spiderweb washi dress

I realized recently that though I make clothes for myself fairly often, I don’t usually take the time to photograph them. I made this dress back in November but it’s taken this long to make it to the blog. I used the Washi Dress patten which works really well with stiffer fabrics. It’s really good for making stuff from your favorite patterned quilting fabric rather than traditional apparel fabric. I also love empire waists, and was thrilled to find a pattern that was neither for a child or maternity wear.

I made the whole thing in about two evenings, it was very fast. If I had more time, I would have made some alterations to the cut, but it fit well overall, particularly because the back is cinched with elastic thread. I accidentally cut the skirt fabric upside down, so the spiderwebs are hanging up rather than down but it’s not devastatingly noticeable.

In other news, I’ve added a PROJECTS page to the blog so I can keep track of finished things. There’s a new button over on right sidebar if you’re ever interested. Eventually I’ll add a section of future projects since I always have a list running in the back of my head. I could also add recipes there if that’s something that you all might be interested in. Let me know!

joshua tree

This year there will be more camping. I have declared it so, and so it shall be. We started the year with a trip to Joshua Tree. We arrived a bit late for a holiday weekend but by some great fortune were able to snag a secluded spot behind a boulder. It was one of the quietest campgrounds I’ve ever been to. It was comfortably warm in the sun during the day and quite chilly at night, though not unbearably so. We ate lots of camp food, split logs, did some rock climbing and made s’mores around the fire with our friends Jenn and Scott.

The thing I love the most about going camping, besides the quiet, is being able to come home and see the place you live with a new perspective. This applies to most travel I suppose, but there’s something particular about car trips. You spend all this time examining new places, trying to understand them from the outside. It’s easy to keep those inquisitive lenses on for just awhile when you return to try and see what your home is like from a different angle.

Mostly though I just like the quiet. The quiet and the dark and the stillness. There are no pressures on you to do anything at all except feed yourself and perhaps explore if you are so inclined.

This was the third national park we’ve visited in the past year. I’d love to say that I’d like to visit them all, but with 8 in Alaska, 3 in Hawaii, and several on other various islands, visiting all 59 seems quite daunting. Perhaps we’ll just start with the 9 parks in California (that makes us 1/3 of the way there already). Yes, I like numbers. This is something you should know about me.

Wildfire

WILDFIRE – Glendora, CA January 16th, 2014 from Shawn Bannon on Vimeo.

We’ve entered wildfire season in Southern California. Yesterday this fire broke out in Glendora, just east of Los Angeles. It’s crazy to see the fire planes flying so low to fight the flames. Today the fire is still burning but it’s not entirely out of control.

2013 Films

First film of 2013: PRINCESS MONONOKE
Last film of 2013: AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY

Favorites:
12 YEARS A SLAVE
UPSTREAM COLOR
HER

Highlights:
MUD
ALL IS LOST
THE CRASH REEL
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
FRUITVALE STATION
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY
SIGHTSEERS
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

Unreleased favorites:
THE FIFTH SEASON
WE ARE THE BEST
BLUE RUIN

Less films than last year indeed. And quite a few less on 35MM. Sign of the times I suppose.

quilted placemats

All through December I sewed and knitted and crocheted a handful of gifts for friends and family in secret. I was so excited to finally get to share some of my creations once the holidays had past. Of course I was so excited to send many of them off, I forgot to take photos. Oops. I did remember to snap some photos of these quilted place mats I made before they were wrapped up.

I had fun with these, with no specific pattern, just piecing together some fabrics that I liked and using a cool geometric pattern on the back.

For the second set, I wanted to do something a little different and made a sort of cityscape. I was torn whether to sew in some stars but in the end left the sky blank. I do like the idea of some bright yellow accents though.

The backing on these is also a fun geometric fabric, though a different colorway. Now that things are a little less hectic I’m looking forward to making some placemats for our home. I think I’ll try a new design with similar colors since I like how these turned out so much.