How much does the eZine cost?

That is a common e-mail question I've been gettin' here lately. And I've gotten a few subscription requests makin' sure to say "FREE eZine." So, 'afore gettin' back to designin' a few more patterns, I just wanted to address some of ya'll's concerns.

The eZine IS FREE. Well, not really free, considerin' that ya'll are paying for your internet service. And Lord knows, they've got their hands in your pocket more than almost anyone! :-)

But, I can understand ya'll bein' concerned. It seems like nowadays everyone's got their hand out sayin' "I've got this, you've got to want it - now pay me!" I can't open one of my favorite magazines without seein' an ad for this new gadget or whatsit ... a lot of which are just silly and unnecessary. Whilst a lot of those things may make quiltin' easier, our fore-mammas did quite well without'em. And don't even get me started on how expensive our "fabric habits" and sewin' machines are ...

But I'm doin' this because it's FUN and, honestly, it makes me feel good. I get to do my three favorite things: illustrate (the patterns), quilt, and meet new, wonderful people. There's very few opportunities to combine all three of those loves - and this eZine is, thankfully, one o' them. But I do appreciate ya'll askin' if it's free. If ya'll are a bit suspicious about it bein' free, it must mean that you think it's goin' to be good! :-)
(Alright, even if ya'll aren't REALLY thinkin' that, it still makes me feel good to think that ya'll are!! LOL!)

I don't think ya'll quite understand how good it feels, how Blessed I feel every time I get an e-mail from ya'll asking to join, tellin' me that you like my patterns, or just sayin' "hi." Every e-mail from ya'll is just like a big ol' hug. And I've never seen a time that a hug wasn't an upliftin' thing. :-)

And even more inspirin' is the offers to help ... I get so many of those a day that it's hard to keep up. Sew many of you ... well, ya'll are just like family to me. I know that sounds silly, but that makes it no less true. The number of e-mails that I got askin' me how my poor hubby's doin', the well-wishes, the e-mail hugs ... well, like I said already, I just feel Blessed.

Sew to me, offerin' a few patterns, a few articles, and tips n' recipes, well ... I'm by a country mile gettin' the best out of the deal. In fact, as I see it, I ought to be paying ya'll! But if there ever does come a time that I can't keep this up without generatin' some kind of revenue, it'd be to have a few ads in the eZine (I've already gotten a few requests to place ads - I'm still on the fence about that). But the eZine will ALWAYS be free to subscribers.

And just so's ya'll know, if I DO take ads in the eZine, I'm promisin' that they'd be for good shops that I, myself, would shop at (and I'm what you'd call a bit of a miser - I expect a LOT for my $$). If I can't put my own "stamp of approval" on the shop, you won't be seein' it. You'd not see anything from a fly-by-night shop or one that I didn't feel really believed in quiltin'. Now, if ya'll have anything to say about that ... to yea it or nay it, please let me know. This eZine is for YOU ... and if it isn't what you want, then there's no point in me doin' it.

So, if my takin' ads at some point bothers you or if you think it's a decent idear, please holler at me and let me know. If'n I need to, I'll post a poll about it. But I'm really hopin' that ya'll will just e-mail me. 'Cause as I've said time and time again, I LOVE hearing from you!! :-)

Okee-dokee ... that's about it for now ... if ya'll will excuse me, I've got some patterns to finish and upload! ;-)

Big ol' quilty hugs!!
Connie :-)

A little bit of praise for the self-taught quilters!

Wow! I'm really blown over by how many of you decided to learn quiltin' all on your own! Talk about bein' adventurous! It just goes to show you that quiltin' isn't just a hobby - it's a state of mind. And I think we're talkin' about some VERY creative minds! I think it's just awe-inspirin' how so many of you just put your mind to it and then DID it - most of you, I'll bet, just taught yourselves!

My first quilt (which I'm fair sure I've already jawed on about) was for my Gramma - an amazin' and wonderful woman. She had made a quilt for every single one of her grand-babies for every occasion imaginable (weddings, births, graduation ... you name it!) and still managed to raise fine children (my dear Daddy bein' one of them!!). So, I wanted to make one for her - for the woman who managed to find the time to touch sew many lives and never expected anything back.

