Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall ...

 In Ann's blog, Stitching Foolishness, I found the perfect explanation for the lengthy class list that graces appears as a sidebar on this blog.  

She says: Apparently I have to let things age in the stash for three or four years before I become inspired to complete the stitching on them

Apparently, I have the same disorder but a somewhat more severe case.  Some of my projects have been aging nearly a decade.

This isn't the first time that another stitching blogger has held up a mirror before me and shown me a few home truths about myself.  It's one of the reasons I read a dozen or so blogs on a regular basis.  Not only do I get to expand my range by living vicariously through other stitchers but I learn about my own stitching persona as well!  So I guess that, for me, Maleficient's question becomes

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,

Who's the most Compleat * Stitcher of them all?

 I want to find that stitcher and read his or her blog!

* referencing an ancient tome called The Compleat Angler.  If fishermen can have a perfect model encompassing all the skills and quirks of their avocation, why not stitcher's as well?  

Blogging While Rotating

There is a problem with blogging while stitching projects in rotation. On many days, there simply isn't enough progress made on a specific project to be of any interest to anyone but the rotation stitcher.  It makes far more sense to do a once weekly round-up of photographs.  So what does one blog about in the intervening days?  It is, after all, a stitching blog.  Just how many not actually about stitching accomplished, but still related to stitching nonetheless topics can one mine for posting?

These past few weeks haven't been much of a problem.  There have been the usual end of one year and start of another topics: a review of spending, finishes and goals for 2014 and the setting of goals for 2015.  I have also had a giveaway and posted about stitch related baking.  And every so often I can write a finish post for one of the projects in the rotation.  And I still have a few Gallery Post topics left to cover and, as I complete a few more projects, a few more updates to existing Gallery Posts.  I don't really have the time to comb the internet for interesting stitching related articles.  I could start posting reviews of the stitching books I have in my library.  I would like to maintain a pattern of four or more posts a week but without being an utter and tedious bore.  I shall have to give this some more thought.

"Group" Therapy for Stitchers

I have noticed that people have been responding very positively to my gallery posts.  Also, on the message board I frequent, someone is always asking the rest of us to post our finishes on a particular theme.  There seems to be an interest in groups of finishes that share a common theme or type of construction.  I know I always like to look at such groupings on the 123stitch message board.  And I frequently see  new-to-me designer or finishing techniques and end up learning something new about my craft.  Then, there is the sheer entertainment value of seeing so many varied projects reflecting tastes that are both similar to my own and very different from my own.  So over the next few weeks, whenever I am at a loss for a topic, I think I'll compile another gallery post.

Topics I have in mind are: biscornus, throw pillows, pin pillows and pin cushions, stitching accessories, totes, witches, dragons, Quakers, patriotic, nauticals, samplers, teapots and tea cups, and botanicals.  Of course, there will be some repetition and crossover.  The same piece might show up in a gallery of patriotic pieces and in a gallery of throw pillow or banners.

Which would you like to see first?  Or can you think of other  areas of interest?

Tough Choices

It was terribly difficult to choose a winner of my little giveaway.  I enjoyed reading all the comments left on that post and was particularly touched by four of them.  So, my decision is based partly on my reactions to the comments [as noted in the giveaway "rules"] and partly on my more usual method using an on-line randomizer [to break the four way tie].

The winner is Calamity Jr who liked reading about my design process because she expects to see photos of stitching on a stitching blog but she found that delving into another aspect of our shared passion was an unexpected treat.  I will be arranging for a gift certificate to be sent her way ASAP.

I found it very interesting the way the choices broke down.  There were 17 comments, one of which was simply a congratulatory note rather than an entry.  

Of the remaining 16

3 voted for Santas on Parade

2 voted for The Designing Process

3 voted for All Hallow's Eve Stitchery

2 voted for Thanksgiving Stitchery

4 voted for Some Thoughts on Pricing Trends

1 voted for Totems and Talismans

1 couldn't choose between Totems and Talismans and All Hallow's Eve Stitchery

Now, while 16 people is hardly a representative sample of stitchers world wide or even of stitchers who read my blog, I am going to be reckless and draw a few conclusions from my little survey.  

1] with 8 1/2 votes for the various stitching collections, most people want to see photos of finished stitching

2] with 4 votes for pricing trends, many stitchers are concerned about increasing cost.  This post is several years old but it seems to resonate with stitchers as much today as it did when originally posted.

