My Final Two Liebster Stories

I am now in a position to add the final 2 Liebster stories to my blog.

Story 4

The fourth recipient also, like my husband, feels that the Liebster Award, and other awards like it, are a chain letter putting the receiver in a position where they spend a significant amount of time sorting and choosing recipients only to put them in that same position.  She prefers to let people know how wonderful they are by visiting their blog and leaving comments.  

She hopes there's no hard feelings on my part as she doesn't want to upset anyone - and, of course, there aren't, I appreciate her honesty and her values :)

Story 5

I have received a thank you note from the fifth and final recipient.  She said that it was thoughtful and had brightened her day.  As yet she hasn't written about the award on her blog or, to my knowledge, passed the award on and, to be honest with you, after all this I'm starting to hope she doesn't and that maybe all this ends here.

I think that if I'm ever lucky enough to be awarded a Liebster again (because, I do still consider it a privilege and honour to have been chosen by Tara), I'll just thank the person who thought my blog special enough to deserve the award, probably announce it on my blog and leave it at that!

Other related posts:

Liebster Award, A Big Thank You and Pass It On 
The Angst Continues ...

Tutorial: The Dreaded Comment 'Word Verification' And How To Remove It

So you want to leave someone a comment, tell them how amazing their quilt is, that they've used your favourite fabric and the colours dazzle, you type it all in, click Publish and there it is:

!!! the word verification screen !!!

We've all been there. It's so hard to read. How are you supposed to type what they're asking for?   

The characters you entered didn't match the word verification.  Please try again.

Frustration building?  

Do you try again?

Do you delete your comment and forget it?

Do you struggle through, publish your comment and swear never to leave a comment on that blog again?

I felt all those things, and then three weeks into having my own blog, I read an article about word verification, and it was then that I made a terrible discovery - I had word verification switched on for my blog, too! I was horrified; I was one of those bloggers who make life more complicated than it needs to be. You don't send messages to yourself, so you'll never know unless someone tells you you're an offender.   

How had this happened?
When you set up your blogger account, word verification is automatically set to Yes by default, meaning it's turned on. I set about turning it off (No) straight away and can confirm for anyone who's feeling a bit nervous about doing this that, to date, I have yet to be hit with a shed load of spam and/or robot comments.  

It's so simple to change it, so here's the tutorial bit:

You can get to your Design screen if you already have a blogger account. Once you're there, select Settings, and you'll be offered a list of options that includes Posts and Comments. Select this option, and below is a printout of what will appear on your screen. Just turn your word verification option from Yes to No and click Save settings.

That's it, all done, nothing too technical or painful, and I'm sure there's a whole heap of very grateful bloggers out there feeling much more inclined to leave you a comment ;)



A late post add-on:
I've had so much feedback on this post that most people aren't aware that word verification is switched on for their blog. If we come across it, why not leave the person a message telling them so, and then they can sort it out? It can feel uncomfortable to say it, but they may be grateful to be told.

Please feel free to pin this post to your Pinterest walls or share it on your blog - let's get the message out there :)



Click this link to see all my Tutorials, Hints & Tips.

   

The Angst Continues ...

If you follow my blog regularly you'll already know that two days ago I was the lucky recipient of the Liebster Award from Tara Knight of Happy Momma Quilts.  You'll also remember that I made quite a meal of the process of picking 5 lucky bloggers to pass the award on to.

Today, I thought I'd share with you a few short stories about how some of those recipients have felt when they too have discovered they are Liebster winners ...

Story 1

 I gave the award to my daughter and her friend for their blog about One Direction, the British Boy Band.  This was the only award that I made to a blog outside the quilting community but, although she was delighted, she said "take it back though Mum cos you don't do stuff like that on Tumblr".  I told her to keep it and  just not do anything with it!

Story 2

 Another recipient's initial response was "Wow! How sweet of you", swiftly followed (after reading the rules) by an email expressing concern about about how busy she is and asking can she delay in handing it out to her 5 chosen bloggers. 

I told her not to get herself in the pickle I did over it, as I don't think that's what Tara was wishing for me when she passed it to me and it's certainly not what I was wishing on her so to leave it until she's ready.  Having done all my research I'm guessing there's no Liebster Award police out there to come and get her.

