Lynn used the placemat pattern from the Around The Table set. Thanks for sharing the picture!
Monday 28 February 2011
Another From Lynn
Lynn used the placemat pattern from the Around The Table set. Thanks for sharing the picture!
Saturday 26 February 2011
"Things I Love About A Snowstorm"
I love how Christmas-card pretty the trees are after a storm.
I love climbing up to stand on the snowbank in front of the baby barn to touch the roof.
I love the funny shapes the snow makes as it piles and drifts. (This is a side view of the barn) I love looking across the street at the neighbour's driveway and seeing a white puff of snow appear every so often at the top of the snowbank. This is a sign that he is out there shovelling...although we cannot see him over the snow. He tells us he is almost 6 feet tall...but all we see is a wisp of snow flying off his shovel.
I love how neighbours take the opportunity to chat and commiserate, and work together to clear driveways.
I love how the birds flock to the feeders during and after a big snow.
I love looking for things buried in the snow - such as our picnic table. I love the way Amherst's new LED street lights illuminate the snow at night, and make it sparkle and glisten as if we were living in a snow globe.
I love the shovelling, because it means I don't have to do time on the treadmill that day. It's a welcome break to exercise in the fresh air.
I love playing in the snow. It makes me feel like a kid again.
Most of all...I love when Dave March on CKDH radio says those words that strike fear into the hearts of most parents, and joy into all the kids: "All schools in Cumberland County are closed today."
Friday 25 February 2011
Flaming Pie
My work - and concentration - were interrupted this week by a disheartening discovery on another quilter's website. Quite by accident, I saw a sidebar on a blog I visit occasionally, showing a picture of my Oriental Beauty. I thought, "oh isn't that nice?" and clicked to read the post of an Australian quilter. To my horror, I discovered the owner of the blog had pieced my design in another colourway, given it a new name ("It's Not Christmas") and claimed it as her own original work. She has been teaching workshops and selling the pattern for MY copyrighted design!! Click here to see an example...and here to view an entire workshop. You will notice I did not take pictures from her site, I am only linking to them. I emailed her right away and she readily admitted what she had done. She went on to justify her actions saying she thought it was ok to do that, since she had made changes. That in itself blows my mind...
International copyright law states: the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: (1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies...; (2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work; (3) to distribute copies...of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending....
“It’s Not Xmas” falls under the category of “derivative work”. Section 2 above says that only the copyright holder (in this case me) has the authority to make a derivative of this design. To be copyrightable, a derivative work must differ sufficiently from the original to be regarded as a new work or must contain a substantial amount of new material. Making minor changes or additions of little substance to a preexisting work will not qualify a work as a new version for copyright purposes. The new material must be original and copyrightable in itself.I have no problem with a quilter being creative with my designs – in fact, I encourage it. Readers of this blog know that I often post pictures which show great variation in interpretation of my patterns, and delight in showing them off. It's an entirely different matter for someone to claim another's work as their own and profit from it. To her credit, she nicely apologized and says she will stop selling the pattern. I will be watching...but how many others are doing the same thing?
Sadly,this is not the first time I have run across this, and I find it more and more discouraging as time goes on. This is my life work, be it ever so humble. I take great care and spend many long hours at my sewing machine and computer. It makes me stop and evaluate whether I want to continue patterning designs as I have done professionally for the past 24 years. It's been a very disheartening week. As my good buddy Paul McCartney sings in Flaming Pie, "took my brains out and stretched them on the rack, now I'm not so sure I'm ever gonna get 'em back..."
On a lighter note, my ingenious husband has been busily crafting snowshoes for he and I to wear when visiting the bees. We took a test drive of the prototype last weekend and had so much fun. They need a bit more tweaking, which he has been doing this week. He's so clever. With more snow predicted later today and tomorrow I look forward to clearing my head in the fresh winter air.
Tuesday 22 February 2011
Here's What Joan Is Serving
Sunday 20 February 2011
Quilting In The Forest Progress
The HSTs formed where the blocks intersect are even tinier, finishing at 3/4".
Friday 18 February 2011
I Love A Challenge!
I've been working this challenge for many years and for the first time ever, this year I am adding another fabric to the mix. Technically the rules do allow this, I've just always thought it was more fun to do the "pure"challenge of using the original five. This year I buckled...mostly because I find doing patchwork with Fat Quarters extremely frustrating. There's never quite enough. The black piece will be used as background. I picked it up on the opening day of the White Sale at Dayle's on Wednesday. Even though I am trying hard not to add to my ever-burgeoning stash, I admit I came away with 12 metres of fabric and a huge bag of batting. At $1.88/m for top quality quilting cotton plus no tax, how could anyone resist? That was more of a challenge than my Trend Tex quilt!
Wednesday 16 February 2011
We Are Around Lynn's Table
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Kathy Tidswell Exhibit
Last year at the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival, I had the pleasure of meeting New Brunswick artist Kathy Tidswell. We are pleased to learn that Kathy will be back to Amherst again this fall to our Festival, this time presenting two workshops. Kathy's work is simply amazing; I encourage you to check out the gallery page of her website. Those of you in and around the Halifax area will be able to see some of her pieces in person during the month of March at Advantage Frame, 3269 Hwy 2, Fall River, Nova Scotia.
Sunday 13 February 2011
A Valentine's Surprise
Mary used a block designed by Jodi G. Warner which she saw used in a quilt entitled Puzzle Hearts, on the cover of the current issue of Quilter's World magazine. It's perfect for holding a cup of that thing which I love :)
Friday 11 February 2011
This just in...
Thursday 10 February 2011
Around The Table at Bev's
Wednesday 9 February 2011
Around The Table - Sneak Peek!
She is busily stitching down the binding by hand on this and the 4 matching placemats and promises to send pictures of the completed set soon. We are having another snow day (with schools cancelled again) so it's a perfect time to stay inside and sew. Sew quickly, Lynn - we want to see the whole set!
Monday 7 February 2011
Valentine Sewing
Saturday 5 February 2011
A Fabric Buying Excursion
I admit I was drawn to the Canadian flag on one of the jerseys. This also gives me another cool selvedge strip to add to my almost-ready-to-be-sewn collection.
Thursday 3 February 2011
One Is A Cardinal Number
It was fun to wake up and see the new snowfall which covered Nova Scotia.
35 cm is what we received.
(and yes, the strip of green is meant to be there - for a special reason!)