The other day I felt like making something other than a PodPillow. I noticed my scrap basket was overflowing and I thought I would see about using those.  A craft room explosion was the result, although somewhat temporary.  Eventually, just about everything was organized into neat little scrap bundles.

The rainbow scraps at the bottom were pulled out for the project, which I’m just finishing up now. More when I’m done!

Now that I’m back in the sewing groove, I’ve decided to refresh some of the fabrics I’m using.  Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to decide where to start (it never is when it comes to finding new fabric, realistically).  I’ve been fairly preoccupied with yellow as of late, as evidenced by a new paint job in the bedroom, which is a very strong goldenrod.  (Check it out!)

My favorites of the recent batch include some prints from Lotta Jansdotter’s Echo collection, pictured above.  I think grey makes such a lovely pairing with yellow and I’m determined to find many uses for this combo wherever I can.

Next, is Joel Dewberry’s new Heirloom collection.  I got a half yard of each print in the Ruby collection.  I was head over heels for all of the pictures I saw online, but was much less enamored of the actual set when it arrived.  Here’s the tempting online picture that drew me in:

(From Fat Quarter Shop – a great online fabric store)

The real thing arrived the other day and was…I don’t know…richer?  Less what I expected.  Here’s what arrived:

The yellows are quite mustardy, and the whole collection is a bit more vivid than I had anticipated.  But I like it!  And I will find lots of great spots to use it.  I had hoped to use it for a quilt for the bedroom, to match the new curtains in another of Joel Dewberry’s prints, but I just don’t think it’ll go.

Anyway, that’s what’s new here.  Oh!  And not too long ago, I saw some other bloggers talking about light boxes they made.  Light boxes are used to take well-lit still shots with little to no shadows.  Having one is really key to great photos, especially when you don’t have the luxury of natural daylight during your photo times.  Check out In Color Order Jeni’s here, and the tutorial that helped.  I had been using a makeshift light setup for the longest time and it really wasn’t very good.  It relied on natural light (not much of that these days, with full time job and dark evenings), and so, inspired by the examples I’d seen, I decided to make my own.  Since I didn’t have a cardboard box, I decided to go to the hardware store, use the stock of power tools at my disposal, and make this a more serious and sturdy creation.

It’s larger than I should have probably made it (it’s 2′x2′), but it’s awesome! Light in our house is really sub-par, so having this around is giving me thoughts of covering our entire house in white fabric and pointing flood lights in through the windows.  Maybe a project for another day.

]]> http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2011/12/04/fabric-and-photography/feed/ 1 http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2010/08/06/ragbrai-days-2-7-and-home-again/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ragbrai-days-2-7-and-home-again http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2010/08/06/ragbrai-days-2-7-and-home-again/#comments Sat, 07 Aug 2010 04:12:56 +0000 robyn http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/?p=738

Yikes!  So sorry my trip blogging came to an abrupt halt.  I didn’t get in a crash or die of a heart attack on the road, but there was virtually no internet to speak of, so I couldn’t post anything on the blog. It was frustrating at first, and then kind of nice to be 100% unplugged.  That happens so rarely and I think I needed it.

The trip was a complete and utter blast!  I would do it again in a heartbeat, and I really miss the endless hours on the bike, now that I’m settled back into my cube desk chair for 8 hours a day.

There’s something so nice about having only one thing to do in a day – well two, really:  bike a bunch of miles, and eat twice your weight in pie and sweet corn.  And then when you’re done, you can go set up your tent, sit somewhere in the sun or in the shade, and relax with a nice, cold bottle of low-calorie G2 grape Gatorade (…what?) and chat with fellow campers.

In the end I rode about 520 miles in the week, and there was only one day of downpour.  Here’s a quick recap of the stuff I did along the way:

Day 2:

I did my first century!  That means riding over 100 miles in a day.  Also:  the week’s first piece of pie.  Pineapple surprise!  First ear of corn consumed, two temporary tattoos obtained. Behold the corn tattoo on my arm:

Passed through Pocohontas (aka Pokey) and Plover (signs told me that “Plover rhymes with lover” and that “Plover is where the men are good lookin’ and the grandmas have balls… ham balls that is!”  These are apparently like meatballs, but made of ham, and on a stick, like most RAGBRAI delicacies.)