Story 3

This morning I received an email from a third recipient.  She wanted to own up to having already won a Liebster and on receiving my award and reading my post had realised that at some point, probably during a page reorganisation, she's accidentally deleted her side bar button.  She said that she was "very touched and grateful" but, based I guess on my criteria for choosing recipients, she asked that I took the award back and passed it on to someone else and apologised for making my task more difficult.

I quickly replied telling her that in my searching I'd seen lots of others that had won many times and that I'd just used that as a criteria to try to make my list shorter, it didn't change the fact that I love her blog so I asked her please to keep the award and owned up to the fact that I couldn't face going back to my possible recipient list just now.

I explained the stories from the two other recipients (without naming names - apart from my daughter!) and she then shared with me her own Liebster experience, which was just as difficult and funny as mine.


So this has all set me off thinking again ... 

• how must she have felt when she read my post and realised her award button had disappeared yet she'd already been given a Liebster?
• how did the recipient feel when she was pleased but so busy?
• and how did my daughter feel having to tell me she can't/won't use it on Tumblr?

and all this alongside my angst at who to give it to in the first place and concern at appearing ungrateful to Tara, who presented me with the award, and the ungracious manner in which I've accepted it with all my blogging about it when actually I'm still really delighted that she thought to give it to me. 

I haven't heard from the final 2 recipients and, who knows what they are feeling right now ... I do hope they are simply basking in the glory and thrilled to have been chosen - I'm sure that's what the award's really all about, isn't it?

I'm slightly amused wondering how much difficulty the award causes others or if, as my daughter says, it's just me!? Then again, my husband's first comment when I got it was "urgghh, that's a chain letter", more food for thought! 

 If anyone out there in Blogland has a story they'd like to tell about how receiving this award has affected them, I'd love to hear it.  I can't offer any advice or counselling but maybe we can all laugh about it together :)

But for the rest of today, I'm just going to do some quilting!!! 

  

Other related posts:

Liebster Award, A Big Thank You and Pass It On 
My Final Two Liebster Stories

Liebster Award, A Big Thank You and Pass It On

I'm thrilled to tell you that yesterday Tara Knight from Happy Momma Quilts gave me/my blog the Liebster Award.

If you search the internet you'll quickly discover that no-one is terribly clear as to the origins of the award, it seems to have been around the internet now since 2010 and the idea is that if you are lucky enough to receive the award then you can pass it on to 5 of your favourite blogs (Liebster being German for favourite) as long as they have less than 200 followers.

The award is accepted with the following rules attached:
 

1) Thank the person who presented you with the award on your blog.
2) Link back to the blogger who gave the award on your blog
3) Copy and paste the award on your blog
4) Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 other bloggers with less than 200 followers
5) Let them know you've chosen them by leaving a comment on their blog.

Being so excited to receive the award I quickly started to think over who I could pass it forward to.  Where to start?  

I went through my list of favourite blogs; blogs that I comment on; bloggers who comment on my blog; bloggers in my guild; bloggers in my linky parties; bloggers in my blog hop.  That's a pretty long list all told - so straight away out go blogs that have over 200 followers - but, well, it's still a pretty long list.  

No problem, I'll get rid of anyone who's already received the award - not as easy as it sounds - not everyone posts their award button on their side bar, in their labels or has a 'search this blog' option, so you have to do a fair bit of stalking to try to discover if they're already a lucky recipient and, who knows, you may still have got it wrong.  

This took me into the early hours of the morning and guess what - it was still a long list so by this stage I just had to be ruthless.  So do you reckon by now I had my list of 5?  Oh, NO!  I suddenly remember that I also have friends and family that blog - but not quilt related blogs - so I hadn't even thought about them, now I had to reassess again!

 By this afternoon I knew I was over-thinking the whole process, instead of enjoying receiving the award and being able to share it with another 5 bloggers, I'm worrying about all the bloggers that I'll disappoint.  "Only you could be like that Mum" said daughter, F, laughing (at me not with me).  So here goes, firstly I'd like to say how sorry I am to all the fabulous bloggers out there that I'm friends with but I just didn't have enough awards to go around and if I'm ever lucky enough to be given this award again I have a very long list of deserving blogs I'm just waiting to pass it on to.  

