Quilting Links

by Kelly

Continuing my quilting searches...


Here is a 'jelly roll' race that I found through the blog knit and tonic. Since a  jelly roll quilt is just long strips of material sewn together, you can actually have races! My kind of quilt.

For more 'jelly roll' quilting goodness, check out Missouri Star Co.
They have a ton of quilting tutorials using their jelly rolls of material.

Then there are these adorable little houses made out of quilting scraps. Perfect for a Christmas tree! In fact, you could design one that looks like Grandma's house, and give it to all the grandkids. Or vice versa, so Grandma has a unique 'dream house' from each of her grandkids.

From retro mama

And finally, getting discouraged before I even begin a new craft, I spent a long time marvelling over this one.

Yes, that's a quilt, not a painting. Incredible. And there's a poem embroidered on all those rocks. Check it out on the blog The Blue Hare.  Wonder at the amount of time she dedicated to this quilt, and realize that you will never be able to equal that dedication or artistry. (*Sigh*)

Using Fleece

by Kelly

At our last Stitch and Bitch session, Dawn mentioned that she wanted to do something with fleece - something that doesn't include sewing, because Dawn and I both hate to sew.

Well, Dawn, I may have seen a project you could fall in love with. How about crocheting an edge on a fleece blanket?

Check out the tutorial at No Longer Conforming

Or maybe cut fleece into squares and crochet them into a quilt, like the one I saw on the EdgeryDoo site. The EdgeryDoo sells templates which help you evenly space holes around the edge of fabric, so that you can easily crochet an edge.

Imagine how soft and snuggly those blankets must be!

Etsy and Searching

This week we signed up for a limited time ad campaign on Etsy. With just a couple of days to go, I think it was a good experience - we certainly got a bump in the number of views we've had. The thing that I'm a bit confused about though, is how the search actually works. For instance, if you type in white afghan (both keywords used in Steph's spiral blanket), the search returns over 3000 items and the listing may be there, but it must be way down the list, because I don't see it anywhere near the top. However, if you type in Christmas afghan it is the third item (or thereabouts) on the front page. Try it and refresh a couple of times if it's not. The curious thing is that Christmas is not a keyword or from what I see, is not in any way associated with the listing for the white spiral afghan. Yet, I've tried this a number of times and it is usually very prominently returned with that search string. Bizarre.

Shop Smart - Shop S-mart

by Kelly

 Some of us around here are coupon  crazy. My husband, for example, has recently broken his vow to never again use Microsoft products, all for the sake of an online coupon that could not be grabbed in any other way.

 


 Well, if you do a lot of online shopping (like me) and want the best deal available, but don't have my copious amount of free time, here's something to try - Priceblink. or Invisible Hand. These are Firefox browser extensions that you download, with a lot of neat features and supposedly free of adware and spyware.

How Priceblink works -

While you are shopping for something, Priceblink is working in the background, searching for a lower price. If it finds one, it alerts you immediately with a clickable box on your screen. Additional features for Priceblink include coupon/ rebate notifications and a wishlist which continually searches for items you're looking for and notifies you by email if the price drops below a certain level.


How Invisible Hand works -

when you Google an item, Invisible Hand begins searching for a lower price. If it finds one,  a little bar pops up on your screen, providing a link directly to the site with the great deal. If it doesn't find one, it stays invisible. Invisible Hand is recommended by Google (no doubt as part of  Google's continuing effort to become Masters of the Online Universe) and comes with it's own blog, contact information, and tally counter.

My only concern with something like this, aside from the possibility of spyware/ adware, would be how much this would slow down my computer. I'm very spoiled and don't like my computer to take a few seconds to load a site or page. With either of these add-ons running in the background, the probability of lag or even crashes would seem to be increased.

However, I have been yearning for a particular pair of leather boots for some time now, but my cheapness filter keeps kicking in and preventing me from buying them. If Priceblink was watching the price for me, I would have the security of knowing that I could wait for the price I'm looking for, without fearing that the site or store would be sold out before I could snatch them up.  Definitely something to consider.