Belated Blogaversary

This post is a little over a week late.  The proper date was 8/24/14.  I have been blogging for 7 years now and thoroughly enjoy the process of writing what is essentially a stitching journal, with the rare side trip into real life.  Writing about stitching is very nearly as relaxing as stitching itself.

I have the mind of a statistician and it seems very natural to take stock annually of what's been happening on this blog.

So, I find it interesting that during the past seven years:
* I have written 1147 posts.  That's 190 posts since my last blogaversary.
* Blogger has recorded 130,693 Pageviews, which means that there were 41,282 page views in just this past year .  That's up a little over 5,000 more pageviews than last year.  So I guess my readership is continuing to grow 
* Readers have left 3,829 Comments in the past seven years, 900 of which were in the last year.   Which works out to approximately 3 comments per post or 1 comment for every 34 pageviews.  The numbers of readers may be increasing but, clearly, I don't evoke much of a response from my readers.
* I also have 228 followers.

What I'd like to do this year is ask a few questions about blogging.  If you choose to answer these questions in the comments section, you will be entered in a random drawing for a $10 gift certificate to 123stitch [an online cross stitch shop].  Seven questions, one for each year I have been blogging.

1. Do you prefer a blog that is
      a] 95% stitching and 5% personal, roughly what my blog is .
      b] 100% stitching and no personal stuff at all
      c] 50% stitching and 50% personal chat

2.  Whatever the preference selected above, what are your reasons for the preference?

3.  When reading blogs, be honest, do you just look at the photos and skip the prose?

4.  When reading a particular blog, do you enjoy tracking the progress of a specific project?

5.  How many blogs do you read on a regular basis? [Regular basis being defined as once weekly]
     a] 1-25
     b] 26-50
     c] 51-100
     d] over 100

6.  What sort of things do you expect to find on a blog, things that will keep you coming back to read?

7.  What do you like about my blog?  What don't you like about my blog?

Blogaversary # 6

I started writing this blog 6 years ago on August 24.

I enjoy statistics, it's just the way my mind works.  So, I find it interesting that during the past six years:
* I have written 957 posts.  I am closing in on my 1000th post, which will probably be made sometime in November or December.
* Blogger has recorded 89,411 Pageviews, which means that there were 33,120 page views in just this past year which is more than half of the  56,291 page views in the entire previous five years.  So I guess my readership is growing 
* Readers have left 2,929 Comments.   Which works out to approximately 3 comments per post or 1 comment for every 30 pageviews.  The numbers of readers may be increasing but, clearly, I don't evoke much of a response from my readers.
* I also have 211 followers.

My 30-something children tell me that blogging is passe and that Facebook and Twitter are the real social media.  I tried joining Facebook last year but found it confusing to navigate and quickly withdrew.  I have never tried Twitter.  It seems to me that FB and Twitter call for such abbreviated messages that, on my less optimistic days, I fear that within a decade people will have lost the ability to communicate in full sentences.  Literature will be a thing of the past.  Eloquence will be a mere memory.  We will return to the level of the caveman, speaking in a series of linguistic burps [which those  who like this  short shrifted conversation call bullet points or economy of language].  And the irony of it all is that people are too busy for full sentences or, heaven forfend, whole paragraphs because they are so plugged in to a multitude of communication devices that they can't give a real person any face time, a modern phrase I find appalling but very revealing.   The laptops, IPads, Blackberries, SmartPhones, Droids, etc. are all competing so fiercely for modern man's attention that he has no time for other human beings.  Of course, I am over-stating my case but pity the former English teacher who sees the language she loves being reduced to a mass of bizarre texting abbreviations loosely strung together by a preposition or two.

All this is prelude to a short survey about blogging.  Please answer the following questions about blogging in the comment section.  I will be sending a $10 gift certificate to 123stitch [an online shop] to one of the respondents chosen at random.

1. How many blogs do you read regularly?
2. How much time do you spend reading blogs each day?
3. What sort of  content attracts you to the blogs you do read?  For example:  photos, musings about the needle arts, the style or personality of the blogger, humour, etc.
4. Do you enjoy message boards devoted to stitching?  If yes, which ones do you read?
5. Do you use Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with cyber friends who share your love of the needle arts?
6. Do you belong to a stitching group that meets in real space and in real time and promotes person-to-person sharing?

Okay, that's six questions, one for each year I have been blogging.  I'll choose a winner of the gift certificate and announce it on September 4.

Blogiversary Poll and Giveaway

This marks my fifth anniversary as a blogger: August 24, 2007 - August 24, 2012. I would have let it pass unnoticed had I not seen Stitch Bitch's blogiversary post a few days ago.

I liked Anna's recap of vital statistics concerning her blog and will do the same thing here.  In the past five years:
* I have written 805 posts.
* Blogger has recorded 56,291 Pageviews.
* Readers have left 2,385 Comments.
Which works out to approximately 3 comments per post or 1 comment for every 24 pageviews.  Clearly, I don't evoke much of a response from my readers.

Nevertheless, I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of blogging, both as writer and reader.  I have certainly learned a lot from comments left on my own blog and from reading the stitching  blogs of others.

I thought I'd mark my anniversary with a five question poll with the theme of, what else, five!  And I will also offer an appropriate prize,  a $5 gift certificate to the 123stitch ONS.  All you need to do is answer the questions using the comments option.  I will use the online randomizer to choose  one of  the respondents to my little poll as winner of the gift certificate.

