Meyer Imports

Allie did it, so I am doing it to.

Meyer Imports is having an offer.  I haven't ordered from them before.

I am cutting and pasting the post, so you can get the full details directly from them.

Every order gets a Free sample set of Vintage Spun Cotton and Plaster Mushrooms! And, in fact, you do not even need to order them to win! Here's how it works:

For every order we get during the month of November, we will add a free Sample Kit of our Vintage Mushrooms with the other items you ordered. Just for you to play with and have fun! We just want everyone to know we are more than just great Glass Glitter!

OR

Write about this free offer on your blog and send us a link to the posting with your mailing address! We will send you the same free sample just for helping get the word out! No cost!

And yes I am aware that this is my third post today.  I am making up for the times when I wasn't writing as much!

Blog References

I've come across some interesting blog posts, and I thought I would share them with you. Some of them might be old news to you.

Libby Fife has written a great post about using the word fear when it comes to art.  It is the vocabulary we use and the things we tell ourselves that sometimes stop us from accomplishing what we want.

Geneabloggers is doing their annual Christmas Memories calendar.  You can start on December 1, and follow their prompts for blog topics.  You're not required to do each one, and of course, since it is your blog, you can also choose other blog topics.  Basically it is a way to document your  memories and share them with others.  I think it is a great way to document your history. Also, it helps that someone else has already come up with blog topics, so all you have to do is follow them!  I personally won't be doing this, because of issues specific to my family, but I think it would work well for a majority of bloggers.

Robyne Melia sold a crazy quilt for $70,000. It is beautiful, and it is nice to know that the time and effort and money spent on quilts is appreciated.

The photo is of a beautiful art quilt that was displayed at our local library.

Time Travelling

I was a reading a quilt blog last week that referred to 2009 as almost two years ago. And she is right, January 2009 was almost two years ago.  Really makes you think about time.

I have been thinking about time.  I was looking at city directories for 1900.  Since the family appeared there, I needed to keep searching backwards to see when they first appeared.  It just seemed like the family wouldn't be here earlier, because the parents were elsewhere, but some of them were.  In fact, I found one of them in 1895, and I still don't know if that was when he came, since that is the age he would have been old enough to have his own place and be in the directory.  It felt strange looking at the directory from so long ago.  They even had a colored lithograph in it.  And it was in pretty good condition for being so old.

Then I got a general history book.   It is obviously a school book. I like those - they are easier to read and get a broad understanding  On the left side, there are spaces to mark the student who is using it that year.  Remember when we had to do that?  Do they still do that?  On the right side, was a sticker showing the old library system, with due dates stamped in the paper.  Above that is the bar code that we use now to electronically scan the book.  At least it didn't have the older card in a slot in the book, with borrower's names written on them.  I liked looking at those and figuring out what kind of people would read that book.

This last thing, the library book, is what makes me feel old.  The oldest date in the book, 1993 doesn't seem that long ago, but it's almost two decades ago, before some kids about to graduate from high school were born .  And so it is ancient history to all of them. It won't be long before they get their own place and start showing up in city directories, for as long as they continue to make them.

I hear a couple of cities are giving up publishing the white pages. We'll have to tell the people being born today about a time when we used to get a whole book that listed all the people in the city delivered to us annually.

2 Days Only – Get 1 Free Photo Wall Calendar, plus Free Shipping!

As I have been a bargain shopper for decades, I have gotten accustomed to reading the fine print. If they had told me that there was a charge for shipping, I may have gotten it anyway. That seems fair. (In fact, the last free thing I got was a personalized book from another company. I paid the shipping. They told me up front that there would be shipping charges. I decided that when I buy another book from them, I should order better covers.)

That's why, when I got the offer for a free calendar, I decided to test it first, by limiting myself to the free calendar, and then tweak future decisions if I wanted to buy more. The fact that the shipping was free (capital letters, exclamation point) made it more enticing. This was truly supposed to be a no obligation offer.  I was sure they would try to sell me other stuff, (like extra copies) but I could get that stuff later.

VistaPrint clearly made an error in their advertising. They put the wrong clause in their offer.

The 3-for-1 Photo Calendar offer applies only when ordering three of the same calendar.

Instead of owning up to that fact, they are going to blame me for being too dense to understand their offer. I don't appreciate the insinuation.  So I ask you, dear readers, do you see anywhere in the offer that says that shipping is free only when you order more than $30? To me the big print (complete with capital letters and exclamation mark) overrides the fine print, which clearly says "unless otherwise specified."

To me, this is false advertising, plain and simple.  I do not like being lied to, and will not be doing business with this company.  There were some form emails I also received, but I'll skip them because, while they add to the frustration, they don't get to the heart of the matter. Here's their response and the ad:

RE: 2 Days Only – Get 1 Free Photo Wall Calendar, plus Free Shipping!

From:	...(vista print)
To:	XX (me)

---

Dear XX XX, (me)

Thank you for sharing your concern with me.

A review of the below promotional offer confirms that the offer is reflecting correctly on the website. The offer extended is for free shipping on orders valuing $30 or more.

The Subject of the email is intended to provide a general overview of the offers being included in the promotion, and is in no way meant to describe the details of the offer. The body of the email further details that the customer should see the website for details as ‘additional charges may apply for shipping and processing’

We extend our apology if the conditions were not immediately clear to you.

Kind Regards,

XX
Care Supervisor
T: 1.800.721.6214 x5275

Vistaprint Make an impression.

