This one was taken earlier in the night - we can see the fireworks from the local baseball stadium from our kitchen window:
Right after taking this picture, lightning forked across the sky. It was incredible!
That's all for now!
Friday, July 08, 2011
Fireworks!
We were almost asleep Monday night (okay, I was wide awake, my fiancée was asleep, which equals almost asleep), when we heard an extra loud bang. After stumbling around for a minute, I realized that some of our genius neighbors were setting off fireworks in the parking lot behind our apartment. We sat there and watched for awhile, and I got some awesome pictures. I turned the flash off, which meant that I ended up with really long exposures.
This one was taken earlier in the night - we can see the fireworks from the local baseball stadium from our kitchen window:
Right after taking this picture, lightning forked across the sky. It was incredible!
That's all for now!
This one was taken earlier in the night - we can see the fireworks from the local baseball stadium from our kitchen window:
Right after taking this picture, lightning forked across the sky. It was incredible!
That's all for now!
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Review of Mollie Makes
On to the promised review - Mollie Makes. I picked this up at the local Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago. We'd lost power at home and needed a quick outing, so of course, where else would you go but the book store? The magazine is published by Future Publishing. They also do Britain's Cross Stitcher, another favorite (side note - the cool thing about Britain's Cross Stitcher is that they do contemporary cross stitch patterns in fun, bright colors).
Some of the things I loved -
Mollie Makes is full of wonderful photographs! Even the articles I didn't particularly care for had beautiful photography. In my opinion, wonderful photography is what often makes a magazine fun to look through. The magazine is also full of inspiration. The editors took some time and looked through blogs, websites, and pinterest to find the best of the best for inspiration. There are also a few how-to articles. One of them is pictured above - the eggs. The crocheted apple cozies on the front cover are also in there as a how-to article. Even better, all of the pattern pieces are in the back of the magazine, to scale. I love that I don't have to find a copy machine to resize any pieces. That can be one of my biggest pet peeves in the sewing world. That being said, I haven't actually made anything yet, so I'm not sure how good the directions are (although they looked good on the first read-through).
Some of the things I didn't love -
While full of inspiration, Mollie Makes was a little low on the how-tos and articles. There are a lot of interviews with artists in here, and it is so awesome to see how other people work, but there are not so many articles on techniques, or... photography, or... anything else. Even just one article on a new technique that could be adapted for multiple uses. Or some tips on photography. In their defense, I will say there is an article on places to visit (in Spain! Someday...) and an article about beautiful summer parties, with beautiful summer photographs to go along with it. I also have a little bit of trouble with the way it is laid out. It's almost as though someone looked into my random brain and said "this is a good layout!" There seems to be no clear train of thought here. Which I guess isn't necessarily a requirement for a magazine, I just found it to be slightly random in this magazine.
The upshot of all this? I liked it. With an $11.99 price tag, it was a little bit of an investment, but I wasn't disappointed. I will probably re-read it again today, to see if there was anything I missed, and I will definitely pick up the next one. However, I won't subscribe to it yet.
Time to go sew...
Some of the things I loved -
Mollie Makes is full of wonderful photographs! Even the articles I didn't particularly care for had beautiful photography. In my opinion, wonderful photography is what often makes a magazine fun to look through. The magazine is also full of inspiration. The editors took some time and looked through blogs, websites, and pinterest to find the best of the best for inspiration. There are also a few how-to articles. One of them is pictured above - the eggs. The crocheted apple cozies on the front cover are also in there as a how-to article. Even better, all of the pattern pieces are in the back of the magazine, to scale. I love that I don't have to find a copy machine to resize any pieces. That can be one of my biggest pet peeves in the sewing world. That being said, I haven't actually made anything yet, so I'm not sure how good the directions are (although they looked good on the first read-through).
Some of the things I didn't love -
While full of inspiration, Mollie Makes was a little low on the how-tos and articles. There are a lot of interviews with artists in here, and it is so awesome to see how other people work, but there are not so many articles on techniques, or... photography, or... anything else. Even just one article on a new technique that could be adapted for multiple uses. Or some tips on photography. In their defense, I will say there is an article on places to visit (in Spain! Someday...) and an article about beautiful summer parties, with beautiful summer photographs to go along with it. I also have a little bit of trouble with the way it is laid out. It's almost as though someone looked into my random brain and said "this is a good layout!" There seems to be no clear train of thought here. Which I guess isn't necessarily a requirement for a magazine, I just found it to be slightly random in this magazine.
The upshot of all this? I liked it. With an $11.99 price tag, it was a little bit of an investment, but I wasn't disappointed. I will probably re-read it again today, to see if there was anything I missed, and I will definitely pick up the next one. However, I won't subscribe to it yet.
Time to go sew...
Friday, July 01, 2011
Something pretty....
Okay, so I know I said that I would do a review of Mollie Makes, but, well, it ain't gonna happen tonight. We had a wonderful dinner, largely (wonderful) organic produce from Ellwood Thompson's, but I just wasn't in the mood to write after that. So here's a little bit of progress on the apple cores quilt. It's supposed to be about lap size when it's done. Those apple cores are about 6-7" long.
Maybe you can catch a review tomorrow... :D
Maybe you can catch a review tomorrow... :D
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Walk with me....
I walk to work a few days a week, and pass some amazing inspiration on the way. Here is my walk this morning.
Look closely at the brickwork at the top of this house. If you're a quilter, you'll recognize the two different quilt patterns!
Yes, this house doesn't have a back, they're doing construction. But look at the cool door, too!
If you're familiar with the Willow Lawn shopping center, then you should recognize the following shot. They're working on the mall...
Check back soon for a review of some new magazines I picked up!
Look closely at the brickwork at the top of this house. If you're a quilter, you'll recognize the two different quilt patterns!
Yes, this house doesn't have a back, they're doing construction. But look at the cool door, too!
If you're familiar with the Willow Lawn shopping center, then you should recognize the following shot. They're working on the mall...
Check back soon for a review of some new magazines I picked up!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Working on....
(photo edited with photoshop express)
....an Apple Core quilt for this club inspired by this beautiful picnic quilt found on postcards and pretties.....
Friday, May 21, 2010
:(
So, I'm not at Market this year. This is the first one I've missed in three years, and I guess I didn't realize how much I'd actually MISS it. I so desperately want to be there. Mom called me earlier today and said "there's someone who wants to talk to you." After a couple minutes, Anna Maria Horner came on the phone and asked why I wasn't there! (God, I sound like a groupie) I'm glad people remember me. Ironically enough, one of her new patterns came in an order later in the day. I've been lusting after it since last Market, so I bought it right away. Not that I have time to sew it. We also got this new book, which I borrowed for the night (the threadwork one, not Seams to Me).
(If you want to see updates from Market, check out our shop blog HERE)
Here are my newly re-arranged fabric shelves. Don't be deceived, this isn't all of it! There are more reds and multis in the laundry room, waiting to be washed, and 5 or 6 bins of fabric that I would consider project-specific. Oh, and the couple of yards upstairs waiting to be washed. Oh, and then there's three shelves of minkee, flannel, felt, and knits. I have a problem. I've uttered those words oh, so often recently. But look how pretty it looks on the shelves!
Lastly, some embroidery. I'm working on this as a shop/class sample. It's done on a "produce sack" which we sell at the shop. It also uses one of the new Stitcher's Revolution embroidery transfers.
Check out the cute fabric it's sitting on! I'm so in love with it right now. It's called from Aldo to Zippy by P&B Textiles (the color is a little off, I tried adjusting it).
(If you want to see updates from Market, check out our shop blog HERE)
Here are my newly re-arranged fabric shelves. Don't be deceived, this isn't all of it! There are more reds and multis in the laundry room, waiting to be washed, and 5 or 6 bins of fabric that I would consider project-specific. Oh, and the couple of yards upstairs waiting to be washed. Oh, and then there's three shelves of minkee, flannel, felt, and knits. I have a problem. I've uttered those words oh, so often recently. But look how pretty it looks on the shelves!
Lastly, some embroidery. I'm working on this as a shop/class sample. It's done on a "produce sack" which we sell at the shop. It also uses one of the new Stitcher's Revolution embroidery transfers.
Check out the cute fabric it's sitting on! I'm so in love with it right now. It's called from Aldo to Zippy by P&B Textiles (the color is a little off, I tried adjusting it).
Monday, May 03, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
random
It's snowing. We're tired of it.
My new headband with Alabama Stitch techniques.
Cool new fabric in the shop(Timber by Jessica Levitt from Windham). Must buy some. But, for what?
Blogger resizing my pictures is annoying me.
My new headband with Alabama Stitch techniques.
Cool new fabric in the shop(Timber by Jessica Levitt from Windham). Must buy some. But, for what?
Blogger resizing my pictures is annoying me.
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