Photo Play: August Summary

It always takes a few weeks to review my photos from the previous month. August was another hot and humid month, so it wasn't fun to be outside much.  I've been sewing a lot, so have backed off on my photography studies lately.  I'll get back to it eventually.  There are more photographs to share this month as I had a lot of rejects from the last few photography challenges.  Three of the challenges were photography techniques and not subject limited, so I took a lot of photos.  Some of them didn't meet the challenge goals but are still interesting shots.  

All the below photos were shot with a Canon 70D DLSR with either a Tamron 18-400 mm telephoto or a Sigma 105 mm macro lens. Some photos have been cropped.  

One of the photo challenges was "fill the frame".  I took a number of photos of some purple coneflowers. This shot was my alternate pick for that challenge.  I like the soft focus on the petals and the saturated colors, but it didn't quite fill the frame so it didn't make the cut (Sigma105 mm macro).

We had one damp and rainy week during August.  Water on plants is always fascinating to me.  I tried to capture that in various photos during the week (Tamron 18-400 mm telephoto)

I really like the drop at the end of the leaf.  It's not quite at the nodes to qualify for the rule of thirds, but it's close.  

One of the photo challenges in August was "Rule of Thirds".  I took a lot of photos that week. I winnowed that set down to three and selected the one for the challenge. Here are the two rejects. (Tamron 18-400 Telephoto)

The second shot of the honeysuckle is another good example of applying the rule of thirds to photo composition. I could have made the rose fit the challenge, but the composition of the rose photo I choose for the challenge was a better example.  

The following two photos weren't considered for the challenge, they didn't really meet the challenge requirements.  But they stand out as photos on their own. Both photos are cropped.  (Tamron 18-400 Telephoto)

  

The basket flowers are all just about dead, all that's left is the seed heads.  But they have a beauty of their own.  I really like the silhouetted basket flower against that purple sky sunset. 

The last challenge in August was "Narrow Depth of Field".  A macro lens is really useful for those type of shots.  I really enjoy macro photography and took a large number of shots of the fading flowers in the garden. None of them made the cut for the challenge, but some of them ended up being my most favorite from the photo shoots.  (Sigma105 mm macro)

When I showed this shot to My Guy, he wasn't sure what it was.  It's the center of one of the fading roses.  The colors remind me that fall is coming.  I love the spaghetti texture of the faded center. It's not a beautiful shot, but it is an interesting one.  

The basket flowers have lost their color, but gained this incredible variety of textures and shapes.  

When I assessed what my photographic goals were for 2024, one of them was to photograph the small things we tend to miss.  I do love the brilliant colors of spring and summer, but the muted colors that show up in the fall have their own stark beauty.  Hopefully I'm being true to my goal to photograph the little things as well as the pretty things.  

If you've read this far, thanks for hanging out for a non-quilty post.  I'm always interested in feedback.  What photo(s) grab your attention or which photos seem like odd choices for this summary?  

To Do List for the Week of 9/17/2024

Hard to believe we are already more than halfway through with September.  The end of the year always seems to pass so much quicker than the beginning of the year.  There is still so much left on my goals for this year, I guess that's why last week's to do list was so long. 

To Do List for 9/10/2024

1.  Diatom: Finish top prep, send out for quilting ✔

2.  Chilhowie: Add last border ✔

3.  Jewel Box Blocks: Finish blocks ✔

4.  Marble Mystery: Cut fabrics, start September clue ✔

5.  Rhododendron: Make label and binding ✔

6.  Wild and Goosey:  Continue making orange blocks ✔

7.  Sensational Summer Scrap Mystery: Leaders and enders ✔

It was a good week on the progress front.  Several projects hit milestones and will drop off the active list for a bit.  That opens up the in progress list a bit and I had to think what should go on the to do list to take up those spaces.

To Do List for 9/17/2024

1.  Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter):  Trim quilt, start attaching binding.

The binding is made and the label is printed. I need to soak the label, then let it dry, but that won't take long. I'm changing the name of my version to Azaleas.  Azaleas are rhododendrons and I've seen purple ones, so that works for me.  I should be hand stitching the binding to the back before the end of the week. We have some family stuff this weekend, so I'm not sure that I'll finish all the hand stitching, but it should be close. 

2. Marble Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish the flying geese.

Finishing the geese completes the September clue.  I'm happy with my fabric choices so far. We'll have to see if the October clue changes that.  

3. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making orange blocks

I'm almost finished with orange, I only need 2 more sets of 4 blocks.  My plan is to keep making the orange blocks until they are finished.  I'm betting that doesn't happen till sometime in October.  