1.  Who are your five favorite designers?

2.  Name your five favorite LNS/ONS.

3.  Name your five favorite stitching themes.

4.  Other then mine, of course [she said with tongue firmly in cheek], name your five favorite stitching blogs.

5. Name your five favorite stitching websites: these could be shops, designers, fiber/fabric/tools manufacturers, etc.

It is my hope, that in reading the comments, I will learn about a lot of new-to-me designers, shops, blogs and websites.  So URL addresses for any of the above would be appreciated.  I always enjoy broadening my horizons.

September Giveaway - Fourth Blogaversary

To celebrate my fourth blogaversary, which actually occurred on August 24, I want to do something a little different than my normal giveaway of gently used charts. Instead, I will make an ornament [either Halloween, Christmas or USA Patriotic] for the winner of this drawing. The winner chooses the holiday theme and I will choose an appropriate chart from among my favorite designers. As readers of this blog know, that would include Homespun Elegance, Blackbird Designs, Prairie Schooler and Workbasket.

If you wish to enter your name for this giveaway, the usual conditions will apply:

-- open to all stitchers

-- leave a comment below as to why you are interested in the giveaway: only this time add a note as to whether you prefer a Halloween, a Christmas or a USA patriotic piece.

-- include an e-mail address in your post if clicking on your name will not lead me to an e-mail link

-- a winner will be selected on the 10th of the month and informed by e-mail

--the winner will need to wait a while for the prize, since I will only be starting on the project once the winner is selected

Good luck to all who enter.

Blogaversary Prize

I have word that Barbara received her prize, so here are the photos. She had asked for a patriotic piece and I thought this filled the bill quite nicely: Glory Bee's Flag and Liberty. I substituted silks for the recommended cotton overdyes, keeping the colors in the suggested muted palette. I remember Barbara once mentioning on her own blog that she thought Buckeye Scarlet was a really distasteful red. Keeping that in mind, I discarded any thought of going with a traditional bright red, white and blue colorway. Instead, my chosen colorway: Cranberry, Blue Lagoon and Oatmeal Scone from Belle Soie. I also dug out a tiny brass Liberty Bell charm that I have had for ages. This is the perfect piece for it. I toyed with different finish ideas but settled on a small pillow finish. I stuffed it with ground walnut shells and lined it with muslin, so it could double as a pin pillow. However, as my grandson treats all my pin pillows as bean bags, it's possible Barbara's youngest son may do the same. Anyone who has visited Barbara's blog, mainely stitching, knows from all the photos that she incorporates many different stitching smalls and antiques and folk art pieces into her decor. I am hoping this little pillow finds a place among all her other treasures. I have photographed the pillow over a swatch of the backing fabric ... a print from one of my favorite fabric "collections" which also includes a larger plaid and a smaller print in the same colorway.

Third Blogaversary

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love to write and that I love to stitch. So blogging about stitching is right up my alley. I find it amazing and somewhat humbling that I now have 71 followers, some of whom comment regularly. Since I don't have any stitching buddies nearby, no LNS at which to attend GTGs and can only go away on one carefully selected stitching retreat a year ... the blog I write and the blogs I read have become my stitching community. I have decided as a way of celebrating this year, I'll be giving away a small stitched piece. The piece I have chosen is this biscornu, stitched in various shades of melon and peach on white linen and secured with some antique celluloid buttons circa 1930 [from Farm Fabrics, a great surce for interesting buttons.]

Though the actual blogaversary is the 27th, I'll follow my usual practice of doing the drawing on the 10th of the month.

It'll be a little different from my usual monthly giveaways inasmuch as there will be no PIF requirement [obviously] and that I'll be asking you to comment about why you read my blog, what you like/dislike about it? The thing that will remain the same is that this giveaway will be open to international, American and Canadian stitchers.

Good luck to all who enter and, of course, thanks for reading.

Second Blogaversary Coming Up: August 24

It's been two years since I began blogging. And I have made many wonderful cyberspace friends ... and have even met one or two of them face to face at GTGs or stitching retreats. I have learned a great deal from my fellow bloggers: I have broadened my stitching horizons to include new techniques and materials, I have found a wealth of information about all sorts of textile crafts, and I have added to the list of vendors who cater to people with this particular passion ... all in all, it has been a great ride and promises to continue to be so.

To celebrate, I am going to offer a Fiber Surprise Grab Bag containing five different specialty flosses as this month's giveaway: including a silk, a cotton, a bamboo, a rayon and a linen. I figure that's a great way to share the joy of wandering about in the wide wide wonderful world of fiber. To enter, post a message in the comments explaining why you already enjoy using a wide variety of fibers [you might name a few of your favorites] ... or, if you haven't yet ventured beyond the good old reliable DMC, why you'd like to expand your repertoire.

On August 10th, I'll choose the answer that tickles my fancy most ... entirely unscientific, totally subjective and probably grossly unfair ... but every now and then I like to indulge myself.

One year and one month

I have been reading quite a bit about blogaversaries lately ... and became curious as to when I should be celebrating my own. So I checked to see when I first posted. And, you guessed it, I have missed my own blogaversary which was August 24. I have been blogging for a little over one year now. I have come up with a sort of belated celebratory contest ... contests do seem to be the usual manner of marking the day.

My contest will be open to other bloggers in the US and Canada. As to the prize: a number of kind visitors to this blog have commented favorably on the Peace pinkeep pictured in my post of September 15. The theme of this contest is blog names. Please tell me the name [and address] of your blog and why you chose that name: its significance or background. If you wish to know why I chose the somewhat odd name for my blog, please go to my very first post. Post your comment at the end of this entry and I shall select the winner early next week.