It's been ten years...

I started my blog on January 8, 2006 because I wanted to say what I wanted to say without sewing board restrictions.  At that time sewing boards were huge! The social media spot to go to meet other sewists. I wanted a home computer just to be able to keep up with my favorite sewing board, Stitchers Guild, on the weekends.

It seemed like the best things were posted on the weekends and since I accessed the board from my work computer (and they actually expected me to work) it seemed like it took at least 2-3 days to catch up on the weekend going ons. I did get my first home computer but I inherited it after my Dad died. He said I should write and told my Mom to give it to me.

So hardly anyone was blogging then. I was striking out on a path that I didn't realize would last a decade. Hey I didn't know if I would still be doing it the following year. But I got hooked on blogging...writing and sharing about sewing...sharing photos of garments I made...the discussions about sewing...meeting other sewists...and in the process I learned that I like to write and I'm a blogger. So here I am 1,777 posts later.

I know that there are other forms of social media (loads of them now) where we can share our love of sewing but I love the written word alongside some pretty pictures. I will probably blog until blogger closes down or my fingers lose the ability to type.

In the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing. When I went to look at my very first post (OMG the horridness of it!) I had to clean it up before I would link it to this post. I didn't have a digital camera. I was using disposable throwaways at the time, never having been a photography buff, they always worked for me. I had no printer. Couldn't work a photo editing program if you paid me...my computer skills were based on the things I learned & needed for work. I really just wanted to talk about sewing.

So over the last decade I've learned a few things! *LOL*

• I now know the best time to take a picture outside and that natural light is best.
• My sister says I always know the best way to stand to get the skinniest picture. hahahahaha!
• I think more about layouts and what story I want to tell with my pictures.
• I know not to link to a website for fabric or patterns, especially if I don't want to have broken links in my posts years later. BTW, over the course of this year I will be going in and fixing all of the broken links in the older posts. 
• I've learned not to discard a good picture if things can be cropped out. 
• Most importantly I've learned to take loads and loads of pictures so that I can end up with 4-5 good ones for the blog and for Instagram.

Honestly, I love my little piece of the internet with the sewing friends and opportunities it's introduced me to.  This blog has enhanced and enriched my life. It was something to hold onto when times were hard in my professional life. It was a place of refuge amongst like-minded friends when tragedies occurred in my personal life - even if they weren't shared here - it was a place to escape to. I've learned to rise above, to respect, to cherish, to admire and to wanna be some of my fellow sewists. I've learned that a fat, middle-aged black woman could be cared for, loved and hated by thousands of other sewists I will probably never meet...and I've enjoyed almost all of it! *LOL*

So thank you to those who have been following along since the beginning! Thank you to those of you who have become friends!  Thank you to those who passed in or out of my life during this time...I'm glad that we had that time together. Thank you to those who hated on me, because it made me develop character. And thank you to those who've just started following along. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Here's to the future and whatever lies ahead!

...as always more later!