Pat Sloan's Corner

Holiday Inspiration

Do you have your tree yet? Thinking of a whole new look for trees? On about.com I found an interesting article on the Christmas tree and it's variations. The most interesting was the history of the 'upside down' tree.. which I still think is just a TAD ODD

but... they have been around forever!

 

and white trees.. love them and want one ... bad

how about silver trees?

What about red? This was a new one for me!

and my new favorite ornament is this one from Pottery Barn... I may need some the day after Christmas!

What color is your tree and would you love to have on in another color? Like maybe the red one??? Tell me!

CORRECTION .. Second Life Open House is THIS SATURDAY.. DECEMBER 19 (newsletter said This Sat but I had the wrong month)

if you did not get my email newsletter yesterday... read it online CLICK HERE

Let's Meet the Whip-Up Creator!

I'm a HUGE fan of the site WhipUp and I'm really happy to introduce you to it's creator Kathreen! We have emailed over the years, she has featured things of mine, I've even sent her some of my books and we just lovee.  

The WhipUp site is full of great things. Like book reviews, links to great online tutorials, and other funky fun craft things that we love to know and make! She lives in Australia and searches the internet for amazing things.. let's learn a bit more about her...

Pat: Kathreen I've followed your blog about crafting... but don't know the history behind it. When did you start it, what inspired you to create it?

Kathreen:  I started in 2006 - I was at home with the kids - looking for a creative outlet - I had a personal blog - redcurrent (no longer active) - and was looking for something more

More of a challenge - there was no real craft blog where it was all together - there are heaps now of course - so I asked a few blog friends to contribute and it was up and  running ...

Pat:What is your 'craft of choice'... you can have more than 1!

Kathreen:   lately its quilting - but it started off with sewing - for myself before kids - and then for the kids of course. Now though I am into quilting and crochet pretty exclusively - still for the kids though.

(Bag tutorial found HERE)

Pat: Do you have a favorite product you like to use? And what is your 'go to' tool?

Kathreen:   My sewing machine is my go-to tool - I am lucky now to have a spot where it can be set up all the time - it has made it a dream not to have to pack it away - or live around it whilst mid project - I have discovered basting spray recently and also use it for holding applique in place - I love it - has changed my life.

Pat: How do you fill up your creative soul?  When you need to recharge the batteries where do you turn?.

Kathreen:   I am a keen photographer and so I love to just go for walks and take photographs - I love playing with fabric - and hunting out vintage treasures - I guess though drawing out my design ideas in my many journals is where I am at peace. I also love to cook - not the everyday feeding hungry mouths type cooking - but the making a mess and creating type cooking.

(Craft Chair cushion.. CLICK HERE)

Pat: And since many of my readers are not Australian, can you tell us a bit about crafting in your area of the world. Is it popular? Do you do more with internet people?

Kathreen:   Australian craft blog scene has really exploded in recent years -there are some fantastic real life shops too - fabric and tools and craft books tend to be quite expensive though - so I do quite a bit of my shopping online - I do love etsy for that. And I do interact with heaps of aussie crafty gals - mostly through the internet as we live in different states.

Pat: The front page of your blog has sections, want to give us a brief overview of why it's set up that way so we can take advantage of it.

Kathreen: My brother has been developing a few back end things for whipup lately and one of his new things is the features section - this is where a few posts stay on the front page just a little longer than your regular post - my weekly newsletter is usually there - a few choice book reviews and fave tutes too.

(Funky book of stitchery CLICK HERE)

Pat: It's hard to play favorites... but indulge me! Do you have an all time favorite piece you blogged, and why is it your favorite?

Kathreen:   I really don't think so - each week I have faves of course - many of my faves are to be found in the annual calendars

http://whipup.net/2009/10/10/whipup-net-2010-calendar/
fave recent posts might include
http://whipup.net/2009/09/20/quilts-from-kellie-wulfsohn/ and
http://whipup.net/2009/05/31/free-quilt-patterns-2/
older fave posts include
http://whipup.net/2006/02/16/knitted-graffiti/ and
http://whipup.net/2007/06/22/resurgence-in-knitting/

Pat: WhipUp seems like it might be a full time job, do you have other jobs as well?

Kathreen:  Yes it feels like a full time job - I also work as design manager for a niche australian art magazine http://artmonthly.org.au/ and of course I am a full time mother to my 2 kids - both at primary school.

(Salt Dough Ornaments.. these are SO COOL.. click HERE and scroll down)

Pat: Any sneak peeks about your future projects?

Kathreen:  I am currently working on my second quilting book with Chronicle - the first is due for publication in March 2010. (WONDERFUL!!!! I can't wait to see it!)

Pat --- And a few on the light side...

--The Book you are currently reading
Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children
The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon

--Your Favorite Movie
the sound of music

--A Song that makes you 'dance the happy dance'
Phyllis Dillon – Don't Touch Me Tomato - always makes me dance and smile
Beautiful South -  Let Love Speak Up Itself - I just want to sing along

--The Color you have always LOVED.....
red (ME TOO!)

Cheers pat and thanks

WhipUp Website - http://whipup.net/
WhipUp Newsletter signup page (if you have one) http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=WhipUpNewsletter

self checkout pandemonium

Ok folks... today is not quilting, not decorating, and not the holidays... today is a...mmmm.. what SHALL I call this??? I'll let YOU Decide....

First.. do you USE Self Checkout? Love it? Hate it? Ready to redo the checkout that you use the most? 

The welcome to "Self Checkout Pandemonium Rant" brought to you ... by ... me!  So by this intro you can guess I am not that fond of Self Checkouts

There are the short ones ... meaning weigh...drop into bag right there. These are the ones I do best with. As long as it KNOWS the lighter than air item I am buying IS in the bag ... if it does not know then you get to remove it a few dozen times and try again... or call the helper. 

My main grocery store put in the long checkout. Like you REALLY want to get behind people doing self checkout of an entire cart of things... even a smallish cart takes awhile to check out (and bag) by yourself.  My issues (oh yes.. i have issues!) with this one

1- if I am using a reusable bag I often use it as my shopping bag too. I am unloading it, must let the items run all the way to the END of the belt so they register. I can NOT buy one item and put it back into my bag right at the scanner.

2- by the time my items roll to the end they don't have my reusable bag, so someone kindly bags if for me in the store bags.

3- the helpers are very thin in my store as they must constantly run from one machine to another to fix things... and we must wait our turn.

4-And the worst thing.. if the helper bags for me they do not put the bags in the cart... It is easy to not pick up the last bag if it's still attached to the arms. Ask me how I know this!! YESTERDAY (yes..you see there IS a reason for this post)... YESTERDAY I left a bag AGAIN .. do you know they now put all the left bags in ONE SPOT.. yes.. BAGS.. as in OTHER PEOPLE AND ME leave our bags!

whew.. that felt better.. but wait.. there is more!

An engineering diagram for the dang machines... not that this helps.. but the shipping department finds it interesting... read about the Self Checkout Apparatus  HERE

And one last rant... comment... Why DOES my library use a different barcode than the one on the book! And if they MUST use a different one why don't they COVER UP the original?? EVERY SINGLE TIME I go to check out a book I try and scan the book barcode... ugh!

Tomorrow is Celebrity Interview Day!!!!  She does not consider herself one, but I bet you have visited her blog.. be sure you come back tomorrow.. that would be WED Dec 16!!