And finally, after much thought this is my final list of 5 blogs that I've chosen to receive the Liebster Award:

Bethany - make me a quilt

Carol - Just Let Me Quilt

Catherine - Knotted Cotton

Flicky and Maud - WE HEART 1D

Nicole - Patchwork Duck Designs

A very big thank you again to Tara for passing the award on to me, I truly am delighted and now I can sit back and enjoy my award properly :D

Other related posts:

The Angst Continues ...
My Final Two Liebster Stories

How Many Visitors?!!!!!

Surprised by the sudden marked increase in the number of visitors to my blog I used Sitemeter to check out where all the interest was suddenly coming from and the answer is Totally Tutorials.

A few weeks ago I submitted my stroller quilt tutorial to them and today they've featured it on their blog.

So a big thank you TT for including my tutorial and also to everyone who has now visited me to take a look.  I hope you find the tutorial useful and enjoy seeing Tatty in her pram :D

And here's a link to that very tutorial! 

A Weekend Full of Sunshine

This past weekend I've completed three quilts and done a six quilt photoshoot on our roof garden in crazy, hot sunshine.  Needless to say, I'm shattered but very glad to have everything finished, especially as two of the quilts, Surprise Projects I & II, are on a very tight deadline.  The third is my Sparkle Plenty Quilt, designed by Loft Creations.

The pattern is easy and fast, especially when you use the two tools I introduced you to in my tutorials, Charm Squares - An Easy Way To Cut Multiples Quickly and Using A Bloc-Loc To Cut Half-Square Triangle (HST) Squares.  What's also amazing about the pattern is how different it looks depending on the fabrics chosen.  There were 7 quilts well on their way to completion in our final class, and not one looked like another, and it was all down to the fabrics - but one thing they had in common, besides the pattern, is that they all looked great.  

And here she is; I know she's mine, but I think she's stunning, and I'm delighted with her.  I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

 

And here's a late addition to my post in response to Leo's comment - a photo of the full view from my roof garden :)

and finally, a view from my living room and, yes, we can't wait for Macy's 4th July fireworks - it's our first year here for Independence Day, and I think we've got the best seats in the house :)

Related Posts:

Tutorial: Charm Squares - An Easy Way To Cut Multiples Quickly

Tutorial: Using a Bloc-Loc To Cut Half Square Triangle (HST) Squares 

Did Thursday and Friday Sparkle? Yes, Plenty! 

Disclaimer:

This post is for informational purposes only; no payment or commission is received on click-throughs, and opinions are my own.

   

FP's Taxi Quilt

Me and FP with his Taxi Quilt

Time to show you another quilt that I made before my days of blogging.

CQ's original quilt

This quilt is based on a New York Night and Noon Quilt pattern designed by Judy Doenias of The City Quilter which appeared in the 2012 edition of 'Novelty Quilts' magazine.

Fabrics Used:

Top Sheet:
New York Line by Line - Day
New York Line by Line - Night
New York Taxi Cabs fabric
Backing Sheet: NYC Subway in black
Binding: Black Kona Solid
Batting: Quilter's Dream Cotton Request

Quilt Details:

Free vertical and horizontal line quilting

Machine sewn front binding then hand sewn to back of quilt

Taxi Quilt Top and Backing Sheets

Taxi Quilt detail

I made this quilt for FP, the son of my friends HP and KP when they were coming to stay with us and to commemorate his first ever trip to New York.  FP's only five and I wanted to make the quilt a bit more boy friendly so I adapted the design and widened the taxi cab borders so that the cars are clearly visible.  So glad I did because the quilt was on FP's bed waiting for him to arrive and when he did I heard him shout 'taxis'.

My friend HP, FP's mum, tells me the quilt is a big hit and has pride of place on a chair in their living room back in England - you can't ask for better than that :) (thanks for the photos HP x)

FP's Taxi Quilt back home in England :)

Disclaimer: 

This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

   

Let's Get Acquainted!