3] although the design post only got 2 votes, many of you mentioned it as a second runner up.  So I guess quite a few of us either design from scratch or re-design existing charts.  This doesn't surprise me: the textile arts draw a lot of creative people.

4] Finally, although I call my blog a stitching and general musings blog, the low interest in the Totems and Talismans entry [1 1/2 votes] indicates a general disinterest in any of my musings off the topic of stitching.  I don't stray from the topic of stitching too often but I will probably continue to do so every so often simply because it pleases me to write such posts.  The Totems and Talismans post was my favorite of the group listed above, followed closely by the The Designing Process, both of which got the lowest votes from you folks.

1000th Post: A small celebration and a giveaway

I began blogging on 8/24/07.  That means it's taken me a little over 6 years to reach this landmark 1,000th post.  Incidentally, I passed the 100,000th page view mark earlier this month which means I have been averaging 100 page views per post.  Of course, early on, the page views were in the very low numbers but lately they have been averaging between 120-130 per post.  I am something of a statistics junkie and I like to compete with myself.  So the growth of my blog has been one of my minor pleasures.  I know there are other far more popular stitching blogs with far more followers but I am content with what I have accomplished.

So, I thought I would celebrate by having one of those companies that prints and binds blog entries into an actual book make one of my blog for me.  Basically, this blog is a better version of my old hand-written stitching journals since I can now incorporate photos in the entries.  So it would be logical to have it available in book form as well ... just to page through whenever I want a trip down memory lane without tying up a shared computer for hours.  It would also serve as a nice back-up.

As to the giveaway, I thought I'd spread a little stitching joy around by offering a $25 gift certificate to www.123stitch.com to one of my readers.  Just post your answer to the following question in the comments section:

Which of my own personal favorites would you select as best post of the lot?  Why?

1.  Dec. 20, 21, 24, 27, 2011: Santas on Parade, Santas on Parade the Ornaments, Santas on Parade: the Sue Hillis Collection, Santas on Parade Fini.  I consider this one post in four parts since it covers just one topic.

2.  Nov. 13, 2010:  The Design Process

3.  Oct. 6, 2012: All Hallow's Eve Stitchery

4.  Nov. 3, 2012: Thanksgiving Stitching

5.  Apr. 9, 2010: Some Thoughts on Pricing Trends in Stitching
6.  Jul. 7, 2011:  Totems and Talismans


Please note that the second part of the question, "Why?" will be used to select the winner of the gift certificate.   I'll pick a winner on Dec. 6 which will give folks a week to enter.

Musings on Blogging

I have been reading on several of the blogs on my reading list laments about the state of blogging.  Some bloggers are simply gone from the scene.  Others blog much less frequently.  Among this last category are a few of my favorite voices: Stitch Bitch, Mainely Stitching and Spinster Stitcher.  With the first two it seems to be a matter of gainful employment taking up more and more of their time.  Life intervenes: pressures of work,  loss of work/job seeking, health issues for oneself or within one's family, a new interest or focus.  There are any number of reasons a blogger may disappear from the scene.

Still, I think it is a bit premature to declare the demise of blogging.  True, a lot of people have found the immediacy of other social media very seductive but there will always be a select few who prefer to read and respond in full sentences comprised of real words as opposed to the debased English of text abbreviations.

Even I, much as I enjoy blogging, had a long fallow period in May and June.  Now that I am back to blogging, I have noticed that it is often a case of once every three days followed by a brief spurt of daily entries rather than my past routine of every other day.  The rhythms of my life have changed and my blogging habits are changing as well.  One thing I am doing in an effort to keep my blogging conversations alive is commenting as much as I have the time for and replying to the comments left on my blog much more faithfully than I have in the past.  This is kind of a catch 22, though: the more time I spend on comments the less time I have to spend on the actual blogging.  

I'll be watching the trends in blogging but I doubt I'll ever get sucked into the FaceBook or Tweeting scene.  A blog with a small following feels much more natural to a hermit like myself.  I have never been much good at small talk or the social scene.  Blogging feels much more like my comfort zone: lunch with a close friend as opposed to the party scene or pub crawling scene.

Coming soon

I just happened to notice that I am a mere 29 posts from my 1000th post.  It boggles the mind.  Though I suppose it shouldn't, I am a rather wordy person.  One of my husband's cousins is always remarking that I am the most satisfying correspondent: she'll write a few lines and get back several pages in return.  The simple truth is I enjoy expressing myself in the written word and I am much better at it than I am with the spoken word.  Oh, I am reasonably articulate and can make conversation when required.  But when all is said and done, I am an introvert and more comfortable communicating at a keyboard or with my trusty fountain pen than face-to-face.

