MY FIRST ESTYBLOGGER CARNIVAL

I recently got the opportunity to join the EtsyBloggers Street Team. It's really cool! I get to interact with Etsy shop owners who also blog about what they do. Guess what? That's me, too!

One of the requirements of being a member is to participate in at least one EtsyBlogger Blog Carnival. This week's topics are to either discuss your work or what you do to relax.

Since I work for a city government, I don't necessarily feel comfortable discussing it anymore than saying I run a library, basically, for one of the city departments.

However, I love to talk about my hobbies outside of quilting! I am a former English teacher and have degrees in English and History. I've been an avid reader since I can remember, and I've also been an avid writer since I was about 11.

Most of the time, if I'm not working on a quilt design, I'm reading a book or writing a story. Usually, if I'm reading one book, I'm reading three. Right now, I'm working on The Turning of the Screw and Other Stories by Henry James, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and Lost by Gregory Maguire. I haven't really picked one to focus on at this moment. That's sort of what happens -- I'll dabble in about three until one really catches my attention and I finish it, then pick up the next most interesting one. I read on the bus to and from work a lot -- put on the iPod and ignore the people between whom I'm squished. Y'know, the men who are too rude to get up and allow another woman to have a seat and the boney, spiney women who think they can take up as much room as possible, especially if that includes poking you in the side for 20 minutes.

I get a lot of reading done with this method, elbows in my side and all. And I get funny looks, too, when I start to chuckle out loud about what I'm reading. It happens a lot. Oh well! If you're interested, I actually blog about my other hobbies: queenbookworm.blogspot.com and etasjes.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

MAMA'S MAGIC

I recently was accepted into the Etsy Bloggers Street Team, for which I'm quite excited. Hopefully, that will get me some more readers. And it gives me the chance to check out other people on Etsy whom I might miss otherwise. One of them is Mama's Magic. Her name is Jen and she has a couple Etsy shops, one of which I find really interesting, although the majority of what she has on there isn't for me -- I'm not a nursing mother. Heck, I'm not even a mother!

But her nursing beads for mom and baby are really cool! They give the child something to focus on so that the nursing goes smoother for everyone involved. It totally made me think of my friend and her baby, George. George has a hard time focusing on nursing -- he tends to think it's "play-with-Mommy's-booby" time rather than breakfast, lunch or dinner time. It makes me wonder if Jen's really fun beaded necklaces would help my friend get George to focus on nursing and not goofing around. However, he is a boy, after all! ;-)

Jen's blog, which you can check out by clicking the title of this post, has some pictures of her baby beads and stories about her life, including the latest story, wherein her son BJ wanted to know if the vice-presidential candidates were still going to love each other once the debate was over. How cute is that? As a former teacher, I love reading about what kids have to say and ask regarding the world. Makes us rethink our own perspectives. Thanks, Jen, for sharing BJ's insight!

CAN I JUST SAY?

I love Etsy.com? It's totally awesome! I've been on it for a while, and have tried (so far in vain) to get my mother to put her stuff up for sale. She makes beautiful knitted and crocheted wool hats and purses, etc. I started a shop as well. The irony is that I haven't posted anything for sale yet -- I'm not quite at that stage. But I started my shop to figure out how to do it for my mother. Piece of cake. And of course, now I have the bug to make quilts and then make money.

Anyway, why do I love Etsy.com so much? I haven't placed a single thing for sale, yet I'm on 14 people's favorite lists (not including Mom, and I was the one who put that on there)! Isn't that crazy? I'm pretty active on the site -- even if I haven't bought anything yet. But I always check the quilts to see if anyone's put up anything new. And I check the knitting every once in a while to check out Mom's competition, as it were. I just really enjoy the site. It's tons of fun! And there's fabulous things on it. Just check it out to your right -- or click on the title of this post to go to my shop! ;-)