How I Blogger Photos

Whoops, I accidentally deleted this pic from yesterday's post. D'oh.

This is how I get my photos onto Blogger.

First I edit my photos on Picasa, one of the best tools ever. It's free and I highly recommend it.

Next, I go to File (uppermost left corner) and choose the option "Export picture to folder." It's at that point I can choose what size to make the pic. I almost always go with the 640 pixel option, but I go bigger with complicated pics I want to really emphasize. Pay attention to the location of the folder that you are sending the pics to.

HINT: if you have many photos, name them the same and follow with a number, such as: Khorsabad 1, Khorsabad 2, Khorsabad 3 - it will make uploading them in a specific order much easier.

Create a Blogger post. On the row that has the font options, go almost over all the way to the right side. See the pretty picture of a mountain scene? Click it and you'll get the Blogger Upload Image box. In the upper left corner it says "Add an Image From Your Computer" - choose the browse option and go find the folder where you exported your pics to from Picasa.

Doubleclick on the name of the photo you want and choose your layout. I always put my photos in the Center, that way I don't get text doing weird wraparound things. For image size I generally leave it on Large. Click Upload Image and it will get sent to your blog entry.

Now this Upload Image function is quirky. It works in reverse order. So for complicated posts I write down the list of the pics I want in the proper order. And then I load them starting from the bottom of the list.

Load photos one of a time in this reverse order and you can load as many pics as you want.

Not to get confusing, but there is a quicker option. After you've selected one photo, it has the option of adding another photo. I don't recommend doing more than four at a time because the capacity is limited. These photos will go in the order that you select. BUT if you then choose to do another batch, they will go on top of this one, so you really have to pay attention to what you are doing if you want them in a certain order.

Also check out Blogger's photo help.

I hope all of this didn't confuse you further. Ask questions and I will try to clarify. There are plenty of other ways to upload photos, but this is how I do it.

Louvre Assyrian Collection

What is this you ask? I messed up the order I put my photos in the blog, but I'm going to pretend I did this on purpose. You can see details now and figure out what they belong to:

I took a wander over to the Louvre today and decided to start with the Assyrian collection. I saw a lot of similar works at the British Museum, but they didn't allow photography (or was that just my husband?). I love the cunieform writing:

I spent a lot of time in the Cour Khorsabad, a re-creation of the temple erected by Assyrian King Sargon II in the 8th century BC. The temple's five massive winged bulls with human heads are known as lamassu, benign demigods. I got all that from my guidebook - the documentation at the museum was lacking.

This warrior looks fearsome:

Love the texture of the hair and beard:

And for a bit of color, a couple of lions:

It's about a 45 minute walk to the museum from our apartment, so I wore myself out today with this brief jaunt. Sweetie and I bought a year-long family Louvre pass so I have to start getting my money's worth. I figure this one visit cost me $101. Rather that's how much it will have cost if we never go again.

And that's not counting the $5.83 I spent on the small Mocha Frapuccino, but I just had to have it. A Starbucks at the Louvre - unbelievable. I was happier before I got out the calculator and figured out just what it cost. Aiyee.

So anyway, those are some of my pics for the day. I definitely have a thing for fantastical creatures especially when carved from stone or wood. Much more of a draw for me than getting over to see old dark paintings... And there weren't nearly as many people as I expected. Everyone else was probably over at the Mona Lisa.

Shoddy Work?

Yesterday I finished the Orphan Train top. Woohoo. I'm quite pleased with it. Not the greatest photo in the world - that is a splash of sunshine on the log cabin zigzag blocks. This is about 66" x 69" and I'm not putting borders on it.

Sometime back Anonymous asked if my quilts were as shoddily constructed as Gwen Marston's. I've never been so lucky as to see Gwen Marston's work in person, but I'm sure that my quilts are far shoddier than hers. She actually measures (or at least says to in her books), which I rarely bother to do. I just slap things together. I get pleats and tucks and corners lopped off my stars:

I used this block, which was my first hand-piecing project. Since I had to cut it down some, I suspect I may lose some stitching. I didn't think to reinforce the seams until after I'd pieced it all together. I can do some repairs if the seams at the edges of the block come apart while I'm quilting it.

I love the three Mariner's Compass blocks that are in this top, but the reason I never finished that quilt was because the templates I traced from the book were inaccurate and the blocks seriously wobbled. So this quilt will undoubtedly wobble a bit.

So by Anonymous' standard am I shoddy? I'm sure I am. Depends on your definition of shoddy.

I consider my quilts uninhibited and carefree. They have all held together, no burst seams (except that darn Sunshine and Shadow which has poly-cotton fabric and thread with polyester batting) and no threads hanging off that look like you could tug them and bad things would happen. I've washed the quilts and they haven't fallen apart. That's not shoddy in my mind.

