Spidron Workshop

First let me tell you a little about the history behind the Spidron table topper.

I belong to a yahoo group of quilters and one day a member posted a web site about spidrons. I had never seen a spidron before so it was new to me. She knew I was a math lover and posted “hey cindy, wouldn’t this make a great table topper“. I visited the spidron web site and after drooling I thought about the table topper. But then I thought, who would be so crazy to take on such a challenge. For several months the spidron image was on my mind. I was searching the internet to learn more about this cool geometric system. Anyway, I decided to take the plunge and started to design a table topper inspired by the spidron shape.

The spidron was discovered by Dániel Erdély from Hungary. Dániel came across our workshop info page and contacted me. After almost falling over from getting an e-mail from such a famous person I e-mailed him back. Come to find out he has a 13 year old daughter named Janka. Anyway, he was so excited about the quilt with spidrons that I asked my mil if she would make Janka a spidron table topper. My mil was more than eager to do so and here it is. Janka’s favorite colors are bright greens.

Spidron quilt made for Janka

I packaged up the quilt and off to Hungary it went. Well at least I thought it was going to go to Hungary. Did you know there are a lot of rules and regulations to ship things outside of the USA? Well I was learning those rules real quick….hehe. Anyway, after repackaging the quilt according to the postal rules, the quilt was finally on its way to Hungary. After three weeks the package was in Dániel’s hands.

Package held by Dániel

Look at all those stamps and seals! Lets see: There is the customs stamp, the return receipt stamp, the registered stamp, the air mail stamp and other odd stamps. Note the 3D stamp on the front corner that looks like a rubik’s cube. That is a new stamp designed by Dániel, which will hopefully be bought by the Hungarian Post Office.

Janka was now able to see and enjoy her new quilt!

Janka and her spidron quilt

Now the good news! Even thought Dániel owns the trademark on the word Spidron, he has given me permission to keep the name Spidron for my workshops. What a wonderful guy!

You can read more about Spidrons at http://www.spidron.hu.

Oh! … and the workshop … Click here to join the fun.   8o)

cindy aka MsDesigns

Where Have I Been?

I have not fallen off the face of the earth…hehe.  I have been real busy with a new project and it has been taking up all my spare time.  You may have heard it from the grape vine.  However, for those of you that have not, here is a recap.

In the past few years, I have become greatly disappointed in the decrease of creative, fun projects in magazines because of their need to make space for more advertising.  Equally as disappointing is the fact that pattern instructions are kept to such a severe minimum due to resulting space limitations.

This inspired me to create a new magazine that will provide quilters with more patterns, more quilting articles, and more value for their money. The Quilt Pattern Magazine is going to be unique in that it will be totally online.  With no printing or shipping costs we can pass the savings on to you, the quilter.

I invite you to visit The Quilt Pattern Magazine at http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com.  You can view a small sample of the format. Look inside and see a sample editorial, contents page, a partial pattern, a partial article, and some real ads.

Be sure to enter your name to ensure receiving a notification when the first issue is about to be published!  Our scheduled date is January 2011. As a bonus, you will be entered into the draw to win a free subscription.  Click “Subscribe” in the top menu!

 cindy aka MsDesigns

“Quilts for Sale” Grand Opening

We did it and ahead of schedule too!  I estimated that it would take 2 months to convert Quilts for Sale from a static to a dynamic database driven website.  We were able to do it in 6 weeks.

Maria can now easily add and/or edit the information of any quilter or quilt on her new and improved web site in just a few minutes.

Quote from Maria:

Hi Cindy.

Just had to tell you how wonderfully quick and easy it was to add 2 more quilts this morning and to be able to do it immediately after receiving the request! I’ve never been able to be so speedy! And it will be even faster once the quilters can add their own info! This is just fantastic!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  

Maria

This task was a lot of work for the both of us.  We built a database that contains the information for every quilter and every quilt. I recreated the web pages using PHP code to access the database information.  I added an admin section so Maria can easily manipulate the information in the database.  Maria’s job was to enter into the database the almost 400 quilts that were already displayed on her web site.  It was worth every bit of that effort!  Maria now has an easy to maintain database driven web site and my PHP skills have grown even greater from this experience.  It was a win/win situation for the both of us.

Even though the newly revised Quilts for Sale web site is now open, we still have work to do.  Next we are going to look into an admin section for the quilters.  This will enable them to enter the information for their quilts themselves.  It will give them more control as to what quilt information will be displayed and save Maria even more time.

Maria and I are very excited and are patting ourselves on the back … job well done!

