Ember Costumes and Crafts

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--th...

This baby quilt is from my unfinished projects pile! I started it over two years ago and abandoned it after finishing the quilt top. I bought everything I needed to finish it but just...didn't. I guess I had more pressing projects to do! This wasn't for any specific baby either, so I also wasn't super motivated to do it when I had live babies who had been waiting for quilts to sew for!  The fabric is the "Good Natured" Jelly Roll by Riley Blake. I loved the gender-neutral mint and orange and the cute little foxes and fawns! Probably not still available since I bought it so long ago. The quilting was tricky on this one since I made it so long ago. I wasn't very good at squaring things up so if you look you can see the wrinkles and puffs, particularly along the edge of the quilt. I did my best to smooth things out, but it's far from perfect. I still think it turned out really cute though, and I can't believe what a weight off it is to h...

I reviewed  the game  Diongenics back in February when the first round of kickstarter games finally shipped... and I'm excited to say it's getting a 2nd printing! We've played several more times and I REALLY love it. It combines my love of worker-placement Agricola with Gunnar's love of Jurassic Park and all things Dinosaur. And this printing has an expansion with SEA CREATURES...which Jack will love when he's old enough to play. (He is obsessed with ancient marine reptiles like the Mosasaur.) It's only available for order for about 23 or so more days so check it out!

As I started cleaning out and organizing my crafting closet, I of course came across a pile of unfinished projects languishing at the back. They were abandoned for a variety of reasons over the past years from frustration to mistakes to lack of materials to just plain being unable to decide what to do next! Over the next few months I would like to try and finish one of these unfinished projects each month...or get rid of them. Magenta Baby Quilt - Started while I had morning sickness and can't look at it without feeling sick Umbrella Quilt - It was ugly and I had no idea how to make it not ugly Halloween Quilt - top finished, needs to be quilted Foxes Baby Quilt - top finished, needs to be quilted College T-Shirt quilt - Ran out of interfacing, got frustrated with ironing all the old t-shirts Gunnar's Renfair Doublet - Got overwhelmed by several mistakes and shoved it aside Red and Bluebirds Garden Quilt - I messed up and couldn't figure out how to save it! ...

This channel is a favorite of everyone in the house! This guy lives in Australia and does experiments in primitive living and technology in the rain forest near his house. He doesn't live out there full time, but he he shows in simple detail how one might go about making things like huts, ovens, and gardens out of only things that he can find in the forest. His videos don't come out very often, but it's always exciting when he does publish one! Also be sure to turn on the Closed Captions! There is no narration, so all the explanations are in the captions.  

What I'm Reading Wheel of Time #14 A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson  DONE! I've officially finished all 14 of the Wheel of Time books! I would like to do an in depth spoiler-ful review of the series soon, but for now I'll stick to my impression of the final book: WORTH IT. It was a long road with some slogging along the way, but this final segment really lives up to the hype. It ties up pretty much all the loose threads in very satisfying ways, there are enough character deaths that I don't feel like Tarmon Gai'don was too easy, but enough happy endings that I don't feel like the whole slog was for nothing either. Sanderson did a great job of cutting out unnecessary characters and descriptions and keeping to the meat of what was happening. I'm excited that Gunnar is reading it now, and definitely looking forward to Amazon's adaptation coming out in a year or two! The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff I needed a quick easy non-...

Sunday was Father's Day, and Gunnar took the boys to Austin Comicon! I stayed home with the little kids this time, but maybe next year we can all go! They apparently had a ton of fun at the Jedi Academy, the kid's magic show, the science booth, and looking at all the costumes. Jack really wanted to go to the science demo, but it was full by the time they got back from lunch. Speaking of lunch, eat before you go because three hot dogs and a drink was $50 at the Cedar Park HEB Center! I loved getting picture updates through the day. Maybe next year I'll make them some Jedi costumes to wear!  Jack and James at the kid's Jedi Academy!    James said "I saw your movie! Do you know Miles Morales??"     "We didn't know that R2D2 was alive!"