First
of all…. Wowzers. I am totally overwhelmed by the love for the After Dinner Mint dress. I mean, I want to marry it but apparently so do a lot
of you, which would make for a really expensive Big Love style wedding ceremony
with the dress playing the Bill Pullman role (Our reception would be
awesome). Apparently cross-posting on Burda is a good idea because it's featured on their front page right now. My
little girl is all growns up and getting pinned and patted like a prize winning
pig at the county fair. Thank you so much for all your kind words and
comments (note to self – whenever you are feeling shitty and zitty and
sweaty, make an awesome dress and then digitally high five all of your rad
online friends until you feel better). You made all that muslin sweating totes
worth it.
Now,
the real reason I am posting today. YOU GUYS ARE SO AMAZING I AM HAVING TROUBLE
KEEPING TRACK OF IT ALL. Which is to say my blog roll is not sagging under the
weight of the awesomeness as much as it is groaning pitifully while waving its
hands in front of its stomach and saying “Please, no more. I couldn’t fit
another bite in me. Seriously, I’m so full. Wait, is that key lime pie? Maybe
just a nibble….” My blog reading is starting to take up a scary amount of time
every day. My morning ritual has been to have a cup of
coffee and eat my breakfast while waking up to you lovely ladies (and Peter)
every morning but now that Google Reader has 100++++ sewing blogs (not
including the fashion, design, cooking and general news blogs I follow) I’m
spending at least an hour every day reading and commenting. I’m not complaining
– it’s been a joy. But as more and more people start blogging and as I start to
discover new sewing superheroes I am worried about what this means for my
personal life (sorry guys, I can’t picnic. I have to catch up on my blogs of
ladies wearing new skirts they made primarily to picnic)…. And then you throw
Pinterest into the mix and I’m basically no longer a human as much as a digital
inspiration processing machine.
How
the eff do you guys manage it? Especially those of you who have been at this
for a while and surely have bigger blog rolls than I (I am looking at you
Sallie & Oona & Amy who seem to be everywhere a second before I am,
leaving hilarious and awesome comments while I am trying to speed-read as
quickly as humanly possible). How many blogs do you follow on average? When do
you find the time to keep up? HOW CAN WE DO IT ALL? Isn’t this what feminism
was supposed to fix back in the 60’s? (Am I just making it worse by posting
non-project related things that keep you from reading and/or commenting on
actual project related blog posts elsewhere?)
The always kind, gracious and insightful Sassy T recently bestowed a Liebster award upon me on her blog A Dressmaker's Journey. Thank you Sassy T! In return I
thought I would share some new blogs I’ve recently discovered, so your blog
roll can grow as exponentially unmanageable as mine. Fairs fair girls. FAIRS
FAIR.
Rad New-To-Me Blogs
Unicornicopia is one I just stumbled on via Burda style. She's a fellow non-fashion designer (architect student) so maybe that's why I felt an instant affinity. And this handmade bra she made is to die for.
Pattern Scissors Cloth has been at it for a while but she's new to me. Her Tricks of the Trade are amazing, and I'm dying to see how this sweater turns out.
Juliette at Sewing & Style Den has a mix of inspiring content and helpful information. This dress made me weak in the knees (houndstooth and I have a long, sordid history).
Marie in the Cave was also discovered via Burda. Her Breakfast at Tiffany's cocktail dress made my eyeballs explode with joy.
Dixie DIY is on a crazy swimsuit making role right now (you should join her sewalong). This one in particular is adorbs.
Yoshimi the Flying Squirrel has the cutest Flaming Lips-esque blog name and a really unique sensibility.
There are a dozen dozen I could add to this list but these were ones I just recently discovered in the past few weeks. So many talented people with sewing machines - it boggles the mind.
My Reader list is huge!! If I don't clear it out I have 200+ posts a day to get through. My tips on staying in touch but not taking up your whole life: get a good feed reader for ur phone (I use Feeddler) and read & comment when ur on the train or any downtime you might have during the day.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I don't comment on enough peoples blogs - but I do read!
It's hard to find the balance! I'm staying away from Pinterest for my own good ;-) and even then I still spend some evenings just on the net catching up on comments I need to post etc.
I have not used google reader so can't compare, currently I use Bloglovin and have categories etc. So I tend to zero in on the faves category first if I don't have time to read all updates, then I take it from there. I still end up reading them all but I probably don't have as many as others I only have about 80 and they don't all update at the same time lol. Yeah I saw your feature on Burda well deserved, incidentally on Pinterest too. Yes am addicted to my laptop lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat!! I'm hoping to upgrade my phone with a bigger screen and faster internet so I can use my commute to read more and more! It's like picking between children.... sewing, blogging or reading blogs?!?!
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks for the link!
ReplyDeletedamn you and your list of new blogs!!! now i MUST go check them out - but shit shit shit i'm already running late for work and still sitting here in my underpants, unshowered with my hair in a scary side bun, commenting on your blog!!!
ReplyDeletethis is all to say - i feel it too - the strain of trying to stay caught up on my blog readers and commenting!! oh lord! sometimes i've just run out of things to say about everyone's freaking awesome creations. i might just start leaving comments that say "freaking awesome!" cut and paste, cut and paste. but no! because you guys are more real to me than any of the real people in my lives!!! i'm a freak!!! i MUST tell you in the most creative way i can that i think you're the bees knees! because we may never meet so how else will you know???
i have no answer for you heather. just try not to feel too guilty when you have to abstain from blog reading/commenting for your own general well-being. we all understand...
sometimes i feel i use "gorgeous" and "delicious" and "drunk" so much peeps will simply stop believing me. BUT IT'S ALL TRUE.
