backing up your Blogger blog

What would you do if your blog was lost? If all the posts and photos just disappeared? Would you cry? I probably would. Then I'd probably kick walls and scream and yell!

But, if you back-up your blog regularly, there's no need to do the kicking and screaming and yelling thing - at least not for losing your blog anyway! Backing up your blog is really easy. Let me take you through how to do it.

Note - you need to be logged into your blog to do any of this stuff. When you're logged in, "design" is at the top right of your blog's navigation bar - beside your e-mail address, "new post" and "sign out".

Back up your template.
Click on "design".
Choose "theme".
Choose the arrow on the right of "customise".
Click on "backup".

A .xml file is downloaded to your computer. Save it. I keep mine in a folder called "blog back-ups" with the date I last did the back-up.

If you're going to try and change your template, please save a copy of it to your computer *before* you start messing with it. That way, if you do something wrong or you just change your mind and want it back the way it was, all you need to do is re-load it back in.

To do that, do the same as above and after you've done the "back-up/restore" bit, choose "browse". Find the .xml file you downloaded, click on it and upload it. Done!

Back up your posts and comments.
Click on "design".
Choose "settings".
Scroll down to "Manage Blog".
Choose "Back up content".
Click on "download".

Again, a .xml file is downloaded to your computer. Save it in the same place that you saved your template.

To re-load them back in, do the same as above but choose the "import blog" option.

I hope that helps! :o)

rainbow quilt - almost there

I'm almost there with my rainbow quilt. I made the border with the "random" squares in them. They're not really random - I picked them carefully so that there weren't 2 reds together or 2 greens etc. Other than that, they're random.

Then I attached the first white borders, the random squares border and the outside white border.

Then it was time to pin the top on to the fleece I'd bought for the backing. Bright orange - you'll see the colour in a later photo.

By lunchtime I'd quilted a quarter of it.

And, by stopping time this afternoon, I'd finished the quilting. You can see the bright orange fleece on the back now.

Before I finished for the day, I cut some fabric for the binding. I had a white with bright stripes already chosen but then I thought it would look much better with a pop of black in it so I chose this one instead.

I hope to get the binding attached tomorrow and then it'll be cuddle up time! I can't wait! :o)

the rainbow quilt - first progress report

Here's my first progress report of the rainbow quilt I "designed" the other day. I'm putting "designed" in inverted commas because I don't think, for one minute, that this pattern is new.

First I picked out some fat quarters:

Then I cut them into strips or squares. I decided on 6¾" blocks (finished size) so my strips are 7¼" x 2¾" (cut size) and the wee squares for the second border are cut at 2¾". This should make the finished quilt 54" square - or thereabouts.

This is the pile of blocks waiting to get their second strip sewn on:

These are the blocks all sewn and pressed.

And this is the centre square all sewn together.

Oh. My. Goodness. I absolutely love it. Love. It!

On to the borders next. Then I need to see about fleece for the backing. I can't wait to get this one finished. I love it so much. (I might have said that already! :oD)

blouse, buttons and quilt design

I managed to finish my new blouse yesterday. I *love* it! Now I just need the weather to warm up a wee bit so I can get it worn. It's still polo-neck weather here!

I had gone to my local fabric/haberdashery shop last week looking for some buttons for this and future blouses. I was really disappointed in their choices and in the prices too. I'm sorry but, if a (boring) 1cm button cost 70p and I need 10 of them for my blouse, that's £7 just for the buttons. That's just ridiculous in my humble opinion.

So, I came home empty-handed, went on to eBay and searched for some button selling shops on there. I got all of these - 205 buttons in total - for £7.25 including postage. Very happy with that!!

I was doodling the other day and came up with an idea for a quilt design.

I then got out my squared paper and coloured pencils and started filling in some colours.

Then I decided to brush up on my Photoshop skills and this is what I ended up with. I am so pleased with it!

I'm not claiming that this is a new design - are there any new designs out there? I doubt it. Anyway, I now have to work out what size I'm going to make each strip - I'm thinking 9" x 3" or 6" x 2" finished size - and then how much fabric I'll need to get it done. It's going to be amazing!!

3 days

I worked at it for 3 days. What, you might ask? The FBA (full bust adjustment) for the Burda shirt pattern I showed in the last post.

Oh, not 3 days non-stop. But 3 days of thinking about it. 3 days of puzzling over it. 3 days of drawing it out on paper. 3 days of making a muslin from a sheet, trying the muslin on, realising it hadn't worked and going back to square one and starting all over again. Twice.

Then this morning I began to wonder. What am I doing all this messing around for? Is this particular blouse pattern any better than a previous pattern that I know fits me? Why am I bothering with this nonsense? Why am I tearing my hair out over this blinking thing???

