Today “It’s All About Me”!

It’s the first day of what promises to be a hilarious blog hop, Madame Samm’s latest, with the delightful Marlene as our cheerleader.
Madame Samm’s sent our jolly band of bloggers an Amy Bradley applique pattern of a …(ahem)…’traditionally-built’ woman, with instructions to make it something of a self-portrait. I think we’re all in for a chuckle-filled week!
So here I go, diving in at the deep end, with not a soul to copy model my blog post on. (Deep breaths…)

Let me tell you (not exactly all) about me…
So the first thing is that I find new experiences such as this extremely daunting. My heart’s been racing as the deadline approached and I wondered whether I was going to have my little project finished in time for the great reveal. But, as usual, the anticipation was far worse than the reality.
Taa daa!!!
I have grey hair. I used to be ‘blonde’, but who was I kidding? One day I decided I’d rather grow old disgracefully while just being myself. Life’s too short for root touch-ups!
My favourite colour is PINK. Bright, fuchsia, lollypop, shocking in-your-face PINK. Actually any shade will do, just as long as it’s PINK.


I LOVE my red spectacle frames. They have the teensiest bit of blinginess. In fact I love them so much that when I needed to get new spectacles recently and my old frames were a little knocked about and scratched with age (a bit like me, really) I just bought a new version of my same old frames. How boring is that? The only thing that would make me love my frames better would be if they were PINK!

I’d rather hand stitch my applique than attempt to keep to the lines as I feed it through a machine, so I worked all of this quirky Amy Bradley design by hand, apart from the borders. Of course I had my pins close at hand on my wrist, and Amy’s lovely clear instructions.

For the first time I learnt, in Amy’s easy steps, how to fuse a second layer of white fabric onto the back of light coloured fabrics where patterns and threads might show through.
“Imagine FUTURE you”, said Madame Samm when she introduced this blog hop, but the thought of developing hind fat quarters like this Brunhilda is frankly scary. There was a heck of a lot of woman for me to outline-quilt around!
One thing about me that I doubt will ever change is my weakness for a certain family of techy toys.
I listen to audiobooks on my iPhone as I stitch, and snap and edit photos on it using cute apps that can create amazing effects. Then I post them on here as part of a Photo a Day Challenge. I keep in touch with friends, family and blogging buddies across the world by playing Words With Friends on my iPad. The music on my iPod  keeps me company too, and recently my joy was complete when I acquired an iMac.

I even had a special case made for my iPhone from a photo of my Daisy a Day quilt.

When it comes to products prefixed by that dear little “i” I just can’t get enough. You might say I’m a little biased!
Not too keen on the iRon though .

* * * * *

How about a little giveaway? Just leave me a comment on this post to be in the draw for these goodies…

A pair of quilter’s socks (PINK, of course!) and a little extra help with becoming FUTURE you – a bar of mud soap with minerals from the Dead Sea (I bought it on our pilgrimage to Israel last year).
For a second chance, become a Follower of my blog, then tell me you’ve done this (or tell me you already are a Follower) in a separate comment. Please be sure you’re not Anonymous or a no-reply blogger. I’d be sad if you won and I couldn’t reach you.
I’ll close comments on Friday 1st March and draw the winner.

