The lollies intensive didn't get as intense as I would have liked.  There has been just too much stuff going on to really concentrate on it.  I've had the time, but not the headspace.  Even though this project is perfect 'fluff' for times like these, I still found it difficult to reach for fabric and thread.  I'm thinking I'll add a few smaller scattered shapes in the bottom left hand corner and call it finished.

On Blogging

Ok. I've been thinking about stopping this blog.

There are so many wonderful craft blogs out there and I find that I really am a tiny fish in a HUGE pond.  I worked out how to discover the number of subscribers to LittleFishCreations on Google Reader... the first time I checked it was 22 subscribers and then I checked again and it was 21!  One of those subscribers is Chris and one is ME!  Most blogs I read have hundreds or thousands of subscribers.

Not that my aim is to be popular... but those low numbers make me wonder if perhaps my blog is irrelevant.

I started blogging over 5 years ago.  It was sooo refreshing to have my own space on the net after years of reading but not really participating in groups like QuiltArt. I was also just starting to feel about with my own creativity and had enthusiasm after enthusiasm that I loved to share.  Quilting, spinning, knitting, drawing, painting.... anything and everything!  And I had lots of comments and felt connected with many really nice people.

Over the last few years I feel like I've lost my way with this space especially with other things (like having a baby) which have shifted my priorities.

I don't really comment much on other blogs anymore (I blame Google Reader as I read so much but don't visit the actual blogs much anymore) and people don't comment here very much either (though I do love and appreciate each and every comment I do get!) So I'm not feeling that sense of community and connection that I would like from of my internet experience.

I'm mulling over my options

1) continue as I've been going; blog when I feel like it, about whatever I'm working on at the time. I do enjoy revisiting my archives as it's like the diaries that I alway's wanted to keep as a teenager but never did.

2) stop blogging - go private.  Make things for my own enjoyment and don't fuss about the documentation and sharing part.

3) find another forum to share my creativity (flickr??).  Still making and documenting, but without the commentary and obligations I feel towards this blog.

4) revamp this blog so that it works better for me and allows me to develop the sense of community that I would like.  This  would really take a committment to DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY.  Also I think I'd need to develop some GOALS for the blog. 

5) something else I haven't thought of yet!

So.  I'm going to have a think.  Normally I'd keep such thinking private but I've decided to share :-)  AND

I would love to hear your thoughts!

What do you like about my blog? 

What do you find interesting?

What do you find less interesting or annoying or things you think I could improve? 

If you use flickr, I'd appreciate your thoughts on the pro's and cons of moving my internet life over there. Do you know of other sites/forums that I should consider?

Any other thoughts or comments you would like to share with me :-)

(I won't hold negative comments against you - I promise XX).

If you are uncomfortable leaving a comment here, please email me at littlefishcreations - at - gmail - dot - com

A couple of weeks ago Chris and I decided that we would start looking for opportunites to move back 'down south' (as they say in the Northern Territory).  Preferrably somewhere in Victoria or Tasmania. 

Chris noticed a job ad with a paper mill in Southern Tasmania and sent off an enquiry.  The next day they were on the phone, last weekend they flew him down to Hobart for an interview (crazy, crazy flights), and yesterday he accepted their job offer and resigned from his current role!

Whew!!!!  I'm SOOO excited.  We are returning to the city (CITY!!! OMG!!!) where we went to university, where we met, where we still have many friends and where we never in our wildest imaginings thought we would find suitable employment for Chris (ya just gotta look, duh!). 

We're thinking of driving back:

I should probably start knitting.  Poor Jasper has lived his whole life in the tropics and we are just about to dive into a Hobart winter. I'm off to browse Ravelry now (too bad I sold all my wool!)

I've been wanting to start an intensive project for ages, but couldn't seem to settle on what I want to do! I was getting way too serious about the whole thing and hung up on the 'final product' and feeling too tired and, and, and...

Yesterday in a fit of frustration and in one of my short moments where Jasper was napping in his cot* I crept into my sewing room, snatched up a piece of scrap linen and quickly retreated to the loungeroom.  Where I took up some leftover standed cotton from my needle case and started stitching.

Just like that.  My intensive project has started.  I'm calling these little cross stitches 'lollies'.  Small, unplanned, scattered, colourful and QUICK.

*Jasper has two naps per day and ususally wakes up after about 45minutes (one sleep cycle according to what I've read).  I've got into the habit of getting him out of the cot (where he's usually standing up looking as awake as can be) and taking him to the lounge room where he quickly falls back to sleep, laying on me, for another 45-60 minutes.  This is a relaxing and a lovely way to while away my days.... but sucks in lots of ways.  Unfortunately he usually wakes up if I put him back into his cot.  Today I've resolved to keep on trying to get him to go back to sleep on his own.

This one goes out to my lovely friend Tracey who sent us two jars of home grown, home made jam all the way from Canberra to Jabiru!

Jasper reckons that Tracey's apricot jam is super YUMMY!