I've spent the last two evenings and day hand binding two quilts - my Surprise Project II quilt and my Sparkle Plenty quilt.  Almost there now but the light has faded too far and my eye sight just isn't up to it so another hour in the morning should see it all done.  One thing I must remind myself of in the future though is not to quilt a black binding onto a black border with black thread - it's very, very hard work and the weather has conspired against me all day with darkened skies and thunder and lightening storms.

 

My day was brightened up though by discovering the 'Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop over at Plum and June.  The idea is that twice a week all of us involved in the Blog Hop visit two named blogs who will have done a post related to a quilting project - it doesn't have to be a full tutorial but will have photos and descriptions so that others can have a go at making the same thing.  If we're not already, then we'll sign up to 'follow' the blogs and we'll leave lots and lots of comments.

My assigned date on the schedule is the final week - 12 November, so I have some time to prepare and just enjoy meeting everyone else and reading all their posts.

The Blog Hop started back on 21st May and with 4 blogs a week I've got some catching up to do on what's gone before but I've made a head start and today visited:

Kelsey from Kelsey Sews - The Dress Shirt Dish Mat Tutorial

Erin from Billy Button Designs - Cup Hugger Tutorial

Nik from Bold Goods - Sugar and Spice Baby Blanket Tutorial

Suzanne from SuzClaas - Bean Bag Tutorial

Mina from Kindaquilty - Stretch Quilt

You too can catch up with everyone via their blogs (as above) and I've also linked to them on my 

Pinterest Board 'Blog Hop - Let's Get Acquainted!

Shopping List? What Shopping List? Are We Supposed To Stick To The Shopping List?

How I pass a day in the City:

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

10 to 11 am

F's fab shoes

Sit in Think Coffee, Meatpacking/Chelsea district, drinking Earl Grey tea and eating smoked salmon cream cheese bagels with your daughter, F.  Discuss all the items you both need to purchase to finalise your outfits for JA & JT's (my 2 sons) university graduation ceremonies in England in July.  The shopping list includes:

• black suede summer weight shoes for F;
• clutch bag for F;
• cream strappy top for F;
• long sleeve 'floaty' cream blouse for F;
• nude summer weight handbag for C; and
• 2 cardi's for C to match each of  my 2 graduation dresses purchased last week.

Get a text from husband, S, telling me that No 2 son, JT, has been awarded first class honours for his MDrama degree in Drama and Theatre Studies at The University of Kent in Canterbury, England.  JT, we're so thrilled for you, you've worked hard and played hard and you deserve your success xxx.

11 to 12 noon

F tries on shoes in Shoegasm and picks up an incredible pair of Chelsea Crew shoes - they're exactly what she's looking for.

12 noon to 1 pm

Watch F try on pretty much everything that's currently available to purchase at Urban Outfitters - F comes away with a dress, tie-dye purple shorts and 2 pairs of strappy sandals (yes, you're right, none of these were on the list but we both know she looks great in them and they're such a bargain!).

1 to 1.30 pm

Nip into The Container Store and pick up a necklace holder for, yes you've guessed it, F!  Leave F at subway loaded down with bags though none of it's for me - some use that shopping list proved to be!

1.30 - 3 pm

Meet up with my friend, W, at our Manhattan LQS to put together a collection of black and white fabrics with a splash of red for a table runner she's going to make.

Spot a laminate that I just have to have a yard of Kaffe Fassett Studio- Petunias Blue.  Thinking toiletry bags lined with the Early Birds by Jane Sassaman 'Poka Dot' that I've used with my Sparkle Plenty quilt and lime green zippers.  But I've also got a hankering for a picnic blanket using this laminate as the ground sheet, how stunning would that be?  Mmm, I'll have a think on that one.

Kaffe Fassett - Petunias Blue

Jane Sassaman - Poka Dot

3 to 4 pm 

Hot Lemon Ginger tea and none stop chin wagging at The Blue Dog, then jump in a taxi with W and you'll never guess where we're off to ... (some readers may recall a place in NYC that I've not been to yet but am very keen to visit) ...

