Thirty Days of Blogging

I made it the whole way through NaBloPoMo! Phew.

Here are the ideas* I didn't use:

1. Share your workspace (clean your workspace first)
2. Book reviews
3. Look at magazine headlines and do a word swap
4. Use one of two words from the headline as a jumping off point
5. Rewrite the article from your own perspective
6. My favorite present I've ever received
7. 10 things I believe
8. A Room with a View
9. If you had one whimsical or fantastical wish, what would it be?
10. What do your family and friends think of your blogging?
11. Christmas decorations make me ______
12. What is one thing you do very well that you don't get credit for?
13. What were you doing on this day 10 years ago?
14. Since blogging do you find you have real life friends and blogging friends?
15. Are your blogging friends different that real life friends? How?
16. A craft/hobby/interest you wish you were good at
17. What's on your bucket list?
18. Take us on a tour of your home; what are your favorite spots and corners? What's hiding behind those closet doors?
19. Why did you start blogging?
20. Respond to a snarky email or comment
21. A post (with pictures) describing the worst style you've ever had
22. A blog how to: describe a technical problem you've had with your blog and how you solved it
23. The weirdest thing you like to eat
24. A list of the strangest foods in your kitchen
25. What's the worst date you've ever been on?
26. Are we saying what we really mean in the blog world or are we all just being too nice
27. Find a blog twin--someone you follow who is either like you were when younger OR how you hope to be when older--write about each other
28. Your favorite smell
29. You should have listened to me---
30. Your worst interview
31. The one thing you use most in your house
32. The essential guide to throwing a great party
33. uses for the safety pin
34. Something you excel at
35. Seven things you can do on this weekend on the spur of the moment
36. Scrapbooking
37. Make a new recipe each week 
38. Try making a recipe from *Mastering the Art of French Cooking*
39. How has time and experience changed your perspective on a project
40. Favorite holiday and why
41. What do you love most about yourself?
42. If you got a movie deal based on your blog, who would star in it?
43. What gets you out of bed in the morning
44. What do you enjoy most about your life?
45. If the books on your nightstand could talk, what would they say?
46. Name 10 creative ways to pass the time in the carpool lane
47. Why is that in my purse
48. My biggest pet peeve
49. Overheard: 
50. When I feel frustrated, I: 
51. Are you where you thought you would be in life?
52. Reality shows featuring crafters (I racked my brains all month and came up with nothing! I really wanted to do this one.) :(
53. Recreate an outfit from a childhood photo
54. Organize a swap and show your loot
55. Post your recent Twitter or Instagram favorites
56. Show off your all time favorite thrift store score
57. Make a list of tips for new bloggers
58. Interview a fellow blogger
59. Actually do that popular DIY from Pinterest
60. Share your opinion on a recent trend
61. Give your readers a tour of your city
62. What's in your bag (I've done this one before.)
63. Review a recent purchase
64. Show us your busy schedule
65. Give us a dose of your favorite wedding photos from Pinterest (you know who should do this? Lee.)
66. Share your recent vacation pictures
67. Answer some recent comments
68. Create a how-to post (I've got two of those I still haven't done; sigh)
69. Take a look at what you wrote this time last year, can you expand on it?
70. How are you getting organized this year? 
71. Write 25 Common sense things people should know.

As I went through this list, I found duplicates. I also found a few that are too good to give away. Yup, I'm holding out on you! At least until next November!

I culled the ideas from all over the internet, but these 600 from Kludgy Mom are pretty comprehensive (if not repetitive). 

Cleaning House

The other night I spent a couple of hours going through my reader. I got rid of all the blogs that haven't been updated this year (over 30). I used to have a folder called "hiatus"-- that's where I kept the blogs of people I really hoped would return. Increasingly, though, I have come to accept they'll never be back. No matter how much I like and miss them. (There are people who stopped blogging eight years ago who I still miss!)

This has opened up space in my feed. If you think I should be reading someone, (even yourself!) leave a comment or you can email me.

