a few questions

Why did you start your blog? I originally intended it to be another presence for My mark, but soon after I started it, it became more of a traditional journal for me. I found it useful to be able to look back and see when things happened and measure progress (or the lack thereof!) of specific projects.

How did you come up with your blog name? My house number is 20, and this blog reflects things that happen here… nothing too mysterious about the name.

Do your friends & family know about your blog, and if so, what do they think of it? I’m not sure they think anything about it, other than to tease me a bit when I go get my camera to record something ‘blogworthy’. I don’t believe they read it on a regular basis… none of them are blog readers or even spend much time on the internet.

How do you write posts? Mostly I just write about whatever happened during that day. Like, here’s my mail, look what I stitched, etc. I still feel a bit geeky when I photograph my mail, though…

Have you ever had a troll or had someone leave unkind comments? Yep. Back when we went through our fish-killing phase, I received several pieces of mail from a few do-good, fish-rights activists. Thanks goodness the frog is still alive!

Do you check your stats? Sure. Largely because WordPress has the dashboard arranged so that you can’t help but see the stats, but I especially enjoy the sections on what searches led people to my blog and I’d read those anyway. I also like the referring links section, to see where people are coming from… so yeah, I guess I can say that I do check stats.

Do you care how many people read your blog? Care? That’s a tough word. I care in the sense that I enjoy almost all of you who visit, and I admit Elizabeth and I got a kick out of how many people read the Cheese post, but I’m not crushed if I get a low turnout.

What kind of blogs/posts interest you? Well, obviously I love reading stitchy blogs. I enjoy the stash posts, the finishes posts, and the new releases posts the best, I think. I really like good travel photos with descriptions, too. Oh-and crafty blogs with tutorials are great! I won’t mention that I have somewhere around 400 blogs that I read regularly.

What do you like & dislike about blogging? I like that it makes me feel connected to other people… I have some blogging friends that I know better than my “real-life” friends! I dislike those days when I am running tired and think I don’t have anything worth writing about but feel like I have to because it’s been a few days since my last post and we all know that having an inactive blog is worse than not having one at all. Today is one of those days.

 

ATCs and ACEOs on a Wednesday

Monday’s art class was all about ATCs and ACEOs, including their history and commercial prospects. Elizabeth has since launched into full entrepreneurial mode and asked me to begin a section for her to list her artworks on my Etsy shop: Art by Elizabeth. She will be in charge of creating, pricing, and shipping, while I will provide the artist’s materials, the listing space, and general supervision. She’s hoping to earn a bit of money towards her upcoming summer adventures, not the least of which is a trip to American Girl Place in Chicago. The ACEO pictured above is titled Mermaids Playing… isn’t it cute?!

Though art miniatures have been around for ages, the current ATC (Artist Trading Card) frenzy was born in Switzerland in 1997. There are just 2 rules for ATCs: they must measure 2.5 X 3.5, which is the size of a standard baseball trading card, and can never be sold. A complete (and interesting!) summary of ATCs can be found here.

ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) are basically ATCs that are for sale. An ACEO must stick to the required size but can be a print of an original, either numbered as part of a limited print run (limited edition) or re-printed without limit (open edition). Of course, they can be originals, too. I’ve seen original ACEOs selling for hundreds of dollars, though most seem to sell in the $5-$15 range. Elizabeth is selling hers for $1.50-2.00 :)

BTW, David Cook completely rocks.

 

randomness on a Tuesday afternoon

This was my Mother’s Day gift!

Bunny block received in the mail from the STO exchange.

I was RAK’d some Italian mags–pretty cool!

Three new Midnight Stitching charts to add to my stash pile :)

We discovered that Cheese likes Apple Jacks the best of all.

 

Happy Mother’s Day

Mother and Child by Lord Frederick Leighton, 1865

 

time for a WIP check!

(not all are pictured)

• Bent Creek, United We Stand (zipper)
• XS Treasures, French Heart (from GOSM)
• Shepherd’s Bush, America
• LHN, Where There is Life
• Mosey-n-Me, Bad Hare Day
• Val’s Stuff, Friends
• Midnight Stitching, A Quaker Floral
• Glory Bee, Merry Christmas (from JCS)
• Papillon, Eightsome Reel
• Mary Garry, She Who Sews
• Funk & Weber, Read Ambigram
• LHN, Schoolgirl Lessons
• Olive Hope, Peace Band Sampler
• Val’s Stuff, Free to be Me
• LHN, Heart of America
• Hillcroft House, William
• JBW, French Country Rooster
• patriotic square for an upcoming exchange
• 2 My Mark designs

“With every project you do, you bring out a part of yourself, and it seems to be quite a good way of expanding a person.” -Kate Beckinsale

 

one teensy finish and a pretty start

I just finished this little tea design from Mary Garry… I like these pale colors but I want to do it over again in brighter colors, too. BTW, I recently found a new tea that Iike: Bencheley Blackberry. I used to hate tea. But after developing a few health issues that green tea was purported to relieve, I started making myself drink a cup every evening. One thing led to another–tea experimentation–and now I’m hooked on several types of tea. I guess you could say Green Tea was my gateway drug.

Last night I started Olive’s Peace Band Sampler with the Vikki Clayton silk I ordered last week; I love (love!) how this is stitching up. The color is “Yawning Mountain” (it looks slightly more pastel here in the picture than it does in real life) and I think this will become one of my new favorites.

“There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea.” -Bernard Paul Heroux

 

seis de mayo

Today’s mail brought me a few pretty charts:

• Papillon Creations, New World
• Chatelaine, The Mermaid Box
• The Sampler Girl, French Lavender pocket

We put up our hummingbird feeder yesterday, and we’ve had a few customers… it’s early yet; I haven’t seen many buzzing around out there. (Hummingbirds.net has a neat map to track their migration) We’ve got the feeder hanging on a suction hook outside of our back door (all glass) so we can see them well. Here’s a picture I took last year:

I decided to start a gallery page of stitched My Mark designs… if you have pictures of one of my designs that you stitched and wouldn’t mind sharing them with me (and the rest of the world), please let me know.

Have a lovely day :)