Debi's Journal

I Think I Got the Macro Figured Out

2007-08-26T23:56:57Z

Melody caught a lizard in the shady garden area by the front door. Would I be able to take a photo in which you would be able to identify what she is holding? Or would I be forever macro-challenged?

I think the trick is to make sure the camera's zoom is completely out. That seems to be the reason my previous macro attempts resulted in horrible blurriness. But wait... forget the lizard! Look at Mel's poor thumb! Maybe that's too much detail?

Fanta Cat Progress 2

2007-08-05T23:04:32Z

I've been stitching Fantasy Flight off and on for about a month now. Except for a little backstitching, her lower half is finally finished. All that's left is the wing and veil on the right side. I've been thinking about all the many (way too many) WIPs I've never finished. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, since I don't see myself getting all of them finished. My daughter seems to like cross stitching; maybe some day if she makes the jump to non-Aida evenweaves I'll give her whichever ones she likes. Which WIPs will I pick up again? For now, I'm thinking of returning to Princess Swan. I still have all the blue threads in a little plastic bag, ready to continue.

An ATC in Progress

2007-08-03T22:56:44Z

I gave some more thought to the 100 Themes Challenge, and decided that I should try to go through the list in numerical order; therefore, I would begin with #1, Introduction. I gave it a bit of thought and decided against having a meeting between two adults. But what if one of them were a newborn? Here is Introduction in progress. The background fabric is a little tweaked. This was my second attempt to fuse the fabric to a 3.5x2.5" piece of Peltex II, because the first time I had the iron set too hot which caused one corner of the Peltex to shrink and the plastic backing to fuse to the interfacing so it wouldn't peel off. R-i-i-i-i-i-p. Try it again. Iron. Low heat. Press quickly. The dark pink/purple star fabric was a leftover scrap from the teddy bear quilt I made a few years ago. I drew the baby's head on a piece of muslin with a pigment pen, based on a photograph of my nephew. The mouth didn't turn out quite right; I might fudge it later with a black pen (all my black craft pens seem to have vanished). I machined-sewed the mother with a free-motion presser foot, but there were sections where I undid the thread and resewed it by hand. I also added some more lines with the pigment pen. I should have done the pen first and the sewing second. It's not surprising I ended up doing something the hard way. Afterthought, what would I do without you? The mother's outline is based on a photograph of me holding my nephew when he was a day old. I'm trying to decide if I should add some metallic thread accents, or beads, or simple embroidery to the empty spots. I'm also mulling over putting my initials in the bottom right corner. I don't see many ATCs with a signature on the front.

Something New: Fabric ATCs

2007-07-30T15:01:29Z

I first heard about artist trading cards (or ATCs) about a year ago. It sounded like another fun activity to do, but being the craftaholic that I am, I placed the idea in the "maybe another time" drawer in the back of my brain. Then, a couple of months ago, I was perusing a few quilting blogs when I saw several examples of fabric ATCs which renewed my interest. I think most ATCs are made from paper (think scrapbooking), but I like the idea of using fabric as the main element. While I was making my regularly scheduled visit to Craftster this past weekend, I decided to hop over to their More Art, Less Craft forum to look at the ATC boards. The 100 Themes Challenge and the 100 Themes Gallery caught my interest. Must ... try ... this. In fabric. As for supplies, I still have plenty of leftover Peltex II (stiff, two-sided fusible interfacing) from my explorations into fabric bowls and boxes last year. I also have lots of scrap fabrics. And, I have two sewing machines -- I was tired of having a machine that couldn't drop the feed dogs, so I got a good deal on the second (via craigslist). P.S. Yes, I still cross stitch, sew, and knit. I alternate weeks, heh heh heh.

Flowers and Lights

2007-07-29T19:06:30Z

Here are some shots I took with my new camera. I stuck with Canon (like my last camera) since there would be less of a learning curve, plus I like the way Canons display colors better than certain other brands. I tried playing around with the macro function for this photo:

I don't know what kind of flowers they are. They just started growing in our rose bed a few years back. I don't think I have the macro all figured out yet, because I can't get it to always focus correctly. For the next photo I experimented with the light effects option. I could choose from stars, hearts, and a few other shapes, but for this it was music notes:

Even the street light is sort of a large, blobby music note. Cool.

