SewHappyGeek

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Oh hey, did you want to leave a link for Manic Monday Linky Party? For some reason it didn’t auto publish, so I didn’t get the post up till really late last night – so sorry!

Ok, can I make a confession? I order A LOT of stuff on the internet. So much that often, when a package comes for me it’s a surprise when I open it. Then I’m all like, ‘Oh yeah, I ordered this yarn to make that pullover!’ or ‘Huh. I ordered that book? What was I thinking?’

But sometimes a package comes that I’ve been SO excited about that I want to rip it out of the postperson’s hands. As soon as I see my name and the shape of the package, I know what it is. And today’s post had 2 of those items! Here’s the first:

And what’s in there?

 Oh yeah, personalised!!! And filled to the brim with useful knitting goodies:

Wanna know just how much you can get in a little tin?

Stitch markers, tiny crochet hook, stitch holder, needles, cable needle, wee tiny scissors and a measuring tape. Want one of your own? Well, you can get them from The Sexy Knitter on etsy for only £14/$22. She’ll personalise it for FREE! I totally recommend the knitting kits – SO useful for chucking in your project bag in case you drop a stitch, need a holder or markers, whatever.

And I also got my yarn from Amien on Ravelry – she’s got more up for sale, and I also recommend her too. She was so lovely!

This purple yarn is going to be a long version of Andi Satterlund’s Miette pattern. I’ve already done a purple wool one and a red cotton/wool one.

I’m off to play with yarn!

P.S. Because the Google Overlords want to force the entire planet into using their crazy social application, my Google Friend Connect widget has been cancelled. But you can still get me in your Google Reader (or any other reader) by clicking on the Feedburner (RSS) link below.

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© J C Excell, 2012

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Linky Party Rules:

• You can link anything you’ve created – an etsy shop, blog or tutorial, whatever.
• You can leave up to 2 links
• Please visit at least one other link and comment!
• I’ll be featuring a few on the blog on Feature Friday
• You are welcome to add my party button to your blog, but you don’t have to!

P.S. Because the Google Overlords want to force the entire planet into using their crazy social application, my Google Friend Connect widget has been cancelled. But you can still get me in your Google Reader (or any other reader) by clicking on the Feedburner (RSS) link below.

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© J C Excell, 2012

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Oh hey, Manic Monday Linky Party is still open!

There’s still time for you to join PLAY – the mini quilt competition based on any playing card! And all the prizes are international, so everyone can enter! It’s a mini-quilt contest with LOADS of prizes, and it’s based on your quilty interpretation of an ordinary playing card. It can be any card found in a standard deck of cards. 8 of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, 5 of Diamonds, anything!

  

(How to join) Important Details: You need to join the Pick A Card Flickr group and start adding your photos. You can add anything you like; photos of sketches are welcome, and of course photos of fabrics and WIPs!

I have a TON of fabulous prizes you can win with your Mini Quilt:

Best in Show - Fat Quarter Shop – $75 gift certificate Judged by: Melissa of SewBitterSweet Designs

Most Original - Fat Quarter Shop  – $35 gift certificate Judged by Melissa of SewBitterSweet Designs

Most Humorous - Fat Quarter Shop – $35 gift certificate Judged by Katy of I’m A Ginger Monkey

Most Popular (through a Linky voting contest) - Fat Quarter Shop - $35 gift certificate

There will also be Lucky Dip prizes, chosen by a random number generator:

Julie of Intrepid Thread is giving away a $25 gift certificate!

Natasha from Skye Reve Fabrics is giving away a $20 gift certificate!

Randi from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is giving away a $25 gift certificate!

Here’s how it works: You make a mini quilt depicting ONE card in a standard deck of playing cards. Size guidelines are: anything from 10″ by 10″ to 24″ by 24″ and everything in between.

The quilt must be at least 2 layers. It can be appliqued, pieced traditionally, foundation pieced, whatever. As long as it involves fabric and quilting (ie isn’t a painting), it’s fine! You can be as surreal as you want in depicting your chosen card. If you have an idea but you aren’t quite sure it’ll work, email me: jenna (at) sewhappygeek.co.uk Details for the rules can be found on the PLAY page.

P.S. Because the Google Overlords want to force the entire planet into using their crazy social application, my Google Friend Connect widget has been cancelled. But you can still get me in your Google Reader (or any other reader) by clicking on the Feedburner (RSS) link below.

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© J C Excell, 2012

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So I’ve been puzzling over this for some time now, and I am really interested to know what you guys think.

Stitch Graffiti by Mr X Stitch via Flickr

Stitched by Bee Franck

We would probably all agree that a painting is art, right? Even if it’s a painting by an amateur painter, I still think of it as ‘art’. But what about quilts? If you or I make a quilt or a wall hanging, is it art? Or craft? And it doesn’t just apply to quilting – it applies to all the ‘craft’ genres. For example, I regard everything that Mr. X Stitch or Bee Franck makes as art; to me, they are really talented, witty artists who choose to express that through cloth and thread, as opposed to a canvas and paint. I also consider the stitchers whom Mr. X Stitch features on his website as artists.

The Stitch Graffiti (shown above) was my favourite Mr X Stitch piece at The Stitch & Craft Show at Olympia this year- and I definitely regard this as art. But I also regard what my mother made as art, and I’m certain she never intended it as such. She was just crafting to have something to do in the evenings in front of the telly. But not surprisingly, my mum stitches at a professional level. She does everything at a professional level except knitting. But I think that might be because she started with a fair isle Xmas stocking pattern – if you’re a knitter you’ll know, that’s crazy, right? She’s also a very accomplished oil painter too, but I haven’t got any pictures of her paintings.