I was rereading a couple of early Joen Wolfram quilting books last night. I remember so admiring the quilts in them but now they look static and boring, no matter how colorful. I've greatly veered towards the asymmetrical and oddball, the imperfect and joyful.

I was inspired to go ahead and dig my orphan blocks back out and work on this quilt after getting the book Quilts by Paul D. Pilgrim: Blending the Old and the New by Gerald E Roy. The book shows 20 quilts made from purchased orphan blocks. In this quilt the blocks had fabric added where needed to make them the same size and then they were sashed:

This one is my favorite. Bigger chunks of fabric were added to get this puzzle together.
I love how the blocks were used without regard to perfection and pointy bits. The motif in the middle block just doesn't fit, but it's still so striking.

And on a final orphan block note, take a look at Quilting Twin Keryn's quilt top of crumbs and orphans. It is marvelous.

On the non-quilty side of life, Sweetie and I made it to Montmartre yesterday. I got us so close to the restaurant and yet I just couldn't find the right street. It had to be nearby - here's the seafood market where I took photos of snails... Took us a half hour of walking up and down streets and alleys before we finally found it. Lunch was delicious and well worth the wait.

I am such an idiot with directions. And my husband knows that, so why does he continue to trust me? I figure he's the bigger fool for trusting the idiot.

My husband finished rereading the first six Harry Potter books and has been moping. Not happy books. And now he has to wait for well over a month to get the next one. I'll start my reading soon. Right now the second movie is in the player - the mandrake roots are screaming. I don't need to rewatch this one; the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite movie. And I need to rewatch the fourth one too to prep for the fifth movie. All this work we do for entertainment.

And speaking of entertainment, I am fully enjoying Kitchen Confidential. Definitely a series cut off before its time. The network only broadcast three or four episodes on tv, but more were made. What kind of chance is that to give a show?

I know some of you are cookbook obsessed. Have you been reading Ms Glaze's Pommes d'Amour? She's posting delicious recipes and now that she's not working at the meat station in the restaurant there aren't sad pictures of critters. I want to be her new best friend and recipe experimentee.

Wednesday in Montmartre

Remember how I said my Wednesday visit to Montmartre was absolutely lovely? Look at the gorgeous sky blue sky showing off the Sacre Coeur Basilica:

This wasn't a sightseeing trip however. Will and I had a destination in mind, the Musee d'Art Naif Max Fourny, which it turns out she's never visited despite living close by for so many years. Isn't that always the way of it.

Figures by Nek Chand were on display. His site in India is the second most visited attraction after the Taj Mahal. I didn't take many photos of his work because I was so distracted by the other artist (who'll get his own blog entry). This figure is covered in broken plastic bracelets.

River rocks and broken dishes:

Later in the day, Will and I walked by the seafood market. I'm sure there is a specific French name for this kind of shop, but I didn't catch it. Anyway, what did catch my eye was the snails.

And in another shop, look at the delicious fruit. The size of the blackberries:

I can't write any more now. My sweetie and I are off to Montmartre to have lunch at the Italian restaurant. mmmm.

Orphans Reversed

A quickie post to show you what the orphans would like look with all the rows reversed. It's good to try this out, but don't care for this. Now it seems really bottom heavy and boring.

I've just finished the book Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople by Steven Aimone. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Full of beautiful pictures. You can read a well-written review of the book here. I've been trying to incorporate some of what I learned from the book. "A design with most of its major forces at the top feels active and dynamic, while a design with activity clustered near the bottom feels relatively stable and grounded." Stable and grounded? Boring. I'd rather err on the side of dynamism.

A close up for Cheri:

These were meant to be tulips, back when I was making All You Need is Love. I free-pieced houses and star and these flowers, none of which I ended up using in that quilt. These do rather look like forks tho, don't they.

Shoot, I just went back and actually looked at those photo of how I had the blocks layed out in 2005. Boy, there are things I like about it a lot better than what I have now. Agh. Must ignore the doubts and forge ahead. I've already got a lot of this sewn and I'm NOT taking it apart.

By the way, the only French I spoke yesterday was "hello, do you speak English?" I can't spell that in French so translating it here for you. That was intimidating enough. If I'd had to continue the conversation in French I'd have been lost because I still can't even do the numbers properly. I'm pathetic, but that's why we get referalls to doctors etc who speak English. The American Hospital in Paris, which is out in the suburbs, has a staff full of English speakers - that's where I'm going to the endocrinologist.

I wasn't going to make this a long post, but here I'm babbling away. One last note. Maria asked if I enjoy Battlestar Galactica. Hmmm, no. Don't know if it's because I'm still hung up on Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch (the real one, not that naked impostor Survivor guy) from the original series or I just don't like my sci-fi this serious and dark. I'll give the show another chance some day.