Only 13 more days until Melody comes home!

Some June Snapshots

2007-07-26T00:46:20Z

My camera, a Canon SD100, has served me faithfully for several years, but it was getting pretty old as far as digital cameras go. These are among the last photos I took with it. Back in March 2004, when Melody was in the 3rd grade, she attended an event called City of Readers and was given a packet of Red, White & Blue flower seeds for entering a flag coloring contest. She planted them right away, but only the blue flowers grew: morning glories. Here is the plant three years later. These are hardy flowers that are doing a wonderful job of surviving the southern California hot summers.

Now on to our next photo... Pinky's 5th birthday party was at the end of June. The upcoming year will be very exciting for her, because she is starting Kindergarten next month! Sneaking behind her is Bubby, whose 1st birthday would be a week later.

One of my birthday presents last week was a new pocket camera with some nifty features. I will post a few more snapshots soon!

I Passed, I Passed, I Passed

2007-07-14T07:03:22Z

I passed the RICA! I passed the RICA! Please excuse my excessive joy. I took this exam on June 16 and used the entire four hours. I didn't quite finish the final case study, but I ran out of steam at the end so I was mostly relieved to have it over. Most of the people in my particular testing room were at or near the end of their credentialing program like myself, but there were a few others who sounded like they were newbies who "just want to see how it is." $130 for a practice exam? It must be nice to be able to afford to take the exam unprepared, and then have to take it again later. Trust me, one time was more than enough. This site gives you an idea of the topics I needed to learn over the last two terms of school. I tutored two first graders for about 7 weeks each, and that was a tremendous help because of the assessments I did and the teaching strategies I had to come up with to help each student with their particular literacy needs. Other required exams I had to take were:

CBEST which I passed in 1997 so I could substitute teach
CSET which I took Nov. 2005 (and passed all three subtests) as a requirement for entering a California teacher credentialing program.

Now I just need to finish a health and safety course and wrangle an internship to complete my teaching credential.

The After-Reality of an Extreme Makeover

2007-06-26T00:01:31Z

Way back in April 2004, during their first season on ABC, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to San Bernardino, California and did their first ever complete rebuild of a home. For some reason, I don't believe I blogged about this event, although I talked about it in detail on a cross stitch board three years ago. I wish I saved the thread. When I heard the news that the tv show was in Berdoo, I hopped over a few hours before the family was due to return from their vacation, took many photos of Ty Pennington, and watched the spectacle. This new home was for the Imbriani family; Mrs. Imbriani had donated bone marrow that saved a baby girl's life, and I believe the grateful mom nominated the Imbrianis for the show as a result. This is a photo of the front of the finished house, with the family being filmed inside (which is why there is a guy holding the front door):

I remember thinking that the water fountain in front was cool. I also got a good laugh at Preston Sharp's attempts at getting the porch swing to not dump him backwards (which it did) when he sat on it. I did observe that this was a very run-down neighborhood, which probably experiences quite a bit of gang activity. This house looked very out of place when compared to all the other houses on the street. About a block up the street is an old movie theater that was closed down years ago. On the cross street south of the house are both an elementary and a high school. I once substituted for a Kindergarten class at the elementary school, when the school went into lockdown during the kids' recess because of rumors of yet another riot at the high school. Anyway, that sort of gives you an idea of what kind of area surrounds this house. Here is a screen cap of the house as it appeared on tv during the episode's second telecast:

Unfortunately for me, I did not have a DVR available to me at the time, only a junky VCR and an old tape. The recording was fine up until the crowd scene just before the "unveiling" where the picture became very distorted. This distressed me greatly, because this was my big moment on national tv:

I figured if a DVD ever came out, I'd buy it and have a nice, clear picture of myself to share with everyone. Alas, even though there is now a Season 1 DVD available, the Imbriani family is not on it. Since the house is not far from a few schools and businesses that I occasionally need to go to, I drive by the house every once in a while. I noticed after the first couple of months that the water fountain was turned off. Then, maybe a few months after that, the house went on sale. It still appears to be on the market, and apparently nobody's buying. Nobody seems to be living in it, or has been for quite a while. The picture below is clickable (Melody took the photo) but it's still not that great of an image. I smudged out the phone number on the sign.

