Week 2 Assignment

I was a little behind on my lesson for Week 2 because I didn't read the directions properly. :)

 Ooops.

 Makes me feel like a high schooler again.

Although I wasn't "in trouble" because I hadn't uploaded my assignment before I realized my mistake.

Our assignment was on freezing and/or implying motion.

I was going to turn this picture in. (click the pic to view larger)

 But then I realized for this part of the lesson we needed two pictures of the same subject doing the same thing, one that we liked and one that we wanted to improve on.

I had missed the word same. :)

I found a lot of pictures to improve on, they were just of other kids.

Good thing we have 2 weeks to complete the lessons. So today I tried again.

 This goes into the "good enough" category.

I am taking our teacher seriously when she says this assignment wasn't meant to produce great pictures. :)

The second part to our assignment was to find a creative way to imply or freeze motion.

This is what I turned in for that part.

This girl can hoola hoop like it's no big deal.

She's been known to read books while hooping.

I had tried a few different angles; from above, the side, etc.

 I ended up laying on our patio and shooting from below.

As I experimented, she just kept the hoop going and the bubble popping. :)

It was a fun exercise although my neck was sore by the time I was done.

I must have been holding it at a funny angle.

I am ready to tackle Week 3.

Another Math Lesson

 +

=

Explaination: New bolts of polka dot fabric + stacks of colorful prints = more lightweight blankets

One of these days

I am going to have rock solid obliques on my right side and I'll owe it all to this little, blonde, fuzzy haired imp.

She learned how to climb up on my sewing stool.

 As soon as I get up to cut or pin (which is to the left of the sewing machine), she scoots up on the stool as fast as she can.

I then reach to the right to take her down.

She climbs right back up.

I take her down.

She climbs back up.

We repeat until nap time.

Love Chevron?

Good, because I just added two more chevron print bag holders to my shop.

:)

Brown and cream.

Light smoky blue and cream.

This print is proving to be quite a popular seller.

Go ahead and jump on the chevron bandwagon!

Week 1 Assignment

This week's assignment was on the composition of a photograph.

I took over 300 pictures yesterday, trying to practice what I learned.

As I was in the middle of making supper, I looked up and saw my older kids playing outside.

Grabbing my camera, I dashed out the door muttering, "bag it, who needs supper anyway?"

I returned to find my 4 yr old in tears. "I want supper! You said you weren't going to make it.", she bawled. :) Poor girl.

When looking at my pictures, it was hard not to worry about the technical side of them.

Lighting, focus, etc, we learn that in the weeks to come.

I'm so used to editing pictures but editing is not allowed.

Here is what I turned in:

My son doing his math homework.

What I like:

The look on his face.

The fact that you can tell he's counting on his fingers.

The lighting from the left.

That fact that there is a bit of white space.

What I don't like:

My camera was tilted a bit so it feels like he's starting to slide down a hill.

His pencil kept getting in my way, I was so worried about trying to dodge it, I forgot about the window on the right.

This one is hard for me to post because it's not very good at all.

I had taken my little girls outside to play in the sprinklers that go off in our neighborhood every day.

It's really a rotten place to take pictures.

Our neighborhood isn't very pretty at this time of year.

But here it is.

This part of the assignment was to get a feel for what type of pictures we tend to take.

Horizontal vs vertical.

Off centered vs centered.

That sort of thing.

I'm only two weeks into the class but so far it's been a blast!

It will be fun to see how much my pictures improve by the end of it.

Got Scraps?

I do.

Way more than I know what to do with.

This tote has only my girl colored scraps in it.

It overwhelms me at times.

Not today though. I took a break from

 this pile of key fobs, (96 sewn up and waiting for hardware)

and started cutting scraps into 4" strips.

I then sewed the rows together and it came out looking like this.

 It's the start of a blanket top.

I am at the point where I need to decide which fabric to back it with.

Or if I should frame it in a another print before I back it.

The best part?

I tried to be "smart" when I was cutting the strips so now I have a pile

of 3" strips waiting to be sewn into a blanket top.

Cut once, sew twice.

Life

I'm pretty sure this comic was based on our family, just add a few more kids.

(click on the comic to view it in a larger format)

Oldies but Goodies

Every sale I make on Etsy is exciting. However, there are those what get an extra fist pump.

I made this blanket using one of my favorite fabric lines. Every blanket I made with this fabric sold quickly.  As I was organizing my fabric scraps one day, I came across a few more charms (already cut squares) and just enough other pieces to make one more blanket.

I was all excited as I listed it thinking it would sell as quickly as the ones in the past had. But there it sat. and sat. and sat. Talk about a head scratcher. I can't remember how long I had it listed, it was months if not a year or more.

Then this past Friday, it sold! Double fist pump!! It's currently on it's way to Singapore.

Lesson learned: Never give up on "old" product. You never know when the right buyer will come along.

Week 0 Assignment

I've been debating if I should post the pictures here on the blog from my assignments for the photography class I'm taking.

Here is Week 0. We had to post a picture we had of something that had an emotional tug to it, but it didn't have to be technically correct.

I started going thru my pictures and was overwhelmed by all my choices, so I picked the first one I found. I'm sure I had better ones to use but was too lazy to dig thru all of them.

This picture makes me smile, chuckle and say "grrr", all at the same time.

She had been eating breakfast at the dining room table. I left for a moment to go get something and came back to find her elbow deep into a box of goldfish crackers, her face still covered in yogurt. (chuckle moment, so typical of her)

 As I was clicking away with my camera, something outside caught her attention, so she was squatting in front of the window watching intently. (smile moment and sweet lighting!)

It was shortly after I took this picture that she decided she didn't want the goldfish and sent them sailing into the floor, right into the pathway of one of the other girls. Crunch, crunch went the crackers. (grrr moment) 

A fun tutorial

I saw this tutorial on How About Orange the other day.  The tutorial itself can be found on ikat bag's blog.

This is going into my "good intentions" file. I figure if the kids had a cute hamper to toss their dirty clothes into, they'll be more likely to use instead of throwing them on the floor.

I won't tell you how large my "good intentions" file is and how many of those projects actually get done. :)

Actually when I first saw this, I was thinking craft sale.  Maybe someone would be game to whip up a few.

Behind from Day 1

A month ago, I signed up for a photography class thru Karen Russell's blog.  The class started yesterday. After being gone for a long weekend, I still have not taken the time to sign on and see what our first lesson is.

I am fired up to learn how to use my camera properly and to capture more of everyday life in this crazy household of mine!  My intent is to listen to the audio version of the class while I work in my craft room in the afternoon.  I'll then follow up by reading the material in the binder Karen sent out.

Tomorrow, tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow.