Boring Saturday Night

Flipping Heck!! How crap is it on TV tonight?! I was all set for a nice lazy evening in front of the goggle box but there is nowt to watch. Oh, I tell a lie - I had a fab blast of patriotic pride cuz I watched the highlights of Trooping The Colour. One year I would love to take kiddie to see it for real. The atmosphere must be amazing. But now I am reduced to watching repeats of QI on Dave. Don't get me wrong I love QI with a passion. Stephen Fry is possibly one of the greatest men on Earth, but I anted to see something I've not seen before. A juicy crime thing or a good film. Oh well... Instead I'll drag out a meme I've had stashed away for just this type of occasion.

1. Why did you start your blog? I can't remember the first blog I read but the whole idea just had me hooked. The idea of sharing thoughts and ideas with like-minded people was fab. When I finished Uni I wanted to still be able to interract with crafty people but wasn't sure where to go or how to go about it. Blogging provided the perfect answer. If ever I get stuck with something there's always friendly, helpful advice out there in Blogdom.
2. How did you come up with your blog name? I think I may have told this story before so if you know it skip to point 3. When I was at Uni I shared studio space with my chum another "mature" student, Ann. It was tucked right out of the way and quite often staff would come to talk to us and to hide from other tutors and students. We gradually got a comfy chair and a table, and we joked about getting a kettle, a teapot and making it like an olde world tearoom. That explains the second bit of the name. Our tutor used to joke about the two of us being a double act like the artists Gilbert and George, and started suggesting names for us. Hinge and Bracket (thanks Ian), was one. Ethel and Edna was the last one and it just kind of stuck. When we graduated we planned to work together and this was going to be the name of our collaboration. We still hope to but 'Ethel' has another year of her degree left to finish first. (I was 'Edna' by the way) :o)
3. Do your friends and family know about your blog? Yes, very disconcertingly. A while ago I put a link to my blog in the sig of my emails. My mum and my sister both now read it, as does BDB, my belly dancing chum, Julia. My belly dancing tutor pops in from time to time, as do some of my fellow PTA mums. It was quite weird when I first realised that 'real' people I knew in person were reading it as well as my new 'invisible' friends. It's hard to explain why, but now I've got used to the idea. I just forget that they may be there. I just wish some of them would get blogging too.
4. How do you write posts? With 8 fingers. 2 thumbs and a computer keyboard ;o) Seriously, I usually write when I feel I have something interesting to say. If I've had a productive day I'll take pics and show off my creations. If I've received fab goodies in the post or bargains at a car boot I'll share them. If I want to have a moan or get something off my chest - you lot bear the brunt of it. I do try to make it funny as well. There's nothing worse than a great lengthy epistle of a blog post. Who would want to read that? That's why I usually try to add photos to break it up (sorry this one is an exception).
5. Have you ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments? *touch wood* Not so far. Evreryone has been lovely. I have been pretty careful with security and moderation stuff, but so far so good.
6. Do you check your stats? Do you care how many people read your blog? If you do care, how do you increase traffic? I do check basic stats from time to time. This is my 90th post actually!!! It's still amazes me how many people do read the rubbish I write. I didn't have a hit counter for a long time but since I've added one I've had over 1000 kits already. Amazing! I don't worry too much about increasing traffic at the mo. Maybe, if I ever get around to setting up an etsy shop, I'll look at pushing it more but I'm quite happy at the moment.
7. What kind of blogs/posts interest you? Textile and crafty blogs of any sort. I love to see what other people have been making and how they sell (or not) their goodies. I like blogs that have photos. At the last count I had 105 blogs that I subscribe to, so whenever I get updates I flick through and look for interesting photos. Those are the posts I read first.
8. What do you like and dislike about blogging? I love and hate the concept of swaps. I love the bartering idea - sharing your work with people and receiving examples of others' work for no cost, BUT I hate the way I keep signing up for more, and working so hard on them that I keep neglecting the items I should be making to sell. :o) I also dislike the amount of time I spend reading blogs and writing my own. I wish I could write shorter posts sometimes. If only I could get paid for blogging... What a dream. :o)
9. Tag 5 other bloggers. Like Meridian Ariel who I got this meme from, I'm not going to tag anyone but if you fancy telling all then please feel free to have a go.

And now I give up. I'm going to bed. After all tomorrow is Sunday - car boot day!! ttfnxx