where did it go?

Where did January go - it just flew by and that's unusual .... perhaps it's because the weather was so mild here.  So mild that the end of January felt more like the end of March ... hmm, hope that doesn't mean that the end of March will feel like January.  Oh well, best just to enjoy it and take it as it comes.

I managed a heart head start to February with this crocheted heart that makes a cute mug rug/coaster or whatever.  I don't do buntings but this pattern would make a cute one.  You can find the instructions here.

the mice ....

The mice are enjoying the mild winter.    They're here ....

they're there .....   ^^

 

Lots of 'twitter' about what's going on with Blogger with followers being lost by the minute.  I lost the most mid month and then a few more in the last couple of days.  What is new/different for me is that suddenly but consistently this week  I have very few page views - about 10% of the usual .... does this mean that the other 90% don't see my blog any more? 

football stitching ....

When the football games are on I like to do some needlework.  These two pieces are my newest finishes - well, the stitching is finished.  I'm not sure how I'm going to finish finishing these. ^^ I took stock of all my x-stitch pieces the other day and I have too many quite a few - I don't need any more.  So I shall have to think long and hard about what I'm going to do with these ones.  

Winter is a design from Happiness is Cross Stitching and the deer is a Daffycat design.

This is my current project - can you guess what it is?    I love its tummy - it looks soft and fluffy.  ^^

 

smells delicious ....

This just came out of the oven and it smells delicious!!!    I can't wait to sample.  ^^

a spot of colour ....

We're having a January cold snap just now but Lady Geranium has given us a spot of colour to ease the pain.    Before Christmas I counted 9 stems of flowers and then she took a wee break perhaps to let the poinsettia show her stuff. ^^  The small ones to the left of the pot were tiny little slips in October and they're looking so happy now - looks like we'll have lots of geraniums for spring planting. These ladies handle the extremes in weather quite well and bloom constantly outdoors .... I like that.

Yesterday the snow was all sparkly and I managed to get this photo of it .....
Should I mention that I took this in my jammies outside in the cold - and just got back inside when a neighbour drove by.  ^^

a chill in the air ...

This is the beginning of my 5th year of blogging and I never expected to be still at it.  You see, I started a blog only to see if I could actually create one and then it became an overnight success attracted several followers - bless all of  you.    It's had a fair share of issues that I can blame on Google and some of those issues have been challenging but usually I was able to solve them.

Late last year some changes were made that I was not able to overcome and it's been rather frustrating.  For example, on the majority of blogs that I follow I can no longer leave a comment apparently due to the blogger using the embedded comment box .... I had no idea why this excluded me although I now know;  recently overnight I lost many of my followers and learned it's because they don't have a google account ... c'mon Google, lighten up; and why do my readers have to prove they aren't robots .... I have captcha turned off and have never requested the robot to monitor my blog.  Needless to say, thanks to Google's changes to Blogger there's a chill in the air.   I feel like a stalker window shopper - looking in/on but not being able to participate ... it's so nice to say hello, I visited and like what I saw  or  thank you to someone for the link/pattern/idea/etc - I'm old fashioned.

Back to my blog which is more of a chronicle of, as someone once referred to it, "the crap I make".  ^^    I don't share much, if any, personal stuff and I don't post photos that are personal ... it's the world wide web after all and I don't want to find myself showing up somewhere I'd rather not, lol.  Thus, I am aware that this makes for dull blog posts.  :(  

This is the official word from Google and, agree or disagree, it is what it is:

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

having fun ....

We're having a cold snap just now and it gives me a good excuse to have some fun trying out different blocks ....

 This one is from Eleanor Burns of Quilt in a Day - she was showing

how quickly these blocks (without the green sashing) could be

sewn together; she matched these with 4 patch blocks. And they do
sew up rather quickly.

 This is a sample of a fold and sew block - the outline in chalk and the centre block are all

sewn simply by folding the fabric then stitching it - no piecing.  The back side 

has no raw edges.  The video for this one and several others
can be found here.  So far I've made just this one. 

This is a Friendship Star Variation - the variation comes from the four 

corner pieces.   This idea comes from Sarah.

November mini cat from Lynn B.  It's backed in a red plaid - I tucked a piece 

in at the upper right corner (facing).  There are green beads for eyes and

each of the snowflakes has a crystal bead in the centre.

 

meet Tucker ....

Meet Tucker - tuck er anywhere.  ^^  You can read all about Tucker here . 

 These are 1½" squares and I quite surprised myself that I was able to work with that size and actually line up most a lot of them.  Since I like stitching and like this quote I replaced the strip of flying geese with the stitchery.  If you look closely it  looks like it was made by someone with poor eyesight by candlelight.  ^^ I should confess that I've had problems with flying geese but not any more!!!  Over the holidays I mastered them thanks to the method of making four at a time.