4.  Simply Sensational Summery Mystery (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leader and ender project. 

I finished a set of blue 4-patches this week and have switched back to my yellow scraps for the next set of 10.  

5.  Learn to Quilt: Read books, watch videos

One of my goals for this year was to learn to quilt by completing a quilt as you go project.  I've got the blocks done so now I need to figure out the quilting part. I'm going to do some reading and video watching, then start some practice sessions in October.  I've had these books for years, but hopefully not much has changed with the basics. 

That's the plan for this week. We have some family stuff this weekend, so I backed off on adding anything new to my in progress list. Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

Changing Design Wall

This year has been really good on the progress front. Maybe not as many finishes as I would like, but there has been good progress on multiple fronts.  We are half way through September and I've made good enough progress that I need to rethink my active project list.  Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter) is a finished quilt top and is off the active list for now. 

The final teal border really calms down all that orange.  Chilhowie is off the design wall and hanging in the closet waiting for it's turn for a backing and quilting.  

The Jewel Box blocks for Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework made a very short appearance on the design wall. 

These are packaged up and will go to the post office sometime this week.  I used up a few 4.5 and 5 inch scraps from my bin, all of the black fabric and all of one of the white on white fabrics. So now I have a bit more room in the scrap bin and was able to take some odds and ends out of the fabric closet. Definitely a win/win. 

The latest project up on the design wall is Meadow Mist Designs' Marble Mystery.   

The 9 patch blocks are finished, I'm still working on the flying geese. So far, I'm happy with my fabric choices.  We'll see if that holds once we get the October clue.   

I'll need to figure out what projects to add back to the works in progress list. Those decisions will be in tomorrow's post.  Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 37 of 2024

It's been a busy week. I've started going to late night sew at the local quilt shop and that takes some prep time to get ready (it's like a mini retreat each week).  Plus, I had some statistics work to work up for the technical committee I joined back in June. Still, it wasn't too hard to get my stitching time in this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 258/258 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm still at 100% success rate with my 15 minutes of stitching time each day.  No one is more surprised then I am to be almost to the end of 3rd quarter of the year and to have maintained that metric.  It's going to be hard when I miss my stitching time for a day.  

Absolutely nothing got done on the scrap processing front, well other then filling up the left overs bin. 

This is the bin I use for scraps from the finished projects and scraps from in progress projects.  This was empty at the first of the month. Now it's almost full again. The plan is to empty it by the end of the month.  

Not as much progress on the fabric pressing either over the last week. 

There were only 2 - 4 yard pieces that got pressed this week. I'm so much more interested in stitching then pressing these days.  But I'll take any progress, it all counts. 

Did you make good progress with your stitching goals this week? 

 

 

Week 124 Photo Challenge: Kiss

This week's photo challenge was harder than last week's. Last week both My Guy and I were scratching our heads, this week's definitely had us racking our brains.  

To be honest, I completely forgot about getting a challenge photo till My Guy got home from work last night. He asked if I had a photo.  I'd been so focused on other things that I had completely forgotten.  So I scrounged around trying to find subject matter.  I found two "subjects".  One was too close to what My Guy had submitted, so I went with my #2 option. 

Kate: You May Kiss the Bride

I was going for dreamy with the slightly out of focus on the bride and groom, not sure it worked that well.  Yes this is from our wedding, my bouquet was all yellow roses, which is why the photo is in that frame.  Probably not one of my better efforts, but I did find something for the challenge.  

My Guy had taken other photos, but he didn't take this photo till after he got home last night.  

My Guy: Kiss A Few Frogs

He's mixing toys here, Legos with frog croakers (you rub a stick down the frog's back and it sounds like spring peepers).  I didn't realize what he was photographing. My other option was a Lego bride and groom kissing in front of a Lego city hall.  Maybe I should have used that one and we could have written our own fairy tale? 

Queenie came to Grad Girl's rescue again this week. 

Grad Girl: Kitty Kiss

Queenie isn't a cuddle cat, so I'm sure Grad Girl paid for that head kiss.  Queenie probably took off for her window seat afterwards.  As busy as Grad Girl has been getting ready for her big qualifying exam, I'm just glad she's found time to take any type of photo.  

My Guy pulled the challenge card for the upcoming week. 

Another tough to photograph subject, but that's what makes it fun.  I'm really going to have to think on this one.  Grad Girl is a kitty parent, so she has that option. She's also known as one of the "mothers" in her friend group. So she could surprise us next week.