Click here to visit the grand opening of Quilts for Sale.

cindy aka MsDesigns

Searching for a Web Developer

Every time I take my car to the shop for repairs, I feel uneasy. I would much prefer to be in control of this situation, but I don’t know enough about repair work to carry on an intelligent conversation with the mechanic. The possibility of being taken advantage of due to my lack of knowledge is a fear that runs through my mind. In order to feel comfortable about the choices I’ll make, I take my husband along for help and support. This enables me to discuss my car’s repair problems with the mechanic and turn to my husband for guidance when necessary.

Discussing repairs for my car is a good analogy for hiring web developers. If you have the necessary background knowledge, you can shop confidently among the masses of web developers to find one that is just right for you.

It is important to check out prices before making a final decision because you will be amazed at the range of quotes you will get. It is also important to have a written agreement before any work is started. That way you will know exactly what you are paying and what you can expect to be created for you.

This article is meant for quilters and others who are not computer geeks (experts) who want a web site, a blog, or a shopping cart created for them. With it, I hope to give you enough knowledge to be able to intelligently discuss your needs with web developers and gain more confidence in choosing one.

Let’s start with web site design.

Some web designers charge by the hour, some by the web page, and some by the entire job itself. My preference is a web developer that charges by the page or by the job because that way you will not end up with surprises. Either way, it is of the utmost importance to obtain a written quote beforehand for their services. This quote should include detailed information about what will be provided, the price you will be charged, and a completion date for the project.

You must decide on whether you want the web designer to create a website from scratch or to do it by installing and reconfiguring an existing template.

If the design is created from scratch, your site will have an original and unique look to it. The fee for this will be higher than sites made from templates. Choosing to use a template means there is a good chance that your website will look like many others on the Internet. Fees for building a website based on a template should be much less expensive as there is not the same amount of work and time involved, and if you just need a simple web site with no dynamic web pages, this may be the choice for you. (Basically, dynamic web pages are customized to access a database of information, search for the required information, find it, and display it on the web page, often instantly).  Dynamic web pages require a level of programming experience and take more time to create and individualize for the client, therefore the charges for them are higher. For this, you will need a designer who is also a web programmer.

There are many variables to consider.

Web design can cost anywhere from $30 to $150 per page depending upon the type of web site you want. Be sure to discuss what you need, which methods will be used, and the costs involved, in order to make a decision that is right for you.

Don’t forget the old saying, “You get what you pay for.”

Be:

• careful of really low quotes.
• wary of those that are very high.
• careful when choosing a beginning designer who may not be able to meet your needs.
• sure that the rates charged are for the services you will receive. If not, you could easily hire a web developer who usually takes on much more difficult jobs and has a fixed rate no matter what the job entails.

 Unfortunately, there are also web developers who will take advantage of the inexperienced and charge them more than their services are really worth. 

Below is a description of the different skill levels of web developers.

Beginners can:

• create static web pages that displays information only.
• can include pictures and links to other pages.

Among other things, a designer with more experience can:

• create special affects with the use of the mouse cursor. You can see a sample  at http://www.cddesigns.com by hovering your mouse over the words in the left side menu.
• create forms that can accept information and then email that information.  See the example at http://www.cddesigns.com/Forms/reminders.html
• install scripts like a blog, or a shopping cart.
• create simple password protected sections. See the example at http://www.quiltcampus.net/classes/test/  – the username is quilt and the password is funny.

Among other things, an experienced web developer can:

• further customize the theme of a blog or a shopping cart to produce a unique look.
• create web pages that do online calculations. See this example: http://www.cddesigns.com/PaperPiecing/number.html.
• create a custom database drive website that responds to the visitor’s input. See the example at http://findaquiltpattern.com/search/search.php.
• create fancy side menus. See an example at http://www.quiltcampus.net/ by hovering your mouse over the word “Classes” on the left side menu.

It is always good to ask the web designer to provide URLs of web sites they have created. Seeing their work will give you a feeling for their abilities.

In many cases, the web developer will need to install a script for the client. The most common scripts, for example, create blogs and shopping carts. When scripts are required, there are two parts involved – the installation of the script itself and the customization to give the web site a unique look. In most cases, the fee to install a script is $50. If you are to be charged more than that, you will want to know what extras you are getting for the price.

Depending upon the script, customization can range from $25 to $1000. One of the most common scripts seen is WordPress for creating blogs. A web developer can install the script, choose a wonderful theme (from a selection of thousands) provide special features using plugins, and have you up and running for $100 or less.