That said, I don't know about the future of blogs. Microblogging is the new black. Many people are doing that with Instagram, which makes sense from the stitching perspective since so much of what we do is provide updates of our work. But it makes me wonder if I should just skip that and go on to the next thing? Another part of me thinks, another fucking login?

And you know what? I like writing too much for microblogs. Even my twitter activity is about linking people to the blog. I've actually got Things to Say. Or I think I do anyway.

On our trip to Maine, we were listening to "Star 69." "I know you called/I know you called/I know you hung up my line/Star 69/" Wow. Who even has a phone anymore? This may have been a technology that completely passed me by. I never used it. I figure if you called and didn't leave a message, it wasn't important. (Tell that to my sister.) And, you know how to redial and call back if you need to talk to me. I guess I've always been one of those people who were a little disconnected any way.

(Oh, okay, you can find me at stitchnik.)

New (to me) Blog!

Marie Claire Idées, one of my favorite magazines, has a blog. {via CRAFT Magazine} If you're like me and your French could be better, they still have all those pretty pretty pictures that make you wish you were more creative, or more French, or both.

Thanks for your comments about Tall Flowers. I plan on framing it, probably in a plain black frame to echo the blanket stitching.

I have a full report on the trip to KC, just need to upload some photos.

Craft Gossip

A while back, I was going to point you to Craft Gossip because I had been finding some interesting info there. Then the needlework editor started bitching about not getting paid from another job she did, and I didn't think you'd be all that interested. But go now. She Has Lost It. She is blogging about her Craft Gossip boss on the Craft Gossip website. Too, too much of a whack job. It's like Lindsay Lohan for the needlwork set!

EDITED: Sorry gang, it's been taken down. You'll just have to take my word for it...

SBQ: Compelling Blogs

How do you decide which stitching blogs are worth regular viewings? Are there certain things you look for in particular? Are there things you wish there were more of? Less of? Is your blog a good example of what you like to read? Right now, the blogs come to me. I am using the google reader. I try to visit the blogs that link to me, which I think is polite. I most enjoy reading blogs that have regular, and mostly, crafting content. I'll stop reading a blog that regularly says things that annoy me or that uses "would of" when they mean would've...okay, any blog that says "would of" is straight out because that is never a grammatically correct usage. I cringe every time I see writers spell definitely, "definately." That sort of stuff will drive me right away. I get inspired by people who are out there doing their own kind of thing, and I wish I did more of that. But I work. Oh, I know, being out of the house for ten hours a day is a really lousy excuse...

Is my blog a good example of the genre? Not lately. I feel so disconnected. I'm not stitching as much as I'd like, and crazy things keep happening, like the beer tasting dinner I went to last night, and having to go buy a new refrigerator. I do think I'm coming back around though. Today at work--shouldn't they have let us go early?--I retaliated by surfing Hancock's of Paducah and I found things I want to make. That's always a good sign.

SBQ: Blogging Stitchers

What do you prefer to read in stitching blogs? (Progress, tips, family life, experiences, etc.) How much do you think you are influenced by other stitching bloggers?
When it comes to stitching blogs, I totally shut down if there is too much "family life" and not enough stitching. OTOH, I get bored with progress-report-only blogs. I often feel like mine is too much of the latter, and then I go out and try to find stories about stitching to comment on. I like blogs where people think about what they're doing, not just report on what they're doing. It's a difficult standard to live up to, I even have trouble doing it myself, so I do cut people slack. Lots of it. Even on the grammar thing, believe it or not.

I think I'm influenced by others insofar as visiting blogs can be like a virtual shopping trip--I get to see what other people are working on. Still, I haven't fallen into the dyed fabric craze that seems to have infected a lot of bloggers lately. No, I'd say my tastes haven't changed because of blogs, just my access to good pictures. In fact, do too many projects that I can't respect, and I probably won't read your blog all that often. I do feel that I get motivation from other stitchers. I was motivated to focus on finishing more of my UFOs this year and last. Next year, I hope to focus on finishing period. It would be nice to have my pieces on display in the new joint.