Blooms And Bugs Studio - Whats up and whats going on!

Its been a while since I gave you an update on whats happening here in Blooms and Bugs studio. You might have found my blog a little quieter than usual ( or it could just be my imagination and you don't give a damn). Either ways, I just thought it would be fun to pop in and talk about whats happening in my little nook.

Of late, I have been trying a lot of new things in my projects. New things as in, trying out new patterns, sewing more stuff for boys, trying out new embellishing mediums, trying out new fabrics and also some new techniques. You may have caught some glimpses of these attempts in this Sprinkles Tee, Frooty Skirt but there is still a lot of fun stuff that hasn't been revealed on  the blog yet. So watch out for a lot of new and exciting tutorials and projects in the months to come.

I'm also collaborating with a couple of manufacturers and experimenting with their products to give you the scoop on the best supplies out there. You may have already seen the tutorials I have been doing for Clothworks and there are some more in works. I am also now a designer for Pellon ( look its me here on their website :)). I have a few projects planned out with Pellon products and I'm pretty excited about it. Did you know that there are about 50 different kinds of interfacings in Pellon's repertoire. Yeah, Me neither! Now I'm getting a chance to try out some of them and I have some very interesting things planned out.

In addition to manufacturer, there are also blogger friends  with whom I keep collaborating on various challenges and carnivals. Right now its Rikka ( of Ricochet and Away) and her Fab Fold 2012 challenge that I have been working on. Pleats and pin-tucks kind of scare me, I'm more of a ruffles and frills person. That was one major reason to join this challenge so I could push myself out of my comfort zone. But at the end, I fell in love with the design in the picture and ended up making the dress shown. So no precision sewing for me finally but at least I participated ( and made a dress I love).

I also did a guest tutorial this pair of leggings over at The DIY Mommy. There are some more kick-ass guest posts I have been working on, but they are a bit of hush-hush at this point. I will have more details on them in October hopefully.

Then there's this birthday that is sneaking up on me very fast. A certain 3 year old is so darn excited about her birthday that its contagious. I want to just drop everything I am doing and begin preparing for it with her.

Err...actually that is exactly what I have been doing...

Speaking of sneaking up, I was having this nervous feeling that Halloween is not very far out either. Until last week I didn't even have a plan for the costume but things suddenly fell into place a couple of days ago (plan that is, I still have to make the costume).

Image courtsey Sew Chibi via Me Sew Crazy

At least I'm far ahead of the game at my other blog Sew Pretty Sew Free where I'm sharing hand-picked Halloween costume tutorials everyday. This blog is also getting a lot of attention and gaining momentum steadily. Have you checked it out yet?

Amid all this flurry of activity and excitement, it is easy to let some major milestones and achievements slip by.  But there is this one milestone that I couldn't let go without sharing with you all. Blooms And Bugs recently hit half million pageviews mark. 500 freaking thousand!!! In a little over one year! How darn awesome is that? Thanks a lot for taking some precious moments from your busy life to join me here in my sewing tales. I really appreciate your coming here.

I have also been pretty active on various sewing/crafting forums and have been getting great traction there. Craftsy is one such forum. I have been posting all my tutorials there and now I'm just one shy of 200 followers. Our facebook pages Blooms And Bugs and Sew Pretty Sew Free have been thriving too with about 500 fans combined. Pinterest is another great social media which can't help going to. Blooms And Bugs Pinboards are now being followed by over 400 people. The only place where I am feeling pretty lonely is Stumbleupon. For some reason I haven't been able to connect to a single person on Stumbleupon. Was it something I wrote there?
Anyhow, life is pretty awesome. When I started this blog last year, who would have thought I would come to love it so much.

One of my tutorial has also been featured on Money Saving Mom for the first time. I have been trying to get featured on her blog for a long time now and it was so cool to see my tutorial there. Not only its great exposure, but I just a big fan of Crystal and her blog. If you never been to Money Saving Mom you're really missing out. This girl does save you some serious money, but she also encourages you and motivates you to be more organized, more positive and a better steward of your money and time.

I know some of you subscribe to All Free Sewing newsletters, this month many of my projects got featured on these newsletters too. 

Now if I could only take pictures good enough to be on Craftgawker...Got any great photography tips to share?