• About
  • Projects
  • Articles
  • Contact

julielivingstone

~ It isn't always about getting what you want. Sometimes it's about wanting what you've got.

julielivingstone

Tag Archives: magazine

Seeking the Essence of Erewhon

19 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by julielivingstone in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

lack of ideas, magazine, project, writing

I’m in danger of having a long break between posts again! Mostly due to lack of inspiration, and time. I have been busy on a couple of projects, but can’t write about them yet. One I have sent away for (fingers tightly crossed) inclusion in a magazine, although I haven’t heard anything so I’m not over optimistic about that. Two more things I am going to enter in competition, so no details about them either. Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be able to blog about them, even if there is no success!

I’ve also been devoid of inspiration for next month’s writing group. The topic is about place – more precisely I think the question is ‘can we exist outside of place?’. For a start, I don’t even really know what that means. I tend to take things very literally, so my first instinctive answer is no. By existing, we take up space, so we have to have a place to exist in. I suspect that is not what the question means however.

My second, slightly more thought out reply, is ‘yes, of course’. If you mean, do we continue to exist when moved from the place we are born, then obviously we do. Millions of migrants all over the world are proof of that, myself included. Is this some metaphysical question – if you uproot me from the place of my birth am I the same person? Again, I don’t know. My feeling is that all our experiences combine to make us the person we are (people we are?), and place is just one small part of that.

I’m really not very good at abstract concepts.  This topic was introduced with a reference to the novel ‘Erewhon’ by Samuel Butler, which I had not read. I found it on Project Gutenberg, but I have only read about a third of it so far. It’s interesting, but I’m reading it as an adventure story, wanting to know what happens next, without much thought as to the satirical or philosophical nature of the work. I guess in any case I should hold off thinking too much about the message of the book until I have finished it.

I really didn’t have any idea of where I was going with this post when I started writing. (OK, you can say that I still don’t!) And none of this rambling has brought me any closer to writing anything for the group. I’d really like to challenge myself and write something a bit more imaginative or less factual and down to earth than I usually do, but at this stage the ideas just aren’t there. I have three weeks. And I also have to finish the projects for the competition. Will it help to continue reading Erewhon?

Advertisement

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Another project, and the end of a UFO

12 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by julielivingstone in Threads magazine - Inspiration in every Issue, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

book, inspiration in every issue, magazine, sewing

I originally intended to go through my back issues of Threads magazine in chronological order, and choose a project fromm each. I’ve already skipped one though, and now I’ve given up on that idea and am going through them reasonably randomly. The main reason is that the next project I found would have been perfect for something I’ve already started. When I went to find said half-finished project though, I could only find some of it, and not the rest. So, no finishing that, not now anyway. I wasn’t going to start another project to use the same technique, so I moved on to a different issue.

This is from the very first issue of the magazine I ever bought, number 65 from July 1996. Really, this is cheating, since I started to make this project over a year ago, and had just never finished it. All I had to do was get it out of the cupboard, sew on some ribbon ties, and a fastening, and it was done! Still, extra kudos for having ticked a UFO off the list I reckon.

Portfolio front

Portfolio front

I was having a rather Art Deco phase when I did this, but I quite like it. This is the back.

Portfolio back

Portfolio back

I’d really like to think that one day I will have written a book, and will be going to meet a publisher with the first draft safely tucked away in this portfolio. Realistically though, even if I do ever write a book, I’m far more likely these days to submit it online than in a portfolio, however arty and creative one might be!

Also, one of these days I might figure out how WordPress decides where to put photos. Try as I might it’s still hit and miss as to whether the photos end up where I want them on the page, and in relation to the right bit of the text. Seems to have a mind of its own somehow.

Now to find the next issue of Threads, and the next project!

IMG_1428

Detail

IMG_1432

Inside

IMG_1434

and the inspiring issue of Threads

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Next project, a useful apron

05 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by julielivingstone in Threads magazine - Inspiration in every Issue, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

magazine, sewing, Threads challenge

I’m continuing my self-set challenge to make something inspired by every issue of Threads magazine I own. I originally intended to take them in chronological order, but I must admit here to skipping a couple of issues already. There were (are) projects I could do in them, but they were more time-consuming than I’m looking for right now. Quick and dirty is the answer at the moment.

So I’ve moved on to Issue number 62, from January 1996. Here I found a design for an apron, and since I don’t possess an apron that seemed like a reasonable project. Also, I’m going to a fabric painting/printing workshop next weekend, and an apron is on the list of supplies to take. Normally I just tend to wear old clothes and accept that they get dirty or painted or whatever, but an apron is probably a good idea.

