More Summer Fun - Sorry No Sewing!

I just can’t get over how pretty the sunrise was a few mornings ago. This is at about 5:30am when I went out for a run. First is was purple/pink and then it turned purple/orange. All in the matter of minutes, people. Nature is pretty awesome if you pay attention.

 

Speaking of nature. I thought everyone knew these mushrooms really existed. I posted a picture on Facebook and some people were blown away that this type of mushroom is real. This is a super poisonous mushroom. It’s called an Amanita (Genus) and they are beautiful. They are all over this time of year. The one with my hand may be the biggest one I’ve ever seen. Usually, the caps are about the size of a large golf ball.

 

I found the Amanita jackpot the other day.

 

 

I just got back from running a race. It was in Seward and it was 16 miles. In the Chugach National Forest. Over a mountain pass. Whew. I’m a tired puppy today. Basically, you run uphill for about 9 miles, you run flat for a few miles (the ridge of the mountain pass), and then straight down for about five miles. The scenery was breathtaking. I didn’t get any pictures except this one since I was running my ass off. My time was 2:30 and I think that’s pretty good. It’s my first time running this. The female first place finisher was done in 1:58. These other two people are a husband/wife that I’ve known for a very long time. I run almost all of my long training runs with her. We had our first kids about 10 days apart and we both have identical twins that were born a few months apart. Strange world.

 

After the epic run, we hiked to Exit Glacier. It was a short hike and our legs were still tired.

 

The glacier is to my left. It’s really pretty down in Seward.Yes, I’m still wearing my sweaty running clothes. Ewww!

 

Then we went on a dinner cruise with a tour company. They take you to an island where you eat dinner and play around on the beach. We mostly played with the jellyfish. This is one is partially desiccated so we could actually pick it up.

 

These are moon jellies. They don’t sting. There were some other ones and they do sting. We stayed away from them!

 

I promise I have sewing to show you! I enjoy people’s pictures so I figured you guys would like to peek at some beautiful Alaskan scenery.

Caribbean Cruise

I’m back and I’m alive but barely! Wow, I need a vacation from my vacation. Not too much time to write but you can see from the pictures that we had fun with a capital F. We went to the Princess Cays (which I’m not sure is a real place), Curacao, and Aruba. Bea-UUUUUUU-ti-FULLLLL. Little people had a blast. Haven't sewn a stitch since I’ve been back; I’m still trying to get all the laundry done. More later but I though you would enjoy some pictures.

I can sure tell you that both of my cameras got a workout!!!

Kwiksew 3155 - Hooded Sweatshirt

I made a sweatshirt with this pattern last summer and wear it all the time. This time, I wanted a cozier version. Let’s see, this version is obviously the long-sleeved version. I added some bling to the v-neck because it was way too plain without it. I added an inch to the sleeve hems and folded them back to the RS and topstitched them. I added about an inch to the bottom and then added a double-folded, 3” hem. I like that it’s long enough to cover me booty.

 

You can see this is a french terry kind of fabric. It’s very cozy inside this top. It’s like being inside a sleeping bag.

 

In the hood, I pressed the seam and stitched it down so the SA looks nice. You’ll see this from the outside so I wanted it to look finished.

 

The bling is the same bling that I used here on this Burda top. It’s iron-on but very easy to position and use. It has not come off my other top and it’s been through several washings.

 

 

The two fun photos for the day. This is The Boy and will he ever grow into those teeth? This is an inside shot in the evening. Not too bad.

 

We are losing snow like crazy up here people Like. Crazy. Not that I’m complaining.

 

This is the last time you’ll hear from me for a while. I’m headed to the Caribbean. Yeeeeeeeeeah.

Burda 03-2011 #129 Tube Skirt

I’m embarrassed to admit I used a pattern for this skirt. There is no pattern pieces, it is just a rectangle with a CB seam, elastic waist, and hem. I made two of them. The first used up the remnants of this leopard print fabric. The second used up some of the embossed gray fabric from this dress.

Can you tell I’ve been having fun with my camera?

I didn’t even insert a grommet and drawstring. I just serged elastic to the band, folded it over, and coverstitched it. Voila, two skirts. I figured these would be fun on the cruise to slip on with a t-shirt. Together these two skirts took, ooooh, about an hour start to finish. As far as a review, well, you can’t get any simpler. I cut the rectangle for the size 34 and, what do you know, it works!