It'll probably take two months before I reach the landmark post so I'll have plenty of time to think up ways to celebrate.  There'll be a gift certificate giveaway and some sort of survey.  I'll come up with something that I hope will amuse and engage readers and followers.

And the Winner is

# 20, Melissa, selected by an online randomizer.

There were 22 entries to my blogaversary survey and the responses were rather interesting.

Let's take a look at the questions.  

How many blogs do you read regularly?  The answers ranged from a low of 2 or 3 to a high of 300, with most saying they read between 50-100.   [My answer:  There are 36 blogs on my reading list but since 3 of them haven't posted in a year, I guess the true number is 33.]

How much time do you spend reading blogs each day?  This also varied widely from approx. 20 minutes  to 3 hours daily, with most people noting that the time varied from day to day depending on how many bloggers were posting.  [My answer: less than a half an hour.]

What sort of content attracts you to the blogs you do read? For example:, photos, musings about the needlearts, the style or personality of the blogger, humor, etc.  Twelve of the respondents listed photos of stitching as the first priority, while six listed the personality of the blogger as the first priority and the two remaining listed sharing life experiences as a first priority.  It was interesting to note that almost all of those who made photos a top priority were quick to note that personality of the blogger ran a very close second for them.  [My answer: The personality of the stitcher and the stitching content are equally important to me.  I don't mind the occasional glimpse into the personal life of the blogger as long as stories about children, pets and the angst of daily life don't take over the blog.]

Do you enjoy message boards devoted to stitching?  If so, which ones do you read?  Ten of you don't bother with message boards but twelve of you do read them.  123stitch, sanman and a few others mentioned.  [My answer: I selectively read 123stitch at least four times a week and I do get involved in some of the discussions, stitch related and not.]

Do you use Facebook or Twitter to keep in touch with cyber friends who share your love of the needle arts?  This split right down the middle: eleven of you do and eleven of you don't.  [My answer: No nor will I do so in the foreseeable future.]

Do you belong to a stitching group that meets in real space and in real time and promotes person-to-person sharing?  Thirteen do not, many of whom would if there were a group available.  Nine do, one of whom belongs to six groups.    [My answer: No, but I have gone to stitching retreats which I have found to be a wonderful experience.  Since I am now off on Fridays, I am seriously considering approaching the folks at our local library about starting a group and meeting in their Community Room.]

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.

A Landmark and a Progress Photo

Sometime in that recent three week long desert period during which I failed to blog even once, I passed the 50,000 page views mark  Thus, I think it is appropriate to acknowledge my readers and say how grateful I am for your interest.  I particularly enjoy reading your comments.  I love the feedback since I am a "lone stitcher".  There is no LNS within 45 miles of my home and you have to cross a toll bridge to get to the nearest.  No LNS means no local stitching network.  I have an individual membership in EGA because the nearest chapter meets on a night that I work ten months out of the year and in a place that I boycott on principle, The Palisades Mall [a corrupt boondoggle of a zoning nightmare, destroying wetlands and foisted upon us by venal politicians, in short: a recipe for a huge building collapse and a disaster just waiting to happen.]  Here in the lower Hudson Valley, our politicians don't retire.  They get indicted and then, convicted, instead.  We are a sort of modern day Tammany Hall.  But I digress.   What I started to say was: the blog with its comments constitutes the closest thing I have to a conversation with other stitchers about a pastime I love.

So, thanks for dropping by for a little chat.

Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie  Block 4

On the stitching front, I have been continuing my work on Block 4 of Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie.  Alphabets always seem to stitch up so quickly.  Again, I have made a few changes.  Once an English teacher, always an English teacher!  And it just irks me when letters [the basic building blocks of the language I love] are dropped from the alphabet.  Historicity be damned!  So, I have put back the "J" and moved the remaining letters to the right accordingly.  There will be less room for filler motifs at the end of the numeral row which is now an end of the alphabet and numeral row.  I've shifted the numerals to the far right and plan on placing whatever motifs that fit between the "Z" and the "1".  Then it's smooth sailing, stitching the rest of the text, a bird and a key motif.  At this rate, I may just finish this entire block before June  ends.