Well, my first quilt was so horrible that, yep, it deserves a paragraph of it's own (consider it a "booby prize" LOL!). I didn't know doodly-squat about fabric (mine had just about every type of fabric - cotton, brocade, polyester ... just to name a few!), much less how to put striped fabric in a quilt! Can ya'll say diagonals here and there?? In my house back then, "fussy cutting" was an attitude, not a technique! If you could have heard the frustrated blue words comin' out of my mouth when I tried to get the striped fabric to look right! Well, let's just say that the average outlaw didn't have nothin' on my vocabulary (or temper)! :-)

And I sure as fire didn't know a durn thing about stitchin'! I knew that and joined a local guild (desperate to know why my quilt wasn't even a shadow of how lovely my Gramma's were) ... and one kind quilter took me aside and gently informed me that I didn't need to use a double strand of thread to quilt! No wonder it was such a chore pulling the thread through the sandwich! At the point that that lovely quilter had given me that valuable (and time and wrist saving) advice, I had only the borders left to quilt! I ended up using 3 spools of quilting thread (I'm not jokin' by the way) on a single wall-hanging size quilt! If you could have been a fly on the wall while I was strugglin' to pull the needle through the sandwich ...! :-)

Alrighty, I didn't just tell ya'll my greatest shame and embarrassment just so's you could laugh at me (well, maybe just a little bit). I really did have a point to make ... now if I can just stop laughing at myself and get my cheeks to stop flamin' ...

Oh ... yes ... my point ... those of you who are teaching yourselves to quilt: you're an amazin' bunch of people! It's not easy ... despite the bounty of books, videos, and such, out there, it's a pains-taking process. No book or video can make your quilting stitches smaller ... no seminar can make your stitches more even and consistent. It's all ya'll's own tireless (well, maybe not tireless - Lord knows quilters do sew much they've GOT to get tired sometimes!), endless pursuit for perfection. A journey in and of itself. And the destination isn't just so's you can pat yourself on the back or give yourself praise (or hear it from someone else) - it's to do the best you can and give your creative spirit a voice.

The one thing that can really depress the doody out of me is whenever I hear a quilter bash her (or his) own work and progress. Too many times (usually from the self-taught quilters) I hear "My stitches aren't small enough!" or "My stitches just aren't even!" or some such nonsense. And I call it nonsense because they got THAT far all on their own! No one took them by the hand down to their local LQS or fabric store and picked out the pattern, fabric, notions, etc ... no one put their blocks together for'em. No one assembled the top for'em. THEY did that all on their own!! And certainly, no one handed them their creative spirit.

Sew, all you self-taught quilters, give yourself a pat on the back (or at least, let ME give you one!) and remind yourself, those of you who have just started to quilt, that it's a journey. And each quilt you make is a single step towards that destination. Each quilt an opportunity to stretch your creative wings, expand your horizons, and learn somethin' new. The more quilts you make, the more steps you've taken! And you've got to face it, with each quilt, you've learned somethin' new! A new technique (or an improvement on an old one), a new concept, or a new way of distilling your vision into fabric and thread! You are an amazin' bunch of dedicated people!! Ya'll took a chance on a new creative outlet!! Kudos to ya'll!! Yippee for you!! :-)

And if ya'll will let me, I'd be most honored if you let me join you on that journey. :-)

Okay, ya'll, I'm done preachin' for the moment. I'm off to get more patterns finished and uploaded! :-)

Big ol' quilty hugs!!
Connie :-)

Sunflower patttern pieces, as promised!

As promised, here's the download links to the pattern pieces for the "FAFSQ" Sunflowers block (July 2007) ... just click on the links (there's two PDFs - one per flower, since they wouldn't fit on one page) and they'll automatically download to your desktop (or wherever you want'em!)

"FAFSQ" Left Sunflower (July 2007)
"FAFSQ" Right Sunflower (July 2007)

If you have any problems downloading'em just give me a holler! And if you'd rather download'em as JPGs, just holler at me and I'll upload'em, too! :-)

Until next time, I'll be working on the September block - as promised! And remember, I'd love to hear from ya'll!! :-)

Big ol' quilty hugs!!
Connie :-)

Oops! I Forgot!