I then went to my wardrobe and dug out the shirt I'd made before and, yes, I love it. Yes, it fits me. Yes, I'd wear it again if I made more.

So.

The 2 muslins have been tossed into a crate to be ripped apart and re-used for something else. The 2 paper patterns with all the new darts and adjustments on them were tossed into the waste paper bin. The pattern was folded tidily into its envelope and will be listed on eBay as soon as I get it photographed. I am done with that nonsense!

I feel liberated. As if a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. How ridiculous is that? Sewing is meant to be enjoyable. Not a chore or a task or something that takes me 3 days and I end up back where I started with no blouse to show for all that effort.

So.

Tomorrow I am going to cut out a shirt using my old pattern.

And I'm going to have fun doing it. Yes. I. Am!!

sewing finishes week 2

This week I made some bunting for Joanna.

It snowed and lay for about an hour before melting. (I know I'm a grown-up because I was glad when it melted! :oD)

I made another Cressida skirt for Joanna. I'd got this material out of the remnant box in my local fabric shop - I think it cost me £6. Not too shabby for a fab skirt like this, methinks!

I decided - in a moment of insanity - that I wanted to make myself the Tilly and the Buttons Coco top funnel neck version.

I knew when I hit the "buy me" button, that it was daft but I did it anyway. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's a lovely top but I knew it wouldn't work on me. I cut it out, sewed it up carefully and it fit me really well. Yay!

But.

No, Anne. It doesn't look good. Take it off. You knew it would cling to the bits you don't want things to cling to! Oh well, never mind. I have daughters who will get Cocos made for them - if they want them.

So, that put aside, I dug out my next project - Burda 2561.

I know this one won't fit me without doing a full bust adjustment so that's what I was messing with yesterday.

I'm taking my time with it as I want it to work properly. I'm going to try the adjusted pattern out on a sheet first to make sure it works before I cut into my blouse fabric. If it does work, I have at least 3 fabrics that I want to use for this blouse so, although I'm taking my time with it, part of me is telling me to get a move on!! Patience is a virtue that I am not blessed with! LOL

this week's sewing finishes

Here's a catch up on this week's sewing. First of all, another Cressida skirt. I don't see me tiring of this pattern any time soon! I think this is my 5th version and I have at least another 2 that I'm thinking of making.

I also cut out and made 12 pinnies - 2 each of 6 fabrics. I took the photos on the spare bed as I couldn't be bothered hauling Diana the dummy into our bedroom to tie on 6 pinnies and take photos of them. I'll need to do it for loading them into Etsy but that'll be a job for another day.

And I thought I'd show the photo of the back of the ovengloves I made for Joanna to show the upside down back - on the glove on the right. I've turned the photo upside down so that the hanger is at the top of the photo - it's pretty obvious the fabric is upside down. Well, it's obvious when you turn it the ovenglove to the back - not so obvious when you're sewing from the front!! :oD

more gifts and tidy piles!

Joanna sent me a photo of the oven gloves I made her for her Christmas. I managed to put the back on one of them upside down (ie the pattern on the fabric is upside down, not the fabric itself!) but I just couldn't face all the unpicking involved and re-making them so they are what they are - unique! :oD

Here's the scarf Debbie crocheted for my Christmas. It's been well worn already! Thanks again, Dibsi! :o)

Joanna had told me she wanted to use the same diary cover this year and so would I just make a new 2015 tag for it? Last year's cover:

I thought - yes! No diary cover to make this year. But. The diary Santa brought her was ¼" taller than last year's and, no matter how hard we pushed and pulled, the old cover just would not fit so - drat - a new cover was needed after all!

I used the same fabric as last year but in the green this time. Front:

Back:

And the (unseen) lining.

Over the Christmas period, I decided I needed to do something about the fat quarter piles. I didn't take a photo of what they were like before I started sorting them but, if you see the top of the red pile in this photo and then imagine that over 10 piles you'll get an idea of how bad things were.

This is how it looks now. All folded and ironed and looking fab! Oh. My. Goodness. It's so tidy I'll be scared to use any of them! :oD

another Cressida and a pincushion

I made another Cressida skirt just before Christmas which I haven't blogged about yet. Joanna gave me this piece of brown fabric for my Christmas last year. How embarrassing that it took me nearly a year to get around to using it! *blush* Well, it's made now and I love it! I don't often wear brown but I'm going to start wearing it more from now on! :o)

This is the fourth Cressida skirt I've made. Previous versions blogged about here, here and here.

I got this lovely pincushion from Joanna for my Christmas. She made it herself! It's already in use and I'm loving entering my pins! :oD

I also got something from Debbie that she made especially for me so I need to remember to take photos of that in the daylight so I can show it off here. I might be a wee bit biased but my girls are really quite clever! :o)