Here is the Pokey mascot:

Day 3:

This was the hottest day of all of them.  When we completed the day’s mileage and were nowhere near the end of the ride (mistake on the route map!), we stopped in a shady farm house front yard, where the wife owner was selling cookies and pickles and the husband brother-in-law was lounging in a lawn chair, narrating the goings-on through a microphone and big speakers.  This guy had a seriously radio-worthy voice and was soothing us with reassurances of how great the cookies were (“best homemade cookies in the county…get em before they’re gone”) and counted down the number of remaining pickles (“just 3 pickles left, folks…”).

One pickle later, we crashed under a tree and listened to his peaceful narration, with Buddy Holly tunes playing in the background.   Our final destination for that day was Clear Lake – the site of Buddy Holly’s last gig before he died in an airplane crash in that very town, along with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.  We filled up our water bottles with the farm-owner-touted-over-speakers Iowa certified well water and were on our way.

This was the day I vowed to eat 10 ears of sweet corn before the week was out.  The corn tattoo does not count as an ear.

Day 4:

It was another gloriously sunny day.  We passed through a town called Cartersville, where a giantly high trapeze was set up above a pond.  Spandex dries quickly!  Trapeze was later closed due to excessive nudity. Cartersville is a wholesome town, afterall.  Perhaps the bloody mary vendors and the trapeze/pond combo shouldn’t have been placed so close together?

Day 5:

Sobering pass through Parkersburg, site of an F5 tornado that leveled large parts of the town 2 years ago, and also the tragic and fatal shooting of the pillar-of-the-community football coach by one of his students just 1 year ago.  It looked like almost everything was rebuilt (though treeless) and spirits were high among the locals.

The town called Dike was selling “I biked through Dike” t-shirts.

Day 6:

Cold rain all morning, but I had one of my best and fastest days of riding.  First day that I met another person from Massachusetts.  Quick lunch stop in Quasqueton (Quasky, for short!), and took about 5 miles to warm up again.  Brrr!

Day 7:

On the final day we stopped at the Field of Dreams!  The one from the movie!  And then it was off to conquer the biggest and toughest hill of the entire ride.  A 1-mile beast with up to a 19% grade.   A lot of people walked it.  I made it up on two wheels!  The reward?  A bunch more hills until the finish, where we dipped our tires in the Mississippi river.  Final sweet corn tally:  only 7 of 10.  Next year I’ll have to shoot for 13 ears in 7 days!

So… Any takers for next year?

Anyway, I’ve found farm country! I’ve got a solid 550 or so miles behind me and I’m nestled in the warm embrace of a highway hotel in Youngstown, OH, after a successful day 1 of driving. Make that the freeeeeezing cold embrace. It’s like a refrigerator in my room, but nothing that can’t be solved with a little thermostat adjustment. For now, I feel kind of like I’m at work so it’s all good, (except this room is without the gentle whirring of my space heater in the background).

From my window I can see a Taco Bell, a Perkins, a half dozen gas stations, and a Mexican restaurant called Salsitas. Yelp just confirmed its outward sketchiness by giving it a mere 2 stars. Thank goodness for Yelp!

On the other hand, my VegOut app tells me hat there are two vegan options within a 20 mile radius. Score! Except that one doesn’t appear to have food (?) and the other doesn’t have a website and that makes me rethink driving far to go there. In light of this, I may try to patronize a non-chain sandwich shop that gets some serious Yelp love. (If you haven’t guessed by now, I will admit that I am a total ratings lemming. Attach 5 stars to anything and I’m there!)

Day 2 will start early and if all goes well will land me in Iowa City, which is an adorable town where we’d drive to in college to get a bookstore and coffeehouse and Indian food fix. Excited to see what it’s like now!