* * * * *

Would you like to see how today’s nine other bloggers have created their self-portraits in fabric? Madame Samm has prizes for visiting all the blogs taking part in the It’s All About Me Blog Hop, around ten blogs each day, and for leaving lots of encouraging comments.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 19
Just Let Me Quilt
Sunshine Quilting
Karen at That Other Blog
Grammie Q
Gracie Oliver Arts
Marjorie's Busy Corner
SnippetsNScraps
Sowing Stitches
Pigtales and Quilts
Stitchin'ByThe Lake
Wednesday, February 20
Buzzing and Bumbling
Cherries Prairie Primitives
Kwilty Pleasures
Sew On And So Forth
Sew. Darn. Quilt.
A Stitch In Time
Doodling In My Mind
Moosestash Quilting
A Patchwork Life
Vickie at That Other Blog
Susie's World
Thursday, February 21
Kris Loves Fabric
The Quilting Alleycat
Cat Patches
Bumbleberry Stitches
Chickadees Country Cottage Crafts
In Stitches and Seams
Why-Knot-Kwilt
Quilting Unleashed
Rosemary at That Other Blog
Thimblemouse & Spouse
Sew Many Yarns
Friday, February 22
A Little Bit of Lorene
Life In The Scrapatch
Boston Bits
I Love Wool
Patchouli Moon Studio
As Sweet As Peaches
Just Quilt It
Grandmama's Stories
The Slow Quilter
Robin at That Other Blog
Scrapbook-ChickADoodle
Monday, February 25
Quilting Lines
Mountain Delights
Jane's Fabrics and Quilts
The Fuzzy Hat Quilter
Ramblings of an Empty Nester
NautiStitcher
Quilt Doodle Designs
Living Life
Freemotion By The River
The German Mom
Spoilt Dog Quilts
Tuesday, February 26
Pat Sloan's Blog
To Love Handmade
Feathered Nest Studio
Selina Quilts
Gypsy Dreamer Quilts
Sheila's Quilt World
Meadowbrook
13 Woodhouse Road
Zellerwear
Stitches of Love
Janice at That Other Blog
In The Sewing Basket
Wednesday, February 27
The Passions of Cliodana
QuiltMamas
Marathon Quilter
Marla's Crafts
Fiber Babble
Simple Sew
Sewn Seabees
Charlotte at That Other Blog
Nini's Patchwork
Charlotte's Creations
Ipiece2-Mary
My Spoolish Art
Thursday, February 28
Cherry Blossoms
Hill Valley Quilter
Dachsies With Moxie
I Like To QuiltBlog
Quilt Smiles
More Stars In Comanche
Tea Time Creations
Shedding the Wolf
Life, Quilts, and a Cat Too
Judy at That Other Blog
Madame Samm



Di

I just couldn’t stop myself…

Have I told you I love the custom iPhone 4 case I created through Quilt My Phone? {Oh, maybe once or twice…!}

Not content with just one, I also ordered a case for Di B’s brand new iPhone 5 through the same store. Di’s been such a stalwart this year keeping St  Mark’s Quilters on track when I’ve been MIA, and this vintage Roman Stripe Quilt Pattern from Cathleen’s in stock range seemed an appropriate way to say “Thank You”.

Would you like a “quilted” phone case for yourself?

My exciting news is that I’ve taken my Daisy a Day quilt photo, tweaked the saturation just a tad to compensate for the production process, and created case designs for eight different cell phones. You can now order one for yourself (or a friend for Christmas) from my new Zazzle store, QuiltMe.

You can even create a customised case there too, using your own photo.

Even better, you’ll get 40% off today! Just use the code 12DAILYDEAL3.

Offer is available until 11.59pm Pacific time (6.59pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time).

Di

Does this make me a geek?

… Or just a hopelessly addicted quilter?

Did you ever love a quilt (or quilts in general) so much you wanted to carry its picture around with you? {Or is this just me?}

When I discovered Catherine Savage’s Quilt My Phone website I came over all goose-bumpy! Not only could I order a case for my DiPhone with an image of a vintage quilt such as the Jane A Stickle Quilt, or many others from museums, but I could order a custom-printed case from a photo of one of my very own creations.

So I did! From this quilt, of course .

If you’d like to order some neat customised Christmas gifts this year then pop on over to Quilt My Phone.

Better still, sign up to be notified by email of special offers which come along with delightful regularity (thank you very much!).

*** This is not a sponsored blog post, just a recommendation from a very happy customer! ***

* * *

Don’t forget to leave a comment on this blog post to be in the running to win one of three ARDCO template sets to make your own version of this quilt. The giveaway runs till midnight Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time this Sunday 18th November.

Just a little reminder that I can’t enter you in the giveaway unless I have your email. You can either check your settings to make sure that you’re not a “no reply” blogger, and change it if necessary, or simply include your email at the end of your comment.

The following readers are “no reply” bloggers who have left a comment on the giveaway post. Please contact me at - dianne dot jobbins at bigpond dot com to let me know your email.

