News, blogs and chat
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 at 8:14AM | Sharon B | 13 Comments | in Blogging, Blogs, Take it Further challenge Sometimes chasing up a readers question leads me into the most interesting nooks and crannies of the web. I was asked what baseball stitch was and a google search lead me to baseball stitch but better still it lead me to the wonderful Project Puppet blog about strangely enough puppets! Check out the side bar for tutorials and sprinkled throughout the entries are plenty of tips and resources.
Take it Further News
People in this challenge are leaving comments about their progress. It's a very active challenge. For those who have an RSS reader remember you can subscribe to comments. There is a button in my side bar for the comment feed.
For those who don't know what I am talking about you might want to see this post on using an RSS reader
Some tips for newbies
I received an email who could not find the entry for the challenge this month. There is an small percentage of participants who are very new blogs hopefully the community will have patience with them and welcome them. These folks do not understand the navigation structure of a blog so please bear with me while I answer this question.
Entries on blogs are called posts. Posts are organised by date. With blogs the most recent post (ie entry) will be at the top of the page. As you scroll down there is older material.
This blog is updated daily so if you miss the post about the challenge just scroll down and you will find it. If it is more than a week or so old click the next page at the bottom of the page. However it is easier if you:
Look for it under the Take it Further challenge category that is in the side bar or
Look for it under the month of January in the archives also in the side bar or
Use the search function in the side bar and ...
When you have found the entry you want, book mark the individual entry itself. Every entry on a blog has an individual page it is called a perma link. on wordpress blogs you can find the perma link by clicking on the title of the post. The link will take you to a page that looks the same but scroll down and you will see that is is just that individual entry with all the comments made on that post. The individual post for this months challenge and all its comments is here.
The biggest mistake those who are having trouble make is to not scroll down the page or pay attention to what is in the side bar. Those categories, archives, search boxes and feed buttons in blog side bars are there for a reason. They are there to help you find stuff!
A few more hints...
Under the title of each post there is a list of categories that the post is published under. You can browse a blog just by category. These are the same categories that are in the sidebar. Under the title after the list of categories, there are a list of Tags. Tags are like keywords. If you click on any of the tags it will lead you to the same tag I have used. In other words, these tags are there to help you find stuff too!
Hope this is useful to those who are new to blogging. Blog software is actually very powerful and useful which is why of course so many people write them!
For those participants in the challenge who are leaving comments
Please remember to leave your URL! The best way of directing readers to where you have posted your challenge is by leaving your is to actually leave the link in the comment. If you use the full address including the http:// part when it is published it will automatically be a link which people can click. I suggest this since many readers are not aware that clicking on the name of the person who has left a comment will lead them to the persons site. This works is you fill out the website address in the form when you leave a comment.
Other news ... A Soft Launch
Mary-Francis of Frequently wrong but Never in Doubt dropped me an email about a 'soft launch' of her new project Helping Handmade. Mary Francis felt there was a need for one-on-one hand holding from teachers to really help students learn the basics. The idea behind it is to provide basic classes on a variety of crafts such as embroidery, and sewing etc with a focus on recycling things that might otherwise be discarded. A portion of class profits are donated to an environmental cause, depending on the arrangement with individual teachers it will be between 2% and 5%.
At the moment the site is very much in its infancy for instance Mary Francis does not state what environmental groups the money will donated to but the idea that drives it is a good one. Helping Hands is also looking for teachers and ideas for classes. If you teach or want something taught you might like to contact Mary Francis and let her know.
Reader Comments (13)
J'aimerais bien m'inscrire à votre cyber-classe mais je ne comprends pas du tout l'anglais, je regarde et je suis triste.
je travaille à votre challenge, je le mettrai bientôt sur mon blog.
Eliane
Please see http://tifcynthia.blogspot.com/ for progress on my January project. I'm very new to blogging and haven't figured out how to place images where I want them in the post, but it's all there. Any help would be appreciated. Maybe someone can leave a comment on my blog.
Cindy
TIF Challenge-
More musings on my design posted on my blog today. No pictures yet, but the design is moving along, even if most of it is still in my head!
This is a real change of pace for someone who participated in the Journal Quilt project, where everything about the quilts was kept under wraps until the show opened at Festival.
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for the detailed info about placing our links in our comments for the challenge. Even though I'm not new to blogging, I don't know if I would have remembered to link it to that specific post.
I've made my first CQ block for the TIF challenge and have posted about on my blog, here http://lamanosa.blogspot.com/2008/01/take-it-further-challenge-unembellished.html
Thanks for starting this challenge! I'm learning a lot already.
Misty
Finally have a design on paper. New posting on blog.
http://www.jumpstarts.blogspot.com
pdc
Is there any place in particular that you would like us to leave comments about our progress, so it's easy to keep up with people? Perhaps you might make a link to the January challenge on your sidebar so it's easier to find?
I've created my January pattern and posted it today. Also I made a permanent subpage on my blog for the year.
http://blog.theflossbox.com/?page_id=781
Now to get stitching! ;)
Sharon,
I noticed that someone left a comment in French, I'm not sure if you speak French, but since what the commenter said was so nice, I thought I'd translate it:
"I would very much like to sign up for your cyber-class but I do not undersand any English, I see and I'm said.
I'm working on your challenge, and I'm putting it on my blog often"
Hope this helps, I sure enjoy flexing my French degree from time to time!
Tara
I've posted about my thoughts on this challenge - I'm taking a different direction than most people, I think....
http://www.lizplummer.com/blog
Sharon,
I just booked yesterday morning your Sumptuous Surfaces class.
I thought it would be delightful to follow in the same time : TIF and Sumptuous Surfaces - It promises to be fascinating
I've finally come up with a paper idea for this month's challenge -- I've posted it on my new Visual Journal, at http://jesspages.net/makingstuff.
At first I was a bit flummoxed, but then running water brought me inspiration as it so often does. ;-)
That link is: http://jesspages.net/makingstuff
Wordpress included the period in the address, which gets you nowhere. Oops!
I have posted the third piece in progress in this first challenge. I intend to do four. The photos are posted on my blog and on the TIF Challenge Flickr pool.
hi all,
you can find this weeks development for the TIF challenge here http://amovablefeast.blogspor.com
cheers,
neki desu