Wow, y’all blew me away with your comments on my survey! You sure know how to make a girl feel good :) What I gathered from what most of you wrote is that you pretty much like things the way they are, just maybe a bit more of it. Whew! - I can do that :)
Because I was cheap and went with the free membership, I couldn’t fully analyze your input. I was able to gain access to everything you wrote, though I wasn’t easily able to figure out who wrote it. I wanted to respond to some of your thoughts/ideas, so I gathered a sampling of your comments and addressed them below.
What do you like most about my blog?
“Your genuineness and creativity”
“Keeping it real :)” - Real, I am. I don’t make things sound rosey when they’re not. I will choose to not mention something, but I don’t ever lie or portray something that isn’t. My life is not perfect and my children aren’t always well behaved (or have on matching clothes with clean faces). In full disclosure, my house is RARELY clean. Any photo you see of my house that looks all neat and tidy usually has some clutter just outside the frame, I promise! And if you come over for a party, don’t look in the laundry room. Just sayin.
“Friendly-ness, accessibility. The fact that you are not hawking your own products with every post. I get that many people who blog turn to selling their patterns, etc. but it makes me sad when some blogs that started at creative outlets are now advertisements constantly” - you don’t ever have to worry about me becoming a blog full of advertisements. Personally, when I come across a blog post like that I skip it. The only sort of advertising I do is for myself (which I find kind of hard and don’t like to do all that often), something I’ve personally used that I think might of value to my readers, or for a book tours of either books I’ve been in or tours I’ve been asked to participate in. That’s it. And I’m never paid. It has to feel right to me or else I won’t do it.
“I love seeing your love for your family. Our blogs are a little glimpse into who we are. i like who you are.” - Aww, thanks! There’s nothing more important to me than my family. I’m happy to hear that that shines through.
“family life and crafting” - that pretty much sums up my life!
“I like the peek into your life and seeing what is inspiring you” - I’d like to share more about what inspires me. I look for inspiration everywhere, but don’t show it nearly enough.
“I love how even with small children you still make time to do the things you love” - Oh boy, has this ever been a challenge lately! Ceci has been an incredibly easy baby, but I had forgotten about how much time and attention babies take. I was spoiled by my kids who can take care of themselves. Now I have to make decisions about whether to tend to the house or work on a project. Sometimes tending to the house is easier, but when I don’t take the time to exercise my creativity I become a very grumpy mama!
What would you like to see more of? Comments?
“maybe a sew-a-log, sewing for charity” - excellent ideas! I’m certainly game for both of those.
“more posts?”
“Just more of all of it. I have missed you since you have not been blogging much.” - I understand. I feel the same way about the blogs that I’ve been reading for years. Its funny, but I never considered that others might feel about me how I feel about those. Duh!
“I’ve been reading your blog for many years. I like getting a sense of Louisiana from you. I think we “met” on the nursing mothers sewing list?” - YES! Before I discovered blogs and was into sewing I hung out on the nursing mothers sewing list. I learned so much from that group. That’s when I really started getting into modifying clothing sewing patterns.
“Don’t change for your readers, be yourself” - don’t worry, no changes. I honestly don’t think I could if I wanted to. I have a hard time not being myself. Being fake makes me feel icky! I was just curious as to if you were sick of me yet :)
“Maybe an updated home tour or a series on your home...I’ve always loved your home and miss seeing it on your blog :)”
“I miss seeing the photos of our home decor. I was always impressed on what you were doing on a budget. It was a definite inspiration and I still go back and look at those old posts for ideas” - Much to my surprise, there were several comments about my home decor. Thanks to all of you for mentioning it because it has made me want to do some changes around the house to freshen it up. I don’t think I ever showed you Alex & Ceci’s combined room or the kids’ bathroom re-do, did I? There’s some blog posts right there! In case you were wondering, I still haven’t turned my sewing room into Lily’s room, but that’s coming. She’s been camping out there in the full on mess. I can take a hint!
“I miss your knitting.” - don’t worry, there has been knitting. I completed a small project over the holidays I never blogged about and I’ve lately been spending my evenings with the needles on a recently discovered long lost project. Finished projects soon!
leather tips, sewing tips, apparel sewing - good, good, good, I’ve got it down!
Thanks again for all your input! Now that I know that we're good and what you've been missing, I feel like I can pick up and carry on. Now I need to work on finding that time...