17 Months Today

Woo Hoo......I'm still on my fabric buying rebellion and it has now been 17 whole months since I have bought a single piece of fabric!!! Funny though, I don't even look at it online. You can read my other post and thoughts on the matter HERE.

Good news on the fabric front though, cotton prices are now around 67 cents a pound. Looks like we can see lower fabric prices in the near future if these prices hold for this years crop.

Mr. Brown Dirt will finish getting all the cotton planted sometime today.....yippee!! The wheat we planted earlier in the year is ready and bountiful and they are harvesting that as well. All the big sprinklers in the fields are running, watering up the maize seeds that were planted last week. A very busy time here on the farm.

Do you know anyone who raises crops or farms???

Overwhelmed

Stale..........dull...........stagnate.........tired........uneventful...........no enthusiasm..........in a rut..........something needs to change.

These words describe some of what I have been feeling lately. I love my quilts and quilty projects (which are many), but I seem to be getting tired of it. I have always been a creative person with many many other interests.

I used to paint pictures, I used to do mosaics (I have a little house full of dishes....yes really!), I used to travel around and junk hunt (yes, it is the thrill of the hunt), I used to re-do antique pieces and work on getting my 100 yr old house finished. Soooo many things in my house have gone neglected.

I've become lazy in my housework (quilting was MUCH more important!) and I have piles of boxes and items I am struggling to go through and figure out what to do with.

In less than a year I have cleaned out 2 whole estates in 2 different towns. One of these being Mr. Brown Dirt's dad's house. Both houses got sold before we even listed them or even had them cleaned out, so we had to fast and furiously get them cleaned out.

I am pooped and now get up every morning looking at the STUFF piled and stuffed all over my house, including stacks under my carport (can get my pickup only half way under it).

...........sigh.........what to do with it all.........

All this being said, I think I will get by beee hind up and out of my quilting chair and do something else for a change..........in fact, I've already started. I needed the change. I must go outside, leave the quilting cave and be adventurous again.

Maybe I will share some of my new creative endeavors.........maybe something soon.

In the mean time, below are a couple of photos showing the progress with the hand quilting I'm

doing on my Clamshell quilt.

It's already looking soft and all crinkly without even being washed yet. Maybe the new batting I am trying out.

See finished clamshell top HERE.

CLAMSHELL QUILT TUTORIAL HERE.

Pinterest

I have some not so good thoughts about this PINTEREST craze....do you wanna here them? OK, here goes. I have begun to realize that a LOT of my photos here on my blog are ending up over on PINTEREST. If it wasn't for the fact that I have sitemeter I probable wouldn't have known it. I guess I should feel flattered and in a lot of ways I am. BUT......I feel my blog and all that is contained in it is MINE. When I started my blog I didn't share it with anyone who knows me. My little quilty blog was a place I could feel free to share my craft and sometimes some personal thoughts WITHOUT familiar people/others in my community/and certain other unwanted visitors always questioning me about what or why I was doing things on my blog. Up until now I have felt quite safe and anonymous here in my little corner of quilt blogland. No one I know in my area quilts so I felt pretty safe they would never end up here on my blog.

Today I discovered a photo of mine on someone's PIN that is one step away from a LOT of people that know me in my area coming to my blog. I don't like this. I feel sort of robbed of my peace of mind. Seems daily my blog is bombarded with those who just run in and take what they want. I have not had one person ask me it they could use my photos. You would think they could at least make nice and leave a comment, tell you they like your blog, your quilts or something!!!

Yes, I know.....some of you may think I'm over reacting, but until now my blog wasn't drawing anyone except other quilt makers. I've had contact with most of the gals who visit me, I pretty well knew who would be coming over for a 'read' AND my quilty blog buddies weren't taking my photos to share all over the NET. I'm not really sure how far my photos have gone.

I don't really want my next door neighbor here by accident because they clicked on a PINTEREST photo and ended up here.

As for the few tutorials I have done, they were done for my quilty friends......my loyal followers when they asked me to share my process with them. Of course I would share, it was sorta of a thank you for a lot of you who have also shared tutorials and how-to's. I know, I know.....when you post something on the internet it is there for 'whoever' but until PINTEREST came along I really didn't worry about it because only true quilters were interested.

I've done some reading and such today and there are some articles out there that describe the legality/copyright of taking photos and pinning them on PINTEREST. PINTEREST has removed themselves from legal action by getting those who sign up to agree in the setup to take responsiblity for what you PIN. They won't be responsible...you will be. The lady who wrote one of the articles I read said she had taken all of her pins down to keep it legal on her end, she being a LAWYER. I want to opt out of my photos being pinned. How do I get those who have already pinned to take my photos down. How would you find them all.......????? I just want things to go back to the way they were before PINTEREST rudely interrupted my blog!!

So.......these are my thoughts on the matter.

Do you have any thoughts????

Is The 'Blogging' Honeymoon Over...

Today I read a comment on someones blog mentioning something about having a 'stale' blog.I think it was Janet over at Quiltsalott. Hhhhmm, I thought that was a good word. I have been thinking a lot lately about the changes I have been seeing in the blogging world. I first noticed a slight change after the first of the year, I thought well, maybe there were some New Year's resolutions made about cutting back or cutting out so much blogging. Slowly through these last few months I have seen some of my fellow bloggers dropping like flies. Some have just STOPPED blogging all together and a lot have cut W-A-Y back on the number of posts they do. It also seems to be the coming trend to all of a sudden to just stop replying to those who leave comments, even if it is something that blogger has always done in the past. So-o-o-o, is the 'honeymoon' over? Do you find blogging a 'chore'? Has the excitement and the lure of it lost it's luster? Do you think you put out 'stale' posts just because you feel obligated or pressured to?? Everyone talks of Blogging Without Obligation, but we still put pressure on ourselves and others. Do you want to take a break but feel you JUST CAN'T? Teresa from Stitchin Friends recently did a post laying out her new blogging schedule. Sarah from House of Krom has been talking about priorities with her family and less computer time. I have read countless others proclaiming they spend w-a-y too much time on the computer. A lot of bloggers are taking up Facebook instead of blogging....well, I don't think I find the Facebook that much fun. I find blogging more satisfying. Yes, I do have a Facebook account but don't go there much. I Twitter.....that is fun!. You can make quick little sentences about what you are doing through out the day and it only takes a second or two. I'm not finding fault in anyone about how they blog or how they spend their computer time. I have just been thinking about these changes I see.

So, what do you think? What is your take on things? Have you developed a way to manage your time between computing, family and your favorite projects? Is the 'honeymoon' over? Is blogging becoming 'stale'? Are we ready to go on to something new and different?