Bunny Pillow

I did a lot yesterday despite not feeling particularly well.  I made some muffins, took my garden window apart and cleaned it, washed my kitchen valences and rehung those and walked a mile and 1/2 with my neighbor Peggy.  Then I took easy and did some stitching.  This is an update on my crazy quilt bunny pillow:

I'll probably finish this up today.

A final note on sharing content.  In regards to my recent discussions on Pinterest and copyright infringement, I would like to let everyone know that it's absolutely okay to share content on social networks.  But there's a right way and wrong to do it.

Sharing cool websites and articles is what the internet is all about.  Without sharing, bloggers wouldn't have readers, shop owners wouldn't have much in the way of customers, so on and so forth!  It's an important part having fun online.

The best way to share content to social networks is to use the "share" button.  Here on my blog, you can find it at the top of the page.  If you use Facebook, Twitter or Stumbleupon, just click that share button and when it's posted to the chosen social network, a link back to the source site is always included.  That's the key to legal and proper sharing of content.  Always be sure that there is a clickable link back to the source.  That was part problem with Pinterest.  With the sharing and re-sharing of photos, the link to the source was quite often lost.

Personally, I encourage legal sharing of content.  Feel free to share the links to my tutorials and blog posts!  How can anyone else find the information useful of people don't share?  Most sites have those share buttons on them.  Just use those and you're okay!

Oh, and then there's my shops.  Maybe people get tired of me constantly plugging my shops. It's my income.  It's how I make my money.  At this time in my life, it's the only way I can make money.  Again, I'm okay with anyone who wants to share links to items in my shops.  I need all the help I can get!  There is a share button in the sidebar on my Kitty & Me website and Etsy provides share buttons for Twitter and Facebook as well.  Please feel free to share using those share buttons!

The internet is a lot of fun and it's supposed to be.  But as with anything else, there has to be a few rules or guidelines.  Without those, it's a free for all and that takes the fun out of it.  Let's have fun and let's share.  Let's just do it the fair and proper way!

Here is the link for the Add This Share Button in case you would like to put it on your blog or website.

No Pin Code

Although I've had several  kind and understanding people contact me regarding my concerns about Pinterest and copyright infringement, I've also run into a lot of opposition on the subject.  A LOT!

May I say that just because it's on the internet, does not mean that it's free for the taking!  It seems to me that some people don't understand what copyright means or they don't care.  In most cases, it's that they don't care.

I won't get myself or you all worked up with this issue.  I spent years chasing the copyrights for my cross stitch designs all over the internet.  These included patterns that I had for sale, patterns that were published in magazines and books and patterns that I offered for free.  As you know, I no longer sell my cross stitch patterns and I've deleted every free pattern (with the exception of one) that I've ever offered because I got tired of finding them on other peoples sites.  And there was no reason for it!  All anyone ever had to do was to link to my blog.  Well, too bad now!

With all that said, if you would like the instructions on how to add a "no pin" code to your blog, please hop over to Sharon B's Pintangle Blog.  It's very easy to do and I have already added the code to this blog.  You can also find a link at Sharon's blog on how to keep your Flickr photos from being pinned.  I've left Sharon a message asking if she knows where to add the code to my website (I have a little trouble with HTML) and if she's aware of anyway to keep my content at Etsy from being shared.

For those of you on Facebook, no worries there!  Facebook already has a "no pin" code installed on their site.  Photos on Facebook can not be pinned on Pinterest.  At least not at this time.

So in other news, I've been stitching on my bunny pillow:

Other than a bit of cleaning and laundry today, I'm planning on having a good amount of stitching time so we'll see where it goes!

Pinterest and Copyright Issues

It has come to my attention, that the website Pinterest has policies that are quite controversial regarding copyright issues.

They claim that all photos pinned gives them the right to use those photos as they choose.  Well, I'm not sure how they can make this claim a policy because people are pinning photos from all over the internet without permission from the copyright holder's.

I confess, I have enjoyed Pinterest for several months now and thought of it as a social network as well as an indirect way to promote my blog, website and Etsy shop however, it's a dangerous situation.  It never occurred to me that my copyrights were being infringed upon.  Please note:  I own the copyrights on all photos posted here on my blog, on my website, in my Flickr albums and on my Etsy shop!

If I post photos from anyone else's website here on my blog, I always ask for permission and I always include a link to the source site!  Not only is this the "legal" way of doing things, it's also proper etiquette.

I will be removing my boards from Pinterest momentarily and I would like to ask that if any of my photos are on your boards, please remove them as soon as possible.

I would like to point you in the direction of Sharon B's Pintangle blog.  Sharon has posted an indepth discussion on the subject of Pinterest and the copyright implications of using the site.

Easter Bunny Stitching

I spent a few days earlier this week running my sewing machine.  I piece a bunch of small crazy quilt blocks so now I have a nice pile of things to stitch on.

I thought I'd do one more little Easter Bunny project:

And here are some of the trims that I pulled for it:

I hand painted the lace flower piece yesterday.  I'll cut it apart and use the flowers individually.  I'm going to sit here now and work on this for a little while before I straighten up the house and go over to mom's for awhile.

Magnolia Tree

Oh, the weather here is just gorgeous!  It's been the warmest March ever and although it feels a bit odd, I'm not complaining!

My Magnolia Tree is blooming.  It smells good and it's beautiful:

When I sit on my deck, this is what I get to see!  My grandmother loved Magnolias.  When I was little, my grandfather planted a Magnolia tree for her outside the picture window in their kitchen.  Grandma was so excited about this tree, that she had a party to celebrate it! 

We bought our house here in early March of 1993.  When we bought it, I had no idea that this tree was a Magnolia.  When it bloomed that first April, I was just thrilled!  It was something to remind me of my grandmother who passed away when I was 14.  Every year when it blooms, I think of her. We almost lost it a few years ago but thankfully, Scott was able to bring it back.

In other news, I finished up stitching on my little basket of kittens:

This design is from my collection of vintage Vogart embroidery patterns.  I love this design and have now stitched it twice!

I have 3 pieces now all ready to sew together which I'm planning on doing over the weekend.  Stop by again to see some new hanging pillows!