I also intended to use as much as possible out of my stash for these projects, but in the interest of speed I did buy supplies for this project. A stripey blue and yellow heavy cotton, and some yellow twill tape. I thought of using some print scraps for the pockets, but decided to stick to the one fabric. Here is the result.

Apron

Apron

I broke one of my cardinal rules with this, in that I didn’t preshrink the fabric. I thought, it’s an apron, it doesn’t have to fit, won’t matter if it shrinks a little. And it wouldn’t have mattered, except that I decided to use the fabric sideways on the pockets, to get a bit of interest. The fabric obviously shrank more on the lengthwise grain than the cross grain (which is expected I think), and the pockets now have little puckers at the edge, because the pocket is shorter than the underlying fabric. You can see in this photo:

There is a slanted pocket near the

pocket

pocket

top for glasses, and a small pocket on the side for a pencil, along with three other pockets. There is also something which I couldn’t at first understand. The article suggests a piece of twill tape along the inner hem of the apron, to make what it calls another large pocket. This puzzled me, how can this be a pocket, but then I figured out that you can take hold of the piece of tape and lift the hem of the apron so that you can carry things in it. Like the archetypal farmer’s wife collecting eggs from the hens, or apples from the orchard. Not sure how often I’ll use that feature, but I’ve included it anyway. Just forgot to take a picture, so you might have to imagine it for now.
I’m also unsure about the fact that the apron is made from a double layer of fabric, as suggested in the article. It saves some hemming etc, but I’m worried it might be too hot now that summer is coming here in Australia. Perhaps another apron needs to be on the to-do list.
I’ve decided to give my challenge a title, in common with all the best blog challenges, Me Made March, Self Sewn September etc. Mine is ‘Threads magazine – Inspiration in every Issue. I’m already looking into the next issue to decide on a project. I think I might be able to get extra kudos, since I can possibly use this to finish an existing UFO – double whammy!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Choices

21 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by julielivingstone in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

article, embroidery, garden, magazine, sewing, writing

The topic we were given for next month’s writing group was ‘Choices, and how they change the story of our lives’. I started off enthusiastically, and wrote a good few hundred words in my head, but when I actually started committing them to paper (screen), it wasn’t so simple. I had lots of thoughts, but finding a common thread to hang them all on was a different matter. Eventually I finished the piece, and have posted it here,

I’m not entirely happy with it, for one thing I think it’s still only a collection of thoughts, but I’ll wait and see what the rest of the group thinks. More time would have been good, but that’s a poor excuse since I started planning it straight away, and have had over two weeks since. Although I’m really keen to get on and start trying to get published, in reality I have to accept that I don’t really have a lot of time, and I might be better to ‘hasten slowly’, and work on improving quality rather than just get stuff out there.

I received the gardening magazine I’d subscribed to from the US, in fact not only the magazine but another collection of articles. I sat down and read them both right through almost immediately, and in spite of my reservations above I do think I might try and submit an article I have written. I submitted it for critiquing at last month’s meeting, and most of the comments were positive. I also think that the style of the magazine suits the style of the article, or the other way round. Watch this space!

I was turning out some stuff recently and came across some bits of embroidery that I had done years ago when my daughters were young. I took some photos, just for the record, and here is one of them. Embroidered flowersAgain, this is the photo straight as it came from the camera, I should try and see if I can improve it a bit. I’d also really like to do some more hand embroidery, having not done much for years, but it’s all about time. I should quit complaining and be more organised, then I’d have time!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

On returning my focus to writing

19 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by julielivingstone in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

clouds, design, drawing, magazine, photos, writing

Writing group starts up again at the beginning of February, and I realise that I have done very little writing or even thinking about writing lately. Really shows how important something like a group is with regular meetings to keep you motivated. I have done absolutely nothing to try and further my career as a writer over the last couple of months, although to be fair I have done quite a few other things, some of which I have recorded on this blog. One thing is working on the kitchen which is coming together quite nicely, although nowhere near finished.

One of the things I was thinking of doing towards my career was take a drawing class. At first the connection may not be obvious, but there is one! I’ve always been a keen crafter, pretty much anything you can do with a needle and thread I’ve tried, from sewing to knitting to embroidery and all sorts in between. For many of the things I’ve made I have created my own designs rather than using somebody else’s, and one thing I would like to do is to try and sell my designs and ideas. I’m not really interested in making the things and selling them, I’d rather have the designs featured in magazines and so on. Heaven knows there are any number of crafting magazines and websites, and all of them need ideas for projects, so there must be a market. Hence the drawing class, on the basis that if I can produce drawings of the proposed project, it might help to sell it. Photos are good too, but magazines often have line drawings of the steps in making something, and I’d like to try those. I was never much good at drawing at school, so there is no telling how I might go at it now! There are a couple of short courses I could do at local colleges, and also a unit in one course called ‘Develop self as artist’ or something similar, which might be just what I need.  Both the drawing and the writing seem to me to be useful in this venture.

