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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Google Reader alternatives

Hi friends,

Have you picked your side yet between Bloglovin' and Feedly?  I decided to try them both out. Actually, to be more honest, I purposely tried out Bloglovin' and forgot I had signed up for Feedly until I got a little message on my computer about it crashing. Anyway, I'm not in love with Bloglovin' yet because you can't read whole posts without clicking onto an individual blog. I follow over 100, so that is annoying. And I like that Google Reader shows a post as read after you scroll over it.

Anyway, I read a really great article on Jane's Fabrics and Quilts blog, so I'm going to send you there and she'll send you on to the article - happy reading and picking!

Francine

PS-
Lookie what I found today over at The Quilting Hottie Haven!! You can read all about the designing/research/pestering skills it took to bring us these fun magnets. They can be ordered here for cheap!


Monday, March 18, 2013

a cool contest


Hey friends! Did you hear about the contest over at Intrepid Thread? You take a pic, throw it in the palette builder at Play-Crafts and then upload the completed palette into the Flickr group. I really liked a lot of the submissions! Better hurry, the contest ends on 3/19 ~ good luck!

JellyBean Tree - I'm decorating my daughter's room around this print and I didn't realize how light (unbold)  the colors are until I saw the palette. 


love this scarf

PS - I really need to learn how to position pics in my posts - so annoying to have them messy! Any tips? All I know about is dragging.

Hugs,
Francine


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Party time

I'm huffing and puffing and flexing my fingers after entering tons & tons of giveaways in the latest
 
I didn't get to participate this time (for the reasons whined about in my last post,) but I've had fun discovering some new blogs!

The theme is Beat the Winter Blues and boy do I have 'em! Yesterday looked like this


 and today it's a winter wonderland again!


Ahh well, it's beautiful at least.






Anyway, here are some of the new blogs I came across in my travels:
Quiltscapes Quilting - she shared a tutorial for "Snippets" - little fabric wallets - I can see getting addicted.

Robin Quilts, etc - she had commenters post sewing tips which I liked and she has some cool tutorials

Seriously..I think it needs stitches. - she had a great giveaway and fantastic blog name, but I also noticed a very cool widget I'd like to try : Shelfari

sew.darn.quilt - another great giveaway and I love how she displays her followers across her header!

The Amateur Quilter - said for the winner of his giveaway to print out the giveaway post and take a picture of it with the project the winner makes - cool idea!

Windsor & Main - I really loved the blog's layout - so organized and inviting - plus an "inspiration" list I liked

There were so many cool giveaways and I really liked Moda's Snap Pop line - makes me feel so "Springy"
Happy Thursday!
Francine

Monday, March 11, 2013

More Germany

Hello again! A little update on my machine saga... I really liked the suggestion from my friend Flaun, so I've gone with ... <drumroll>   Dita! Isn't that fun? I like it! I was really leaning toward Heidi, but only for the German novelty of it and I won't be here forever!

So, in our last episode, I was dragging my family onto a train, bus then taxi to a town south of Cologne called Lohmar to visit a shop called Quilter's Point. It was a cute place with a clerk who gave me lots of quiet time to explore by myself.


 My goal (with all my quilting supplies in a household goods shipment that we will not receive until we move into our permanent housing) was to get a few basics that would allow me to complete a doll quilt swap and several bee blocks that were getting to be late. I tried to get everything done before we departed, but with the moving company sending out a team of 8 guys, in no time my house looked like this and I had to box up my machine and sent it to myself here in Germany.
Too late I realized that I hadn't sent any tools/notions, or my doll quilt fabric just the machine and the fabric for the bee blocks I was working on. At the shop, I was able to put together a little starter kit for myself: I tried not to repeat anything I already own, so I grabbed a small rotating map, smallest rotary cutter, and some fabric for my DQ. (150 euros, ouch!)


















It has been a tragedy of errors ever since. I waited a whole month for my machine. In the interim were many conversations with our shipper who had triggered over 500 euros in customs fees for our package. Eventually, while we argued, they sent the package back to my empty house in PA. Finally, Dita arrived. Since she had been serviced prior to our departure, the accessory tray was empty and I had no needles or bobbins, so I had to order them. A week later when I finally sat down with everything I needed and got her set up I found



no power cord or foot pedal.  I am so bummed! After all that, I still have to wait until we move into our permanent house - April 1. I'm trying to enjoy learning about Germany in the meantime, but I've been really disappointed in missing deadlines for swaps and things I've committed to.

Which brings me to a little question: My block buddies were very understanding and patient about the delay, but understandably, a swap angel had to step in for me so my partner did receive a quilt. My intent all along has still been to make/send the quilt I had planned. Is that what you would do? Considering the delay, if it were you, would you rather receive the fabric or maybe a gift certificate? I am feeling so guilty about this and when I wrote to thank the person who had sent to me & let them know I'd be returning it, the response was pretty hostile. I wanted to explain because my feelings were hurt, but the party I'm most concerned with is my partner. Any advice?

Francine
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