Tag: Housekeeping

CPP on Vacation

The CPP will continue. I need some people to play with on this project. That means you!

So far there is only one entry for the creativity prizes, so what is holding you up? Do you need a pep talk?

Rules: Anyone who posts a response to any of the prompts between now and the post for prompt #111 will be entered for a prize. Yes, I know it is end of school and vacation time. Do a response while in line at the grocery store on the back of a receipt.

If you do a response to any prompt (there are 110 words so far), you will get into the drawing. Anyone who gets a friend to do a response will get two entries. You have some drawing friends, right? Poets? Mixed media artist friends? Thread painters? Photographers? Sign them up. BTW, all rules are subject to change at my discretion.

These will not be quilt related prizes, but creativity related prizes. Like a deck of creativity cards.

Were you planning to wait until the last minute? Please don’t wait until the last minute. My life will be better if you don’t. Do your response NOW and post the link in the appropriate comments section.

CPP Vacation

 

Remember I said that the CPP will continue? I need some people to play with on this project. That means you!

I am going to offer some creativity prizes, so what is holding you up? Do you need a pep talk?

Rules: Anyone who posts a response to any of the prompts between now and the post for prompt #111 will be entered for a prize. Yes, I know it is end of school and vacation time. If you do a response to any prompt (there are 110), you will get into the drawing. Anyone who gets a friend to do a response will get two entries. You have some drawing friends, right? Poets? Mixed media artist friends? Thread painters? Photographers? Sign them up. BTW, all rules are subject to change at my discretion.

These will not be quilt related prizes, but creativity related prizes.

Were  you planning to wait until the last minute? Please don’t wait until the last minute. My life will be better if you don’t. Do your response NOW and post the link in the appropriate comments section.

Do a little scribble response. It will be quite freeing.

CPP Nearing End of Vacation

Remember I said that the CPP will continue? And that I am going to offer some creativity prizes? Anyone who posts a response to any of the prompts between now and the post for prompt #111 will be entered for a prize. Yes, I know it is end of school and vacation time. If you do a response to any prompt (there are 110), you will get into the drawing. Anyone who gets a friend to do a response will get two entries.

These will not be quilt related prizes, but creativity related prizes.

Don’t wait until the last minute. Do your response NOW and post the link in the appropriate comments section.

CPP Vacation Nearing Its End + Prizes

The CPP is still on vacation, but I have decided to continue. I have some work stuff going on so it will be a month or so before I get back into full on CPP mode.

I am going to offer some creativity prizes to anyone who posts a response to any of the prompts between now and the post for prompt #111. Yes, I know it is end of school and vacation time. If you do a response to any prompt (there are 110), you will get into the drawing. Anyone who gets a friend to do a response will get two entries.

I am shooting for beginning of July, but I probably won’t warn you, so don’t wait until the last minute. Do your response NOW and post the link in the appropriate comments section.

See previous words and information on the Creative Prompts Inspiration Page. Do you have any ideas on changes or improvements I should make to the CPP?

Ready? Set? Go!

Guess What? CPP is Still on Vacation!

Wouldn’t you love a vacation this long? I would.

The CPP is still on vacation. Did you do any responses to the previous prompts? See previous words and information on the Creative Prompts Inspiration Page. Do you have an opinion about how I should proceed with the CPP? Are there enough prompt projects out there already? I have listed a few resources on the CPP Inspiration page.

Did you Talkback? I was glad to hear from Angela and Kim and SherriD.   I want to hear from you.

CPP on Vacation

The CPP is still on vacation. Did you do any responses to the previous prompts? See previous words and information on the Creative Prompts Inspiration Page. Do you have an opinion about how I should proceed with the CPP? Are there enough prompt projects out there already? I have listed a few resources on the CPP Inspiration page.

Talkback. I want to hear from you.

The *itch is Back

I am really irritated.

