Getting Ready

My youngest son, Zack, and I have been working hard today to get the website ready to "go live." I can't believe how much tech knowledge you need to have a website. There's so much that goes in to the actual creation of the site (Zack did all that) and then you have to figure out how to host it and who should host it, and then how to publicize it and make it accessible to others. I missed my calling - I should've been a webmaster in another life. I'm hoping it wil be live this week, and then you can all see what we've been working so hard on.

It's almost a month since I started this blog. I was uncertain at first as to how I wanted to record my thoughts. Did I want the blog to be only about quilting? Should I avoid controversial subjects entirely? Do I run the risk of being too personal? I think that I started out wanting to relate each day's topic to quilting somehow. I realized that would be too difficult and tried to find a way to be true to myself and still not alienate readers. I am actually glad I started the blog first because it enabled me to find my voice. Although the Quilting Crusader is my business website, this blog is about me and my life and my reflections on the world and my place in it, and I can't hide who I am by not mentioning things that are very important to me, even if it is politics.

Oh, and by the way, my oldest sister, Chrissie, my bird expert (not really, she just knows more than I do about it), confirmed that the little birds on the shore in the photos are indeed sandpipers.

Have a great day.

mjs 9.22.08 10:18 pm

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What do I do with a blog?

Well, I'm new at this, so bear with me while I find my bearings.

So this is my blog. Hmmm. My mother always told me never to write anything I didn’t want anyone else to read, but I love to have other people read things I write. It may not always be quilting related, even though my website points to quilting. I have quite a few interests and want the blog to be a general life rant if I want to also.

Speaking of quilting, I found a great new site the other day called Spoonflower.com, which led me to a host of other new sites and so on and so on. They are a new company who will print your design onto fabric. Hopefully the prices will come down a little when they get past the beta stage and into big production mode or maybe they’ll have a wholesale price for a large quantity of fabric. That led me to another site called wordle.net and another called etsy.com. Hopefully reading others blogs will lead me to more fun and interesting sites like these.

So on to photography, I also was pointed to a site called Kelbytraining.com where you can pay a fee (by month or by year) to take online classes. Well, in the last few days, I’ve taken almost 4 full classes, on Camera Raw and my new D300, studio lighting and business ideas. I’m getting my money’s worth that’s for sure, but it’s fun too. And I have actually learned some things I didn’t know before. I feel energized in my photography and my quilting.

Sometimes I just have too many ideas floating around in my head to connect the two and then I get frustrated and go read a book!! Of course I always wanted to write a romance novel too. I devour romance novels. I’m going to keep track for a normal month and see how many I’ve read. There should be a frequent reader program.

Do what you love. Love what you do.

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