ReplyDeletei read so many blogs... i think i have about 200 as well. i have to set a time limit. which makes it sound like a chore-- but really it's because it's so enjoyable i get swept up. there's a point where the inspiration of an hour of reading turns to sloth and/or OH HELL I'M LATE FOR LIFE
what makes me lose sleep at night is responding on my own blog. and not even for a bratty self centered reason. more because i feel that if i don't say thank you i'm being rude. but wouldn't those peeps rather i spend time commenting at their digs? do peeps really check back on their comments?
(nerd alert i do)
i'm going to end with this: you and your blog are gorgeous and delicious and when i'm drunk tonight i will toast you.
Oh Oona, you glorious, hilarious marvel.
DeleteThank you for the link! I'm glad you like the dress...
ReplyDeleteThere are so many sewing blogs that are worth reading! I try to read as much of them as I can whilst dropping a comment here and there...
OMG I feel exactly the same way. There are sooooo many lovely sewing blogs... and recently I've started drifting into fashion, craft and lifestyle blogs too. Sometimes I feel really guilty for not commenting on all the great posts I read, but if I did I literally wouldn't get anything else done.
ReplyDeleteI need to get a new feed reader than allows better skimming, as Blogger is rubbish. I might try Bloglovin like Sassy T recommends - it'd be good to be able to focus on particular categories of blogs depending on what mood I'm in (tutorials, pretty pictures, cats...).
I'll chime in with the others and say it's not easy. I can't believe how just five or so years ago how sewing blogs have grown. (I used to skip around garden blogs but now I barely have time for that.) I have a list of blogs that I either started reading when I first started blogging or just speak to me in terms of their approach and voice and I like to sort these as a core group that I consistently want to support, read and learn from... even if I get to it a week later! When I get whacky busy, I'll check those first, and then just be content to skim through the rest. It's sorta like life... I have so many people I love, trying to stay tuned in or intimate with everyone on the same level in this social web age is like trying to throw your arms around the world (stolen from Bono). I try to keep my heart organized ;).
ReplyDeleteBeautiful way to put it... you throw your real world in the mix and when are you supposed to just like, read a book and take a bath? There are worse things in life than having too many people to love and too much beauty to see...
DeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one who sneaks in some blog reading time at work! I, too, have wondered how other bloggers handle the balance and if there's some secret. I set some of my blog favorites, so if I'm pressed for time I don't feel overwhelmed in deciding whose blogs to read first on my Google Reader. I also have some informal "rules" for myself for when to comment, so I can continue to be active in the blog community without losing sleep/sanity trying to comment on eeevvvvverrryyythinnnng. And I'll admit: I do a LOT of speed skimming, sometimes of photos only, which stills helps me get a sense of what's going on out there.
ReplyDeleteI think the blog community is most important to me, so if I have to make sacrifices, I taper off my use of Burdastyle and Pattern Review. I also just don't let my sewing-related world cross over into Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. I'd feel too stressed trying to keep track of it all otherwise!
Well, I just started blogging and I feel like it might get overwhelming at some point because I already follow so many wonderful blogs. I'll confess that I've even thought to myself from time to time "why would I have a blog when there are already so many beautiful and wonderful ones out there?" but it's just so inspiring, so much fun and you meet such wonderful and creative people that it's more than ok.
ReplyDeleteP.S. your mint dress is absolute perfection.
I am completely not surprised that your dress made the Burda front page, it is awesomely gorgeous!! Well done! Hehe, blogging vs. a life; that's a tough one... Do we *have* to choose? ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for link love. ;) I have 60 blogs in my google reader (just counted). Some are friends' blogs who don't post often but most are sewing blogs. I tend to wait a week or so and let all the posts pile up then take a few hours one day to dive through all 300+ at once. It seems overwhelming but for me it's less overwhelming than trying to keep up with 20 posts every day. This can mean that I'm a little late to comment whenever I read a post that's already a week old. My fave blogs are smaller ones who don't post as often but when they do it's quality stuff. One thing I like to do is edit the title of blogs in my reader to include the author's name. I used to get confused as to who's blog I was reading (without pictures all posts in a reader look the same) and adding the name made it more personal and easier to recognize people's style and personality.
ReplyDeleteI tried to keep the (sewing related) blogs in Reader to <100 and it didn't work. Not so much of a problem though because I generally only comment on makes where the maker's sense of style appeals to me (not the blood, sweat and tears etc that they put into their make but the final product)... And there's enough people doing that to keep me busy a good portion of the day so I'm not complaining. Oh and I also comment when I feel the urge to make (entertaining) callouts. Also the amount of people who use recaptchas in their commenting system also keeps my commenting to a minimum). Which reminds me, any chance of your installing disqus so I can have a conversation with you without losing my eyes and mind to recaptcha? Disqus handles spam blocking (with Akismet, the same algorithm that's built into Wordpress) and enables cross platform commenting while keeping tabs on comments, responses, pings and trackbacks. This means people from wordpress, typepad, livejournal, overblog etc can keep track of responses without having to get a Google ID. Which is awesome. Disqus (totally unobtrusively) tells me when someone responds to one of my comments. And that rocks.
ReplyDelete