Here is just a small sampling of what I’ve been up to lately, and what I’ve been posting on InstaGram. I took a small vacation, and bought way too much fabric!

So of course when a certain friend of mine who really loves Halloween suggested I host a Halloween swap, I said “GREAT IDEA!”

We called it the Trick or Treat Mini Quilt Swap, and had around 108 participants sign up in only 12 hours! Crazy, right? I had to turn off the submission form because I didn’t want to overwhelm myself the first time hosting one of these.

Something different I tried out with this swap was taking on brand new swappers! I thought everyone should have a chance to do a swap, and I didn’t mind helping everyone along.

That brings me to today’s tutorial. It’s a bit different than most of my sewing tutorials, since there isn’t any sewing involved, but I promise it’s useful!

How to Make a Square Photo Mosaic Specifically for Viewing on Instagram:

A lot of swaps require a mosaic of your favorite quilts or projects. Usually they include around 2-6 photos and they are meant to help your partner design something for you. Without a mosaic, they may make you something that just isn’t “you”. No one wants that.

First step is to actually find the photo’s you like! I like searching the hashtags #miniquilt #quilts #patchwork #quilting #miniquiltswap etc etc etc. You can also search more specific types of quilts like #halloweenquilt or #hexagonquilt or #trianglequilt. It all depends on what you are looking for!

Now if you are searching on Flickr, Pinterest or Blogs you can easily right click and save a photo. If I do this, I also write down the person who made the quilt so I can give credit later!

Things gets a little trickier on Instagram. There is no right click function. The way to capture a photo on IG is to “screen shot” it. Its where you basically take a photo of whatever is on your phones screen at that exact moment. Each phone is different and I wont get in to it with each model. I will tell you how to screen shot on an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S6, since we have those in the house. (Apple vs. Android is a an ongoing joke around here btw) It seems both are the same process: Hold down the home button/middle button and the lock button at the same time. Your screen should flash and if your sound is on, you will hear a clicking sound. The photo will automatically save in your camera roll.

These photo will still be in their raw form and have all the words, time, battery life, etc all around it. There is no need to edit them though, the next step should do it for you!

For the actual mosaic positioning I like to use the app Diptic. I’ve tried loads of apps, and this one just seems to work the way I need it to. It comes with a whole pile of different layouts that you can edit, AND allows you to slightly edit the photos so they all look nice together. So it’s like a two in one deal. However there may be another one out there that fits your taste better. I’m sorry I can’t cover all of them…

I start by opening the app and choosing the layout I like.

Double click on a the box you want to fill first. This should bring you to your camera roll and photos. Choose the photo you like and zoom in until all you see is the quilt or project you want to include.

Repeat this step for all the empty boxes. Double clicking on each one.

Now if you need to slightly edit a photo, this is the time to do so! just tap on a photo and the edit function will pop up. As you can see, there are many options here.

Once you are happy with your layout, hit the Publish button in the top right corner. Choose the size you would like (For this I choose the largest, so it doesn’t degrade everyone’s beautiful work)

Now you would just upload it to InstaGram the exact same way you would any other photo. Make sure to give credit to any photos you use! A lot of quilters sell their patterns or have tutorials on their blogs. So this way anyone who sees your mosaic, especially your partner,will know exactly how to make each piece. If you forgot who made what, go back to your camera roll and look at the screen shots!!

This is also the right place to tag your Swap Mama or use the hashtag that goes along with your swap. It helps everyone keep track of everything this way!

This was tutorial was a new concept to me, so if I missed anything, or you have more questions, just comment below or email me.

Happy Swapping Everyone!

So I thought it would be neat to just cross post some of my favorite photos every other week! If you’re on Instagram and would like to follow me, my username is: Jessee_ArtSchoolDropout !

The above two sunset photos were taken on two different evenings, back to back I believe. The sky around dusk lately has been so pretty. I’m thankful I get to capture them with my phone! Same goes for all the insect photos I have been taking lately. Our back deck has been COVERED in insects and spiders all summer. We have to rush in and out of the door to make sure they STAY outside. I normally am not fond of pests, but the species around us are so colorful and different. Before moving here I had never seen most of these! (and I’m only an hour away from my home town). They also don’t seem to care how close I get to them, which makes for super neat photos!!

If you would like to see more of my Instagram photos just click here! If you are a member already my username is jessee_artschooldropout . I love meeting new people through IG, so please comment and say HI!