I've decided I think I need a gocco. Well, not really like I need, but I want it really badly. So... I've been doing a bit of research. The Goccos of course are no longer being exported to the US, and they're reasonably expensive on ebay. Savegocco.com has hints that a mjor US arts and crafts retailer may be carrying them later this calender year.... but I feel the printing urge NOW.

The B5/B6 seems to be the most common system, and the most common size around. I think I'd like to be able to print a little bit larger than 4x6 ish, but it's all up in the air...

Mini Survey:
Do any of you have one?
What size do you have?

Well I've done it and taken the plunge to open a second etsy shop purely to destash myself. I came to the conclusion that I have more crafty stuff than I'll ever use, and that someone else could be using these things and I won't feel wasteful If I pass them on to someone else to use.

In addition I often buy in bulk when something inspires me, and then something happens.... or I get distracted by something else... and I've got a lot left. So nothing in the shop is junk or trash, they're all things I've bought to use myself at some point, and just didn't. Or I'll just never use the quantity I have.

So check it out.
Shooting Star Supplies at Etsy



:)

I've been working on this great quilt at work for a shop sample, and I think I've finally figured it all out.

These designs are Huge which leads to my first problem. I'm doing them in the 'grand hoop' which requires that the machine sews one side of the designs, then you turn the hoop 180 degrees and it sews the other side. In addition there are almost 60,000 stitches, which leads to puckering and all sorts of other problems with the fabric. I'm using silk dupioni (which is amazing by the way for embroidery) so all I needed was enough stabilizer to make it happen.

I stitched one of the other designs out previously and had a lot of problems, so I doubled up on the heavy duty (Inspira - washable sticky back) stabilizer and it worked! so the design with some puckers will most likely become a pillow, and I'll redo that one for the quilt.

one a side note: These designs are from the Pfaff Grand Elegance collection, which has 10 of these huge floral designs. You'll be seeing more of them as I get going. The designs take about 3 hours a piece (with no thread breaks or problems etc).

It's been beautiful here (until about two hours ago when the skies opened) but spring has definitely sprung. The sun has been out, the skies are blue, and the butterflies are out.

This photo is of Papilio cresphontes also known as the Giant Swallowtail. This butterfly is a swallowtail and is common across the southern United States. Adults feed on a variety of nectar sources in gardens and the caterpillars are referred to as "orangedogs." The larval stages feed mainly on citrus and can be a pest especially in non-commercial settings.

This photo was taken at the Boston Museum of Science's Butterfly Garden Exhibit in the Spring of 2005.

I'd like to give a quick shout out to powderpuff on etsy. She did a great feature on my shop at the end of January in her blog, and when I went to check out her shop she makes awesome super cute stuff and furry monsters.

This is a link to her blog post she did on me (I'm all the way at the bottom) but she profiles an etsyian (is that a word?) fairly often.

I've been sitting here procrastinating doing statistics labs becuase I'm quite far behind, and I have a lab practical tomorrow. I have all my programs written and run, so I have output to write about, but now it's 11:25 pm and I'm ready to go home and go to sleep.

But in the meantime I've been sitting and reading the news online, which while much of it is too serious and makes me sad, or it makes me want to go and find another planet to live on. I ran across this article this evening about Roger Ebert, the film critic. He's currently undergoing a series of surgeries for cancer and refuses to hide for the public eye while he's going through treatments. While he can't speak becuase of the number of surgeries he's had, he writes lots of notes and will be at a film festival soon that has installed a lazy-boy recliner for him to watch movies in. He requests that all gossip rags refer to photos of him as a "lay-z-critic"

If you're a new junky like I am for stupid news, you should check out fark.com if you haven't already. It's a fabulous way to waste lots of time.

I took this great quilting class this weekend to make a Blooming Nine Patch quilt, and got four out of eight fabrics up on the design wall. I'm not entirely sure that I love it so far, but it changes with each color you add, so stay tuned for more photos.

The pattern for the quilt is from the book "Traditions with a Twist" by Blanche Young and Darlene Young Stone and while the photos in the book aren't that exciting some of the other quilts I've seen in this pattern are amazing!

technorati tags: quilt blooming nine patch make