Here’s a pic of my packed car. Bike, big nag of gear, little bag of gear, if you can see it at all. Hope it works!

I’m all packed for RAGBRAI!  This is all my stuff, packed into plastic bags. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from reading about this ride is that water is your Mortal Enemy and plastic shall defeat all evil.  In case you were wondering, I prefer Ziploc (double zip! big writing area!) to Hefty (snap system that breaks.  A lot.)  My greatest packing victory so far?  I’m just bringing ONE pair of pants!

I’m going to try to blog my trip and upload a pic or two here and there from my iPhone while on the road.  Not sure how well that will work.   Either way, tomorrow starts my drive west!  Iowa, watch out.  I’m coming with my army of plastic soldiers.

So, this summer I’ll be riding my bike across the great state of Iowa.  The one with all the corn, pigs, and farms, smooshed between Nebraska and Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri.  You know… the state you’d ride your bike across if you were into stuff like that.  Like, apparently, I am.

It’s my first time participating in this thing called RAGBRAI, which stands for the (Des Moines) Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.  About 10,000 cyclists gather at one end of Iowa, ride through all sorts of little towns, and eventually find themselves on the other end, tired as all get-out.  This year, the route is about 460 miles to cover in 7 days on a bike, with camping at night.  It’s one of the shortest in RAGBRAI history.  Each day I’ll ride between 50 and 85 miles or so. Since I’m a RAGBRAI rookie, I’ve been reading up a lot on how to train and get in shape for riding that much in a row.  My research tells me that there are really two ways to train for such an event:  1) ride your bike an awful lot, or  2) practice your pie-eating and beer-drinking skills until you feel ready to face the week (and its endless supply of pie and beer) head-on.  The event is the last week of July – arguably the hottest, muggiest week of the year!  Double Yay!

In addition to ample pie and beer, there appears to be no lack of 90s rock band entertainment to keep us pedaling in style.  So far, the Spin Doctors and Smashmouth are booked along the way.  Woo!

If you’re like other people I’ve been foolish enough to mention this little adventure to, you probably want to know why.  Why I’m doing this, why Iowa, why wouldn’t I spend my 2 weeks off in July in a more sane place, like the beach or by a lake?  First off, let’s clarify about the beach and the lake.  I dislike the beach.  Sand and grit get everywhere and I can’t sit still and don’t really enjoy swimming or boats or the ocean or really lakes, either. (Although today and yesterday were excruciatingly hot days here in MA, and I did find myself daydreaming about swimming in a lake.  Don’t tell.)

Anyway, I went to college in Iowa, in a lovely little town called Grinnell, and I’m riding with my alumni association.  It’s their second time gathering folks to do this.  It should be fun!

Things I’m a little nervous about:  I don’t know anyone else.  Not another soul.  Also?  I’m driving from Massachusetts to Iowa and back, alone.  And I’m not sure how I’m not going to overpack.  (There are people that will drive my stuff from one town to another, so I don’t have to ride with it on my bike, but there’s still a limit to what’s reasonable to take with me.)

Things I’m not so nervous about:  I think I’m in shape (cross fingers), including in the ways of pie-eating (for sure that).  Grinnell folk are friendly.  Not knowing anyone shouldn’t last too long.  I’ll probably get to see the lovely Melinda and her brand new baby on the way there or back.  Yay!  And also – two weeks off of work!

So anyway, if you’ve been wondering why my blog’s been a little on the quiet side, I’ve been riding my bike a lot.  This makes me tired and sleepy and a lot less crafty than I’d like… I hope to have a craft resurgence soon and am now scheming about interesting bike accessories I should make for the trip!

Ideas?

I just bought this full-of-awesomeness new chair for just $20 bucks at a yard sale.  It was totally meant to be that I and this chair would come together in holy craft-room-accessorizing matrimony – I’m sure of it!  I was on a bike ride and passed this yard sale in a posh part of town.  I think that if there’s one rule of yard sales, it’s that you have to stop at the posh ones for the big bargains to be found at rich peoples’ homes, right?  I mean, the nicest houses seem to have the nicest stuff.

