Talking |Tuesdays

For my UK and European friends, plus anybody Stateside who wants to chat earlier than the usual 9pm ET time, tonight is the first early session for Talking Tuesdays! This is a Twitter chat about all things quilting and sewing ... there is a fast-paced chat with many folk, some of whom you'll know from Blog land! There are giveaway prizes if you sign in on the blog to say you're chatting ... here's the link for that: http://talkintuesdays.blogspot.com ... the chat is then on Twitter, to post you just inclue the tag #talknt2 in your tweet ... to follow the chat it's probably easiest to use the website that shows all tweets that have that tag ... I'll edit this post later when I find that website! (I use a talking twitter program so don't use the website!) ... hope to see you there ... don't forget 6pm UK time! :)

before I win the Euro Millions ...

edit: it has been brought to my attention that I managed to write this without paragraphs! I'm going to edit it now to make it more readable! Thanks Sarah for spotting that!

I was looking forward to writing a blog post later this evening to let you know that I was 1 of the 100 lucky winners in the lottery, which is guaranteeing 100 millionaires tonight to celebrate the start of the Olypics.

I selected my numbers and went online to create an account, because being me I forgot to buy a ticket earlier in the week ... at which point I got to read the informative message that web services were temporarily unavailable ... though they did appologise for any inconvenience caused ... It's my million pounds that are feeling inconvenienced! Oh well, better luck next time! :p

Meanwhile I have some exciting news ... after long deliberations (I'm talking years here, how's that for procrastination?!) I have decided to put pen to paper ... well not exactly, the pen was put to paper over those several years, I have just taken this long to decide what to do with the output!

My fabulous friend Magpie Mimi, in addition to her Etsy store (which you ALL need to go visit!) is trying out a store on Big Cartel.com ... it has a useful free account which can be used to guage interest and usefulness of their web services, and I too am going to set up shop, so-to-speak.

I am going to do my own booklet of writing which I'll produce as a photocoppied 40-page booklet, which will keep prices (and costs) down to a minimum ... I'm aiming for no more than 4 pounds cover price, ... though obviously if I can sell a cool 250,000 copies then I won't be far short of those folks who come out on top in tonight's lottery!

More realistically, I'll be hand-numbering the first 100 copies (no mean feat when you can't see what you're writing!)

I am also having great fun preparing a Kindle version ... that'll be a little cheaper, though I haven't decided whether I'll pitch it at the 3 pound mark where I can get a bigger cut of the sale price than Amazon (who take a whopping 65 percent if you charge less than 3 pounds!) ... I do realise that pitching it at the 99p price point is where you're more likely to get people to part with money for a copy though!

Anyhow, enough rambling about the economics ... I'm having fun pulling it all together ... let's face it, it's good to be doing something while I wait for those transplants! I'll post again before publication and let you know how things are looking, along with some snippets to tempt you into buying a copy or simply telling everybody you know, and have ever known, so that I can hit that quarter of a million sales target :)

if anybody has a photo they've always felt is crying out to be the cover photo on a book, drop me a message and tell me what it is ... if it fits in with my writing I could use a good photo! The one I had in mind to use seems to have been exactly that ... a figment of my mind! ... I am sure I remember taking it in St George's Park in Bristol, but I haven't the foggiest where it is now! (the photo, not the park!)

PS I have started using a text editing program that has sound effects like an old typewriter so I am really getting into the writing mood :)

Watch this space, as they say!

A stitch in Time ...

What's this then? Two blog posts in a week, what on earth is the world coming to? ... well it's stopped raining so i've come out of hibernation and goodness knows some blog updates are long overdue! I thought I'd give you a quick update on why things have been quiet in Touch And Sew land ... and it's quite simple really, I haven't done any sewing type things at all! The slightly longer explanation is mainly due to health factors ... and I'll update you a little on those! If you've been following me for a few months you'll recall that I started dialysis back in March and returned to Wales in May. I saw the hospital consultant for transplants fairly early on and so several trips to the clinic for blood tests have ensued ... the result of which is that apparently my blood group is fairly uncommon, so I'll be emailing you all asking if I can borrow one of your kidneys shortly ... Haha, not really. I'm on the waiting list for a pancreas and kidney so, since people are generally using their pancreas and don't tend to have a spare one, it kind of rules out the living donor options ... aren't you glad! Having an uncommon blood group means there's less donors but also there are fewer people on the waiting list ... One person in fact! So sometime between Christmas and Easter I should be ready to go! So all the blood tests and heart check ups have taken a lot of time lately, and I've also not been feeling too perky - you can get a lot of nausea as your kidneys stop working and also lack of appetite and difficulty sleeping, and I've been getting all of those and just not feeling up to any big projects! That's why I've not been entering many giveaways ... I feel rotten for winning lovely fabrics and then not getting anything made with them! I've got a fantastic fabric stash now including several lovely giveaway prizes, and they're all crying out to be made into something nice! just to reassure everybody, I haven't given up on quilting but I don't have any great expectations of getting anything made this year ... once I get through the transplant surgery I should be full of beans and keen to get started on all those things I hoped to do this year!

Fabric Finder

Just a quick question ... does anybody know of any octonauts fabric? My mum wants some, presumably to make something for either my niece or nephew! Let me know if you`re aware of any such prints ... thanks!!