Someone stole photos of pillows I donated to a raffle and put them up on their own blog. Now I have to send that person/blog/organization a cease & desist letter. I don’t have to, but I am going to. From a REAL lawyer who charges a lot of money per hour.

Here is the deal: If you want to use my photos, the policies and procedures are clearly labeled under ABOUT on the navigation bar under my header. I will also provide you with a convenient link, so you don’t have to look around. If, for some reason, you don’t want to download Clipmarks, then just ask me. Leave a comment somewhere and we can have a conversation about it.

The deal is that I want credit and I want a link back to my blog and I don’t want to have to come after you.

Do not just download the photos and put them up on your site. Be nice!

Picking Prompts

In a recent comment, Quilt Rat asked how I pick the prompts for the Creative Prompt Project. In part it all started with Amy at the Creative Mom Podcast, because I heard one word, thought about her thematic prompt and started on this project. The project has evolved very differently than the project in my mind.

Around the same time, I had been thinking about Illustrated Journals and that influenced my decisions about the CPP as well. You can read a little about my thoughts at the time in my February 20, 2009 post.

Another piece of the puzzle was a little book that DeWayne gave me as a Christmas gift. DeWayne is a former co-worker who is an unbelievably creative person. Every year at Christmas DeWayne gave everyone on the management team a little gift and one year it was a little blank book called Jeu de Cahier.

Jeu de Cahier, Front Cover
Jeu de Cahier, Front Cover

I am very particular, and a bit of a connoisseur/snob, about my notebooks and journals. This one didn’t fit, so I threw it into a drawer. When I started the CPP, I came across this notebook again and decided that it would work for keeping track of my ideas for prompts. I have a big list in the front with all of the prompts and then I organized them by first letter of the alphabet, so I can keep better track of the ones I use.

Prompts, August 2009
Prompts, August 2009

As I wander through my life, I note down words that might make good prompts in the future.

Finally, I am getting to Quilt Rat’s question. Choosing a prompt depends on my mood.  I leaf through the book and see what words jump out at me or strike my fancy. I, sometimes, try and choose prompts that fit in with a theme or something that is happening in the world. I don’t worry about that too much, however, because I don’t really think it matters for the CPP purposes.

I try to prepare the prompts so that they post on the Friday and are consistent in terms of numbering and order. If I can think of a theme that fits, then I add that as well. Sometimes I change a prompt just before it is going o post and that can get me into trouble. Remember the double prompt Friday – June 5?

Creative Prompt Flickr Group

For those of you without a place to post,  and for those of you want to see all the creative prompt responses together, I have created a Flickr Group for this project. You need to join. You can do so at http://www.flickr.com/groups/aqcpp. Hope this is helpful.

Please continue to to post the deep link or URL to the comments section of the prompt. Thanks.

Blog Housekeeping

Just a quick note to let you know that I am still working on fixing the blog. There is something wrong with the theme (Cutline, in case anyone is interested). It was behaving badly, so Deirdre changed it to this theme, which I know is not ideal in a number of ways. Yesterday we worked on rebuilding the right sidebar. I also looked at a bunch of possible other (free) themes as well as testing the old theme over and over to see if it was behaving itself.

In any case, we are working on it and will hopefully get back to normal soon. Thanks for your patience.

Various and Sundry Saturday

Can you tell I am just desperate to catch up on everything? All of my posts lately are entitled “Various and Sundry.” I hope it gives you an idea from the title what kind of post it will be.

