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Tag Archives: flickr

Another Time

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This  week on flickr I discovered the wonderful work of Lyne Marie of Abigails Atliers who, along with the glorious photography of her husband, take us back to another time. Lyne Marie sources a lot of her fabrics and furs etc from vintage and charity shops.Even the icy days of winter do not deter Lyne Marie and her husband from getting that perfect shot….not at all easy on Britain’s frigidly cold beaches …but thanks for the effort Lyn …your photoshoots are spectacular!

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I was delighted to see a gorgeous gown made using some Laura Ashley curtains! As you may know the earlier Laura Ashley fabric range was always sourced from archivally correct historic collections and Lyne Marie has done a spectacular job with this gown. Like seamstresses of olde Lyne Marie makes her gowns entirely by hand and at an incredibly generous price too. So if you are looking for something for that fancy dress ball or a special party …or the ultimate wedding dress…do remember Abigails Atlier….the standard of the work looks quite breathtaking.

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Its my bloggiversary and I did not even notice

Can you believe I have been so busy blogging, flickering and tidying my sewing that I did not even notice it was my bloggiversary yesterday? I deleted a whole lot of early posts and it was not until I answered Kaylee’s sweet comment that I realised that it was a year ago yesterday that I started blogging.

Over a year ago I was tempted to try blogging as my son CJ thought it would be a useful way to connect with other craft bloggers as I have very little contact with crafters in real life. At this stage I had not really used a computer much and was very wary of bothering CJ as he is busy on his for long periods of time but he encouraged me and was kind enough to set my blog up and at the same time set up a flickr account as well.

I cannot thank CJ enough…for his forbearance and his teaching skills. Eventually I learned how to use the basic functions of the computer although CJ said that he had never seen anyone use the back button as much as I! It was the only way I could fix mistakes and it did not always work! Eventually late last year my father decided to buy me a laptop as a means of helping me with setting up my business. By this stage I was able to publish my own posts and various other things although CJ arranged the photo uploads etc. Along the way we had delightful fraccas as I could not comprehend such basic things as copying and pasting etc etc. I finally worked it out by writing down the steps involved as I watched CJ ‘S fingers flying magically as he performed this most simple of tasks. Meanwhile my husband looked on bemused but proud at my accomplishments.

My blogging started with a trial entry by CJ of a photo of my horses quilt and then I did a few more crafting posts but then I got a little rattled I guess is the best way to describe it…it seemed like a chore and boring to boot. After a month or so I worked out the problem was that I did not like craft blogs as such as I like to effuse about life and books and issues of interest of the day and quite frankly some of the craft blogs were like Friends after 9/11….am sure if another 9/11 happened some of the crafty bloggers would choose to not write about it as it is too negative…unless a year later they made a quilt about it that is.

I think I hit my stride when I covered an issue for another quilter who had a run in with a quilt designer over the kit she had purchased…a little like an expose on the prices and philosophy behind mass production in quilting design today. That also got a fair bit of attention and some of my first comments from people who had found the post through searches or word of mouth. The next big one was  when I noticed Hillary Clinton standing in front of my favourite designers quilt when she was running for election. I covered that and got hundreds of hits in a few days and emails of thanks from the designers in England and America.

Then there was a huge departure for me when I covered on Easter Sunday the sacrilegious use of a church in Sydney and from that I received not only an email from the head of the Uniting Church in NSW but literally several hundred readers and my very first Biblical comment along with on the same post…. my very first instance of being flamed!! By a bigot with pornographic business at that!! Both of these posts entailed followups and were well received.

So my style gradually evolved to some craft and a whole lot of whatever caught my attention at the time. As that developed I decided to delete all posts from last year …I know bloggers world wide shudder in horror at the thought of those comments and all those words …gone forever or only available somewhere in the depths of Google! The thing is there were such big gaps during the first few months until I actually got my own computer that it seemed most sensible to start afresh… when I found my voice.

Along the way I started thrifting posts about all my wonderful vintage finds and I even managed an expose there as well! I also have included interviews or discussions with artisans and recently some “what inspires artisans” posts as well. Recently I shared some private worries which were helped by the feeling of release and also genuine concern voiced by fellow bloggers.