I'm sure the family had valid reasons for needing to sell/move out, and I hear that happens with many of the houses that are redone on the show. I just think of all the volunteers who put their heart and soul into making a magical home for someone in need of a livable shelter, and it makes me sad to see its now-empty shell. Even the swing is gone.

On the Needles

2007-06-08T04:46:39Z

Actually, I have several items on various needles, but this is one of the fun ones. It's ... another scarf, and here is its history. About a week ago I heard about a yarn store in my area that opened their doors last year. Of course, I had to check it out. It's called The Yarn Deli, located in Redlands. This past Monday, after going through a little drama over getting Melody to continue at her current middle school for the 7th grade, I felt I needed to treat myself to some yarn therapy and headed to the shop. I was immediately greeted as I walked in the door, and there were several women and one girl about Melody's age working on projects at a back table. When one of the shop owners came over for a friendly chat, I immediately recognized her as the "nice" employee from another yarn shop that I no longer go to. Cool! Most of the yarn in the shop is made of natural fibers -- plenty of cottons, a basket of silks, some Noro Kureyon on sale, and an entire wall of Malabrigo! I've heard so many knitters sing the praises of Malabrigo, so I was eager to see what the fuss was about. I purchased a hank of Stone Blue worsted, which was a color I figured Melody wouldn't wrinkle her nose at. Yes, I limited myself to one since my funds are very meager at this time. I will return to the shop, be sure of that. One of the women at the back table turned out to be the other shop owner, and she was needle felting a pizza purse. (Hmmm, that brought to mind the infamous bacon and eggs purse!) Everyone insisted that I could drop by the shop at any time they're open and just have a seat and knit, chat and enjoy some tea. Yeah! When I made it home, I considered making the Malabrigo into a hat and so I asked Melody what she thought of that idea. Oh no, she said. It had to be a scarf. And it had to be in the same drop stitch pattern that I was already using for an alpaca yarn scarf for my sister. Good thing the pattern is easy to memorize. The Malabrigo is very soft. It feels nicer than Manos del Uruguay, and it's so much softer than scratchy Noro Kureyon.

Why It's Important to Wash Your Hands

2007-05-11T04:39:45Z

Melody did a little activity towards her Let's Get Cooking badge. I cut two slices from the same apple (washing my hands first, of course). I had Mel rub one slice between her hands after she spent some time in the great outdoors. She immediately plopped the apple slice into a ziploc bag which I sealed. She then thoroughly washed her hands with antibacterial soap before rubbing the second slice. This photo was taken on May 5, nearly two weeks after the apples were placed in the ziplocs.

The apple slice on the left still looked fresh and felt firm. The apple slice on the right was very squishy, and was brown with green and gray fuzz. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww. My sister showed them to her class of first grade students to emphasize how important handwashing is.

Yummy Soap

2007-05-09T16:23:07Z

A nearby town has a market night every Thursday, and I often go there with Mel since her music lessons happen to be on the same night in the same area. There some items that we regularly buy, such as apple pie from Riley's Farm, a local apple orchard that's a popular spot for elementary school field trips. Anyhow, one night last fall there was a vendor selling $2 handmade soap. I was on a handmade soap kick at the time and had already bought some I really liked from an Etsy seller for around $4 each plus shipping. But these soaps were bigger and $2 each. I ended up buying two, Linden and Orange Oatmeal, because I only had about $5 left on me after buying the apple pie. I really like the soaps - they lather up well and they last a while (more than the smaller soaps, of course), but I never saw the vendor again at market night. Earlier this week I decided to try to look them up online, and lo and behold, here they are: Kreamy Soaps. And they have a May special going on! I'm pretty sure I can convince a few family members that they need 3 or 4 bars of soap, so I can get in an order of 20. I really want to try out the Mud Bar (and Olive, and Tea Tree, and...and...), and Mel would be happy to get another Linden to replace the bar she just used up.

tap tap Is This Thing On?

