Athens time

Monday 19 April 2010

Picasa, Yummy Goodies and a WIP finished

I have a little bit to catch up on... Regular readers know how I have been struggling with Picasa and not being able to get photos out of Picasa to blog... I have done two things..
1) very bravely I have loaded all my photos into picasa, so at least I could take some (quite overdue) new ones and blog from my SD card..
2) a friend advised me to reload picasa. I have done so and miraculously it asked me to link picasa to weblinked picasa. Apparently these are two separate accounts. I followed instructions, I linked and.... found that all the photos in my blog are already in weblinked picasa (it seems I have had an automatic weblinked picasa account all along without my knowledge...) which is totally separate from computer based picasa where all my personal (not blogged) photos are.
I now can start learning how to transfer (yep, the blog this button now works! YAY!!) as the functions are just a teeny weeny bitsy different from transferring from the sd direct. A bit like from one mobile to the other.. roughly the same but not quite... However, now I am this far I am sure I'll work it out!! (But wanted to tell you all just in case someone is struggling with the same problem!

So now I can blog again, here goes with the update!

Firstly I received this wonderful package of fabric I ordered from Jonathan Avery (via Bearpaw blog). The fabric is ................. and a bit thicker cotton than quilting cotton but thinner than homedec. Wonderful in real life with fantastic colours and great to work with. As a personal gift, she enclosed one of her lovely miniquilt keyrings she makes, knowing I just LOVE them!! Thank you very much Jo! If you would like one too, I am sure she still has some in stock (but hurry as they are going fast, they are so cute!!). A lovely gift for quilty friends as well as having one for yourself.


Then to my surprise I received this lovely package of 6 FQ's from Isaac's mama! I saw this box falling through my letterbox and luckily she had put Easter/May swap on it so I knew straight away what it was and could not wait to open it. I was not disappointed! A lovely card and coordinating FQ's from Kati Cupcake's line in lovely pastel colours. I really love them and thank you so much! What a happy surprise!



Lastly (for this post anyway..) the photo Greta could not wait to see... The no-no bands (bands to be put around babies' elbows after cleft palate surgery so they cannot touch their faces, it's a charity Greta is involved in) I made for her and the baby puzzle ball. The bands have a dinosaur theme.

I must say when I started these they looked quite straightforward. I have seen others posting saying they made tons of these things... So I thought, hey, how hard can it be ? .... Wrong!! You won't believe what a meal I have made of these bands ... Firstly I followed directions and cut out the required size. What they did not say is to add and inch on all sides because after you have folded over a 1/4" and then again for the seam, you have added 1/2" on each side! Secondly the work involved in all the ties... Hours and hours I spent on those... Folding in on one side, then on the other folding in and over and keeping it all straight whilst sewing the seams closed... I made 3 for each band and thought I was done... THEN discovered (by trying them on) that of course you needed 6 for each band otherwise there is nothing to tie onto! duh... idiot (me, that is...) so made 6 more. I have admiration for people just churning these out... They are either much better sewers than I am, or know a better way of doing this that has eluded me... As it is these two bands took me 6 hours to sew... I am sure there is a quicker way!


In any case, it is now done and I hope Greta likes it. She has been grumbling at me lately for not showing her pictures of the bands and the ball ( I really had trouble with Picasa Greta... NOT my fault!!!) so I hope this will make for a happier Greta in spite of the fact I cannot now fly them over as all UK airspace is still a no-fly zone... I will send you a mail Greta and you can choose between surface and waiting for flying to recommence. At least you now know what it all looks like!

Enough for now, more tomorrow. Hope everyone has had a fabulous weekend. Lots of sun here in the UK and beach walks for Rafael!

ps... does anyone know how to get pictures from picasa straight into Flickr? still learning... Thanks....

8 comments:

Greta said...

Oh honey you make me laugh :) You can just send them however is the cheapest for you. Thanks for the feedback on the arm bands. I am working to write directions that are a little more clear for several of our service projects. We have volunteers sew the gowns as well and they are a little wacky too. Thanks for making the bands, sorry it took so much effort.

Rafael's Mum said...

It's not the money for postage I am worried about Greta, it's the timescale in which it gets to you that is the important thing. Anybody's guess as how soon the flying starts again, so up to you whether you go for the 6-8 weeks surface or if you'd rather wait for flying to recommence.

The effort in making these was entirely due to me still being such a beginner... In spite of now doing it for about a year, I have not made an enormous amount of things and certainly nothing that did require more than straight sewing, so it's entirely my fault, as really, these bands should be so straight forward! Glad that others found it easier and hope you get lots!

dolores said...

Bwhahaaahaa...you gave me a good chuckle Margie girl!:) I needed that after spending the last 3 hours posting to Quicken and reconciling the business and our acct!:) Now I need to do the quarterly taxes for the business but I'm sure glad I took a break!:)

I bet you'll figure out the picasa thingy soonest....at least you got something figured out!

Love that dinosaur fabric!!
xo

Lynz said...

You're not comforting me as I'm about to commence my no-no making, Marg! And I've cut the fabric. Oh dear.
LOVE the Bearpaw fabrics. I'm hoping to get up maybe next weekend (I have stuff I need to buy up in Edinburgh) and do some bank account style damage. That fabric may be on the list!!!

Rafael's Mum said...

Don't worry Lynz. If you cut 10" x 15" you will end up with 8 pockets instead of 9. That's how big mine is. I am sure they have a variety of sizes of children with surgery so that'll be for the smaller ones :-)

Catherine said...

Well Marguerite for sticking with it and making those bands work. Sounds like a bit of a nightmare. I just heard on our news that the have opened 'some' flight paths so you may be in luck soon to get them to Gretters. Love both you yummy fabric packages!!

myBearpaw said...

I love that fabric ball - looks really hard! and the no-no bands are cute, the children will love the dinosaurs. Well done for sticking at it, I know how much went in to them!!
I am pleased you like the fabric and the keyring, so sorry you didn't win the needlecase in the giveaway - I am sure I will get around to sending you a version of it in the near future! Oh and well done working out the whole Picasa thing!

Jenni said...

We learn something every time we stuff something up, don't we? Well I do! As for Picasa, I'm a bit cranky with it as it seems to have taken over my computer. I use Flickr now, even though I think that Picasa, if you understood it properly is probably better in the long run - so I'm not much help.