Facebook Fan Page Maintenance

This is just a quick post to explain how Facebook Fan Pages work. Or don't work, for that matter. They are not the same as regular Facebook personal profile pages. Oh no, that would be too easy.

When someone writes on my wall, comments on a wall post, comments on a photo, comments on a comment on a photo or wall post (you get the idea), FB fan pages DO NOT send notification to the administrator of that fan page. Unless...the admin "likes" everything on their page. Then the admin looks like they just love themselves to pieces.

As far as photo comments go, there is a page the admin can go to to view the comments made on the photos. They are not in order of date of comment, they are in order in which the photo was posted. Yikes. So if I posted a photo 6 months ago and you just commented on it today, it would be put with the other photos that were posted 6 months ago, not with today's comments. I have to go and fish for these comments, checking my photo comments daily.

As you can imagine, this gets very time consuming and cumbersome. Keep in mind that when you comment on a Facebook Fan Page that the administrator probably won't see it unless they are stalking their page almost constantly. Send them a message/email/text (or you can also call--my phone number is listed on my fan page).

So...as of this morning I have deleted any photo comments that were not made in the past week (sorry!) or so. People have asked questions about price, etc. All of my pricing can be found on this site under the "Product Pricing" tab unless the item was a custom order. If you want to inquire about those, please email me. aprilforshee at gmail dot com I will work to update my photos with the appropriate link (blog post, pricing page, etc.) so that there is no confusion. Feel free to continue to comment, though, as I will check that photo comments page almost daily. I will respond to them and after a week or so, I will delete them! I think that may be a good way to manage the comments.

Have questions? Let me know!

Patty Young, American Girl Dress

Patty Young first grasped my attention when I discovered her Mezzanine collection of fabrics for Michael Miller Fabrics. I became obsessed with the Gothic Flower print (and I still am!). I have a very popular Buttercup Bag in my shop made from fabrics from this line.

Patty also has sewing patterns for little girls and their dollies! Now, I do not have a girl to sew for and I generally do not care for pastels, frills, lace and the like. This is why I love her patterns. Even though I don't have a real girl to sew for, I have an American Girl Doll (I have Molly). Many of my friends still have their dolls from when they were children also...and their daughters and nieces have them too!

A friend of mine asked me to make a Mini Kyoko for her niece and I jumped at it! We carefully chose four fabrics and some ribbon for a nice dress for the Felicity doll, who is red headed. Sewing the dress took me about 2 hours. The bulk of that time was dealing with the tiny bias tape and the tiny gathers in the skirt. I have big hands that do not get along with tiny things. I do recommend making your own bias tape, though, as it looks better and can be whatever fabric you like!

I am completely pleased with the way the dress turned out! I might make my Molly one. The only thing I would change is that the next one will be made with some of Patty's fabric!

Oh, and I got to meet Patty Young a few months ago at Intown Quilters here in Atlanta! I even sat in traffic, which is something I swore to myself I would never do since I retired from working downtown, so I could go meet her. She had a new line of knits coming out and gave a talk about how to sew with knits, which was very informative and helpful! The videos of what she presented are on her website.

Enjoy the photos!

Molly in the Mini Kyoko I made! (I guess she was tired of being in her Georgia Tech cheerleader outfit?!)

Patty & I

Above All Fabric

Melanie at Above All Fabric asked me to make some zippered pouches to show off her new zippers that she is carrying in her shop! I stitched them up today and couldn't be happier with the results!

The following fabrics were used:

• Lagoon Collection by Michael Miller Fabrics: Far Out Floral & Retro Mushrooms
• Tweet Tweet Collection by Michael Miller Fabrics: Citron Belinda

Melanie has an informative post about sewing with zippers in store for her blog next week. You won't want to miss it!


Two large pouches

A view of the weird quilting I did on this one.

Medium-sized pouches, about 3.5" x 8"

A coin purse

What I Did Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend, I sent my husband and son out of town so I could sew. I needed some uninterrupted time to get ready for the New Salem Mountain Festivalwhich is in one month. I have lots and lots of these made, but none of these.

So I ended up making 9 Buttercup Bags and 3 Marti Bags! I also made one of these. Here are the pics:

New Salem Mountain Festival

I am happy to share that Forshee Designs will have a booth at the New Salem Mountain Festival in Dade County, GA this year! Dade County is where my husband is from, so I'm sure to have lots of family and friends stop by!

From the festival brochure:

The New Salem Mountain Festival started as a celebration at the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn – some people think the most beautiful time of the year – when brilliant color of the trees provides a glorious background for beautiful and exciting works of art.

The Mountain Festival emphasizes quality. Artists, craftsmen, and musicians – many local are carefully selected from the best agent available. You will discover here many visual arts – paintings in oil, acrylic, and watercolor; pottery of earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain clay; quilts made in our own community by internationally appreciated quilters; other textiles; weaving and stuffed toys so well made as to warrant people calling them “soft sculpture.” There will be woodwork, jewelry, and various other works in traditional expression and in experiments with newer artistic, industrial arts.

The purpose of the New Salem Mountain Festival is… to be a FESTIVAL, an organized effort to bring together a variety of art, crafts, music, dancing, so that each member of the family can share special pleasures to delight the senses.

Today, in our world of changing experiences, what was once community – held traditions have in many instances been lost to factory work and dehumanized processes. Now it often takes a special effort to locate fine objects made by folks at home. Our efforts are culminated in this our Mountain Festival, and we invite you to come and enjoy the beautiful made–by– hand works and their makers that we have gathered in celebration.

If you want to know more about how you can participate write George “Doc” or Faye Nichols, 805 Cherokee Trail, Rising Fawn, Georgia 30738. Telephone (706) 398-1988. Email: NSCIC@aol.com. Fax (706)398-1988.

Fun for the old and young, come spend the day. Food and drinks on the grounds. Food booth sponsored by the New Salem United Methodist Church.

October 9 & 10, 2010

Saturday – 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Sunday – 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

(E.S.T. each day)

Admission - $5.00

Children under 12 FREE

ABSOLUTELY NO ALCOHOL, DRUGS, OR PETS ALLOWED.

The New Salem Mountain Festival is located on top of Lookout Mountain between Trenton and LaFayette, Georgia, at the New Salem Community Center, 12477 Hwy. 136.

Koozies Are Here!

Pictured below is a can koozie. They can be embroidered on one or both sides. I love mine!

They are $8.50 and include basic embroidery (see Embroidery Services for other options) on one side, $10.00 to have both sides embroidered (both sides do not have to be the same)! Shipping is $2 for one and $0.50 for each additional koozie. As always, people in GA have to pay sales tax which is 6%.

Also available are beer bottle koozies! I'll be getting some photos of those up soon!

French Seams & Zippered Pouches

I make small zippered pouches/coin purses/whatever you want to call them. I have not been happy with the way the interior ends up. So...I took a look at one of my Vera Bradley (yes, I still have VB things even though my stuff is a lot cuter and I can make something for myself) coin purses and AHA! French Seams! So I studied it for 2 minutes, and I was able to replicate the way they are put together. Easy enough. I will definitely be using this technique from now on because I was soooo happy with the result.

Enjoy the photos! This pouch is a specific size (5" x 7") that my mom requested. I think she's using it for receipts. Oh, and it matches her purse that I made for her!