Reading other people's blogs

Do you ever randomly look up and read about people online whom you used to know? Would you want to know if someone looked up and read about you?

A former classmate of mine wrote in to our alumni magazine with an update not long ago. He mentioned, among other tidbits, that he and his wife now have six kids.

I remembered having heard the names of the first three kids quite some years ago, and thought at the time that the parents had a certain naming flair. Being a good name geek, and always on the lookout for unusual naming choices, I was curious to know what they'd called the three younger kids, so I plugged their names into a search engine to see if I could find out.

It turns out that the family has a blog. It's well-written, engaging, funny, touching, and has lots of great photos of kids and sewing projects. They face some interesting challenges, and reading about those has made me think a lot too. I think I'll want to follow along with this blog in the future.

But I don't feel comfortable telling them I'm reading - somehow this feels like I'd be forcing myself on them or intruding into their lives. Is this wrongheaded? Since they have chosen to write about their lives online, they are clearly okay with having people read what they've written. They link to the blog from their ebay storefront - essentially, they are inviting every Tom, Dick, and Harry to pop in whenever they like.

But are the rules different when it's a Tom, Dick, or Harry whom you know? Would you want to know if someone you knew (even someone with whom you hadn't spoken in 10 years) were reading your blog? Or would you rather remain happily ignorant?

Great Scott!

The scottie quilt is done!



Now that the quilt has been delivered and I don't have to worry about giving away the surprise, I can also show you the backing (a charming print by Heather Ross). It may be hard to tell since the scan is a little bluer than the actual fabric, but the color of the scottie's ball on the front was selected to match the color of the brown doggy's ball on the back.

Quilt kits redux

Ever wonder what happened to the quilt kits that I made as gifts for people about a year and a half ago?

(Refresh your memory here by viewing kits 1-5, kits 6-9, and kit 10)

The following kits are done:
- Kit 1 (Tabitha's)
- Kit 2 (Heather's) << updated!
- Kit 5 (Karmen's). I've misplaced the photo of the finished quilt, but here is a photo of it in progress so you can see the border/backing she chose.)
- Kit 8 (closeup of Becca's) (and another showing the backing fabric) (Completed Sept 2009)


The following kits are in progress
- Kit 3 (Deserae's)


What a good job they're doing!

The quilt in question

If anyone is wondering what has happened to the creation of the 100 Good Wishes Quilt, I apologise for keeping you waiting. With the current rate of allocations, it will be 12 years before we meet the Panda. At that rate, it will never happen as we will be too old. So I am feeling a little disillusioned. I guess I need to see some good news before I get excited about the quilt.

Refocusing

I feel like I have not been making particularly good use of my time lately, so have been trying to refocus on my creative endeavors a bit.

"Things that are sitting on the To Do list" doesn't necessarily make for an interesting post, though, so I promise I'll keep it brief!

I was able to track down some of the fabric that I wanted for the backing of the scottie dog quilt. It is a very cute and happy print. I now have the whole thing sandwiched and pinned, and am in the process of quilting it in the ditch with variegated thread.

I am such a sucker for variegated thread. The color changes make it visually flicker in and out of the surrounding fabrics on the front, which adds a little bit of extra fun :)