NaBloPoMo

November is National Blog Posting Month. Can I manage to post one blog entry every day for a month? I am certainly verbose enough. The question is whether I am disciplined enough to post daily. I know that the posts at the beginning of the month were wildly off-topic for this stitching blog. Though I sometimes post about my professional life [especially as it impacts stitching time], I rarely post about my personal feelings. For those who were thrown off stride by the atypical posts, I can only say that though I am very good at compartmentalizing my life ... and I don't know whether that is a good or a bad thing ... sometimes even I can't keep everything in tidy little boxes tied up in pretty color-coded ribbons. But for now at least, it is back to stitching and stitching related topics. I spent a good part of Thursday morning prepping some of my floss tags for assembly. I prepped the remaining two Friday morning at the beginning of my three day weekend. And I tackled the actual assembly today. Or more specifically, I tackled trying to decipher the directions on my new toy, a Crop-a-Dile, so that I could pre-punch the holes for the grommets. I don't know what it is with me and directions for crafting accessories. My mind just doesn't work in the same fashion as the authors of those ever so clear, ever so detailed instructional leaflets. I took me ages to figure out how to use of my cording drill properly. I simply don't understand even the simplest machines/mechanical theories. This is where I really need my engineer son ... how dare he move to the West Coast just because the Navy told him to? Oddly enough, the Crop-a Dile was a cinch to use. It'll take a bit more practice to get the knack of lining things up precisely. But my first four attempts at Floss tags didn't turn out too badly. They are all Prairie Schooler promo cards: a house on a soft spring day, another house in a summer thunderstorm, a barn on a crisp autumn day and a cabin in a winter snowfall. Next, I'll be working on an emery strawberry, the two Homespun Elegance pedestal pin cushions I'd like to finish up and two more small pin pillow finishes. Maybe I'll have some more finish photos to show tomorrow. Now that I have three day weekends when I can really spread out my crafting stuff on the dining room table and just leave it there for the duration, I am determined to work on finishing as many of the small stitching accessories and/or the seasonal decor pieces I have on hand. The possibilities are pretty broad: ornaments, pillows, stand-ups, cubes or self-framed. I do have several heirloom quality pieces that I will need to send to a professional framer and soon, if I am to have them back in time for Christmas giving. All I want to have left in the "finishing" basket for 2012 are pieces I am accumulating for quilts or wall hangings.

I Wonder As I Wander

In checking my blog Stats recently, I discovered that www.gothise.com was a referring site, with 23 hits. Gothise is a self-described Twitter site for alternative people. Okay, I am an aging ex-hippie so maybe that makes sense. But I do not twitter or tweet or whatever it's called. And I am at a loss to see just how my rather staid stitching blog came to the attention of the goth community. I haven't even waxed philosophical in any recent posts. I rather expect my 23 visitors from that site are as confused as I am. About the only thing we might have in common is a "what were they thinking?" shared head-shaking moment! Such are the arcane mysteries of blogging.

Another Blog

Some long-time readers may have noticed that I am a tea lover. I have been following a number of tea-related blogs for a while now and have finally decided to start my own. I am calling it Tea-Reg, a silly riff on T-Rex and on my family nickname. My first post is about a recipe I developed this morning while my husband slept in. We both love high teas, tea lunches, tea for two type meals and frequent tea shops whenever we can. So while the dear boy slept, I played in the kitchen with what I had conveniently to hand and came up with an elegant little salad I am calling Apricot Glazed Chicken Salad. I'll be serving it today as part of a high tea, presenting it as the filling of mini-croissants. Feel free to drop by if you have any interest in tea or in recipes in general.

It's a matter of perspective, I guess ...

... but I was just reading in Barbara's Mainely Stitching blog that she was beginning to hear echoes on her blog. She was referring to the scarcity of comments. So, just for kicks, I went back through the most recent four or five posts to see how many comments she had received: 28, 11, 9, 12 ... the lowest number was, I believe, 7. I would love to be able to say I got that many comments. I often have no comments. Sometimes, one or two or three, tops. The only time I reach a stratospheric 15 or so is when I am doing a giveaway. I have resigned myself to the fact that my personality and/or writing style makes for a blog that is more monologue than conversation. Sure, I wish I had plenty of feedback but it appears it is not to be. But, Barbara, what is echoing emptiness to some would be a great and joyful noise to others.

Glass House

During the past few weeks I have been seeing a strange phenomenon. My blog, which at the best of times has gotten maybe 60-70 visitors a day, is currently averaging between 250-300 visitors a day. This is rather unnerving since there has been no corresponding increase in comments, which still averages a painfully modest 0-5 a day unless a giveaway is in progress. Not much of an increase in followers either, only five in the past few weeks. I have no idea what prompted this increase in readership, where the readers are coming from or what the new readers think. It's odd. I suspect that it is a passing thing ... and I keep waiting for things to drop back to normal. In the meantime, I feel like I am living in a glass house and I don't know my neighbors. I realize blogging is essentially exhibitionist in nature but the size of this new audience intimidates even an egotist like myself.

