But it got me to thinking about my own life, both in real life and blogging...and how much I struggle between just being my quirky crafty slightly hippy self and wanting to fit in with all the other mothers in the school yard, and here, how I love to have people subscribe to my blog, visit my blog and comment! I want to fit in and belong, be one of these people that can naturally chat away and be always interesting... But no one is interesting all the time!
With my blog, I feel that I have bigger projects and can't really blog all the time about them without boring any readers that stop by: "Hey, here is one more DJ block quilted or ocean waves block pieced" in between playing My Little Ponies and helping Aine write her alphabet (things we did today!). I started thinking, maybe I should be doing giveaways (which I plan on doing in a minute, lol, so stay tuned!!) or other things to get people to stop by and say hello... I love getting comments and had a quiet week last week, and started to be silly about it, worrying why people weren't commenting. But I finally reminded myself that I started this blog to share my projects and I have met some wonderful people many who I consider great friends now, done some wonderful swaps, sent out and received nice packages "just because"... So I have decided to just keep my conversation going and hope that people continue to stop by and say hello. I really need to do a 12 step program on stopping checking my stats, I find it so addicting to look at where people are coming from and how many folks are stopping by! Anybody else find it too addictive??
But maybe I can get more people to comment in a totally blatant fashion: a giveaway!! Sadly, I got little interest in my patterns or magazines for swapping, but how about a giveaway?? There are lots of things on the post below, knitting, quilting magazines from the UK/Europe, a number of patterns (the Father Christmas one is claimed for Katy!) How about if you name it, you claim it? First come first serve...if you want a few patterns or magazines, just let me know...I hope they go to a good home!!
On a totally different note, I made it to 100!! Not posts, but Dear Jane blocks quilted!! I am moving along, hoping to get the quilt finished for next year's Birmingham Festival of Quilts, since I won't be going to Oregon next summer for the Sisters Outdoor show like I had originally planned....Australia bound now instead, woo hoo!!
I have also started on my dad's quilt. Bend Oregonian folk might recognize these mountains on their skyline! I will add some trees and land in the foreground to make this a quilt for my folks to put over their fireplace. It is way out of my style, I don't do much machine applique or use batiks, but it is a great learning experience so far... the mountains are padded with batting and hand appliqued, but the rest will be machine done with fusible web. This quilt is about 60 inches wide, 20 inches tall!
If you made it this far, thank you so much for sticking with me and reading, and please come back again soon!!
28 comments:
Don't worry about your blogging.. your blog is very intersting, and I love stopping by even if I don't leave a comment every time ! Congrats for your DJ, it is wonderful !
100 DJ blocks - brilliant! I went through the same a few weeks ago - no one is reading me - I might as well give up!
Sorry - I don't knit and quilting patterns aren't really my thing, as you know.
Congrats on making a 100 DJ blocks. I have a few made and keep meaning to get back to it sometime..I find it hard to stay focused on one project at a time!
Hi Cathi
I love your blog. It was one of the first I found and one I have kept visiting. I enjoy seeing what progress you've made on your DJ - it might motivate me to get cracking on mine. Got my basket of fabrics and book out last week and then thought - nargh and put it all away again. And my 17yo daughter and I love seeing what your girls have been up to. Jess says they are so cute and gorgeous and I have to agree. As a fairly new blogger I am trying to balance blog reading ( of which I am finding more all the time ) replying to comments, making comments as well as actually doing something to blog about - lol ! I don't want to be overtaken with this and let other things suffer. Trying to find a balance ! Sometimes a quick read is all I get time for. I'm not sure my family get why I do this but I really enjoy it and that's why !! Congrats for getting to 100 blocks. I should be going to FOQ next year and look forward to seeing this in the flesh - no pressure -lol !
Sorry - this has turned into an essay !!
Silly, aren't we? Last week I lost a subscriber. I was dismayed LOL, but then I thought about it and thought I don't even know who was subscribed and therefore who has unsubscribed, so who cares? I blog because it's a nice record of what I'm doing. My SA family reads my blog so I try to include a few kiddy photos to keep them happy :O)
I like your blog and I too have met great people (you included!). I like to comment, but sometimes I read a post and just can't think of anything interesting to say! Doesn't mean I didn't like the content :O)
If you really don't want those Xmas patterns, I'll take them off your hands LOL and I'll send you something from SA (when I'm there) in return.
