little housekeeping

I looked at my blog "Reading List" the other day - it is sooo long! 

It seems that after 10 years of my blogging life I am now following over 400 blogs. This obviously isn't true; many of those blogs have long been retired, or their owners for whatever reason haven't posted for a long time, or quite simply I no longer want to follow them.

So, some drastic action was needed. I have now deleted my whole Reading list, which has deleted me from all the followers lists. 

I am now in the process of re-visiting blogs in "Blogs I Follow" in my side bar, and re-registering as a Follower, or deleting them. I have done quite a few so far, but this obviously will take some time, so if I have vanished from your Followers list, bare with me, I will find you again!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2020

noreply-comment bloggers

OK, I know I bang on about this from time to time, but that is only because I like to answer all your comments left on my blog by email. I find it the most convenient way of having a conversation with you directly and to answer your questions, which sometimes are private

Unfortunately, there are still many of you which are "noreply-comment" bloggers, which means that I am not able to answer you directly by email, because your email address is not linked to your profile.

You might not even realise that you are a "noreply-comment blogger", so please do check your profile.

Go to "View my complete profile" and click on "Edit Profile". You can choose where to put a tick.

Mine looks like this, and I have a tick against "Share my profile" and "Show my email address", although for some reason it is not showing here, although I did copy it from my profile.

If you don't put a tick against "Show my email address", your email will not be linked to your profile or your comments. 

Edit User Profile

Privacy

Share my profile		Your profile will not be shown if it is not shared. ?
Show my email address		Currently set to radka@greenbee.net
Show my blogs	Select blogs to display	Blogs that will appear on your profile.
Show sites I follow		Sites you follow will appear in your profile. ?

Now, I understand that some people prefer not to show their email address, and that's OK, but it makes it more difficult for fellow bloggers to communicate with you, and if you are wondering why sometimes you don't get a reply to your comment, this could be the reason. Blogging is supposed to be a two way communication, and not showing your email address makes this very difficult.

If you are doing it for a security reason, I understand, but your email address is probably all over cyberspace already, and by leaving a comment, you are leaving your footprint behind anyway.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019

noreply-comment blogger

I have been going on about this for some time, but it seem that it is now becoming even more common - the "noreply-comment blogger" frustration!

I love your comments and I like to answer you directly by email, but some of you are coming through as "noreply-comment blogger", your comment doesn't have a return email address.

In the "old days" it was just a case of inputting your address in your "Profile", but it doesn't seem to be so simple now. This problem seems to apply mainly Google+ accounts.

If you are "noreply- comment" blogger, the chances are that I will not answer your comment, and I apologise for that, but it just makes it more complicated to get my answer to you.

Of course I am not the only one complaining, you will find a post on the same subject on Wendy's blog and a link how to correct this.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2018

my emails are back!

It seems that Blogger has sorted the "email problem" at last, and I am getting comments notifications by email again, great!

You also might have it sorted by now, but if not, try this - go to your "settings" - "email" - and in the "comment notification email" delete your email address, save, and then re-enter your email address and save again. When I did that, I received an email from Blogger, with an invitation to receive comments notifications and a link to "Subscribe".  And it worked!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2018

emails scam

Many of you might be already aware of this, but just in case you haven't come across it yet, it goes like this:

you receive an email from someone you know, which contains a link for you to follow. 

The message might even address you by your name, and possibly say something like " I thought you might be interested in this". If there is no other text in that email, explaining why you are getting this link, or other message from your contact, beware, the chances are that if you click on the link, someone will hack in to your computer and your email contacts.

Over the period of last few months I received several such emails from people I know, and it is possible that somewhere, early on, I did follow one of the links, before I got wise to it. But it seems that someone did manage to get my contacts.

The reason I think that? Yesterday I received email from Luzine Happel (which many of you know), asking me if I had sent an email with a link in it. Thankfully she did not click on the link; I did not send her any such email. But she is listed in my email contacts, as are many of you.

So, if you'll get an email which looks like it is from me, with a link in it, but there are no explanations why I am sending you this link, the chances are that, that the email did not come from me.

I am also sending this message to all my email contacts, and I am scanning my computer every day, but beware, there is always someone out there who is a step ahead.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

Blogger change

I copied this message from Suziqu's Threadworks blog

( http://suziqusthreadworks.blogspot.co.uk/ ).

Has anyone else seen it?

Blogger has made some big changes to

 how we follow blogs

so read on to see

if these new rules will affect you!

We announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of the plan starting the week of Jan.11th, 2016 we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

blog books

As I said in my previous post, I like these quiet few days after Christmas to relax, and this year also to enjoy looking through 2 new additions to my blog books, years 2013 & 2014, which arrived in the post just before Christmas.