NatBloPoMo

I've watched as other bloggers participated in this blog-every-day-for-a-month event. I thought I might give it a shot this year. One of my annual goals for 2010 was to blog every other day ... and while there have been a few two or three day gaps, there have also been enough stretches of daily posts to keep my record above 50% of the time so far. Since I am not certain this is really doable, I am going to treat it as a trial run and not actually register on the website ... coward that I am. Consider it a case of getting into training for 2011.

I can already see thatI shall be relying heavily on "scheduled" posts and retrospective photo essays of stitching long since finished ... because, let's face it, stitching for an hour or two a day just doesn't generate enough raw material for 30 posts. I suspect this stitching and general musings blog will have a higher proportion of general musings this month, as well.

A One-sided Conversation

I know it is the tail end of summer. Everyone is concentrating on getting the last glorious moments' of pleasure, good weather, special events, etc. So, people are busy. I understand this.

Facebook has supplanted blogging and visiting message boards for many folks. I know this to be true, though I don't much care for the wide-open and anything goes nature of Facebook myself.

Other bloggers I follow have commented on the lack of response ... fewer and fewer people are commenting. So maybe this is a trend.

But how is it that I have more followers then ever before [75] and yet nobody comments? The humbling notion that I have become a total bore has occured to me! I know I have been obsessing about the round robin in which I am participating lately. I thought it would be a great way to interact with other stitchers but the ugly truth is I am not tempermentally suited to round robin stitching. I am a linen snob who dislikes working on aida, I am a design snob who deplores anything remotely approaching cute and I am beginning to resent the time away from my own projects. I fully intend to keep my committment ... it would be grossly unfair to the others to do otherwise ... I have done my best to come up with interesting charts to use in the round robin and have given my best efforts to these projects. But I look forward to the conclusion. Maybe, once I get back to projects of my own choice, I'll be able to generate a little enthusiasm of my own and that, in turn, will prompt some comments.

Thanks to Yesterday's Visitors ...

Thanks to the folks who read and comment here, I now have my next two Bride's Tree charts: April's Rabbit symbolizing Hope and May's Bird symbolizing Happiness ... and as a little bonus, a non-Quaker, but absolutely lovely primitive Rabbit chart. This is one of the main reasons I love blogging: it creates a stitching community with which to network. No one individual could possibly be aware of all the stitching resources available on the internet ... but extend your network by including even just a few blogging buddies ... the sky's the limit ... problem solved ... joy reigns.

The commenters suggested a few links, those links led to still other links ... in less than 10 minutes of focused researching, I had two charts perfect for my Bride's Tree SAL Quaker ornaments and another for the sheer pleasure of it. And the links now are part of my blog archive, ready to be retrieved should I encounter similar needs in the future. A wealth of information quite literally at my fingertips.

Oh, yes, I do love blogging.

Cross-pollinating

I love reading other stitchers blogs ... it expands my stitching horizons, it delights my eye, it creates my stitching community. But most of all, there is a certain creative cross-pollinating going on. I get so many ideas that serve as jumping off points for my own forays into the needlearts. Sometimes, the germ of an idea becomes a full blown project. An example: seeing small plastic rings couched with satin stitches on the Pin Tangle blog became my Fertile Circles project. And at other times, seeing a fiber used differently by another stitcher solves a nagging little problem of my own. An example, in a recent post on Mainely Stitching, Barbara showed a lovely little pillow finish trimmed with some eyelash knitting yarn ... which I don't have but can duplicate with multiple strands of Rainbow Gallery Faux Fur from my stash ... just the thing to brighten my drab little Heartstrings Santa with a Heart Christmas ornament. I wasn't really happy with the plain mini-pillow finish, it looked a little lumpy and the whip stitches are always evident to my eye ... no matter how small or neat I try to make them.

So here are the before and after pictures. :

The photo on the left is my lumpy little pillow ornament. And the photo on the right is the new improved version, using some ecru Rainbow Gallery Faux Fur to soften the lumpy edges and conceal the whipstitching at the bottom. I also added two little buttons in coordinating colors at the top to eliminate some of the excess negative space. I usually trim my ornaments more closely ... don't know what I was thinking this time.

Thank you, Barbara ... you are my problem solving hero!