Driving home from work last week I stopped to take some photos of a very striking cloud formation. I also think this is something I should do more of, take photos of fairly random stuff. In the past I’ve mainly only taken photos of things which were important to me, family, house, garden, animals etc., and when I went somewhere particular. For writing though, it might often be useful to have my own photos to illustrate articles etc., so I should try and build up a stock of photos of subjects which might be useful. This particular cloud formation was one of those white fluffy ones which look like so much shaving cream piled up, pure white against a brilliant blue sky. Unfortuntely there were power lines along the side of the road, and even though I scrambled around on the verge a bit I couldn’t get rid of them altogether. If I need to use these pictures I think I can probably crop them out though, or edit them out. Here are a couple of shots where I managed not to get the powerlines, although I think the first has too much foreground vegetation.

Clouds 1

Clouds 1

Looking at the quality of these I think maybe a new camera has to get added to the list of things to do/get!

Clouds 2

Clouds 2

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

OK, so I’m new at blogging!

03 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by julielivingstone in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

article, blog, content, freelance, magazine, seo, writing

Now I feel like an idiot! It seems the plug ins I was looking at (not sure of the spelling, should it be plugin or plug in?) are available if you have downloaded the WordPress software and are using that. Since my blog is still hosted by WordPress I can’t use them, or at least I can’t see how. If anybody can tell me different then I’d be happy to hear them.

Still, disappointed as I am, I need to remember the reason I am writing this blog. It’s part of working towards my goal of being a good freelance writer of magazine articles, so the content is the thing, not the gadgets.  Also, I figure that maybe search engine optimisation is something best done by a human, not necessarily by a machine. Some of the internet content you read consists only of words and short phrases which don’t really make sense, and now I’m wondering if they have been written by a machine.  Those are the kind of articles which nobody actually reads, although I have this vision of people who maybe are not fluent in English looking at them in complete bewilderment!

What I think I am going to look around for is a good note taking piece of software. I did use Webnotes for a while, but then when Firefox got upgraded it was no longer compatible, and so far I haven’t found a substitute. I want something I can just open and type a few words into when I’m inspired by an idea for a blog post. If the inspiration is a web page then I can use Scribefire, but if the idea just comes to me out of the blue I need somewhere to put it, and to be able to find it again. The electronic equivalent of a notebook and pencil. Who knows, maybe I should just use one of those anyway, I need one for when I’m not at my computer (haven’t yet got a tablet or a smart phone, and even if I did I wouldn’t necessarily always have it to hand). I’m sure there must be something around, watch this space!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Blogroll

  • Learn WordPress.com
  • Live to Write – Write to Live

Back Pages

  • July 2018 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • October 2016 (1)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • March 2016 (2)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (3)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • March 2015 (2)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (3)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • April 2014 (2)
  • November 2013 (2)
  • October 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (1)
  • June 2013 (2)
  • March 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (2)
  • January 2013 (2)
  • December 2012 (3)
  • November 2012 (3)
  • October 2012 (4)
  • September 2012 (4)
  • August 2012 (1)
  • July 2012 (1)
  • May 2012 (1)
  • April 2012 (4)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (3)
  • January 2012 (3)
  • December 2011 (3)
  • November 2011 (5)
  • October 2011 (4)
  • September 2011 (2)

My Tags

Anthony Trollope Art Deco article ASG asymmetrical ATASDA Australian Sewing Guild blog blogging book books challenge Christmas clothes clouds colour commonplace book competition content craft creativity design dogs drawing electric embroidery fabric fashion illustration fence freelance Fremantle garden horses ideas inspiration in every issue Jeeves Koos van den Akker labrador language learning machine embroidery magazine Margaret Preston Mozilla novels op-shop origin of phrases pattern PG Wodehouse photography phrases project property quilting reading reconstructed recycled Roald Dahl sayings ScribeFire seo sewing skirt Threads magazine transfer dyes Tris Hussey TS14Plus upcycled water weather Wooster Wordpress words workshop writing

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • julielivingstone
    • Join 36 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • julielivingstone
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: