How'm I Doing?

When he was mayor of New York City, the Hon. Ed Koch famously asked his constituents, How'm I Doing? 

(I hate the use of the word "famously" in that context, but it's so prevalent that I just felt all band-wagony and had to jump on and say it.)

In fact, How'm I Doing became not only his catch-phrase but the title of his best-selling autobiography.

Now, I used to think that if you weren't handed a pink slip, a summons, an arrest warrant or a divorce decree, things were going pretty well for you.

But over the past couple of years, I've started selling things on etsy, and I've made the -- ahem -- occasional Facebook and Pinterest post.

And suddenly, my performance in those venues has become a very big, if somewhat capricious, deal to me.

I crave the 100% Positive  Feedback rating on etsy, which I 've earned, but I fret when someone buys something and doesn't leave a report. As with my writing, I take pride in my sewing and customer satisfaction is important. I've told myself that if someone were unhappy with the quality of the quilt she ordered from me, she'd say so. But, it's still nice to hear the "I love it and it looks great over my fireplace" remark.

I monitor my Facebook "Likes" like a latter-day Stuart Smalley: They are my affirmation that my status update was good enough, smart enough and, doggone it, people like me. (I'm not sure when Facebook posting became a competitive sport, but I'm in.)

I'm please when I find out someone new is following me on Pinterest, even though the idea of being followed used to be at least creepy, if not dangerous.

So, today, I thought I'd show you how I'm doing on sewing through the Kona cottons. This isn't the final layout, but the individual blocks are coming along well. The only bad part is that when you're cutting strips no wider than 2", you don't exactly steam through your stash.

Feel free to Oooh and Aaah. You know I like to hear it.