I also wanted to ask ya'll for a favor! If you see any room for improvement on the cover (or the rest of the eZine once you've got it), please let me know!! I want this to be an eZine that inspires you, motivates you, tickles you and is just a joy to read! At the risk of sounding tacky, I want this to be an eZine you'd pay for (though I'm not asking you to - it's just that we're all a bit more ... critical of what we actually have to spend money on). And I want it to be worth the time it takes you to read it! :-)

I've heard a bit of criticism on the subject of reading a "magazine" digitally versus on paper ... I'd like the eZine to be worth the extra hassle of reading it on your computer - or worth printing it out on your printer! Sew, please, comments, suggestions, critiques, ideas ... I'd love to hear them ALL!! Sew, please, start hollerin' at me! :-)

Until next time ...
Big ol' quilty hugs!!
Connie :-)

Sunflower block (FAFSQ) pattern pieces coming up later today!

I talked to my hubby last night and he had a great suggestion ... he felt bad that his accident has put back the eZine schedule (didn't I tell ya'll what a great guy he is?!) ... so he suggested that I go ahead and post the September block to the blog (with the pattern pieces) instead of waiting until the eZine was finished.

I have to say, I'm in total agreement ... I figure I've made ya'll wait long enough and some of you, I know, have already started on the Sunflower block ... last thing I want to do is make ya'll have a WIP in your sewin' room longer than you need to! Sew in the next day or so, I'll be getting September's block finished, pattern pieces laid out, and uploaded (with the original PDF on my site as a download link). I hope ya'll will look for the link to be posted here in the next couple of days! :-)

But I'll be sending the link out earlier to those who've subscribed to the eZine ... I figure, their loyalty, encouragement, and support is the whole reason I was able to get this far! Sew they "deserve" (in quotations since I don't think my designs are that great of a prize, LOL!) to get their patterns first!

Sew, until then ... big ol' quilty hugs!!
Connie :-)

Coneflower pattern pieces ... as promised! :-)

Okay, here's the pattern pieces for the Coneflowers block ... I'm sorry it took me a while, but I had to figure out my web host's preferred way of uploading files. Yeesh. Talk about reinventin' the wheel! :-/

Anyway, you have three options:

1. Click on the image to the left and be taken to a page with a fairly small JPG of the pattern pieces.

2. Click on this link and print the original JPG of the pattern pieces (at my site).

3. Click on this link and download the original PDF of the pattern pieces (at my site).

I really recommend downloading the PDF - since you'd get the original PDF file. PDFs are much better when it comes to quality (and file size = less download time). You can resize PDFs in a way that you can't resize raster images (like JPGs).

It's all up to you! :-)

Until tomorrow ... when I'm back with the Sunflower pattern pieces ...
Quilty hugs!!
Connie :-)

"August's" block for the Folk Art Flavored Series Quilt is here!

Alrighty ... as I said before, ya'll have been so patient, supportive and well ... just wonderful people! I'd like to thank you in a VERY small way ... at least, teeny tiny in comparison to how awesome ya'll have been! Many of you have offered kind prayers, thoughts, and vibes during this difficult time for my family ... and even more of you have remained loyal and visited my blog every day!

Sew ... I'm uploading the August BOM for the Folk Art Flavored Series Quilt. Remember, this block, as I designed it, is a finished 9 x 13 inch size. But, as always, you can resize as ya'll like. If'n you want it bigger or smaller, it's your decision! It's your quilt! Sew let your creativity and ingenuity shine through! :-)

I'm still ironing out the sizing issues with the pattern pieces (the imagers I upload here aren't the same size they are when I save them - go figure!). But in the meantime, I'm uploading the pattern pieces for the Coneflowers block (right now) and the Sunflowers block (tomorrow). I just didn't think it was cricket to make ya'll wait until the eZine comes out ... hopefully, ya'll won't argue! :-)

If you see any problems with the patterns, or just have somethin' to say 'bout'em, give me a holler! I always want to hear from ya'll!! :-)

Until tomorrow (this li'l bee is TIRED!) ... big ol' quilty hugs!!
Connie :-)