Wednesday, June 15, 2011

First Step--Set Up a Blog!

I've set up a blog for our 12 x 12 type quilting group.  This will be the place where we will show our quilts every 60 days in digital images that we post here.  We will also briefly describe the process of constructing our quilts.  In that description, you might

1.  give your first reaction to learning of the new theme
2.  talk a bit about the planning stage
3.  talk about the construction of the quilt, once you had an idea you felt you could work with
4.  include details such as techniques (piecing, applique, etc), the fabrics and any other products you used, what sort of batting, what's on the back, etc.
5.  how did you finish the edges of the quilt

I am the "administrator" of the blog, but I will add each of our group members as "authors," which means that you can go to this blog and compose on it.

Blogging really isn't difficult.  It involves some very simple, straight-forward steps:

1.  First, you'll need a Google account.  Just go to Google and type in "getting a Google account" and you'll be directed to a page where you can set it up.  You will use your own email address (it doesn't have to be Gmail) and you'll create your own password.
2.  I will have added you already as an "author" to this Blog, of which I am "administrator."
3.  Once you have your Google account and your password, you will go to Blogger and sign in.  Just Google "Blogger sign in" and it'll get you there.
4.  Sign in with your email address and your new Google Account password.
5.  Then you'll be directed to your "Dashboard".  There you'll click on New Post.
6.  Once you get to the page where you compose, you title your post.  Let's all title our posts with our first names, the theme, and then whatever you've titled your quilt.  Thus suppose our first theme is "summertime."  So I would title my post as Alice's Summertime Quilt--And the Livin' Is Easy, for example.
7.  Then you'll click on the little photo icon in the toolbar, and that'll take you to a page where you can
add images.  You'll browse for your quilt's photo on your computer, open it, and voila, soon it will appear in the box on this page.  You'll select it, and voila, it appears on your post.
8.  After you write your post, you'll click on publish.   From there you get a page that will let you view your post.  All of the other group members will be checking in to see who's posted and when they see yours, they'll go to it.  We can then all make comments about each other's quilts and posts down below on the Comments section.