4 to 5 pm

... finally, my long promised and awaited trip to Purl Soho and I'm not disappointed.  It's a really cute shop in a fab area with lots of other great shopping and eating.  Right opposite is Kiteya, Soho, a Japanese accessory and fabric shop so we pop in here first and I pick up a small canvas shoulder bag and a notepad - will be calling back again when I need to stock up on gifts and pressies.  Satisfied with our purchases at Kiteya, W and I cross over to Purl where we are greeted with a great selection of yarns and fabrics.

So PurlSoho, not as many fabrics to choose from as at my LQS, some fabrics are the same but enough are different and are current popular ranges so it makes it worthwhile to shop at both locations, which is good.  A bit pricier than my LQS also - a fat quarter is $3.50 compared to $3.00 but not too badly priced (nothing in NYC seems badly priced to me compared to English prices where retailers seem to think they can just change the $ to a £ instantly making all English prices 1/3 more expensive than the American price).

So here's what I bought:

I've got a bit of a thing for purple and green!

Loving the Avalon Birdie Spokes (Concrete) - it grounds all the other colours and stops them being too sickly together

Not my usual colour palette but thinking I should work outside my comfort zone sometimes just to see how it feels

5 to 6 pm

As we're walking back over to the West Side to get on the subway let's just recap that shopping list for today:

• black suede summer weight shoes for F;
• clutch bag for F;
• cream strappy top for F;
• long sleeve 'floaty' cream blouse for F;
• nude summer weight handbag for C; and
• 2 cardi's for C to match each of 2 graduation dresses purchased last week

Looks like we'll have to go back again another day - now isn't that a shame?!!!

For details of other NYC fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I love along with other stores around the world, exhibitions, and events I've attended, click the links below or in my sidebar

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

And The Winner Is ... Oh My, It's Me!!!!!

My battered Bernina Day flyer

In my last post I did mention to you all that yesterday I'd be popping along to the Bernina Day at The City Quilter and then making my first ever visit to Purl Soho. Well I headed along to CQ and had so much fun there that I never left so my visit to Purl Soho has, yet again, been postponed!

Well, if you headed over to CQ yourself yesterday, you'll know exactly why I didn't move any further than having a bite of lunch with my friend, A, at my favourite Manhattan cafe, The Blue Dog on 25th, there was just too much going on and it would have been a shame to miss any of it. Every half hour a raffle prize was drawn - I didn't win one myself but A won a pack of 3 quilt patterns and my other friend, M, won a charm pack. Then every hour there was a Bernina foot demonstration by Gayle Schliemann, Bernina's Regional Manager, and a raffle drawn amongst those who attended the session for the Bernina foot that was just demo'd. Again, I didn't win a foot but A also won a cording foot - wasn't it her lucky day?!

Photo taken by CQ in the Bernina Demo Room

I did buy lots of goodies though:

My collection of goodies

• Add a Quarter ruler as recommended to me by Kati in her comment on my New York Beauty post;
• lime green thread to free motion quilt part of my Sparkle Plenty quilt;
• Clover fork pins - going to give these a go to see what they're like for holding down multiple seam joins;
• Batiks - yes I was so taken with my June Bee Block I want to have another go at making New York Beauty blocks for myself;
• walking foot sole with central guide - I already have the walking foot that came with my Bernina 440QE but my model is before they made included this central guide sole and it's going to be fab for quilting in the ditch;
• and a straight stitch needle plate - I'm reliably informed that this will change my sewing and stop my fabric ever getting dragged down under the sewing plate.

Here's CQ's facebook photo album from the day.

But the best bit of the day - and what I've been holding back from telling you about, is that I did win something -  

I took 1st prize in the Creative Challenge!!!!!

The brief was:

Anyone can submit any finished product they've created on a Bernina to be judged for a first, second and third prize of City Quilter gift certificates.  We'll be looking for the best examples of these machines' exceptional capabilities.

I entered 2 book covers that I've made using a variety of techniques, hand and machine sewing and I won - I'm very, very thrilled.  A big thank you has to go to my friend, I, who mentioned the competition to me last week and without whom I would never have thought to enter - thank you!  By the way, she has her own fab knitting blog that you might want to check out - Chiagu and she's also launching an internet version of Ravelry for us quilters called Quiltfolio which I think will be amazing.

So here's a photo of my prize and also some of my book covers.

 

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my side bar :D

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.