I found that flickr provided a lot of the everyday show and tell and encouragement that I had been after in the blog originally and I met some of the most wonderful artisans there who are now firm friends..Sally and Betty, Regina and Virginia and many more. Most of these do not have blogs so it is a great way to communicate with a different kind of artisan and has led to an interest in photography and the stylizing of photos.

While I have been at flickr a lot of people have contacted me asking me if they could buy fabric and quilts from my non existant shop. They have been very supportive and encouraging so I am closer to opening that now …largely thanks to them and all the work CJ has put into my soon to be released new and improved blog, complete with shop for all those lurkers who are after my fabrics and quilts and bags.

I have met some wonderful people involved in crafting through blogging.  Janey, Melissa, Kathy, Angie, Sunnie, Judy, Judi, Fiona and Jackie overseas                 and    Kara

Kate and Kelly in Oz …all the K’S!!! all wonderfully talented women who totally put my humble efforts to shame. Through flickr I discovered so many wonderful crafting blogs including Jacquie Jackie Arlee, Suzie to name a few.

The Bombshell deserves a whole section to herself as she does not fit into any category really! Looking forward to her return from holiday in California.

So what does blogging mean to me? Firstly it is brilliant distraction for nerve pain…better even than sewing and then its expression and dialogue and more than anything my great love is reading about others lives. Usually I hate non fiction…however I am addicted to reading about peoples lives here and also find that it is not in me to be a lurker. Maybe its because I like to be involved and I find it such a privilege that people will share their lives here and find it impossible usually not to leave a comment.

So thank you all who have read my posts, those who have commented I treasure the dialogue and also thanks so much all who have followed me on my journey here. Most of all thanks to Christopher who patiently guided me until I could do all things here myself…he is a fine teacher and a wonderful person…thanks Christopher.

Edit…..must not forget my first live blogging experience of the hellish helicopters carrying the Pope!!!

Flat Stanley Down Under

Introduction and Background

A few posts ago I caused much confusion here on my blog when I wrote that I had an illegal alien visitor. The consternation was even greater at home after I published the post of him with a photograph of him getting friendly with my naked Art Deco Lady figurine! This was purely accidental as Stanley was in such a weakened state when he arrived that she was simply propping him up! I quickly realised that it would seem really inappropriate to some parents and teachers even though the children have seen far more risque things on the Simpsons.

I also took the opportunity to research Stanley and found out that he was a grade school boy …here I was thinking he was an adult …. I had planned all along to do a story of an illegal alien or how he was here incognito! After a few days of pulling my hair out we had the worst rain we have had in years. Of course here in Australia we do not mind the rain and after years of drought we certainly do not wish it away! However it just kept teeming down and as Stanley had arrived here 28/5/08 and had to be home by 12/6/08 the clock was ticking! So we dressed in polar fleece and boots and scarves and wraps and that’s just CJ, and hardily ventured forth to get some photos of nearby landmarks. The Bridge and the Opera House was out as Stanley would simply have blown away, never to be found. So out of this tricky situation the story about illegals and Stanley’s secret mission continued to unfurl. With the photos I had managed to take of him in my everyday life and with the addition of the photos of some historic buildings I strung together a story based around the actual photos.

As I had read that the Stanley project had won awards in the early 2000′s I thought that it would be good to showcase the new technology available to children and adults in various forms today. This involved my favourite photo site and that led to an actual group there where people worldwide can see Stanley’s adventures. After that it made sense to have the story up in blog format because that is how Alyssa and I met through her mother, in November last year. A few months before we met I could barely send an email, had to ask my son every two minutes what to do and ended up having a three month break from blogging as sheer terror set in! Yet here I am choosing to do this project using multi media ie photo sharing and blogging and e-books! I simply cannot believe myself!

I hope Alyssa and her classmates have fun with this…I picture them accessing this via the blog or the photo sharing site on a television linked to a computer somewhere in their school and then later sharing it with their families on their home computers. We truly live in a wonderful time. I would like to thank my son CJ who taught me most of what I know and Alyssa and her mother and her teacher for letting me have the time of my life!

Click here to read the story!

Open response to a comment on my last post

Kara thank you for your in depth comment…..my response was too long so decided to do it here also so that non WordPress bloggers could see it.

