Pay It Forward.

In the blogging world of sewers, there are a few much loved, well-known, and very much deserving people who get much notoriety, praise, and accolades for their work. I highly admire and respect their work.

It was interesting to note recently, that one PR poster commented about the lack of comments with reviews at Patternreview lately, and the commenter partially/possibly attributed reviews with a lot of comments as the "celebrity effect". Personally, I think it's because of sewing blogs; however, there was some validity to her statement, but I do not view it as a negative, but rather a celebration of their work. It is nice to have celebrities IMO. I strive to aspire to their level of beautiful work without the pressure of a celebrity label.

I don't write reviews so I can sit back and bask in any comments I receive (making the hopeful assumption they'll be positive LOL, but ya never know ;) ). I mean, I hope I get nice comments, but I write reviews to help people, not for my own validation by any means. If no one comments, it doesn't bother me. My outlook is I write reviews for others, not for myself. It's why I joined PR as a member--because it was so helpful. Comments are VERY much appreciated simply because they make one feel good about their work.

My feelings are the lack of comments are likely attributed to the explosion of sewing blogs. The first thing I notice in a PR review are the reviewer's style and body type. I'm drawn to those things right off the bat. Cennetta's, Kim's, Susan's reviews caught my eye right from the get-go when they started posting. I discovered Lindsay's, Charity's, Dawn's, Linda's, and Paula's blogs via the website/blog thread at PR, checked out their work and really liked it. Ann sent very sympathetic PM's to me when I took a verbal lashing from another PR member several years ago. Although I have very thick skin, her kind words started me on becoming a devoted follower of her work. Some blogs I discover because the posters have left comments like Robin, Angie, Keely, Rhonda, Alexandra, Sigrid, Mary, and Mary .

Some wonderful sewers I've actually met in person at PR Weekend NYC like Connie and Karen. There are a few I'm forgetting to list here too. I apologize in advance--my brain doesn't think too well in its pre-coffee state while editing HTML (I've been working on this post for several days!) and I still haven't added them to my blogroll. Shame on me!

Bear with me...there is a point to all of this...

There are many sewers/bloggers who deserve an incredible amount of recognition for their work. Ones that I feel deserve that "celebrity" status if they don't have it already, and are true sewing gems for their style, creativity, and sense of fashion. They are people that I would love to know in person, some of whom I've met, some of whom I hope to meet.

Back to the point...Cennetta nominated me for the Premio blog award. A person of her sewing stature, style, impeccable work, advanced fitting knowledge and incredible fashion sense. I feel truly honored to be nominated by her. She is such an inspiration as are all the blogs I subscribe to and a few I keep forgetting to subscribe to.

Has anyone not been nominated? I don't know. Therefore, I nominate:

Every blog I usually comment in. Not necessarily every day, but the ones I follow every day. You know who you are! You've been tagged if you haven't been so already. All the people listed above AND THEN SOME. The ones on my blog roll and the ones that need to be added.

That's sounds lame but it isn't. Really. Every blog in which I comment, I would like to meet these people in person if I haven't already. I gravitate toward certain blogs because the personality of the blogger shines through for all to see. They are so generous in sharing their creations, lives, fitting knowledge, tips, and techniques. It's most likely why I spend less time at PR nowadays, and more time with bloggers "in their homes".

They seem like people that possess the 6 qualities/values that I find most important which are:

Compassion

Having a good heart

Possess a positive attitude

Being true to one's word/honesty

Good ethics and morals

Even tempered personality

The negative points I condemn would be:

negativity
bad attitude/sour disposition
procrastination (of which I'm guilty of)
cut-throat disposition
combativeness
hotheadedness

These are the things that can ruin someone's day.

So, my fellow sewing bloggers, you all deserve what I call "Celebrity Status"! You are stars in my book that keep the spirit of sewing alive and well. You make it feel like there's a big wide world of sewing out there that I never felt before becoming a PR member and blogger.

Thank you Cennetta. Thank you Linda. I appreciate the nominations and will continue to pay it forward.

Keep sewing up a storm everyone!

--Kat