  1. I am doing a project (another one? you say) called 31 Days to Building a Better Blog. You can find it and play along at ProBlogger. I am already 3 days behind, so we’ll see how it goes. When I first saw the ad for this project, I was arrogant enough to think I didn’t need such a thing. Immediately after that thought, I signed up, because thinking I couldn’t improve Artquiltmaker blog is a sure sign I need help. If I can make a few improvements, I’ll be happy. If I learn, I’ll be happier.
  2. Reviews and comments about Handmade Nation are all over the blogosphere. I would like to see it as it sounds interesting. I haven’t, however,  seen it playing anywhere nearby. I’ll keep looking.
  3. Be*Mused had a lovely array of colors up on her blog the other day. She and I are thinking along the same color lines. Here color palette is the look I am going for with the fabrics that I bought at Always Quilting. I want to add something a bit dark just to take the edge off the bubblegum-i-ness. Not sure what, but I’ll have to look around.
  4. I started listening to another episode of the CraftSanity podcast today. It turned out to be a joint podcast with Jennifer and Sister Diane of Craftypod. Essentially the two podcasters interviewed each other to give tips and pointers on starting your own podcast. Listen to CraftSanity podcast #14 and Craftypod podcast #24 to hear the different takes on the same discussion/interview. I love this kind of collaboration facilitated by the web.
  5. I am cutting 6.5″ squares of blue fabric (like the Thoughts on Dots project) for a project and I have lost about 3/4s of the ones I have cut so far somewhere in my workroom. They will turn up, but it made me realize that I need to have some way of organizing projects that are in the germination stage. There are a number of projects for which I need to gather fabrics while I prepare to sew. I want a system where I can put fabrics and supplies in one place until I am ready for them to be front and center. I am envisioning a system like Jan at Be*Mused put up. She used IKEA’s Expedit shelves. I am not sure these shelves would work for me. I also need a bed in my workroom for guests, so I think my ideal would be the IKEA Billy system with a bed somehow integrated into it. In the meantime, I may just get some POTs and use those.
  6. Linda Hughes of  From A Vineyard Garden blog has posted a list, paraphrased from the New Creative Artist book by Nita Leland about creativity. It is a good and interesting list and that book might be worth checking out.
  7. Finally, Retro Mama made a pattern f or fabric eggs and put it up on her blog. I love these eggs and want to make some to decorate for Easter/the Spring. It won’t work for this Easter, but I could make them for next year. We will see. There are just so many wonderful blogs out there!

Proximidade Award Received

Proximidade Award
Proximidade Award

I was pleased that Artquiltmaker Blog received an award this week from Friend Julie! Hooray. It comes at a fortuitous time, though, because I have been wondering if I should open a Cafe’ Press or Etsy shop and sell cards with my quilts on them! I hope I still qualify. 😉

“This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award.”

Julie searched for more information and so did I, but neither of us found any origins for this award, so it may be some kind of chain letter award. The sentiment is good and it means a lot to me that Julie would choose me to receive one of her awards. She is a discriminating reader. I do try just to post what I enjoy writing about and what I think will interest you, dear readers. I would love prizes, wealth, fame and fortune, but that isn’t why I do this. I do it for fun, writing practice and to chronicle my quilt adventures.

I would give the award straight back to Julie. In order to spread the wealth a bit, though, here are the awardees to whom I am passing this award:

  1. Kristen from Ardent Peace: I love hearing about her daily goings on illustrated with photos
  2. Jan at Be*Mused: Fabulous photos and colors in her quilts
  3. Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber: I love the way she scours the web for people’s accomplishments and posts them. I also like the dyed fabrics she shows.
  4. Gabi at Seattle Sketcher: He is inspiring me to sketch more.
  5. Urban Sketchers: I really enjoy their drawings and am thrilled that they are willing to share. The idea of a joint blog where people post their work in a cooperative manner is so wonderful to me.
  6. Quilting Adventures Blog: Yes, this is a shop blog, but one of my favorite shops and I enjoy seeing what is going on at that shop. I also like it that they highlight the work of their customers. Nice work, Joyce and Phoebe!
  7. The Creative Mom Podcast & Blog: Amy has slowed down on her posting quite a bit, but she works very hard at putting out a professional product. I enjoy the creative prompts, which inspired me, and the music she finds to compliment the podcast.
  8. CraftSanity: It wouldn’t be right to leave out Jennifer Ackerman-Heywood. She does so much work promoting crafts and we all benefit.

Thanks for reading!