Business Cards are FREE at www.vistaprint.com!

From:XX (me)
Sent: Nov.
To: XX (vista print)
Subject: Fw: 2 Days Only – Get 1 Free Photo Wall Calendar, plus Free Shipping!

Vistaprint Inquiry Response REF#[XX


I am trying to place my order through an email from Martha Stewart which states that the calendar is free and the shipping is free. The email does not state a minimum of a $30 order. The site is trying to charge me for shipping. I would like to try out your service without charge as advertised.

I was asked to forward the original message to you.  As you can see, there is nothing in this message about a minimum order for shipping. There is a weird message about a 3-for-1 photo calendar, but that isn't part of the offer.

XX X

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Martha Stewart Special Partners
To: XX
Sent: November XX
Subject: 2 Days Only – Get 1 Free Photo Wall Calendar, plus Free Shipping!

If you cannot see this email, please click here. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia would like to thank you for your continued loyalty and bring you this offer from one of our advertising partners.

 

Photo calendars – 1 FREE – this is your lucky day. Order today and save!

Upload and share your favorite photos with loved ones Write captions for your snapshots Pick your starting month and year Highlight special dates with icons for FREE

Photo calendars – 1 FREE – this is your lucky day. Order today and save!

 

The 3-for-1 Photo Calendar offer applies only when ordering three of the same calendar.

PPP-1024746

 

Email Newsletter Subscriber Services   SUBSCRIBE Subscribe to any of our email newsletters, from recipes to home project ideas. To subscribe, please click here. PRIVACY NOTICE MarthaStewart.com takes your privacy seriously. To learn more, please read our Privacy Policy. TO UNSUBSCRIBE You have received this email because you are a MarthaStewart.com newsletter subscriber. To unsubscribe, please click here. FOR FURTHER COMMUNICATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Customer Relations/Email Administration Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia 601 West 26th Street 9th Floor New York, NY 10001   Copyright © 2010 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Memory Lane

I received a offer for a free calendar with free shipping.  It was one where you use your pictures for the calendar. I figured that they would try to sell me more stuff, but I like to try out the company before trusting them wholeheartedly with my money.

I only had two days to choose my pictures.  I knew that it would take me more than two days to choose family pictures.  I would have to choose a proper theme, or arrangement, or pictures, etc.

I decided to use pictures of my quilts.  It was very late on the second day by that time, so I had very little time to choose.  I grabbed some photos of some finished quilts, but also added some work in process ones.  Since it is the process of quilting that is more enjoyable to me, those quilts in their unfinished stages (alas they are still unfinished) were really attractive to me. With the rug and the couch and the wall in the picture, this isn't a "pretty" picture, and wouldn't get published in anyone else's calendar, but it really shows the reality of how quilting happens around here.

I chose the thirteen pictures and added them randomly.  And pressed the continue button.  It turns out that they were charging for shipping.  It was just $5 which is pretty good for a personalized calendar, but on principle, since they said no shipping, I wasn't buying it.

You had to buy two calendars at $15 each to get the free shipping.  Ten bucks a calendar for three calendars is a pretty good deal for personalized holiday gifts, but if I had known I had to buy three, I would have taken the time to choose family pictures.  They do try to sell you other things, oh so tempting things with your picture on them, but I was strong and resisted.

I sent an email to the company to see if they could fix the free shipping problem.

But in the meantime, I did enjoy getting to see my quilts again.  In a way, I do feel guilty for the unfinished quilts, but I really enjoyed seeing their pictures alongside all the finished ones.  It is all a part of the journey.

Brick Wall Demolished

A brick wall in genealogy terms is what it sounds like.  An huge obstacle in the path that looks insurmountable.  I had one of those.  Mary White. She was single, so there wasn't any other name associated with her, besides her son.  She probably died young, or remarried or something, but with a name like that, I thought it would be impossible to find her parents, or anything more about her.

It was frustrating because I had information extending several generations on every other line but this one.

But last week, I found a death certificate for Mary White on familysearch.org.   She died three years after her only son was born, which explains why I couldn't find references to her except for his birth, marriage and death certificates.  And after some easy research, I am sure that this is my Mary White. So now I have her parents names, her siblings, and one set of grandparent's names.  She has a large family, so hopefully I can find out more about her through her family members.

Now the brick wall has turned into a climbable fence.

I know I should be finishing up quilts, and making holiday gifts, but having more than one obsessive hobby is difficult, and I have to go where I am led.

Quilt Festival

It is Quilt Festival Time at Amy's Creative Side, and she has asked us to show a quilt. I have decided to show you a quilt that is keeping me cozy as the days are getting colder.  This is the last big quilt I have finished - I have done a couple of wall hangings since then, and have progressed on other ones, but this is the last big finish.

It is different from anything I have ever done.  The circles are all African prints that I bought at a quilt show.  They were cut using a CD as a template, and are raw edge appliqued to a big background fabric.  I added pieces for the border, and quilted it using my walking foot.  The quilt is designed to keep evil spirits confused enough to stay out.  I think I will eventually add more quilting to it. It is finished now - it is bound and labeled, but I reserve the right to add more quilting stitches.



The quilt with its beige background fits in anyplace, yet has lots of interest and zing. I like the shiny fabrics!  It is "different" and may not appeal to everybody, but it does appeal to me. It doesn't have that instant "pretty" factor, but it's like the ugly duckling that I've just grow to love.

If you are here from Amy's blog, welcome. Please feel free to take a look around.