Random, fun photo(s) of the day (I couldn’t just pick one):

All the kids have the prettiest eyes

My workhorse.

House Update

This is why you haven’t gotten a sewing post in a few days. We’ve been working our woo-has off on the upstairs of the house. We’ve been painting, trimming, and changing things up. Our walls were all white so we are changing them to a nice beige. I know that gray or greige is the new hot color but I live in Alaska and I can’t do gray. Can’t do it. It’s gray here all the time. I need a little warmth in my paint color. Here you can see the wall from one of my previous posts.

 

We are working on Sheetrocking a really high wall. One of the things I love about this house is the Wall of Windows.

 

Wall O’ Windows

 

Our beautiful brass lights. These will be changed in the next couple of days.

 

 

Here’s a sewing tidbit. I have something fun to show you people. See? Actually sewing! You’ll have to wait to see what it is.

 

 

And because I’m having so much fun with my new Canon, two fun photos.

 

Look at those eyes!

Who has the best husband ever?

No, not you.

Me.

Really.

After hearing me prattle on and on about cameras, he’s bit the bullet and bought a DSLR. Sqqqqqquuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. He told me that I have to keep the smaller one we just bought for Christmas because “they have their own purpose.” He said if I enjoyed photography this much, I should have a nice camera. Um, I think I may have scored in the husband department.

 

I swear I do have things to show you. I’ve been sewing actually. With parent conferences and the house painting, I’ve been behind schedule with my sewing. Life gets in the way sometimes. Now you guys will have to ignore even more of my photography posts. Sheesh, he’s created a monster!

For you photography nerds, it’s the Canon Rebel T3i. I am still loving on my other Canon point and shoot but this one will be so much fun!!! And with our cruise coming up, watch out!

Yet Another Set

Okay, guys I promise there aren’t too many more posts that are not sewing related. But I think I’m going to get Adobe Photoshop Elements. It’s easy to use, I get pretty good results, and I have a few people who really know it up here and can help me.

 

Here’s the original Alaskan-twilight-snow picture.

 

Here it is doctored up with Elements. Pretty good, I think. I changed the levels a bit and then changed the white balance because snow makes everything look so blue.

 

I even have some fun sewing to share with you. Hopefully, I’ll be done tonight.

Another Set of Photos

Here’s the original

 

Canon software autocorrect.

 

Lightroom Autocorrect.

 

Lightroom with my own tweaks. I changed the exposure, contrast, added a little vignette, and played with the smooth skin feature. That feature is pretty incredible actually, look at my face in the last photo compared to this one.

 

What’s the best bang for my buck people?

Experimenting with Photo Editing Software

So with my new fun camera, I’ve been experimenting a bit with photo editing software. I decided to have you people (you people!) help me out. I like simple and I like cheap inexpensive. What do you guys use?

 

Here’s a typical picture for me. It’s inside with no flash. I hate the flash but what do you do? Alaska has very little natural light most of the time so it’s hard to get decent pictures with natural light. Original picture taken inside with no flash.

 

 

Here’s the same picture using the autocorrect on my software that came with the camera. I think it’s actually pretty nice. It’s cumbersome software though making me save separately every time I crop, edit, etc.

 

Here’s Adobe Lightroom (I have the 30 day free trial) and the autocorrect. The skin tone may be more accurate in this photo than the one above.

 

Adobe Lightroom again with a few tweaks from me. I changed the exposure, contrast, and added a gradient filter to the bottom left of the photo to give the cards a little more detail. The problems with Lightroom? Well, it’s expensive (not too bad, about $200), has a pretty big learning curve, and I can’t easily add lines and text when I need to (or maybe I can and don’t know how).

 

 

Here’s Paint.net which is free and I’ve been using it for years. The autocorrect feature is bad though and I never use it. I can add lines, text, and adjust most things easily.

 

 

Original : Canon Software : Lightroom Auto : Lightroom with tweaks : Paint.net

 

Any suggestions? I don’t have time to learn Adobe Photoshop. I want something easy and fast and preferably inexpensive. What do you guys use?