Needlequest October round up and stuff about blogging

It's the end of another month and here's what I've been doing for the Needlequest challenge. I did a few more raised stitches and, as my personal goal was to learn five new stitches, I did these from a stitch dictionary type of book. They're all more or less new to me.

The second photo shows the 3D, raised effect of all the little samples I've done for this month.  Sorry the nearest sample is so blurred, but my camera can only cope with so much to focus on.=)

What about other participants?  Well, it seems I've been playing the game alone again this month, but Dorte has been catching up on some previous months' work.  She showed us some table linen inspired by crockery that she'd worked in both freestyle and cross stitch for the July theme, 'Crockery and Tableware'.  She also did a lovely painted floral, which she then picked out details of in stitch for the 'Fabric Colouring Techniques' theme from August.  Similar idea to my own piece, only much more impressive!!=)

Thanks for the encouraging comments about blogging, subscribers and so on.  I agree with pretty much everything that was said!  Thankfully, it's only a minor number who get impatient and won't stay subscribed to your blog if post numbers drop (yes, Wendy, it's actual subscribers/readers, not just page views - although that as well, of course).  It would show up more if I had a huge readership and would matter more if I was running my blog as a business, as some do, but it still makes me roll my eyes.

I'm like those of you who commented who prefer quality to quantity, and so I won't post padding posts ('fluff' as Rachel called them!!!) just to keep up quantity, or unsub from blogs that are infrequently updated.  I'm with D1-D2 in that I only unsub if the content becomes completely irrelevant to my interests and I stay subbed to inactive blogs sometimes for a long time in the hope the writer may start up again.  It doesn't cost any time, money or effort to leave someone who isn't currently posting regularly on my feedly list!!=)  Actually, I'm far more likely to unsub for over posting than under and I skip over the content of the majority of posts in my feed.  To be honest, I look more at the photos than anything else, although I do read some more carefully.  Which?  Not tellin'!!!LOL!=)

Thanks also for the kind words about my mum.  She's 81 now and in pretty bad shape, bless her.  Up to just before she turned 80, she was quite strong - even with emphysema, then she had a moderate level stroke and it was downhill from there through pneumonia and a fall down the stairs to the point that she really can't walk anymore and needs help with almost everything.  I don't expect she has much time left but, yes, we're trying to spend time with her regularly and also trying to make her last days of life as comfortable and pleasant as possible.  It's not easy to watch her failing like this, and it only reinforces the fact I long since learned from the Bible that we were never meant to die or lose loved ones.  We may say it comes naturally, but it doesn't, not really.  It also reinforces the fact that smoking is NOT a good idea!  All the things that Mum suffers under now, even the wholesale loss of teeth, are heavily related to 40 years of smoking.  Don't do it.  Just don't.

Onto more cheery things and Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show trip is three weeks today!  I'm enjoying counting down and hope to goodness that this year I won't have a bug when I go as I have the last two...=(

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014