Sunday, May 4, 2008

Blogging, It’s Not Just for the Young, but for the Young at Heart!

While writing a comment for Jane of Chilly Hollow's blog I started thinking about why are these slightly older, okay, okay I know I'?m being slightly generous, ladies blogging. By the way, if there are any gentlemen out there who needlepoint who are also blogging, please let us know!

I started blogging out of curiosity and because I thought that sharing my completed needlepoint projects and my progress on current projects would be a lot of fun!

Now, I work full-time, commute 1 hr to 1 1/2 hours everyday, I'm married and I have two active children. Why in the world would I add something else to my daily chore list? Especially if it takes away from my stitching time?

Well, I thought I would try blogging at first so I'd be prepared as my children expanded their computer horizons and so I would have an idea what this was all about.

I have to admit that I always thought that blogging was a little different. I mean my generation and those before me (and maybe 1 to 2 after me - but I'm not telling how many!) wrote our "secret" thoughts in journals or we would tell our closest girlfriends. Why would we want to put all of this information out for a few million of our closest friends to read? So why would I need a blog???

I started getting curious when I saw that Jane of Chilly Hollow was blogging. I have a link to her site on my blog site. Please check out Jane's site as she is a very entertaining and descriptive writer and she does beautiful work. Also check out the other links for other stitcher's blogs as they are also interesting and fun. I found myself looking forward everyday to reading Jane's entries. By the way, Jane it's a slow day here in Windy Meadow when you don't post an entry!

I've also had requests from long distance friends to share what I've stitched and this seemed to be an easy way to do that. Plus I could enter a longer description for a picture than what you can usually do on one of the photo sites.

Soooooo I thought I would try a Yahoo 360 blog. The price was right (free) and there seems to be a lot of helpful information in the FAQ. As a computer professional I appreciate a helpful FAQ and trust me, they all aren't!

I found as I started blogging that several things happened. One, I found myself more willing to share my stitched projects. I finally have a place where I can share the pictures of these wonderful items that I have stitched over the years! Now my friends/employees at my LNS have been thinking for all of these years that I am just purchasing canvases, etc. as they never see a completed project. See guys, I actually do stitch what I buy!!! I can also add a detailed description so I can share what the item is used for, who was the designer, and why on earth I wanted to stitch the piece! You'll probably wonder that when you see several of my older pieces. As we say, "This isn't your Grandmother's Needlepoint!", even though we do have some of that type of needlepoint in our stash or as completed projects!

I also found that I started discovering new needlepoint friends. I'm receiving e-mails and invitations from new friends that I wouldn't have met any other way. What a wonderful gift!

The other thing that I have learned is that I have a lot of completed needlepoint projects to share! I'll be posting more pictures in the next several weeks/months. Now, let's not bring up my Works in Progress (WIPS) or my stash! Some things should remain in the closet, or in my case, in my multitude of plastic containers! Hey, at least I don't hide them between the mattresses!

I also found that I'm more motivated to work on a WIP so that I can share what I'm working on. What's working on the piece, what isn't, and to ask for help. Okay, I don't have anything on the blog yet, but I'm working on it! Did I tell you about the basement finishing project? Sigh, I already did? Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking by it!

More later?

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

Originally Posted: June 8, 2006

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