Ember Costumes and Crafts

I bought this "Cats Bats and Jacks" Halloween Layer Cake by Riley Blake last year and turned it into a quick top last fall, and this year as part of my unfinished projects goals I pulled it out and finished it for this Halloween! 

Since I had a simply pieced front, I wanted the quilting to be more intricate, so I quilted it in a spider-web design. I used black thread on the top and white thread in the bottom so that it would show up on each side better. The back is a plain black fleece that I had in my stash and the binding is satin blanket binding from Joann's. 
I think it turned out great! The quilting was tricky since I did it on my home machine, and I couldn't get my walking foot to work so I used a regular quarter inch foot. I also had a scare with my machine where some spare bobbin thread got tangled in the hand wheel on the side...it was bad. I had to get my screwdrivers and start taking things apart, but I managed to fix it! Whew! Lesson learned! 

 James is …

I have a lot to say about this series, and considering that the books total over 4 million words, it makes sense! I've already discussed the individual books in many of my previous monthly "reading watching playing" posts, but I wanted to do an in depth review where I could discuss my thoughts on the series as a whole. 
First, a spoiler free review: I really liked this series! I'd give it, on a whole, an 8/10 overall as a fantasy series. It is one of the best I've read for two reasons: The characters and the world. Every character (and there are a lot!)  is complex, flawed, and unique, but most impressively, grows, changes, and develops substantially over the course of the series.  The second reason is the world: it is so vivid and rich that if you tell me a character is from Ebou Dar I can tell you what they are wearing and the meaning behind it, if she is from Tarabon I know she wears her hair tiny beaded braids and has a thick accent. Even the cities have char…

We went to the beach last week! 

There were sunsets and boogie boards...

Waves and wipeouts...

There was lots of laying in the shade...

We walked barefoot on the beach and caught ghost crabs...


 I took a million great pictures, but this motion capture video sums up what I spent most of the trip doing:

What I'm Playing  Edge of Darkness This kickstarter game combines elements of deck building and card-crafting with worker placement and monster fighting. It's complicated, has a ton of pieces, and a strong city-factions theme. The box is massive, the rulebook long, and gameplay is medium complex. I'll say it's not exactly my cup of tea, but if I took the time to learn it and get really good at it, it could be really fun. John and Diana really liked it, Gunnar liked it okay, and I was just meh about it. But then, I really hate learning new games and the factions theme isn't my think and I pretty much hate deck building haha.




What I'm ReadingAncillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
This one wasn't as exciting as the first book in this series, which I reviewed last month for a lot of reasons. First, there was a lot of explanation of things that happened in the first book which while interesting didn't move things along very much There also wasn't very much at st…

I love Anne of Green Gables and have been wanting to make a doll outfit like this for a while! I used the "Carrots" pattern by Luminaria Designs from Pixie Faire which was very easy and straightforward. I used some quilting cotton from Joann's for for the dress, a fat quarter for the pinafore, and I bought the hat off of Amazon and decorated it with some spare ribbon from my stash.



The only thing I did that  I hadn't done before was the Peter Pan collar, which turned out really cute! I must have done something wrong because it doesn't lay totally flat, even after vigorous ironing. I know about understitching but I don't really understand it very well, so I think I must have done it wrong. Oops.

The back has some false buttons sewed over the velcro closure.  (I seriously hate making button holes!) I also cheated a little bit and used the bloomers that I made previously for the prairie girl dresses, since you can't see them. I don't need 5 pairs of bloo…

What I'm Reading Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey This is the first book in the Expanse Series, on which the T.V. show is based. I really liked the show, and John had read all the books and said that they were good, so I picked this one up from Half-Price Books and gave it a try! Overall it was good....BUT....I think the show was better. I KNOW! But hear me out. The show apparently combined the first two books, adding in the geopolitical point of view from Earth through the Senator's scenes, and those really added depth to the series that the book alone was lacking.

The book itself was a good quick read, not too technical for sci-fi, and most of the dialogue and scenes were word-for word the same in the book and the show. Unfortunately, since I just watched the show so recently, that also made it a bit boring of a read. I didn't get any new info out of the book that wasn't already in the show. The few changes that the show did make were positive and minor--the goo …