I understand what you are saying about small businesses helping the community but am still concerned about the high price tags required to do that. Your example of sjorcha is interesting as well as people will always be having babies so there is a definite need for that type of product. However there may be an over saturation point for other products and this could affect your business of handbags and scarves. Once people start to buy a certain label and the word spreads is there not a time when people will say…I am so over her….or such like? That happened to me with Olga Berg. I wonder if your mentors have discussed this with you? I would be interested to know as I feel human nature does not change and fashion, even alternate fashion ….. is all about being individualistic and fresh.

But as I said the big thing for me is the lack of creativity in some small business products. That is why I loved it when you branched out into scarves, there are a lot of scarves around like your design…we can thank Denise Schmidt for that…but yours are much more original and show a wonderful mix of new and old reclaimed fabrics…. same with your bags. However I am concerned with the high prices that need to be charged so that independent designers can make a decent living. We have had that discussion before about how the government needs to do more to support small business owners…especially in this industry.

You actually made my point for me about flickr being used as a form of marketing. You are recommending that people look at your work ……. “as long as you don’t mention its for sale” But isn’t that what a photo gallery on a website is for? To show what is currently for sale and what has already been sold? You also make my point exactly that there is a difference between hobbyists, crafters and business people….the only people doing business on flickr is flickr…it is against the TOS which we all agree upon when we sign up. [Although a lot of people don't bother reading it]

I do take your point though that there is a difference between the three and that you are trying to run a small business…its just that the prices required to make your business competitive and viable mean that I and a lot of others struggling to simply pay the bills cannot afford those type of prices. As a crafter/ artisan I also find it hard when people would think nothing of paying upwards of $200 for a handbag that may take three hours to make yet would not consider paying even $300 to $400 for a quilt that has taken maybe two to four weeks to make. It is a real imbalance and means that it is achievable for artisans in the fashion industry but not for artisans in the quilting industry. But perhaps it is just who you know…and comes back to the networking and marketing thing which you are so good at!

Kara has had some wonderful press, especially recently, both online and in newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald Business section also did a brilliant article. It is here and probably explains better than I what it takes to make it in this industry.

Update …just checked my link for Olga Berg….good grief the bags are stunning again…sorry Kara but I can afford those. Of course every second person is thinking the same thing so we are back to the mass produced thing again. Oh I feel a headache coming on!

Thrift Tuesday and the Sequinned Jacket

Hope all the mothers had a wonderful day on Sunday. This past week I decided to delete my earlier blog entries as the photos had disappeared anyway and I didn’t have many posts on how I made the various quilts and those seemed somewhat outdated now. Also through my flickr use I am more aware of which quilts have been viewed the most and which quilts/throws non sewers find most interesting.

This week CJ taught me how to optimise my photos and I have actually remembered how to do it …..and retrieve them as well… poor CJ almost lost it when I asked where do I go to get them now? Always making things harder for myself than I have to! I am a good problem solver on the computer though…just keep trying until I get it right!!! Well apart from the emoticon thing and the google reader thing and the etsy thing and the uploading my own photos to WordPress thing…well its good for CJ to feel needed and that he has more knowledge than his mum!

I have also decided not to commit myself to a particular day or flickr group for thrifting and it might also have something to do with the person who runs that particular flickr group not being exactly cordial over the banning and photo links etc …but mostly because I do not want to feel that I have to go out thrift shopping especially for a certain day…the people who were waiting on my thrifting posts, and can you believe it there were, will see by the rss feeder anyway when I have done a relevant post.

Over the past week I found a gorgeous black sequined chinese style jacket by Maggie Shepherd [as new] for $8 which I promptly sold to a friend and a violet strappy top for $3 which she also bought. A gorgeous little hand painted glass candle holder for $2 and Jason Magnolia coasters for $8 [as new] and some assorted haberdashery items for $11…. everything cost $32 ..all in all a good hall and not just for me! I should have taken photos of the whole lot together and can’t now as my friend is probably wearing them in England as we speak. Will try to work out how to do the photo thing myself soon but do not want to overload my brain and in the process lose the ability to optimise. Whew, am sweating thinking about it!

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