The ruminations of an artist on art & life...art quilts, beading, knitting, drawing, painting, printmaking, bookmaking are all my passions, I love to explore creating....

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

First Blog ANNIVERSARY

CONGRATS TO ME!

According to my records--today I have been blogging here 1 (yes, one!) whole year! I want to thank all of you who have left comments, e-mailed me or signed up on my "Buddy Map" (scroll down to the bottom for this goodie). Happy Valentines Day to you all! I am pleased to be participating in this world-wide craft and art bloggers community. Art is alive in well all over the globe---and the internet allows us to connect with fellow artists more and more. Is this a wonder of our century?

For instance, I recently visited family in Portland, Oregon---while there I also "met up" with 2 fellow art quilt bloggers, who I met online. We would not have had this meeting face to face without the connection via the Art Quilts List and blogs online; without the net I may never have known they existed, and missed the enjoyable afternoon we spent getting acquainted.

Yesterday, I mailed off my first internet SWAP---thanks to Mandi at the Bead Circle I swapped beads with 11 other beaders--all set up and managed via the web. Here's how it worked: She sent a few tubes of seed beads and a few plastic bags with some other types of beads (fringe beads/fire polish beads, stone donut/pendant etc.) to the first participant on the list. Each beader then took what they wanted out of the stash and refilled it with something else, then mailed the package on to the next person. We had one week to decide before we mailed the package to the next person. Everyone agreed to using their best judgement for swapping and make "fair trades." I am very pleased with the beads I kept from this SWAP---would this have been possible without those net connections? ah, another wonder!

As I mention in the previous post, I knit a square for an internet knit-a-long while traveling --- we are all so net connected now that I had no trouble finding a computer to check the site sponsoring the knit-a-long, and knit the square (in train stations and airports mostly), and send it off in the nick of time. At the same time, I found computers everywhere (even the lobby of the Seattle hotel where we stayed had one) so I could read my favorite knitting blogs : Yarnstorm, and Yarn Harlot. The third wonder of this net century--blog anywhere, anytime.

So, hugs to me for figuring out how to blog , and hugs to everyone who visits here and reads my blog--we are all wonders of the 21st century!

A note on comments: if you visit my blog and want to comment, please do! I love hearing from you and try to answer all comments that I can. I see that over 240 folks have looked at the Buddy Map (scroll down)--but only 39 people so far have added themselves to the map--I think it is fun to see where folks are from, and it only takes a minute to sign up--- no promotions or anything will be sent to you if you do put yourself on the map, so map yourself today!

1 comment:

Yarngineer said...

Since I have come across some other Alaskan Knitters, I thought I would start an Alaskan Knitters Blog Ring on ringsurf. That way we can all stay connected globally. I grew up for 22 years in Alaska, but currently live in South Carolina. Please feel free to join, and invite anyone else you know.

http://alaskanknitters.blogspot.com

I have started quilting recently too!

Thanks,

Heather
Yarngineer