Blog Piracy - Let's make a stand!

After I have made and finished my very first quilt over two years ago, I knew then and there that I fell in love quilting.  Finally I found something I liked to do and I knew it was not going to be one of those hobbies that would have my attention for just a little while and to later just gather dust.  Believe me I have tried a few other types of crafts, like mosaics, decoupage and even a bit of scrap booking, but non of them grabbed my attention like quilting did.

I jumped right in.  Bought whatever fabric I could find, which included cotton and polyester.  Not a great combination I know, but I had no guidance, no help. Only a magazine with instructions.  Sure the pattern called for 100 percent cotton, but I did not even know what to look for!  I just grabbed fabrics that I thought would work well together and started making a quilt.  When it came to sewing the blocks together I knew something was completely wrong, the seams did not match up at all..  but I carried on eager to get it finished.

Once I was done, and stepped back looking at the quilt I made I felt PROUD.  I made it!  Hours spent cutting, sewing, piecing and quilting, it was ALL my work!  But I knew I needed help, I knew I wanted to learn more.

So that was when I started looking to the internet.  I was overwhelmed with information, so many websites, blogs and YouTube videos.  The more pages I opened up the more I wanted to learn.  That was when I became fascinated with free motion quilting.  It was also when I considered starting my OWN blog.  Something I can page through like a diary, seeing my progress and seeing how my interest, skill and style of quilting changed and hopefully (NO most definitely) improve...

So in all honesty my blog was for ME.  If I was lucky enough to get a few followers it would just be a bonus.   After two years of blogging, my blog has over 300 followers with an average of 15 000 pageviews a month.  My Facebook Page has over 500 likes and on Instagram over 400.  Yes, these are JUST numbers, but after a while of blogging I knew that I WANTED others to see and read my blog.  If these numbers kept on rising, I knew it was worth while to carry on writing and sharing.

Now you might wonder where I am going to with all of this.

Well some time ago I read a blog post where the content of that particular blog, was COPIED and posted to another blog, as their own.  I did not think that my little blog would ever run the risk of something like that happening.  But I wanted to have some kind of insurance, so I started adding a watermark or text in the corners of my pictures, adding my blog name and address.  

But clearly it wont stop pirates!!  I was kindly informed by one of my fellow bloggers that my blog and the entire blog posts are being copied.  I was shocked to say the least.  After visiting the site (Quilt Patterns Pro) I realized that its hundreds if not thousands of quilting blogs being copied.  

Screen print from Quilt Patterns Pro

At first glance it appeared to be a blog directory like QuilterBlogs, but there is a big difference.  QuilterBlogs is a website that LINKS back to your site.  You submit your blog to their directory and from then on whenever you publish a blog post it will appear on their website.  When someone click on the heading or any part of that post it will direct them to your blog.  

This is NOT the case at the site mentioned above.  My blog and many others are being pirated with NO link back to your site.  To see if your blog is also being listed, just enter your blog name into the search bar.

There is hope however, The Bitchy Stitcher shared a blog post sharing HOW to report and how to shut them down.

So... to all my fellow quilting bloggers, lets make a stand and get this site scrapped!  

I love it and urge my fellow bloggers to share my work on their blogs.  I do it too, but at least we all have the courtesy of linking back and giving credit where its due.

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NEW look and some more cushions

For those of you visiting my blog regularly would have immediately noticed that my blog has a completely new look.  I have been thinking about making some changes, and I wanted it to be entirely different to what it use to be.  I do think it is cleaner and most definitely a lot less 'busy'.. 

I found a lot of helpful information from Karen's blog - Sew Many Ways.  Her blogging tips are always so easy to follow, with step by step picture instructions anyone can do it.  It is still a work in progress, but so far I am happy.  It took me the whole day yesterday playing around with layouts and different colour schemes, but in the end I decided to stick with green, it is after all my most favorite colour.

So... what do you think?  Is less really more?  

Well, when it comes to everything that keeps me busy in my sewing room, more is definitely what keeps me most productive.  I have noticed that when I keep busy with more than one project, that it drives me to do even more. 

..and that is just fine by me!  As mentioned last week, I pulled out pieced blocks I made some time ago, not knowing what I was going to do with them, and ended up making a quilted cushion.  Now I have four.    

Sewing in zippers are definitely a new experience, after looking at a few tutorials on the web, I decided in the end, it is a lot less scary than I thought.  I followed along this tutorial, but instead of adding the zipper to side of the pillow I had sewed it right in the middle of the backing fabric.  It is not ideal, but since the blocks were pieced using a ¼ inch seam allowance I did not want to loose the size of the outside piecing.  I think in the end it would have influenced to look too much if I had worked on a larger seam allowance.

I am glad I got to make use of those blocks, and the end result is just beautiful.. even if I have to say so myself.

Happy quilting.