Further to yesterday’s post about new Blogger features, I was considering writing a tutorial about the new Blogger pages content management feature but Katherine Tyrell of Making a Mark has already published an expanded post How to make Blogger pages work for you. It’s written from an artist’s blog perspective but has wider application.

If you can considering using this feature to expand and enhance your online presence, you might like to consider buying a domain name to use with your blog. Learn how to map a domain name to your blogspot blog.

I use a self-hosted WordPress platform for my blog but I contribute to several blogs that use the Blogger/Blogspot platform and a couple of new-ish features have recently come to my attention:

• Blogger pages let you publish static information on stand-alone pages linked from your blog. For example, you can use pages to create an About This Blog page that discusses the evolution of your blog, or a Contact Me page that provides directions, a phone number, and a map to your location. A new Pages widget lets you add links to your pages as tabs at the top of your blog, or as links in your blog’s sidebar. You can create up to ten stand alone pages which means you can create a basic multi-page website without ever leaving the Blogger platform. For example, if you have a group challenge blog, you can create a separate page for each of the participants or a gallery page for your challenge results - very handy! See the Pages Tutorial for more information about this useful feature; and
• the New Post Editor offers improved image handling and resizing capabilities. To enable the new editor, first navigate to your blog’s Settings | Basic tab. Near the bottom of the page you will see a field called Select Post Editor, and from there you simply need to select Updated Editor and save your settings. See the overview for more information.

Happy blogging!

I have three sisters - none of them are quilters as such (although Amy once made this baby quilt) but all of them are supportive and enthusiastic about my work and often send me links to events or articles that catch their eye. That is how I found out about Bolt of Cloth who stock beautiful home decorating fabrics including some local design talents from Australia and New Zealand such as Bird Textiles, Ingrid Anderson, Bianca van Meeuwen and Lara Cameron.

And if you are itching to design and print some fabric of your own, I can recommend the Prints Charming Screenprinting Workshops. Here’s the quilt top I made at a Prints Charming workshop last year. I’d love to return and work with some more abstract motifs:

It is my pleasure to launch the fresh new logo for my Serendipity Patchwork & Quilting website and blog.

I designed the basic logo/layout and selected the title font but I am indebted to Terry Grant for her expertise in tweaking the spacing; taming the tails of WorstveldSlingExtra; preparing graphics in all sorts of useful formats and generally helping me refine my ideas to present a new online image. It’s been a most instructive process (even if I didn’t always follow Terry’s professional advice!).

The rainbow colours have been integral to Serendipity Patchwork & Quilting branding from the outset. Now the rainbow is incorporated into an hourglass motif inspired by my Seaside Treasures quilt design. To celebrate the launch of the new logo, I am offering the pattern for this quilt at the special price of $10 until 28 February 2010.

The closing date for entries is 1 March 2010.

The Sydney Quilt Show 2010 entry form is now available online. (I understand that entry forms will be posted out to members this week and there will be further information about trial online/electronic entry process later.

The Sydney Quilt Show is a members’ exhibition. It’s not too late for you to join the Guild and share your quilt. Download a Guild membership form.

In the process of tidying up my studio, I came across this lino-printed fabric that I purchased at the Australasian Quilt Convention last year:

I plan on making a dress and will go pattern shopping soon. The fabric was printed by artists from Babbarra Designs Maningrida. The online shopping section of their website appears to be under construction but there are contact details if you would like to obtain further information.

I made a Ricky Tims “convergence” quilt once. Actually, that’s overstating things. What really happened is that made a quilt top and then gave up in disgust when I looked at it on the design wall the next day and realised that I had pieced some of the strips out of order. Sigh. I’m not ashamed to show you a photo of this pitiful effort but it’s buried in my studio somewhere and I can’t put my hands on it right now.

Anyway. it seems like I have several deadlines and other activities converging on me. I think everything is under control. I just need to make sure that I don’t put things in the wrong order…

You may recall the quilt that I made for the “Identity” theme for the Twelve by Twelve challenge - Lost & Found at Fromelles:

At 11:00 am today there will be a ceremony to rebury the first of the 250 Australian and British soldiers recovered from Pheasant Wood at the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, which is currently under construction by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The reburials of the remaining soldiers, which will be carried out in exactly the same way, will then continue throughout February (weather permitting) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays starting at 9:00 am each day. Each reburial will take the form of a standard military funeral, with hearse, bearer party and padre in attendance.

The last soldier’s remains will be buried at the final commemorative event and dedication of the new cemetery on 19 July 2010 – the 94th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles. Each soldier will be buried initially without a permanent headstone awaiting identification if possible. In March 2010, a specially convened identification board will consider evidence to determine what, if any, level of identity can be attributed to each soldier. Evidence will include historical, anthropological, archaeological and DNA information.

One thing I noticed while I was travelling without continuous access to the internet is that even merely reading blogs is a time consuming process. I’d check into a wifi hotspot and before I knew it, my allocated time was up and I’d only quickly scanned my e-mails and scrolled through the latest posts showing in my Bloglines reader. I’ll be updating my blog roll soon. In the meantime, here are some new (to me) blogs that I am enjoying and that I don’t begrudge the time it takes to peruse:

• India Flint - Not All that Wander are Lost, need I say more!;
• Leni Wiener - photo inspired art quilts and thread painting;
• The Textile Blog - John Hopper is a trained textile designer who has now become a writer on the subject of interior and general design history. The Textile Blog is a daily blog concerning the history of interiors and interior furnishings of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 21st century quiltmakers are also featured;
• Elizabeth Barton - Art and Quilts, cogitations thereon;and
• Kathy Loomis - Art with a Needle.

Let me know if there’s a blog that you recommend that I add to my reading list. It doesn’t have to be textile-related (but it helps!)

PS: My new logo and newsletter are coming. Sign up to the next issue of the Serendipity Studio Newsletter and go into a draw to win a copy of 500 Art Quilts.

For 2010, I am teaching a series of contemporary quiltmaking workshops at Material Obssession in Sydney on Saturdays as follows:

• 20 February Serendipity Circles
• 20 March Scrap Queen Odyssey
• 17 April Stacks of Improvisation
• 29 May - TBA maybe Bound to Please or Strata Various

Spaces are limited so contact Kathy & the MO Girls to book your spot (Tel: 02 9817 2733). I hope you can come join the buzz.

See the Serendipity Schedule for details of my other teaching, speaking and exhibition engagements.