Aperture

This week's photography homework deals with aperture (controlling the size of the opening in the lens which controls the amount of light that hits the digital sensor).  I had to play around with the Depth of Field (distance in front of and beyond the focused main subject).  Basically, the higher the DoF number the more of the picture that is in focus and the lower you go the more the background is blurred.

I practiced with a tree in our backyard:

DoF 36: Just about everything is in focus

DoF 10:  The focus is mostly on the leaves in the front

Here is my actual homework assignment that I turned in at DoF 5.6  (the lowest setting my camera will go without a zoom lens):

I got good reviews.  He suggested that next time I explore angles to see if I could get the background to be a different color than the color of the focused subject, but that the technique was correct. 

Armada Finishes

I had a lot of fun finishing up these 2 quilts.  I like to see how a quilt can be different just by changing a few details even though it's the same basic pattern.

Sail Boat #1:

The wind was kind enough to give you a peek at the backing.  It's a nice stripe from my stash.  

Sail Boat #2:

I used Loopy Clouds again for the quilting of both quilts.  Since both of these quilts are baby quilts, I wanted a bit of whimsy in the second quilt, so I used a whale and crab backing.

Linking up to TGIFF.

Job Search Depression

It's been a month since I've given an update on the job search.  I kept waiting thinking there would be some happy news to share or maybe the next phone interview would pan out, so I kept waiting.  The sad reality is we've had almost all bad news over and over for the last couple of weeks.

San Antonio needed someone right away, and couldn't wait until Joel finished in June, so they were already in the hiring process and are not a job possibility anymore.

Columbus has pretty much said there's no option of staying.

Vanderbilt ended up being a bad option.  Joel heard from 2 separate sources that the working environment is caustic and the reason there are job openings is because people are fleeing the program.  They also haven't got back to him, and Joel felt it was better that way.

Albany is pretty much not an option anymore either.  The job is brutal in terms of hours and work load, so it would have been an absolute last option, but I think the director also realizes that Joel's not all that interested, because he never followed up to schedule an interview.  

Joel also found out 2 programs that never responded back to him at all are interviewing another Fellow he works with, and the guy also has an interview scheduled at Dallas where Joel wanted an interview.  Ouch.

Joel had been praying that Heavenly Father would shut doors, so he wouldn't be tempted to take a job where we weren't supposed to go, but I don't think he was prepared for his prayers to be answered so dramatically.  Within the last 24 hours we've had two huge "no's."  He had a phone interview with Dallas last week, and to be completely honest, it was his ultimate dream job.  It was exactly what he wanted to do at a top Children's Hospital in the country.  As much as he tried not to, he had his heart set on it.  Unfortunately, he didn't feel all that great about the phone interview and it turns out his intuition was correct, because he found out last night they've decided not to extend him an interview.

The bad news kept rolling in.  This morning he had a phone interview with Richmond (also a location he was extremely interested in), and the phone interview turned into more of a questioning about Joel's fellowship at Columbus.  He suggested that Joel should consider staying at Columbus to do an additional year of BMT fellowship and then they'd be interested in him.  It was odd, because the division chief flat out told him they were only looking to hire someone who had at least a year of experience, so Joel's not really sure why he extended a phone interview to him in the first place unless he just wanted information about Nationwide's fellowship program.

Where does this leave things?

Joel has an interview with Penn State Hershey this week.  So far it's his only scheduled 1st interview, so that adds a bit of pressure for this one to go well.

He has also applied to a job opening in Atlanta, Georgia, but doesn't expect to hear back from them until mid-November.

One other possibility is Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, North Carolina).  He met with their lead COG guy at a conference in Dallas 2 weeks ago, and it looks like they are in the process of getting a position approved by the board.  He told Joel that would take about 3 weeks, and then they would most likely extend an invitation for a 1st interview to him.  Fingers crossed that this actually pans out!

Other possibilities that are longer shots:
-UNC told him to check back in November to see if they end up having a job opening.
-Pittsburgh thought it might be hiring starting in January
-Fresno also thought it might be hiring later and to check back in December.

The moral of the story is be careful what you pray for.  :)
We're really hoping there's some good news soon, because it's been pretty depressing so far.  

 

Fall Blocks

My productivity continues- wahoo!  I pieced together my Peace Circle blocks yesterday.  We had to make 2 Geese Migration blocks with each block being scrappy in one Fall color.  I love a good scrappy block, and I also used colors I tend to not use a lot in regular quilts, so it was a double win in the land of scraps.

I seriously had forgotten how a person can have so much time when they only have to worry about themselves and their own family.  I cleaned out all of the craft stuff, cleaned the junk drawer, completely organized my fabric stash, and it's only 10 in the morning.  Happy Thursday, everyone!

Curved Deficiencies

Curved Sewing and I have a rather strained relationship.  In fact, I try to avoid it as much as possible.  Wouldn't you know it, the very first block we were given to do as part of the Peace Circle for do.Good Stitches was almost all curved sewing.  I may have whimpered a bit when I saw the instructions.  I cut all the pieces out for the block and then promptly put it off.  They sat there for 2 weeks.  I tried to give myself pep talks, but finally it was the 30th of the month and I had no choice but to piece the block together.

Ya, it looks about as good as I feel about it...not great.  E for Effort, but F for Execution.  It's a large block (18"), so luckily we only had to make one.

If I recall correctly, the worst block I ever made for Wish Circle was the very first block as well, so that gives me hope that things will get better.  In the meantime, I will continue to avoid curved quilting like the plague whenever possible. 

Baby Thompson #4

Typically when I find out if we're having a boy or a girl I go straight to work and have a quilt done for the baby within a week or two.  This time is quite a different story.  I actually found out early what we were having, because of the required chromosomal testing (since I'm over 35).  I've known since the end of May that we're having a boy, but as you well know, I did very little sewing at all this past summer.  I'm now 32 weeks along and have finally finished the quilt. 

Even though I couldn't get my act together to get his quilt done, we're excited about this little guy.   Little Lady in particular cares quite a bit about this one.  She already tells everyone she has 3 brothers.  She is very proud of her status as the only girl.  In her primary class at church they had a lesson on families.  They were given something to give to each of their siblings and she pretty much demanded a third one stating that Baby Matthew needed one as well.  That's actually how her teachers found out I was pregnant, because they couldn't figure out who Matthew was. 

This was a really fun quilt to put together.  The design for the quilting is a new one to me: Loopy Clouds.  It's an easy design that flows a lot like mixing open flowers and loops.  You can see it a bit better on the back.

Now we just have to wait a few more weeks for him to come and use it. 

Autumn

Paints and pastels from this weekend's art class...

Finally! A Finish!

I can't remember the last quilt I finished.  That's probably not a very good sign.  Gratefully, I found time to layer 3 quilt tops this past week and I actually finished one of them, and since my friend had the baby 3 weeks ago, it's a good thing I finally finished it. 

This quilt made me happy, because everything I used, including the back, came from my quilt stash.  It does make me chuckle that after putting together an entire quilt top of scraps that I couldn't even tell a difference in my scrap bags.  Sigh.  I'm trying.  I like to think that one of the bags was lighter.  I mean, I did make a whole quilt top for crying out loud!

I worked my way back into quilting with a simple loopy lines in yellow for a slight contrast to the fabrics. 

Yay, for a finish!  I have the next quilt all ready to be bound, so I'm hopeful to finish that one this weekend while I'm on a roll.