The Struggle Is REAL, y'all

Google+ and Blogger confuse me.  How do they work?  Surely, not hand-in-hand!

There! I've done it!  I've said the words.  Written them, actually.  It's not that it can't be done, but figuring out how Blogger and Google+ work together is difficult at best.  At worst it's an up-all-night-headache-induced-painful experience.  

Check this out!  Somehow I managed to highlight every "u" on the screen.  I have since x'ed out of that but I can't tell you what I did in the first place.  And that's just a little thing!

At 4:30 a.m. I was up trying to decipher the directions for embedding comments on the blog.  I'm getting practically no comments. However visitors have sent me emails saying they tried. At 5:30 I think I've finally figured it out and corrected the problem. It's very likely that all I've done is made a mess.  We shall see.

Yes, the struggle is real, y'all.

Hyperlink Your Comments

I did something interesting.  Well, interesting in the sense that I started out trying to do something completely different!  I wanted to figure out how to add numbers to comments.  I'd read someone's tute before and followed directions, but that didn't work.  It could have been me, but I'm not entirely sure. 

So today I queried Google, which gave me a couple of sites, and I chose this one: http://www.techtrickhome.com/2013/02/insert-hyperlink-on-blogger-comments.html

Well, instead of adding numbers to the comments on my blog, it adds a hyperlink to my comments on someone else's blog.  Not a bad idea for driving traffic your way.   

Since the writer on this particular site is obviously not a native English speaker, I thought I'd translate for you.  

Practice on my comments if you'd like...sure go ahead....or go to another blog and write in the comments box.  I write my entire comment first, then I decide which word I will hyperlink.

Pretend this is going to be my comment:

Oh, Anne, what a lovely quilt!  Those colors are soothing and work so well together.

Let's use the word "quilt" to add the hyperlink where the word appears.  This allows me to embed the hyperlink into the middle of the comment.

To hyperlink the word "quilt," all I would do is replace the word with the letters and symbols that are code for what I want to do--hyperlink. 

In the box above, there are two sets of code.  The first one is the basic code for creating a hyperlink.  It doesn't go anywhere.  Correction: the hyphen in the first code should be an equal sign.  The second one is the code specific to my blog.  Adding this code to a comment will mean that when someone clicks on the keyword (quilt), she will go directly to Fleur de Lis Quilts blog.

It's easiest if you add the basic code first, then change the website address and the keyword.  My example comment will look like what is in the box below:



Now, when I click publish, it will look like this:

The word "quilt" should be a different color.  And when I hover the mouse over the word  I should get a hyper-hand, which means that clicking on the word takes me to Fleur de Lis Quilts.

Try it!  I promise, it works!

Right now, I've got to get back to figuring out how to put numbers in those comments you're going to leave me!

QuiltCon Results

"Reflections in Grey" photo by Stacy Burkhart Photography
taken at my house.  The quilt is hanging sideways here
because it's too long for the space.

I forgot that I'd promised to share the judges' responses from QuiltCon.  I guess it's time to do that.  They weren't so horrible, in fact, I knew some of the issues with the quilt before sending it and didn't really expect it to win any awards.  I wanted it submit it mostly to see whether I could get one into the show.  The nice part was talking to some of the attendees and getting feedback from them. 

So, what did the judges say?  The comments were not so difficult to read:

"Very ambitious quilt but doesn' feel "modern" to us."

"Thread tension across wole quilt is off which is unfortunate."

"The yellows are a nice touch, surprising and vibrant."

 

"Reflections in Grey" hanging (correctly) at QuiltCon.

Areas for Improvement includes checks in these areas.  The first sections are typed on the form, while the quoted phrases are written in.

 

Design

• Ineffective use of color  "gray-greens esp."
• Fabric choices detract from the design  "the prints seem unrelated to one another"

Workmanship

• Piecing is not accurate 



Goodness knows with whom I am talking.  Rich was able
to get one almost-decent photo of me in front of the quilt.

Quilting 

• Quilting does not complement the piecing
• Tension problems are evident
• Stitch length needs to be more consistent
• Thread choice is distracting "too dark"

There are two checks in Positive Attributes:

• Quilt is straight and lies flat
• Binding is well-executed.

So I'll leave it at this and let you mull it over. Respond if you feel that you can add something, positive or negative, it's okay now. 

Really, I've moved on and while I am a little disappointed that there were many, many more areas for improvement than positive attributes, I'll just accept that I'm not ready for serious competition.  I am, however, going to keep doing what I love--quilting for fun, for show, for family, for no reason at all!
Happy Quilting,
Mary

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: QuiltCon #4

Another set of photos from QuiltCon.  Since I took so many, I may never get to post them all.  I just hope that I remember which ones I've posted already and don't repost them. :-) 

 I'm sorry, even though I've cropped these photos down, the cropped version doesn't load.  I have no idea how to fix this problem.  Strangely enough, some of the cropped pictures do load.  I uploaded about ten pictures at one time.  Every one had been cropped.  Weird.

See, here's a cropped photo.  But then the next few are not cropped.  It's a little frustrating, especially since I spent time cropping and enhancing them.

 

 There should NOT be a light showing in any picture!  Now there's something else to figure out!

This zig zag quilt is one of two quilts that Angela Waters from Cut to Pieces had in the show.  She wrote about the judges comments and her feelings as a result on her blog.  You should go by for a visit when you get the chance.  She brings up some interesting points and, I have to admit that since I read that post, I've been thinking about my own comments on students' works.

I hope you enjoyed the show.  Many of the quilts in today's post are winners.  Not that I want to open the worm can on winners, judges and worthiness.  At least not today. 

Later I'll share my own judges' comments, but first I have to work up the nerve to open and read the letter.  I didn't realize that they were in the box with the returned quilt until I read the post on Cut to Pieces.  I'll get to that, I promise.

Happy Quilting,
Mary

This post is my 198th.  Since Fleur de Lis Quilts blog is about to see it's 200th post, I think there's cause for a celebration.  What do you think?  What should I consider in the way of prizes?  

Some of my ideas for prizes: 

• die cut fabric blocks
• fleur de lis applique
• gift certificate from my Etsy shop
• fat quarters

I'll use rafflecopter.com again because it's a fabulous way to hold a giveaway.  It just makes so much sense to go the easy route!

Leave a comment letting me know what you think!  If you have an idea for something different, please make the recommendation.....I'll consider it!

Happy Quilting,

Mary