Oh my, I have worked hard this week… and yet I feel I have so little to show for it.
This week I wrote my first quilt pattern for my (coming soon) website. The first pattern is the hardest to write. It needs to exist as a template for all of the others. It needs to be styled and designed so the others can have a consistent look and feel to them. A lot of thinking goes into the writing of the first pattern.
At this point I will digress and reveal to you a little about my new website. When you visit it (when it exists) you will be invited to register. Upon registering you will create a profile for yourself. When you purchase a pattern it will be delivered to your profile. You can download it and print it at your own leisure. Pretty cool, hey?
SO… I wrote my first pattern. I included lots of photos and diagrams as well as my drawings for the applique. I styled it beautifully, made it colourful and appealing and wonderful. THEN… I saved the pattern as a PDF and discovered that it was over 8MB of information. Too, too big. Nobody wants to download 8MB!
blah!
I was so pleased with the pattern. I had worked on it for days. I was sure it was finished, but I had to go straight back into problem solving mode.
I spent one whole day revising. Making pictures smaller, cropping images closely, removing bits and pieces. By the end of the day I had the fifteen pages down to just 3.6MB. I can live with that. It looks, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same and yet it had taken an extra ten hours to get it to that point!
Now I have a template and a system and seven completed quilts. Life is good!
Work in progress – dedicated to Margot, who wants to be a dolphin trainer.
Peppermint Patcher 
oooh, how exciting!
Oh Tracey – you are amazing – pursuing your dream with such passion – you remind me of someone.
Oh that’s who – your sister the novelist!
And look at that dedication.
Now will I be able to purchase the actual quilts? ‘Cause goodness knows I ain’t no quilter!
The writing is hard, much harder than the designing. If only there was a magic pattern writing fairy. Well done for getting so far!
On the edge of my seat!
Looking good! Looking forward to more revelations!
I hope you’re feeling a “good” kind of tired. You’re right – the first pattern/page/whatever is the hardest. It sounds like you’re at the point where there’s going to be a lot of work that feels invisible, but all at once results will start spewing out of the “factory”.
Your designs have charm and cleverness about them. Coupled with the samples you’re making, which show them to good advantage, I think people are going to be enchanted. Hopefully after the momentum builds up, the site will turn into an “evergreen” business for you.
You are brilliant! Brilliant. You make me wish I could quilt.
You are brilliant! Brilliant. You make me wish I could quilt.
So many sneaky peeks! I am sitting on the edge of my seat!
For the first time ever, I agree 100% with Melinda! Even the fact that she said it twice just makes me nod. You are so brilliant, it needed to be said twice!
Wow!
You’re like the stripper of the Quilt World! Personally I am jealous of your skill (not just the quilt but the pretty pattern making and resizing) and jealous that you can get a whole evening to work intensively on it! My business website needs a major overhaul and I’m putting off starting it because I know I’ll need large chunks of uninterrupted time (a rarity) and that I will be a distracted grumpy cow while it’s ongoing.
..can’t wait to see the whole lot…fantastic!
How exciting! I never contemplated the challenges of writing a pattern! I’m usually on the other end trying to determine what the beegeebers I’m to do with this darn piece of paper!
All looking fantastic. Great going!
The talent certainly did not come from my contirbution to the gene puddle!!!
Hi Tracey! Congratulations on your first pattern write. I think more information is better than less (obviously) so I think the 3MB size will not matter too much at all and your work is so beautiful that people need only take one look at it, to know that the pattern will be concise and meticulous in detail. Can’t wait to see the website. x
Oh so frustrating!!! This is the story of my life … everything that should only take a few hours ends up taking me a week 🙂