Squidoo's Purple Star

When I was a little girl in primary and junior school, getting a tick and a gold star for my work was a real thrill and encouraged me to try harder. I’ve always been a sucker for praise.

It looks like 50 years later I haven’t moved on much emotionally. Since Squidoo introduced Purple Stars for exceptionally good lenses made by Giants, I’ve been just as thrilled as I was when I was seven years old each time one of my lenses has got one.

Last week, one of my earliest lenses, The Historic City of York, England, was awarded a Purple Star and, this week, a lens I made a few months ago, Art Nouveau – A Beginner’s Guide.

I think that one of the big addictive factors of Squidoo is the praise that lensmasters can receive for good lenses. This comes mostly from other lensmasters leaving comments in the Guestbook although we can set the Guestbooks so non-Squidoo visitors can leave comments too.

If you want to get good comments, 5 star ratings and being recommended for Lens of the Day or Purple Stars, you really must take an active part in the Squidoo community. That way people know who you are and will visit your lenses.

Being active in the community means visiting the Lensmaster Lounge (Squidoo’s forum), looking at other people’s lenses and giving them a star rating and leaving a comment. Of course, you should only give the star rating the lens deserves and that includes not rating it at all.

Squidoo’s community is one of the best I’ve ever joined on the web and I would recommend anybody who likes making web pages and being part of an active, supportive community to come and join Squidoo.

My Purple Star Lenses

• Crazy Quilts With a Difference
• Make Do and Mend from the 1940s
• Meccano – One of My Favourite Toys
• Make a Reader Friendly Lens
• I Had a Mini-Stroke and What Happened After
• Historic City of York, England
• Art Nouveau – A Beginner’s Guide

The Quilt Museum and Gallery opened on 7th June, 2008, in the medieval St Anthony’s Hall, adding another unique attraction to York’s list of museums and collections.

The Quilt Museum is now the headquarters of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles and its world-famous Heritage Collection of 600 quilts which includes the earliest known signed and dated patchwork, from 1718. There is also quilted clothing, tools and equipment on display.

Additionally, special exhibitions of textiles from home and abroad will be shown in the museum.

When it opened, Janice Gunner, former President of The Quilters Guild, said: “We are all thrilled that the move into our new headquarters is about to become a reality, and with it the opportunity to share with the wider world the traditions and aspirations of this wonderful craft. St Anthony’s is a fabulous location, rich in history: a wholly fitting home for our own Collection, and a focus for the exciting and innovative work going on within contemporary quiltmaking today.”

The first exhibition of 2009 at the Museum started on January 20th and continues through to April 18th. It celebrates the use of cloth through the Quilter’s Guild Heritage collection in ‘Warp, Weft and the Printer’s Block’, and through the work of contemporary textile artist Cefyn Burgess in a Ruthin Crafts Centre Touring Exhibition entitled ‘Migration’.

Find out more about the historic city of York.