back saved as a draft.  I guess you can call THAT a teaser and it will just post tomorrow morning!

Sorry about that, folks! :c)

On to this post.

Remember my lost ipod from more than a week ago??

I have found the sure-fire way to find ANYTHING.

Order a new one.

I ordered a new ipod from Amazon – and no sooner did I pull it out of the mailbox than DH found the missing ipod between Shamu’s front seats.

It was wedged between the seats and the center console – and the stupid thing is I *KNOW* I went scrounging around out there for it.  FRANTICALLY.  I looked under and around and over and through those seats.  The case I had it in is nearly the same color as the seats –and it was wedged between the seat belt buckle and the console and really looked like it was supposed to be there as part of the set-up.

But still.  Here I was sitting in the passenger seat in the driveway – the amazon box on my lap, and the missing ipod being found and handed over.  UGH!

The new ipod is going BACK to Amazon.  Or maybe I should keep it as a spare?

Last night I was kitting up more Moth in the Window Blocks.  I use the table side of my long-arm as my cutting table.  See these strips and kit parts draped over the roller bars?
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cut cut cut, pin block parts together – all ready for sewing on the go!

It was in the “putting-away” that I FOUND the missing stacks of blocks!  So I have way more than I thought -- or, rather—I had as many as I thought I did and knew I was missing some!

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Looking good!

I’ve kitted enough blocks to finish the quilt.  What I don’t know is if I’m going to set these with or without sashings.  I kind of like how they mush together here :c)

Which brings me to another topic.  I have had so many people ask me about VALUE.  Yes, I do play with value, but with this quilt, just like with the Easy Street Mystery – I’m playing with specific color families.  To me the impact and interest of one color against another color – the contrast and intensity-- is just as important to me as value.  When I am playing with color families, putting one color against another, the value thing happens automatically.

These blocks above are about color-on-color, not just about light/dark.  But the light/dark still happens doesn’t it?  It does.  But it is the color-on-color that calls me first.

In the Easy Street Mystery, I’m playing COLOR FAMILY oriented.  If your 4 colors are strong enough to contrast against each other and show against your background, it’s going to work.

For instance – in my purples – I have several different shades of purple –some red/purple – some blue/purple and everywhere in between.  My purples go from a medium lavender to a dark plum or royal purple.  So the differences in “value” which translates as light/med/dark happens WITHIN the color families.  I don’t choose just one shade of purple, or one shade of green, or one shade of turquoise. They all have different values playing within the color families I’ve chosen.

Where it comes to my grey – there is less contrast, but that is going to work too. Trust me. Think of my lighter grey as a shadow. It has its place. If you’ve gone darker, that will still work too. I want you all to love your quilts!

I hope this helps some of you relax a little bit.  I know I am unconventional.  NO FOCAL FABRIC?! Egads!  NO LIGHT/MED/DARK??  OH MY!

Play with me.  You will see.  If you keep your fabric choices color specific  ((And BTW – the purple, green, turquoise and grey in the quilt  are all interchangeable and would work in ANY placement order –see, it’s not about VALUE!)) you will love your quilt.

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Emmy Lou, helping me test out the blocks.

Contrast and Color is sometimes more important to me than just focusing strictly on “Value” when it comes to a quilt with loads of interest to keep my eyes moving from block to block!