I'm so happy to be a part of the blogging community that has come about here on TQS. Since I'm a newer quilter, I literally have zero quilting friends except for the ones I have met through this site and I truly value each comment that is made when I post something new. What a great group this is. I know there are some "lurkers" out there that just don't post blogs of their own. If you're one of those people and lurk because you're just not comfortable blogging, I completely respect that. If you're not comfortable with it then so be it. Lurk away! We're happy to have you! (Heck, I've faithfully read a blog on an outside website for two years without saying a peep!) However, if you think you'd like to post here on the blogs but you're a bit leery about all the "technical" stuff, I may be able to help you! This new blog system might look confusing with all its little buttons and commands, but if you stick to the basic stuff, you should be able to post with no problem! (I still don't know what half these buttons actually do -- but I'll poke around and maybe I'll know eventually! Hee hee!) So I've posted a "How-To" for TQS blogging on You Tube. It went a little longer than their 10 minute allowance (I rambled on for 12 minutes!) so it's in two parts. You can view the first part by clicking the "Watch This Video" button at the top of this page. And despite the fact that I have a big mouth, the narration came out a little quiet. You may have to crank up the volume on your speakers. Sorry! Part 1 deals with changing your photos to a smaller size. This may not be necessary, but it makes my pictures upload faster and it satisfies my "need for things to be the same." OK -- I'm weird. I admit it! But it could also be useful information if you want to email a small photo to a friend to share your newest quilt! At the bottom of the blog edit page, it does say that the program will automatically resize your image down to a maximum of 540 x 540 so feel free to upload your photos as they are (as long as they are smaller than 8 MB!) and use them as they show up. It's completely up to you! Part 2 can be found on the same YouTube page -- just click where it says, "More from Bridget473" and "TQS Blogging Tutorial Part 2" should show up. If it doesn't, you can click on this link instead.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeJY1qYroaQ This part deals with how to actually create the blog. If you know what you're doing with the photos, just click the link above to go to the blogging part. Now there are plenty of other ways of doing things on here, but this is what I've found that works for me so I hope this helps a bit for both the "wannabe" bloggers (I can't wait to hear from you!) and those who may be having difficulties with this new blog format. And by the way, if you're interested, this tutorial was made with a new "techy toy" that I found online. It records what happens on your computer screen and lets you create a "screencast." You can add narration and everything! It's very fun! I guess a lot of the online gaming people like to use it to record their games and such. If you're interested in "playing" with it or know someone who might like it, the program is called "CamStudio" and can be downloaded for free by visiting http://camstudio.org/. There is also an excellent video tutorial for using the software on You Tube. (How fun would this be to use with EQ6 or something like that?!) If you end up still having issues with the blogs, then try asking Bob by clicking "Contact" in the menu bar. Just choose "Technical Support" as the subject. Now I'm seriously off to work on my BOM. Pieces are ready to be stitched! | 