Hey there Cathi - sounds like you need a big hug hon. Don't worry about the kids - it's all part of the ebb and flow of life at school, they're friends one day and not the next. I don't think there's a child who hasn't been down the same path. It's hard on parents, we feel it more keenly than the little ones.
I have to say, I always enjoy stopping by your blog. For a lot of us it's not always just about the quilting, it's also about having little windows into other peoples lives around the world. I love seeing how people live in other countries, and your life in Ireland is no exception.
*hugs*
Tazzie
:-)
Each new block is worthy of a post in my mind! Nice to get back to reading blogs after my week away.
Congrat on DJ 100!! That a goal to be happy about! Not to worry about your blog. I've noticed at my own place comments have been fewer. I think it's a busy time for many, with kids at school, there's activities, holidays are over, lots happening. I'm no exception and notice I'm not online as much. But I love your blog and stopping by here whenever I can and join you as you share so many good things! ((HUGS))
I think you are doing a great job on your blog, don't change anything. I always look forward to seeing your posts! And I am still wishing I could finish a Dear Jane quilt!
I hope you get the "care package" I sent you soon. I'm anxious to know if you like any of the yarn I sent you.
Beth
Congrats on the 100 DJ blocks quilted. I think they are amazing. I love coming and reading your blog too, and if you find that 12 step programme for checking your blog stats obsessively let me know so I can join *grin*.
I am just at the begining of my patchwork journey, just embarking on my first sampler quilt and attending patchwork classes once a month. I am trying to absorb others expertise and getting ideas for future projects. I enjoy the community feel of your blog, it's as though I've popped over to yours for a cup of tea and a chat. I don't know that any of my friends are as fanatical about craft - at the moment obssesed by quilting - as I am. So to have your blog all ready to read is a complete joy. As you can imagine any quilting magazines that came my way I would devour! Please keep up the blogging it is so good to have others to share my interests with. Best Wishes Kate.
Lovely DJ Cathi!
I will look forward to seeingit Birmingham next year. There was a lovely black and white one there this year.
Mine sadly is still just a few blocks - perhaps I'll make a wall-hanging with them
Lovely DJ Cathi!
I will look forward to seeingit Birmingham next year. There was a lovely black and white one there this year.
Mine sadly is still just a few blocks - perhaps I’ll make a wall-hanging with them
oops! sorry - spelling mistake!
Cathi,
Don't worry too much about what's going with the whole friends dept with your girls. Friends will come and go over the years. My best friends now are not the ones I had as a child but are no less dear to me.
I love your blog (I wish I even know *how* to subscribe to blogs, it would probably save me a lot of time knowing when someone posted somehthing new!!) Write for you. I only check blogs when I get a chance and I try to comment whenever I do because I know how much I like to receive comments too.
I thought you might like to know...I got 2 new rabbits and their names are Aisling and Aine!! You can tell your girls they have mates here with their names!!
WOW!! That is most excellent!!! I'm a LONG way from where you are, but you definitely inspire me!!
I love looking at all of your pretty quilts! :-) And I wouldn't worry too much about the comments. I've noticed that I go through spells where I read, but I'm lazy about leaving a note. LOL Congrats on the 100 blocks!
I love your blog and the progress you make on your DJ inspires me to keep stitching away at mine! Sometimes i read and don't comment too, like others have said, it doesn't mean i don't enjoy reading though in the future i will try to comment more, i know how fun it is to recieve comments from readers all over the world!
I look forward to many more posts!
nicky
Hi Cathi - well done on getting to 100 DJ blocks quilted. To me at the moment (in a very non-productive phase) just piecing one DJ block would be an achievement - btw I do look in regularly even if I don't comment every time :o) and it's always interesting to hear what you have to say and see what you're getting up to :o)
Hey Cathi, those must be the Sisters Mts, eh? I think the down side of bloglines or other subscriptions is that it's easy for people to read and then move on to the next person without leaving a comment. I think it was much better before subscriptions but then again it took a lot longer!