Cathy (your email is bouncing) – ozzypip – Julee – Maureen – and Denise.

Di

February Photo a Day Challenge Day 15–Phone

Oops! There’s a tropical fish-tank in the Diphone.

Di

Bursting at the seams!

With a record attendance of nineteen at St Mark’s Quilters on Saturday I seized the opportunity to try out my new AutoStitch panoramic photo app on the DiPhone.

It was our first sewing day for 2012 and our noise and enthusiasm levels were high with plenty of catching up and “show and tell”.

Look at these quilts, finished during the holiday break.

A cute Marcia Burgess kindy quilt using attic windows by Gail D.

An exciting pirate quilt for one of our Marcia Burgess Kindy children, by Michaela.

Moo’s gone all dotty with this Blanket of Love for RPA Newborn Care.

Another Blanket of Love by Moo, this time with Australian wattle, and wattle flower-babies.

A much-appreciated boy quilt for our Blankets of Love collection, from Gillian.

Di C has always been a free spirit. She uses her talent to choose the right colours to create vibrant, fun quilts like this one.

Di C is equally comfortable working with pastels, as you can see in this pretty Blanket of Love.

Gail D brought along this Blanket of Love with clowns galore all over it!

And here’s one from me.

As usual, we lacked nothing in the sweets department.

No wonder we’re bursting at the seams!

Di

February Photo a Day Challenge Day 2–Words

In case you haven’t caught up, my intrepid daughter Sarah is doing post-doctoral research into leptospirosis in rural Botswana and we’re getting used to her …ahem…slightly unusual Facebook status updates.

Like this one.

I have to admit that, while moved by Sarah’s and R’s plight, most of us here on the other side of the globe enjoyed a chuckle at their Third World predicament.

Our amusement might have had something to do with her subsequent message…

Resourceful gal, our Sare xxx

 

Di

Have you joined {fat mum slim}’s February Photo a Day Challenge yet?

A little fun with 3D photos

Since this post several enquiring minds have pressed me for more information about how we might be able to view the photos taken by my brother’s 3D camera on my blog and I, in turn, have pressed him for more information.

Here’s what he wrote…

The easiest way I’ve found to view stereoscopically on a computer screen, without special glasses, is to look at a pair of side-by-side images which have been created stereoscopically- one image is the left eye’s view of a scene and the other is from the right eye’s perspective. 

Stare at the vertical line between the two images then go cross-eyed until the left one overlaps the right one in the centre of your vision, creating a central 3D view of the scene, with a fuzzy image either side in your peripheral vision which you ignore. 

With a bit of practice these will ‘pop’ into 3D easily, but first up the difficulty may be in holding stable with the right amount of cross-eyedness.
Persevere, it’s fun.

Being an extremely obliging chap he’s even sent me three of his own photos, set up using StereoPhotomaker software to cleverly auto-align pairs of images for cross-eyed viewing.

Are you game?

[I need to warn you of the usual risks in making you eyes go cross-eyed, and point out that it’s entirely your choice whether you try this or not]



Just stare at that centre line until your eyes relax and go cross-eyed. The good news is that once you manage to see this first image in 3D you should have no trouble getting it in the other two photos.



Is it working for you yet?





If your eyes haven’t popped out of their sockets yet and you’d like to try this out on more 3D images take a look at this gallery.

The cross-eyed option’s already selected, so just click on any thumbnail for your image pair.
Now I’m off to pop an ice pack on my eyes

Di

New Life – and a new kind of camera

Until recently our garden has been distinctly lacking in colour and very wintery-looking indeed.


Up close, though, there’s plenty of fresh new growth to be seen as this week we’ve been basking in springtime sunshine and daytime temperatures creeping up into the low 20s Celsius.

There’s even been some of this –  our first spray of jasmine with its heady perfume.

At my mother’s house the magnolia is bursting into bloom.



My brother, an expert photographer, took far better photos of this magnolia but unfortunately I can’t share them with you because they’re in 3D!
I’d never heard of a 3D camera until he showed us his yesterday (and you know how I like to know about these “toys” )
Hmmm… maybe I need to do a little research.
Here it is...
Di