There aren’t as many theme choices available for shopping carts so more web work is required to create a custom look. However, you should be able to have a usable, nice, shopping cart ready to go at a cost between $200 and $500.

There is a great deal more to web development than can be discussed in this one article. The more features your site requires, the more significantly your charges can rise. If you happen to get a very high quote, check which features come with it and be sure that you need them. If you don’t need them all, you may be able to hire a more economically priced web designer.

I hope this has provided you with the necessary, basic information to confidently choose, a web developer that best meets your needs. I am more than happy to help out in any way. Please leave your comments and questions and I will do my best to answer them to your satisfaction.

* Please note that I have discussed web design fees only.  There are other fees involved when having a web site developed.  The two main ones are the registration of a domain name (up to $35 a year) and web hosting (starting at $5 a month).

Slowly But Surely

Maria is now past the halfway mark of entering all the quilts in her new database!  We are getting so excited.  It is all downhill from now on.

While she is adding the quilts she has become used to her new admin panel.  After a few days of working on it, she started sending me emails  … Wouldn’t it be nice if it did this?”. I’d scratch my head and say … “It sure would”.  As Maria puts in more quilts, she thinks of more and more features she would like to have in her new admin section and I create them for her.  She is constantly challenging me and giving me lots of practice in my php skills.

One of the new features allows her to add testimonials for the quilters.  With her current website she has to add the same testimonial in two places.  I have set up a testimonial feature that allows her to enter a testimonial once and the scripts enter that same testimonial in two pages on the web site.  They are automatically added to the quilter’s web page and to the testimonial web page.

Here is an example of a quilter that does not have a testimonial yet:

http://www.quiltsforsale.ca/DB/search/quilter.php?page=1&ArtistID=23

Here is an example of a quilter that does have a testimonial:

http://www.quiltsforsale.ca/DB/search/quilter.php?page=1&ArtistID=69

The testimonial is the indented blue text under the quilter’s description.  The script looks for a testimonial for the quilter.  If it sees a testimonial, it displays it. If it doesn’t, that space remains empty.

You can see the same information on the testimonial page at:

http://www.quiltsforsale.ca/DB/search/testimonials.php

As Maria adds new testimonials, they will be added to the testimonial page in alphabetical order via the quilter’s last name.  Right now I have it set up for two columns, but that can be changed in the future if needed.

Maria is very happy that she will not have to put in testimonials – or anything else – twice but only once.

Oh … I almost forgot!  Remember the “New!” tags added when Maria first puts a quilter or quilt into the database?  Well, a couple of days ago was the one month anniversary for some quilts and quilters.  This means she put them into the database exactly one month ago.  The web page script automatically checks to see if a quilter has been added longer than a month ago.  If so, it will not display the “New!” tag.  You can see the example at:

http://www.quiltsforsale.ca/DB/search/quilter-list.php

Most of the quilters in the first column were added over a month ago.

Therefore their “New!” tag has been automatically removed by the script. The same applies when new quilts are added.

Maria and I shared a big “yippee” when we checked to see if the script was doing what it was supposed to, and it was.

cindy aka MsDesigns

Creating a Database Driven Website

I have taken on a big challenge.

I have taken on the interesting task of using my php writing skills, to create  and manipulating a unique, custom database for an existing web site.

Quilts for Sale http://www.quiltsforsale.ca  is a great site where Canadians and Americans can sell their quilts.

The owner, Maria, has to update individual web pages each time she adds or removes a quilter or quilt.  This is a very time consuming task because it involves updating quite a few pages.  With the web site’s many search capabilities, she has to edit all the search pages where a quilt is displayed.

 This convinced her to convert her website to a database driven website.

My first task was to create the database and its tables.  The next step was to add all the fields that will store the information for each quilter and their quilts.  This task went pretty quickly taking a few hours or so.

My third task was to create an admin panel where Maria could enter and edit information in the database via web pages.  It is a password protected section at her web site and consists of several web pages. They allow the database to accept and display information about the quilters and their quilts.

Here are a couple of the many pages in her admin panel.

 An example below is a snapshot of one of the quilter’s quilt information pages.

 Below is a snapshot of the page where Maria can change anything about that particular quilt.

 While I am working on the public web pages, Maria is adding all the quilters and their quilts (listed at her website) into the database via her new admin panel.

