Incoherent Scribblings

New Blog Structure

As you may have noticed, my blogs have a new, single URL. (I will leave the redirect for now, but please update your feeds and blogrolls ASAP.) Along with this new URL, my blog also has a new structure.

As you probably know, I have been maintaining two blogs, a cross stitch one and a “main” one, for about 2½ years. I originally separated them because I had two distinct audiences and the one audience (that for my “main” blog) wasn’t always interested in my crafty pursuits that I found myself blogging about on an increasingly regular basis.

Therefore, in response to my audience’s wishes, I separated the crafty content and began a second blog. Because I was still maintaining my “main” blog, I decided that my cross stitching blog would only contain posts that were directly related to cross stitching. I figured that any readers that I had that were interested in both blogs could just visit both of them.

At that point in time, I had plenty of time to maintain both blogs and did so quite successfully for quite a while.

However, as my personal situation grew more complicated, my main blog grew rather neglected. The voice of the American expatriate that had been guiding my “main” blog faded and when I officially repatriated, I knew that my expatriate audience had all but disappeared.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have felt for many months now that the voice of my “main” blog has been aimless. However, I also realized that really have no desire to stop blogging; I just need to find my voice again.

Therefore, for the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about new approaches to my blog and this is what I have come up with:

From now on, I will only have one URL… essentially one blog, but it will have two main categories that represent my two blogs. The two categories will be “Stitched with Love and Cat Hair” and “Beyond the Shelves” and each of the two main categories will then be subdivided.

The front page (http://blog.blondelibrarian.net) will contain only my stitching-related posts as I feel this is not only my main readership at the present time, but also because that is currently what I post most frequently about. Clicking “Beyond the Shelves” will take you to what was formerly referred to as my “main” blog and will be devoid of stitching content for those who may still be reading but are not interested in my hobby.

Finally, I am hoping to reinvigorate my blog and find my voice again by writing more freely. Nevertheless, I am still not sure how ready I am for the publication of some topics that I hope to write about, so from now on, some posts will be password protected. If a post is password protected, please do not ask for the password. If it is a post I want to share I will unprotect it when I feel ready.

Project Challenge Confession

Begin Confession: Though I completed two more pieces for my 25 Project Challenge, I was a bad girl as far as the challenge goes this week. I acquired a new chart by winning Mirabilia’s “Spring Queen” on an eBay auction.

I wasn’t going to make a big to-do about it: After all it was only a little slip-up. However, I decided that if I ignored a little slip I would be more apt to deviate from the challenge again thereby defeating the whole purpose of the challenge. So in order to atone for my behavior, I will add another project to my list and instead of the 25 Project Challenge, it will now be the 26 Project Challenge! :End Confession

Anyway… My first project challenge finish this week was supposed to by my Mystery Exchange piece, but somewhere around Wednesday I got distracted by a little brainstorm and as a result, the Mystery Exchange didn’t get completed until last night.

The Wednesday brainstorm started with me thinking about my next exchange: The May Flowers Exchange over on the Robin’s Nest. As I was flipping through my freebies, I saw a flower motif on one of the Quaker freebies that I have and envisioned it on 36 count Edinburgh done with overdyes and finished as a pin cushion.

I actually began it with the intention of making it for the exchange, but after a dozen or so stitches, I decided that I wanted to keep it all for myself! Makes a nice addition to my collection of stitched smalls, don’t you think?

Finishing a piece with a whipped backstitched edge is one of my favorite methods of finishing, so I decided to take some pictures as I was finishing and post a tutorial for a Whip Stitch Pin Cushion. Enjoy!