My mum's cross stitch

My mum's perfect stitching

And I’ve made a bunch of quilts, which I regard as mostly craft, you know, as fancy expensive blankets. But sometimes if I am proud of the design I kind of think of it as usable fabric art. However, my friend Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts made me a wall hanging which I certainly regard as art and it’s a very treasured piece. And there are many ‘quilt artists’ out there - Shaun Quinlan, Luke Haines, Margot Lovinger are only 3 of the tons. They clearly create with an intent for their quilts to be art.

Shanna's Dresden Wall Hanging, made just for me!

But what about you? or someone you really admire? Do you regard yourself or others as great crafters or as artists? Is there even a difference? What determines whether a piece is ‘art’ or ‘craft’?

I don’t know if Lynne of Lily’s Quilts meant this to be art or whether she even thought about where it falls within the art-craft spectrum, but I find that her YouTube quilt is so clever and striking that I’d consider it art:

Do you feel it’s the intent with which something is made that determines whether it’s art or craft? Or is it the level of expertise? Or is it all in the eye of the beholder? I sometimes feel that people are sexist about it, even without particularly meaning to be: that if a woman makes an amazing quilt, it’s an amazing quilt. But if a man makes an amazing quilt, it’s art. Do you find that to be true too?

What do you think? Is what you make art, even if it’s usable art? Or do you feel you’re a crafter? Is there even a difference?

P.S. Because the Google Overlords want to force the entire planet into using their crazy social application, my Google Friend Connect has been cancelled. But you can still get me in your Google Reader (or any other reader) by clicking on the Feedburner (RSS) link below.

 Subscribe in a reader

© J C Excell, 2012

Declare Your Questionable Taste To Your Friends:

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Linky Party Rules:

• You can link anything you’ve created – an etsy shop, blog or tutorial, whatever.
• You can leave up to 2 links
• Please visit at least one other link and comment!
• I’ll be featuring a few on the blog on Feature Friday
• You are welcome to add my party button to your blog, but you don’t have to!

P.S. Because the Google Overlords want to force the entire planet into using their social application, my Google Friend Connect has been cancelled. But you can still get me in your Google Reader (or any other reader) by clicking on the Feedburner (RSS) link below.

Subscribe in a reader

© J C Excell, 2012

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BTW, I’m not a lawyer. I’m just here to try to help a bit.

I’m getting a lot of emails from contributors, especially in the States, wondering how they go about dealing with the mess of All Craft Media/Modern Quilting Magazine going into bankruptcy and being handled by an Administrator.

Here’s what you do if you want to chase down the money owed you:

There’s a Form6-37 (1) Word Document that you have to fill out in order to be listed as a creditor in the dissolution/administration process. Please note that you will almost certainly be overlooked in the procedure unless you file this form – Kerrie Allman has done this before and very few or none of the contributors to whom she owed money were listed by her on the liquidation report of KAL Media. Please also note that filing the form will not automatically mean you’ll get paid. I’m sorry to say so, but I don’t think any of us will ever see any money from ACM. The business is deeply in debt and operated at a loss, possibly even from the start.

The Administration company is FRP Advisory and the Administrator handling ACM is Alistair Massey, who from what I’ve been told is a decent, reasonable guy so don’t be afraid to ring him to discuss your situation.

Tel: +44 (0)20 3005 4000 and Fax: +44 (0)20 3005 4400

Address: 10 Furnival Street, London
EC4A 1YH

Or, as Mulene has graciously shared below,

Katy Lever
FRP
Trident House
42-48 Vicotria St,
St Albans AL1 3HZ
Tel 01727 811111

If you just want your copyright and distribution rights back (like me):

All you have to do is get in touch with Alistair Massey/Katy Lever and ask him/her if he’s/she’s willing to do a deal with you. In exchange for not pursuing any moneys owed to you by ACM/Kerrie Allman, you may be able to get your sole distribution rights back, instead of waiting the contracted 3 or 6 months or whatever your contract states. Which means you can sell your pattern on the internet and try to recoup some of the money you’ll never see from All Craft Media.

Personally I am choosing to pursue this course for a number of reasons:

• I’ll never see my money – it’s not a large amount and frankly I can live without it. There are other people whose entire livelihoods have been thrown into jeopardy by Kerrie’s dodgy business practices who need their money WAY more than I do.
• I do not want to hear about my pattern showing up in an American magazine without my knowledge or my 50% cut – she’s done that before, too and even though all contracts are now controlled by the Admin, not Kerrie, I want to be 100% sure.
• Frankly, I want to wash my hands of ACM and all the pain it’s associated with in my mind and heart, which means I need to make sure I get ALL my copyright rights back into my hands.

If you are looking to get your sample back: Um, I’m sorry to say it, but you’re probably screwed there too. They lied to people when they were still in business, claiming they’d sent packages on dates that the postmark clearly showed as untrue. Many of the samples hung around Kerrie’s house. No one person was ever in charge of dealing with them, so no one did. So, yeah, you probably should just let her reap the bad karma they all represent and forget about it forever.

Edited to say: And if you are Kerrie reading this, I hope you can find a career that fulfils you. One that successfully helps you find whatever it is that you’re looking for, and doesn’t end up being controversial.

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I have the winner of the rainbow FQ bundle giveaway! It’s Billie Kretzschmar - way to go Billie! I’ll be emailing you to get your addy.

I’d also like to mention Purse Palooza, put on by Sara at Sew Sweetness:

P.S. Because the Google Overlords want to force the entire planet into using their crappy social application, my Google Friend Connect has been cancelled. But you can still get me in your Google Reader (or any other reader) by clicking on the Feedburner (RSS) link below.

Subscribe in a reader

© J C Excell, 2012

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