I’ve got a little update and a few things from around the web to share today.
1. Alicia Shaffer was on Good Morning America today. My post about Three Bird Nest has gotten a lot of hits. Here are some stats:
That’s 10,397 pageviews on Wednesday, and 13,516 yesterday which is the most traffic my blog has ever seen on a single day. There’s been a flurry of news coverage of Alicia’s story, and of Etsy’s changing culture, this week and my piece was right in the middle of that which was good timing. It took me about 13 hours to research and write that story.
2. I found an absolutely wonderful blog through a link to a story that people kept tweeting at me last week: Knitting is a Right, Not a Privilege. This article is one of the best pieces of writing about craft that I’ve read this year (perhaps the best). Work Even is a blog written by an American writer and knitter living in Bulgaria. Beautiful writing, a talented fiber artist, and a fresh perspective on what it means to make things with your hands.
3. I’m going to Spoonflower in April. My sister and her family just moved to Durham and we’re spending spring break visiting them. I’ll be spending an afternoon touring Spoonflower headquarters and then recording a podcast with co-founder, Stephen Fraser. I’m really looking forward to this.
4. The Longform Podcast is incredibly wonderful if you’re interested in journalism and writing for the web. I’ve obsessively listened to hundreds of hours (!) already, but recent highlights include #124 with Alex Blumberg and #127 with Molly Crabapple.
5. I ordered some bras from YellowBerry for someone in my family who is almost 11. I love supporting a company like this. HelloFlo is also on the horizon. Being a woman is awesome.
6. Crafts are the new crafts. Try it!
7. There are parody songs about the custom knits groups on Facebook! So good.
8. This quilt by Penny Gold on display now at QuiltCon has me in tears.
9. I just got a new app called Nuzzel (free in the App store) that aggregates news that your friends are sharing on Facebook and Twitter so you don’t miss anything. I like it!
10. I’m thinking about writing a piece about why it’s a good idea to have a presence on LinkedIn even if you’re a self-employed creative person not looking for job. If you want to talk about this with me, shoot me an email.
That’s it for right now. I went running when it was 5 degrees this morning and my face is still frozen.
I’m sewing this weekend for sure.
Spoonflower! Cool!
*That* Nuzzel. Explains why I couldn’t find it on Google Play, and also answers my wondering why you fell in love with a game app that has one rearranging numbers (re: tweet) which is the only Nuzzle I could find there. Lol
Oops! Fixed it. Thank you!
I’m very intrigued by your visit to Spoonflower – can you ask them about colour fastness? I tried fabric from them 3 times and each time the dye ran straight out of the fabric when it was washed, ruining the garment. When I asked them about it they basically said “yes we know this”, and yet they continue to sell it as washable. I’m really intrigued by their thinking behind this, and whether they have plans to improve.
Which substrate did you order when you had this issue, Jenny?
I came across this earlier today. http://recode.net/2015/02/12/pinterest-is-working-on-a-plan-to-introduce-a-buy-button-as-soon-as-this-year/
I was interested to see that it seems that pinterest may soon be a place to sell things.
I’ll be interested to read what you find about LinkedIn- I have a profile myself, but was considering deleting it as I felt like people would view it and think stay-at-home mum, that’s all. Is it even worthwhile keeping it, or am I just taking up space in my inbox? What would it even do for me?
Hi! I found your blog via some Bloglovin’ saved posts!
I recently updated my Linked In profile, as to keep a professional ‘air’ about me, as I moved countries with my Husband, but don’t plan on finding work here… I haven’t ever updated it and people kept approving my skills or whatever it’s called… so I gave it a once over… I plan to write and blog (I’m a sewing blogger but have always wanted to write creatively and perhaps a bit more lifestyle-like) and just thought once I go back to my field eventually, it’d be fresh. Does that make sense?
Anyways, great set of links too! I’ll have a read!
I find these custom knits groups fascinating. What an interesting sewing subculture…. who is buying all these fabrics? More intriguing to me are the copyright implications of this. It seems like almost every group is running images that are directly ripped from Disney or some other licensed images. Even if they call them something generic, it is clear what the images are based in. I wonder whether the owners of these groups realize the scope of liability they could be exposing themselves to in that respect.
A lot of people are buying. Some of the groups are really big. You’re right that there’s a tremendous amount of what I would identify as copyright infringement going on.
I’m so excited you’ll be stopping by Spoonflower, Abby! I hope I’m in the office that day so that I can introduce myself. I look forward to hearing the episode!
Wow, great that you are going to tour Spoonflower facilities. Have to admit the earlier comment really scares me, though, as I made up some product (pillows) with Spoonflower fabric I received and don’t believe I prewashed, although I typically prewash all my fabric. Still have some that is not made up so will have to wash it tomorrow and see how it comes out; it is Kona cotton.
Also knew before I even looked at the link which quilt photo you were talking about at the Austin Quilt Con. I was there (live in Austin Texas), and it was a powerful image, and was certainly drawing lots of conversation. To tell the truth it was a difficult quilt for me because I lost an unborn child many many years ago. You never forget…
Thanks for sharing all that you do. Have not told you but I receive your newsletter and I can honestly say it is THE best one I have ever seen! I don’t know how you find time to do all that you do!
Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Christy. I will try to ask about colorfastness when I visit Spoonflower. I’m working on a larger article about that quilt so stay tuned for that, too!
Re QuiltCon–a touchy issue?
How does Jacquie Guering, who in on the board of directors, become eligible to win a first prize????
Also, you will recall that there were many complaints last year about QuiltCon’s lack of diversity (and correctly so). Many of these were spearheaded by blogger Completely Cauchy. And surprise, surprise–this year she also won a first prize!!
Both of these above winners used a political message in their quilts. Does modern quilting now mean political quilting? A worrisome trend.
I don’t think that modern quilting means political quilting. Modern quilting means many different things to the point that it’s very hard to define, and that’s a good thing. Can political quilting be part of modern quilting? For sure. And that’s not worrisome to me. As far as the rules around who is eligible to enter and to win a prize I really don’t have any information about that. I’m sure the Modern Quilt Guild has developed those and they are likely available for public perusal if requested.