2007-05-07T15:09:11Z

It's a nice Monday morning in May, so I'm taking the time for a quick update. I'm still busy with school, the kidlet is still busy with school, and life has mostly been going on as usual. Mel's school has all sorts of after-school clubs and activities, and a couple that she had participated in are Golf Club and Geocaching. This week she gets to start ... CROSS STITCHING! This group is only offered to GATE and honor students and meets twice a week for the rest of the month of May. I'm tempted to let her take some of my stitched items for show and tell. Considering all the different clubs at the school (like Ski Club, Book Club, and Dance Club), I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been a Knitting Club started at her school yet... Recent fun: Two weekends ago was Junior Jam, and it was a most excellent weekend for camping. The campsite was up in Barton Flats, about halfway to Big Bear from Redlands, around an altitude of 6,000 ft. I didn't camp overnight with the troop, but I spent most of Saturday watching the activities and helping out where I could. I love spending the day up in the mountains. It was this day that I decided to make a 5-year goal of hiking to the tops of San Bernardino peak (alt. 10,649) and San Gorgonio mountain (alt. 11,500 ft). I just need to find some hiking partners! Recent tragedy: Last Wednesday, my Social Studies/History/Visual Arts instructor didn't show up to class. We found out the next day that she was in a bad car accident on the way to class and is now on life support. It was horrible news. She's not much older than me, I believe. She's a very lively and friendly person, and she had recently returned from her dream vacation in Egypt. This just drives home that horrible feeling that devastating, unexpected things can happen to anyone at anytime. Hugs all around!

This and That, Again

2007-02-18T02:46:45Z

My dad spent the morning watching Martin Scorcese's The Departed. When the movie finished, Dad asked me if I knew anything about the movie (I didn't other than it was very violent) because he was completely confused and the movie made no sense to him at all. It turned out that he couldn't tell the difference between Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, and thought they were the same actor. This past Monday it snowed again, a little heavier this time, but a full mile east of the house because we didn't get any snow here. The roads and fields around Mel's school were covered. By afternoon the temperature reached 60°F. Today the high was 81°F. Crazy weather. Speaking of Mel and school, she made the honor roll for the first semester. She received a nifty little "I am a Top Cat at ***** Middle School" bumper sticker for her efforts. My nephew Bubby is 7.4 months old now. He's a chatty little guy whose entire verbal repertoire consists of "Ba ba ba ba ba." He's also crawling around everywhere and standing wherever he can get a handhold to pull himself up. Girl Scout Cookies - They are on sale here in the San Gorgonio Council area until April 1. For those of you who will be at a certain San Diego get-together in mid-March, let me know if you're interested in a box or ten. They are $4 per box. Here are the eight flavors available this year.

Purple Striped Scarf

2007-01-13T08:42:31Z

This is the tube scarf I finished a few days before Christmas. The yarn is hand-dyed fingering weight yarn, and it was my learning project on my knitting machine. To my delight, this was relatively quick to knit, if you don't count the time spent fussing with the machine and figuring out what not to do. It was actually knit flat, then seamed on one side. It turned out a little wider than I expected, with a cast-on of 120 stitches. Because the machine is a mid-gauge, the scarf was a little airy even with the tension dial set to 1. Each stripe is 40 stitches high, except for the darker purple on the ends which are 30 stitches high, which worked out because I used up the entire skein (550 yards). This was a gift to a friend who is very fond of the color purple. Melody wants me to make another one of these for her in blue, and if I get around to it the scarf will definitely be narrower with shorter stripes. Last week I finished a novelty yarn scarf with dropped stitches using Moda Dea "Curious" yarn. I'll shoot a picture as soon as I find my now-missing camera...

But it was 80 degrees just a couple of days ago...

2007-01-12T20:22:12Z

It rained off and on last night, but I didn't hear any of the usual loud patters when I woke up so I figured, cool, this rain has passed. When the kidlet was finally ready to head for school, I sent her out to get the newspaper.

Then I heard the loud squeals.

Mel probably spent a good ten minutes prancing and running around outside. She even made a quickie miniature snowman.

[Link to video 1] - "It's snowing!"

[Link to video 2] - That's a grapefruit tree on the right.

Kiddo spent the weeks before and after New Year's Day in New York, and was so disappointed that the weather was warm the entire time. I guess this made up for it, a wee bit, anyway. The last time I remember it snowing in my neighborhood was around 15-20 years ago.

I believe this is only the second time I've had my car blanketed in snow; the first was during a springtime trip to Yosemite in 2000. Anyhow, about a half hour after Mel left for school, the sun came out and the snow stopped.