I read you blog practically everyday. The last couple of weeks you published less frequently I noticed. Keep up de good writing as I enjoy visiting you blog. Don’t get discouraged when people don’t leave any comments. Maybe you should add ‘clustermaps’ or ‘neocounter’ this way you know you have quilters visiting your site.
As you can see, you have lots of readers who left a comment this time, 19 people! You are loved!
wowza 100! Remind me again how many DJ blocks there are? You are great! I am always impressed by the swaps and giving and receiving you do; but I think, what have I go to swap? nothing! but I can comment, I can always send a few words to say hi, and I will!
the whole kiddie school is a bit weird uh? Just when we think the kid cliques/in crowds and all are behind us, we introduce our babes to it. Our girls will be great!
can't wait to see the finished project for dAd!
xo
I've only recently added you to my feeds section, but do enjoy reading what you're up to, even though I don't always comment. Hmm that's a bad habbit I need to get out of. Kids, it's so hard when they are little, as a mum you tend to feel everything they are going through 100 times stronger, but everything will work out for your little one. I'd be interested in swapping for the pattern you have pictured on the bottom far right, but I just couldn't see it well enough in the photo to see exactly waht was in it.
Congratulations, Cathi, on reaching 100 Dear Jane blocks! You're getting closer with each new block. I have seen so many DJ blocks in the past ten years, and I never tire of it. I enjoy seeing pictures of your girls - they are adorable and learning about Ireland. It is a difficult balance sometimes between blogging, reading blogs, commenting, etc. and all the other things we need to do in our daily lives.
I would trade for the Quiltmania magazines if nobody has asked for them.
Hey Cathi,
I got the quilty present...thanks so much for the quilt which will hang above the bed in the master bedroom and the cards from you and Dave and the girls. I loved them all. Love you much, Mom
I don't read your blog everyday but I do read every post as I have you in my bloglines......alas today I am catching up on 3 or 4 but that is unusual.......I enjoy your blog wether kids or sewing or what you have been up to and yes I follow my stats it is addictive but shouldn't but it is very interesting to see where people have come from it still amazes me that someone in Ireland is interested in what I write about or where ever else in the world they may be......stop worrying and take care........
I think I used to make posts specifically to generate comments, but lately I have moved away from "all things quilty" and am including more about my daily life. Because when my son is all grown up, I will still have a quilt to look at and remember, but will I remember the quirkly little and funny things he said along the way? I want to remember! And, I want my blog to document a little bit more about us. I print it out and keep it in a 3 ring binder, with additional (more personal) entries and photos of his cousins, etc. And rest be assurred, I think lots of Momma's read your blog, it is just that we are so busy being Momma's that our time allowance doesn't always allow for reading AND commenting!
As far as keeping track, I only have a meter counter on my site and not sure how to add anything else, but I'm not even thinking about it - too busy making new winter PJ's right now!
Cheers!
Evelyn
Hi, Cathi! I love the fact that you tackle bigger, long-term projects. That is the way I am a lot of the time--I get so much satisfaction at the end, but not much of what I make fits the trendy, "right NOW" mold that keeps many bloggers very current. I think it is awesome that you are at 100 blocks quilted. I will keep telling you that you are my Dear Jane inspiration until your last stitch is put in on the scalloped binding. (Hee hee).
I wish I could comment more on blogs. My blog is a way for me to stay motivated and interested in what I am working on, to remain appreciative of all that Japan has to offer, etc. Basically, my space away from the day-in-day-out stuff.
Your crafts are beautiful, and in my one-stitch-at-a-time, one-block-at-a-time life, seeing one more completed Ocean Wave or one more quilted DJ part is really cool.
Take care,
Jennifer
Hello from Norway :-)
I like your blog and like to stop by, even if I am not always commenting.
Keep on keeping on beeing your own lovely self - share your DJ quilting - congratulations ! - and your life as it is.
I think we Europeans have got to little warm weather and sunshine this year. It sure affects people around here.....both in my household and all around.
I am not naming and claiming any of your things and I will continuing stopping by, as I like to do :-)
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