I already have first 3 years of my blog in print,

and I was well behind, but 25% price reduction on Black Friday gave me the push and I ordered the 2 latest complete years. 

And yes, soon another year of blogging will be finished, but that will have to wait until the next "special offer".

These are the 2 latest ones.

It is nice to browse through them, reminding myself what I had been up to, places I visited.

Just some pages from the latest books.

  My blog is no longer just somewhere in cyberspace. 

I have put a lot of time and effort into creating it and so it is a great feeling to actually hold it in my hands. And may be one day, when my memory might not be as good as it is now, the books might become very useful :-)

If you are interested in making your own blog book, you can find more details on 

http://www.blog2print.com/
You can click on this link and just go and "play", create your own book online, and even save it into your account. The process of creating a blog book is very easy and there are many options to choose from, even a PDF version.
It doesn't cost you anything, you only pay when you decide to "buy" your book, which is than printed and posted to you. The book arrives from USA.
I have never had any problem with any of my 5 books.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2015 

up to date with blog books

My new blog books, year 2 & 3, arrived this week from "blog2print". I never got around to ordering year 2 after the first one, and by the time I got around to it, year 3 was waiting ... So now I have my blog in print from the start to the end of December'12.

I like my blog books. Lets be honest, how many of us have the time to look back through our post or anybody else's for that matter, life is too short. I barely have time to keep up with current posts.
Browsing through my books I can remind myself ... oh yes, that was the time....oh, I forgot we went there.....

year one

year two

year three

Of course, to have your blog transformed into a print is not free.

The cost is determined by the number of pages you will have in your book; before you decide to buy, you get the chance to edit your book, choose the cover (soft cover is cheaper), you can also decide on posts you don't want to include in the final version of your blog book. In fact, you can go and have a play, without buying, or save it for later.

Internet has give us blogging, which of course is wonderful. But my blog is somewhere out there in the cyberspace, things can happen to it. I have spent a lot of time taking my photographs and writing my posts.

 And I am old fashioned when it comes to books, I like to hold them and browse....They are my journals.

After the end of December my blog will be ready for another blog book. I hope to keep up this time!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2013

Bloglovin 2

Just a quickie to update my last post and to answer some of the questions I have been asked about Bloglovin.
I have learnt about Bloglovin only yesterday from another blog, so my info is somewhat limited. The bottom line, the way I understand it ( and believe me, I am no technical brain), is that after the 1st July we will not be able to read the bloggs we follow in the Google Reader. So if that is what you do now, you will have to find an alternative. If you click here , you will be taken to Ultimate Guide to Google, where you can see a comparasing of Bloglovin and Feedly (don't ask, I never knew this existed either).

I moved over to Bloglovin only yesterday myself. It was very easy and quick, I ignored the bit about Facebook (but you might want to choose to do that if you are on Facebook), signed in in the line below, moved my favourite blogs over - done. There are some setting you might want to change (easy), pick up your Bloglovin wigget for your blog (easy). Bloglovin now sends me an email when someone starts following me via Bloglovin.

I also get an email (you can choose how often) to alert me to any new posts on the blogs I follow (I chose to get this email daily). The email is in the form of the Reader, but better looking and I can read the posts from there, no need to sign in anywhere, unless I want to comment, then I have to signed in as before. This makes the list in the side bar of my blog redundant (although I might leave it there for now), as there is no need for me to go to my blog, unless I want to write a new post.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2013

Bloglovin

Apparently Google Raeder will expire later this year, so I went to try out Bloglovin. I found it quick and  easy, it transferred my list of blogs I follow with no problem.
I have been asked to post the following link, to "reclaim" my blog, (ie to verify that I am the owner of this blog). 

 So, I apologise for the inconvenience, but I have to ask you to click on this link, if you want to carry on following my blog in Bloglovin:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

You can get more info about Bloglovin and alternatives here

Have I got this right? We'll soon find out, if I'll loose you all!

just playing

I am taking a small break from "building houses" for the Yoko Saito's Mystery Quilt, but because of "other distraction" I did not get around to other stitching either during the past week. I needed a quick project to stop me being miserable and I remembered I always wanted to make a doll quilt, but never quite got around to it.

Inspired by books by Kathleen Tracy and Mary Jenkins I sorted out some small pieces of fabric from my stash. I remembered a pattern I saw in the Magic Patch magazine and eventually found it.

The great thing about doll quilts is that they are so quick to make and you use so little fabric and wadding, mostly found in your stash, so no extra cost there. And, of course, they are such fun to make. Two days later:

I think my doll likes it...

© pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2012

Size: 25cm x 25cm

Pattern: Magic Patch magazine

Fabric: from stash

Quilting threads: Aurifil

the post you are reading is on pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk

(sorry about this, but if I'll remember I will put this on every post in the future)

Which brings me to a quick note regarding my last two posts. Firstly, thank you for your comments on the subject and thank you Elizabeth (who had the similar experience a while ago) for holding my hand.

I have spent a lot of valuable computer time trying to find out about blogs being "scraped" (this is one of the terms being used, there are others, but I like this one). There is lots of info out there, this is just a couple of useful bits here and here, if you want find out more.

What I have found out is that if someone really wants to steal your stuff, there is nothing you can do about it, and unless you a computer whizkid, you will not know it is happening. Now and then it just might be worth your while to enter a title of one of your post into a search engine to see if it takes you anywhere else besides your own blog.

And while I was being miserable and spending my computer time in this unproductive way, I have not been stitching or visiting your blogs, I have been missing all those wonderful projects you are working on.

So, back to stitching and blogging, I am not giving up. I am having far too much fun and I love your company. I will pop in to see you soon!

Enjoy your weekend!

sinister feeling?

Thank very much you for your comments on my last post and for your support. I expect like me, you have learnt something you possibly have not considered until now.
Of course I have reported it to Blogger. From the info on their site I had two choices. The Blogger says that they are not in a position to arbitrate issues regarding ownership of content, but they will let you file an infringement of a copyright claim, which is a legal document under the USA law. In my case I would have to list every post and picture which I claim ownership to. Considering that we are talking about 2 years of my blogging life, I just haven't got time to do that, or want to get involved in legal claims.
I agree very much with Deborah, there is something very strange about that blog: no contact details, no comments, no followers, no dates. I also don't think that the name is a the person's real name anyway or that this is just some sad person not able to create their own blog, after all they were clever enough to copy my entire archives for the 2 years period. I would not know how to do that. I suspect this is something more serious than that.
Therefore I reported it as a spam or possible malware, because I think it is possible that someone created that blog for more sinister purpose. Why they picked my blog I will never know.

But there is a thought for you all, none of you really know if your blog has been copied in this way and how many times. I came across it by pure chance, when I wanted more info on something I wrote about last year and Googled it. Among other suggestions Google came up with 2 blogs, mine and the one in question. Had I not done that, I would have probably never found out.

   From http://pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk

 I wish you all a very good stitching week!

WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THIS?

    Last night, while looking for something I wrote about a couple of years ago,  Google took me to this blog:

  http://carolejohnston.blogspot.co.uk/

                            I could not believe it, my posts, my pictures, copied to another blog!

We all know that the odd picture is being copied, but this is something else, my whole blog, from the start until earlier this year! 

Carole Johnston, who ever you are, I have found out.

Bloggers are a sharing lot, we like to help each other and that is what is so wonderful about blogging.

But this is not sharing, this is "helping yourself" without a permission and we have other words for that.

What is the girl to do? Delete my blog and possibly start again? Could I be bothered?

I would love to hear your opinion on this subject and if you have had a similar experience.

Thank you for all your comments on my last post regarding the word verification problem.
Siri kindly showed me a button on her blog, which I have now copied to my blog also (see on the left).

Emi from l'alternativa summed it up beautifully:

It is crazy to prove to a robot that I am not a robot!

How true! Thank you, Emi, for that thought :-) It made me smile.

word verification

I want to add my support to Karen from Log Cabin Quilter and her post "Word verification is driving me nuts". The jumble of letters and so often unclear numbers is driving me nuts too.
I like to visit as many of you as I can and leaving a comment is a polite, friendly and enjoyable thing to do.
I am not a robot, and I don't think of myself as being stupid either, but sometimes it takes me 2, 3 even more tries to get it right; too often recently I have given up and moved on to the next blog. Life is just too short!
You have a choice of having any new comments emailed to your computer, so you can always go to your blog and press the bin sign under the comment to delete it, if it is a comment you don't like. Or you can choose to "moderate" all comments before they appear on your blog.
I know that more and more bloggers feel like I do, some don't comment at all on blogs with word verification. Just think how many friends (or potential friends) you are loosing. I don't have word verification on my blog and to date I have not received any unwelcome comments. May be a spam email now and then, which I just don't open and delete.
So, please consider changing your blog setting and say NO to word verification. If you don't know how to do this:  go to your "settings", choose "posts and comments" and NO in "show word verification?".

While I am on the subject of comments, I really like to answer directly all your comments left on my blog, because I value very much your visits and your friendship.
However, too many of you are still "no reply-comment blogger", which makes it impossible to send you a personal answer. To change this, you need to add your email address to your profile. I understand that some of you are reluctant to do this, but just think how much harder you are making it for anyone to have a friendly relationship with you, which is a shame.

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you are doing!