But I didn’t stop. I violated my own rule, even though I spotted this cute little pink chair staring right at me, and despite the fact that I’ve been looking all over for a small, comfy chair for this corner forever.  I went on to my destination (a 40-some-mile ride in total, with a lovely stop to visit my dear friends’ new baby in between!).  On the way home, a few hours later, I re-passed the posh yard sale, and it was STILL THERE.

I sat on it, and it was comfy!  And then the guy came out and told me the magical price of $20 – serendipitously the exact amount I carry with me on bike rides – and I forked it over and told him I’d be back later to get it.  And now the chair lives in the craft room, together with me, and the little scooter-covered footstool.  We’re still in the honeymoon period.  The chair doesn’t know yet that it will be piled high with fabric from time to time, and we might fight about that, but I hope we don’t.  Aside from these (hopefully) brief messy periods, I think we will live happily ever after here in the craft room together.  Sigh.  Love!

Fabric ideas for the perfect throw pillow?

Hi everyone!  Wow, it’s been a while. I’ve been busy, busy, and each time I let some time pass between blog posts, I get first post syndrome all over again.  But I’ve gotten over it in time to say hello before next Christmas.  Phew!  And I brought some elephants with me to help break the silence.

I won’t bore you with details of what’s kept me away from Blogland, but just know that I’ve missed you all!  Want to see some more PodPillows?

Several PodPillows have just arrived in my Etsy store!  Take a look!

Recently we got a great book from friends with impeccable taste in food and cookbooks:  Lorna Sass’s Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way.  It’s a book with loads of recipes using grains you’ve (or at least I’ve) never heard of (amaranth, triticale, teff, kamut) and new ways to think about using those grains you already know and love (rice, corn, barley).  It also contains words that I seldom see in many cookbooks not aimed directly at vegetarians:   “Vegetarians will enjoy this as an entree.”  Thus, it earns a prime spot on our cookbook shelf.

Also why I like this book?  Ryan dislikes quinoa, which is my favorite Supergrain around, and I’m looking for a suitable replacement that doesn’t bring about the grimaces that that innocent, delicious, unthinkably healthy quinoa garners.  Let’s just say that grains as an entree has never sat well with him, so this is going to be a tricky task.  I think it’s best summed up that he’s a fan of whole grain vegetarian entrees, as long they’re just for the vegetarians.  Add broccoli to that and we’re in deep trouble!

Now bear with me as I abruptly change subjects to the orange item in the above picture.

It’s an iPod stand!  It gently cushions your iPod in an upright position on your desk, sits on your knees during that long car trip, or perhaps adorns your airline tray on that cross-continental flight as you take in the latest movie downloaded from iTunes.  It may also accompany you to Panera, as you grab a bowl of soup after Target and before HomeGoods.  They have free WiFi, and I know you like to do a quick check of the email and the NYTimes headlines before going in search of the perfect discount 400 thread count sheets, right?

So what does this have to do with the price of buckwheat in China?  Well, it appears that Lorna left out a chapter in her book, somewhere between “The Rice Family” and “Green Spelt.”  I believe this chapter should be entitled “Alternate uses for grains your husband won’t eat” and it should have one of these iPod stands as its cover shot.  I believe the PodPillow has just become Ryan’s most favorite craft ever to come out of the Dog Named Banjo workshop, because I’m emptying our pantry of dry grains to fill them with.  Today alone I depleted our supply of dry lentils, split peas, and barley.  (These actually almost earned the name of “The Lentil Lounger”).  Much to his delight, I’ve even threatened to sacrifice my brand new bag of buckwheat for this little project.  And anyway, I bought the buckwheat at a Russian market, and can’t read the label so I really have no idea if it’s even buckwheat.  I need a translator!

These will be arriving in my Etsy shop in the coming days.  I’ll make sure to post here when they’re up!