The Sewing Room

hart44

bexterwho wrote: »

Thanks for the Amy Butler link Tamster. I think it's probably beyond my abilities at the moment but have downloaded it anyway.

I have a question for all of you who follow blogs. How do you do it? What programme do you use? I currently have about 50 blogs in my bookmarks but obviously I can't keep up with them and can't ever remember which ones I like and which ones are active. I'd also like to be able to 'follow' people's blogs and be able to enter comps etc but I don't know how to do that! Any tips?

Hi
I use bloglovin to save my fav blogs but I also have my own blog page which has my fav's on.
Hope this is some help

shirlgirl2004

Tamster150 wrote: »

BAG LOVERS QUICK QUICK QUICK

free Amy Butler PDF pattern here http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=11705

today only!!!!!

Just saved it so it's still active at the moment. Lookslike it might be tricky but haven't had a read yet.

shirlgirl2004

danemi1 wrote: »

have a look at this tutorial - looks good - I think I may be giving this one a go to house some chrimbo pressies!
http://madquilter.blogspot.com/2008/11/mug-bag-tutorial.html

Looks great to use as a bottle bag for those gifts of wine. With fabric being pricey it might be a bit expensive to make all my present bags from fabric unless I could get plain green/red and add a little something to brighten it up. I do have a huge roll (25m maybe) of silver satin but satin is a nightmare to sew.

Bunny200

bexterwho wrote: »

I have a question for all of you who follow blogs. How do you do it? What programme do you use? I currently have about 50 blogs in my bookmarks but obviously I can't keep up with them and can't ever remember which ones I like and which ones are active. I'd also like to be able to 'follow' people's blogs and be able to enter comps etc but I don't know how to do that! Any tips?

I use Google Reader to keep track of all my blogs, it allows you to display the latest blog entries that I've subscribed to in chronological order and categories them. You need a Google account and its an option on the Manage Account page.

The best thing I think it has is the ability to 'save' entries you like. You put a star next to the blog and then it goes into your Starred List so it easy to find again and you can add your own tag to make it easy to find. I'm forever starring things that I want to make in the future, now my Star list is too big! It also allows you to search within blogs or tags for that post you saw weeks ago and now can't remember who it was! The only thing I don't like about the search is it doesn't seem to do phrases, e.g. searching for money saving expert would return posts containing any of those words rather than all the words, unless I'm doing something wrong.

The disadvantage is that you are reading it in a reader so you don't get to see the real blog and therefore don't get to see sidebars, pretty blog layouts, headers and adverts etc. This means that blogs that are getting paid for views and clicks don't benefit from you subscribing therefore some bloggers only allow a summary (first 100 words or so) to be displayed in the reader so you have to click on the entry to open up the posting. I've added the Reader Next button to my toolbar so whenever I want to read the blogs I just click next and I get the full blog post displayed in IE so I get to see the layout, headers, sidepost etc and I'm more inclined to make comments doing it this way but I don't seem to be able to get the change the order the blogs are delivered so I prefer the oldest first but seem to get the newest first.

To follow someone you need a Google Account afaik and the blog needs to have the Followers gadget displayed in their sidebar, just click on the Follow button and then it will be displayed for you in Google Dashboard which another way to read blogs that you follow. Have a look at my blog http://hereswhatididtoday.blogspot.com/ (which I promise I will put some interesting post soon, jsut not in crafty frame of mind at the moment!) and on the bottom right you will see the followers gadget. People doing giveaways want more followers as they can generate more revenue, which is why 'some' of them do the givewaways.


hth

littleowl

Tamster150 wrote: »

Thanks for all the lovely comments about my quilt & cap guys - it means a lot to me! Especially the quilt as although I wanted a "scappy" look I was thinking it was TOO scrappy. But everyone has been really positive about it so I think I am starting to like it now!

Now there was someone a few weeks ago, asking about where they could get the school/colleges shears & scissors sharpened? Well I just read a tip in the new Sew Hip that said, you should wipe the blades of your scissors to clear off any fibres before storing & that if they are blunt, to cut through some aluminiam foil that has been folded over twice, a few times. You could get the students to do this themselves every half term or so???

I have tried the foil thing for sharpening scissors but it didn't work for me. However - if you have a kitchen knife sharpening steel 'cut' on it with the scissors (all the way down the blades)- around ten times give or take. I now have three pairs of sewing scissors and shears with sharp edges which I thought I would have to replace.

23rdspiral

oooh supercat92 i LOVE the hungry catapillar!! have you got photos?

danemi1 wrote: »

...cotton one side and the main side was silk and embroidery - both of which started to fray just leaving a redundant cotton side(burgundy) so thought why not put it to use - then I put both pieces back to back - then folded in the quilt - turned the cotton side in a bit and bobs your uncle if you have any idea at all what I am on about...

hi danemi, your quilt is georgeous! tee hee, without even knowing it (or maybe you did?!) you've stumbled upon a tried and tested technique for getting the most out of sheets and coverlets! :T my nan (97 last year) would always cut a sheet in half along the worn centre, and turn the good sides to the middle, stitch up, then reuse till it fell apart again - and then the corners would go for pillow cases! i thought she was thrify and unique but in a sewing book i've got from the 1930s it says to do just that. ok, your version is modern and very pretty, but i think it's nice its all part of a long tradition of women making the best of whats to hand.

Tete, what a cute draftexcluder!

ta da!! i finished my little Welcome Gnome wall hanging! i'm quite pleased with it, but dont look closely at the binding, ok?! i dont have time to write about it now, but if you're interested its all here, including where i got the free gnome pattern: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23rdspiral/5042430523/

Taadaa

Tete, you have reminded me that my sister asked for a draft excluder for her front door in the winter, thanks for the blog link!

I have got a couple of blogs, one is a mixture of sewing and baking, the other vintage stuff including old patterns etc, there is a link to the latter on my homepage. At the moment, I am making a capelet from a check wool fabric. I will be putting the how I did it up when I'm done...which hopefully will be by the end of the week!

i just managed to download the Amy Butler bag pattern, it's gorgeous!! Be quick!!

Georgiabay

Great wall hanging 23rdspiral, the colours are lovely.

cuddles123

Pretty colours in the wall hanging.

Also love the draught excluder - clever idea.

alec_eiffel

Hi,

Just a quick update about my wallhanging that doesn't exist yet. Totally egged on by DH who told me money was no object I have now bought all my basic stuff and a couple of glittery things to keep me motivated and I hope to have at least an outline to show for it by next weekend.

eta when I say money is no object I mean that in a "he says that now" type of a way as he doesn't know how much I could spend given a free run in a craft shop! Not that I'm going to spend a fortune.