Blog Roundup

As my life has been a bit crazy this week with moving from one city to another with the process of packing to go to third city this weekend, and fourth (and final) city next week to move back onto campus for the college semester. Because crafting has not really been happening this week, between packing, visiting the art museum with my lovely sisters, and hanging out at the pool with my aunt and cousins, I wanted to share some of my favorite blogs from around the internet. Some of these blogs I've followed for a while and others I've only just discovered. 

Never Not Knitting is my favorite knitting blog. Her podcasts include her knitting projects for her patterns, her difficulty with traveling to book signings with her six year old and her one year old, and beautiful photographs of her projects. Even though many times she won't release full details because of her knitting is often content from her books, everything is artfully and tastefully done and exciting to watch progress. Her theme song for the podcast is the best! Her botanical knits are stunning. The Oak Grove Fingerless Mitts and the Seedling Beret are some of my favorites. 

Fresh Modesty is a new blog I stumbled upon because of her sewing blog, Working with Eager Hands. She has two e-books about sewing with jean fabric and sewing modest swimwear. Her navy lace dress and her chevron maxi skirt are some of my favorites of her sewing projects.  

Stilettos and Diapers is a another new blog I came across recently because of her maxi skirt tutorial. Her recipes for clean eating and her DIY section are probably my favorite sections, but her fashion posts are cute as well.   

Simple Simon and Company is a great sewing blog written by two moms, liZ and Elizabeth. They sew mostly for their adorable children, write great tutorials, and take gorgeous photos. Some of my favorite tutorials of theirs are the Morton Salt Girl Dress and the Easy Maxi Skirt. They write beautiful posts about the Art of Homemaking. "We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, and truly see the things that matter most." Dieter F. Uchtdorf. 

Sewing in No Man's Land is another one of my favorite sewing blogs. This seamstress is married to a foreign service officer and she blogs about her sewing, kids, DIY projects, and adventures of finding fabric and materials all over the world. She also has great tutorials for sewing for kids. 

Made, another great mom sewing blog, has some of my favorite sewing tutorials and technique instructions. She's also the author of Fabrics A to Z, which is a great resource to understand fabrics and how they will behave in certain projects and how you can use they to show off their strengths.

Go look around for some great crafting, sewing, cooking, and fashion inspiration!

Please comment with your favorite blogs to read (or your own). :)

Happy Thursday. 

Blogging Advice

Last year, my parents bought me this lovely book, How to Make Money from Etsy by Timothy Adam, for my birthday. While I have not opened an Etsy shop, nor made any significant amount of money from my crafting, I reopened this book to get inspired.

And it is amazing. It has plenty of great practical advice on how to upload pictures, write accurate descriptions, and attract customers. My favorite part, however, is the section about blogging. 

Timothy Adam interviews several different top bloggers, including Bonnie Forkner at goinghometoroost.com, Jaime Derringer at design-milk.com, Erin Loechner at designformankind.com, Mallory Whitfield at missmalaprop.com, among several others. It was great to get to hear their thoughts on blogging, creativity, and how to create an interesting, attractive blog. One of my favorite questions that Adam asked his interviewees was "where do you see your blog in 10 years?" 

Favorite answer: "Ten years? Oh man, that's an eternity in blog years. My gut reaction is 'on the moon.'" (Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge). 

The brief summary of their recommendations was to write a craft tutorial, post a photo log of a recent trip, instruction for a DIY project, and share what inspires you. 

After reading this chapter, I really want to grow in my blogging skills and in creating a blog that you, my lovely readers, want to read and enjoy. Please comment if there is something specific that you would like to see on my blog! I'd love your input.

Happy August!