I'm in!

See my previous post - I either had enough friends sign up, or the requisite amount of time had passed. I'm playing around and figuring things out and it's such a cool site. I don't know of anything else like it, so if you're interested in easily designing your quilts before you start cutting, without a ton of google image searching, this is the thing.

I've already provided two pieces of feedback and it sounds like both will be addressed. It's good to know that there's a keenly interested development team behind this site.

Go, Patternjam.com!!

I'll actually post some pictures of my playing-around once I get something I like. I blew the first thing away thinking it was an 'undo' button when it was actually a 'reset' button. I won't do that again!

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interesting new website

I was just reading a fellow quilter's blog and she had a whole post about Pattern Jam. (She's kinda famous ... she's teaching at QuiltCon.)

I signed up on Pattern Jam and I can't wait to get designing. It looks super easy based on what the famous one posted (there's a video above if you want to check it out). However, it looks like they're just collecting beta testers at the moment because I can't get past the sharing screen.

If you follow this link, you can sign up for the early access as well - WEEEEEE!

https://patternjam.com?ref=yUvHgtYC

gil run if...

Okay, that's backwards. It's actually FINURLIG.

<this picture won't cooperate>

See that? It's a pretty heavy-weight cotton and there are 50 sheets of almost 8 square inches in various surprise patterns. This roll seems to have some bright ones and a fair bit of gray/white, so I took a chance and spent $3.99. I love you, IKEA.

See how the label is ripped? The kid took some liberties. No. No. No. We must adore the swedish jelly roll first.

Rustic ... Will it become an outdoor/camping quilt or outdoor chair pads or cushions or ... ?


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nana-nana-nana-nana-BATMAN!

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. I made this BatQuilt for my daughter, who needed it to complete her BatWear collection, and who nagged and harped on about its varying states of completion for weeks. I took it to my guild meeting last night for Show and Tell (yes, the kid let me take it out of the house) and Carol was kind enough to take photos and post some kind words.

Carol is proving to be a fantastic photographer (with the pace of the meeting, it's amazing she got the shots she did this month with her manual-focus lens ... usually she's snapping multiples with her auto-focus and then editing to excellence) and she somehow always has a smile on her face. Even if she's confused or annoyed, she'll have an underlying smile. I like that.

Here's what I like best about the modern quilt guild of which I'm a member:

• It's halfway between my house and my Mum's, so when she's not off being retired somewhere, it's a great way to spend some time with her. 
• It's the other side of my MIL's house, so I pick her up on the way. I like her too.
• THE SHOW AND TELL. It's amazeballs and for someone pretty new to quilting like me, that itself is worth the price of admission.
• The door prizes. Seriously. About half the people in attendance every month win something that someone else has brought. That's kinda rad.
• The demos. I shouldn't have ranked these fifth because they are really, really good, so let's not take this to be a numbered list. I'm going to change them to bullets just to be clear. There have been zippy pouch tutorials, wonky flying geese, super-easy-no-waste flying geese, bindings of all sorts and sandwiching on a small table - - just to name a few. So much knowledge in that group. 

So yeah, that's what's been up lately. I still haven't finished the Creeper quilt, and in fact haven't even touched it in a while. I have to re-sandwich it and maybe take out the two quilt lines that I've already got in it. Maybe. I'll pick that up again after June 21st, which is when my top-secret Round Robin piece is due to be complete. 

Stay tuned!

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hosebag

So I got one of those shrinking shrivel hoses for my super-small front yard that has a sprinkler system but also a container that needs love and some plants that are out of the sprinkling zone. (Take a breath because that sentence was out of control.)

It's not a short hose. It's shorter, sure, and it wouldn't get all worked up and buck at being wrapped over the tap, but it's not perfect.

To make life easier for myself with this as-seen-on-tv hose, I made it a bag that hangs off the tap. It has elastic in the front. It was made using outdoor fabric. No pattern - just winging it.

It can stay. One day I'll put the hose coming off the tap through the hanging strap so it doesn't have to go ...  'round the outside, 'round the outside ... like two trailer park girls.

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