 The first page I set up was a quilter’s page that would display the quilter’s information and all her/his quilts.  You can see a sample page at

http://www.quiltsforsale.ca/DB/search/quilter.php?page=1&ArtistID=25

This is a database driven web page and all the information is being pulled from the database.  The next task was the quilter’s list page and you can see it at 

http://www.quiltsforsale.ca/DB/search/quilter-list.php

This page is a database driven web page as well.  It reads all the quilters in the database and lists them in alphabetical order via their first name. It also adds a link to their personal page.  Each time Maria adds or removes a quilter from the system, this page will update accordingly.  She can also make a quilter active or inactive which will also add or remove a quilter from this list respectively.  Maria has many more quilters to add so this list will grow in time.

Note the “NEW!” tag.  This is displayed when a new quilter is added to the database.  A month after the quilter is added, this “NEW!” tag will disappear automatically.  This is something that Maria has been doing manually on her current web site.

 Next was to create the search categories to display the quilts.  You can see the beginning of the search page at

http://www.quiltsforsale.ca/DB/search/category-list.php

 Let’s say you are looking for an appliqué quilt.  You would click “Appliqué” under “Type”.  The next page will list the appliqué quilts in alphabetical order.  The page also counts the number of quilts that needs to be displayed and only shows 10 per page.  Links to any following pages are added automatically as needed.

 You can also do searches on Color, Price, Size and Theme.  There are other searches she wishes to add and I will get to them in the future.

 Each quilt can be listed in several searches depending on the input Maria puts in via her admin panel.  She can also remove the listing of a quilt on all the search pages instantly by clicking “inactive” for that quilt in her admin panel.  She can also, just as quickly, make a quilter “inactive” and none of their quilts will show up on any of the searches.  Each search page is a database driven web page and will display quilts according to the information Maria sets in her admin panel.

 We have many more web pages to create and Maria is still busy adding the 100s of quilts listed at her website into her new admin panel.  I hope to have the web pages done in a couple of weeks, but adding all the existing quilters and quilts may take two months.  Maria is doing this as quickly as time permits.

 Once all this hard work is over, Maria will be able to manage her new website 10 times faster than her existing web site.  Adding and removing a quilt from being displayed will simply become a click of the mouse.

I specializes in simple, yet impressive, economical, web sites for quilters and other small businesses. You can read about all of my services, and learn what I can do at – http://cddesigns.com/_WebDesign/

cindy aka MsDesigns

Bread is Good

Heidi, one of my kitties, loves bread.  I can not leave any bread lying around for it will disappear.  When I am done making a sandwich, I must put the loaf of bread in the pantry so that she can not get to it.

 One day I was at my computer … like most days of course … hehe.  I heard a little rustling in the kitchen.  It dawned on me that I left the bread on the counter after putting up the groceries.  I knew what was going on; she was gnawing a hole in the corner of the baggie to get to the bread.

 I got up to approach the kitchen and she heard me.  She wanted that bread and knew she had to think quickly.

 I heard a thud and I knew the bread was on the floor.  This was a full loaf and it amazed me she could drag it to the floor.  This is a smart kitty and she knew that I could just pick it up off the floor to take it away from her.  So she grabbed the end of the loaf and took off with it.  Just as I turned around the counter to the kitchen, this loaf of bread zoomed by me and into my bedroom.  Geeze that is one determined cat!

 I headed to the bed room and hear a thump.  She made it under the bed, but the bread did not.  It was too big to go under.  The bread was shaking frantically as she tugged and tugged on the other end.  She was determined to get that loaf of bread under the bed.  Unfortunate for her, it never made it.  I bent over and picked it up.  I examined the damage and repackaged the portion that was still OK.  I put it in the pantry.

 I could just feel her disappointment while sulking under the bed.  All that work and no return.  But, I have a soft heart for my little furry babies.  I gave her the pieces of bread she had mauled in the process.  She was a happy kitty.

 cindy aka MsDesigns

Easter Egg Hunt

We are having an Easter Egg Hunt in our live chat room for quilters!

Click here for our scheduled chat times.

Click here for links to get into chat.

Click here for more information about the game.

Come on in, meet our chatters, and find the eggs to win a prize.

cindy aka MsDesigns

Button, Button Who Has the Buttons?

FindAQuiltPattern.com is going to have a game called Button, Button Who Has the Buttons?. Find all the buttons to win a prize!

Click here to register to play the game.

cindy aka MsDesigns

Fish wall hanging

Fish wall hanging workshop starts soon! This is an intermediate “English Paper Piecing” project working with squares and half squares. Workshop starts March 13th and signup closes April 10th.

Come join us!

You can signup for the workshop at
http://program.quiltcampus.net/004QC/?p=705

cindy aka MsDesigns