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2024: A New Year and Time for a Change

 Hi all


I've been running this Simply Stitchy blog on Blogger for quite a while now. Along with its sister site, Simply Thimbles, I've been using this platform since 2010, or thereabouts. That's 14 years!

Simply Thimbles Image property of Olwen White

Although I have been happily tapping away and posting the odd blog post here and there, and trust me, most of them are definitely on the odd side, the Blogger platform isn't exactly... idiot proof. 

Not for this idiot anyway. 

I'm the first to admit my passion lies with vintage sewing machines not computer coding technologies.

Singer 128 Vibrating Shuttle Image Property of Olwen White
 

You can even give me a top of the range modern sewing machine with bells, whistles, and flashy lights... like the Janome Continental M17 (please Janome, if you're reading... give me one of those... or the M7... I'd be happy with the M7... pretty please?) and I'm in my element. 

Make me figure out the intricacies of compose mode vs HTML... and I'm lost in a sea of tech speak that is way over my head. (Any hints, tips, or suggestions for navigating computer coding are welcome... just explain it to me like I'm 5 ;) lol).

This is one of the reasons that I don't blog here as often as I used to. Or should do. Either the links won't work or the text will be mismatched through the different paragraphs... it can be annoying! Because I can't fix it.

Don't get me wrong. It's not Blogger's fault. That's how this platform is set up. It's designed to be a no frills blogging portal. Ideal for bloggers who want to... well... blog. And I'm going to carry on doing just that. This will still be my go-to place for sharing all things sewing and sewing machines. Complete with format issues and broken links.

But from an all-around content creator point of view, I also need more of a content management system (CMS) to help coordinate my activities. Or at least make my blogging life a bit simpler.

As many of you know I run a YouTube channel called Simply Stitchy. I compare vintage and modern sewing machines against each other. To show the changes that have been made since Singer was granted his first patent for a domestic sewing machine back in 1851. It's been going since 2020 but has been slightly disconnected from my blog. 

With a view to getting better coordination between YouTube and my Simply Stitchy blog, I'm also going to test out WordPress. 

Creators across the internet are brimming with good things about WordPress as a CMS. I've used the platform for writing blogs before as part of my freelance writing for other sewing blogs. But never as a CMS for my own work. 

From a blog writing point of view, the platform is a piece of cake.

It has blocks. 

I spend a lot of my sewing life dealing with blocks because I quilt. 

 

Applique Block Image by Olwen White

2023 was my year for quilting... I took part in three... yes, three... Block of  the Month quilts throughout the year. You can see the pictures over on my Instagram page. I even entered a block in a Quilt Block contest run by the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

 


Although I didn't win the contest, it was fun to put a quilt block together for it. I'll be posting a blog about the Block of  the Month quilts shortly. But for now, know that I like the sound of blocks. 

And WordPress has blocks!

Not quilting blocks. But separate blocks that you can pick and choose. There's a block for a heading, and another for an image. It handles the HTML so I don't have to think about it. 

So for 2024 I'm going to be running two sewing blogs. Side by side. A personal, sewing blog here on Blogger and a more product based blog over on WordPress. That's my blogging strategy for 2024... and yes... I'll no doubt get them mixed up and post products on Blogger and personal sewing on WordPress. Because... well, that's just so me, lol. 

Both will have links to my YouTube channel and, hopefully if I can figure out how to do it, they will be linked to each other so you don't miss any of my... ahem... odd content. 

Although, you could also subscribe or follow both to make sure you don't miss anything. The WordPress blog can be found here.

To help me decide which platform is best, why not let me know in the comments which one you prefer.

Whichever blog you decide to follow, I hope you find your way back here for the next post. In the meantime, whatever you’re sewing, whatever you’re sewing it with, embrace your creativity and have fun!

Thanks for reading! Bye for now.

Olly

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made through using the Amazon links that I include on my blogs and on my YouTube channel.

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