Mutant Ninja Turtles

I haven't really been myself lately and so I thought to myself I should try and do some projects that I have been meaning to do for a while. So I got crocheting, I needed to get my creative juices flowing.
I went home and my mom had bought me a new yarn that was florescent orange, perfect to make another safety coneThe only thing with this guy was that his base though crocheted the same way and is much smaller then previous safety cone. I am not sure if it was the yarn, when I saw the base I thought okay this safety cone is going to be smaller no problem. Well he isn't really but from base to body the proportions are a little off. Seeing as I have tons of the orange I may make another and make a bigger base, who knows. But After making him he looked really bare and as I stared at him day in and day out I thought those eyes are reflective and he is brighter then other safety cone so I made him a hat.Introducing rain proof safety cone. This is just a proto type for the hat. Some days it looks like a rain hat and others it doesn't so I just have to work with my design and see where it leads me. As Well I think I want to get a brighter yellow. But for now New Safety Cone doesn't look so bare.

As well while I was home for thanksgiving my other brother saw my bead guys and asked if I would make him one as well so here he is.
And lastly since having a pattern for a ninja turtle and making my original one that is blue with a pink eye bandanna. I have been wanting to make the real ninja turtles, the Mutant Ninja Turtles. But as I looked at the pattern and the first one I made I thought he was too big so I was going to make some adjustments. Well I may make them again a little bigger then I made these ones but I think they are still cute. Here are the pocket Mutant Ninja Turtles.Aren't they adorable.
Well I leave you with these for now.
-Photo Alley

Tourism at the helm

I warn you in advance this post will have a lot of pictures from when I decided to be a tourist and also was suppose to be scouting out my architecture location.
Here goes nothing:

This looked like a quaint little cottage and therefore I had to photograph it.


Then there were more pictures of landscapes and parliament that I took:

Then there are the circles of confusion that we started to take picture of because it was getting too dark to take any real pictures without a tripod. These were just as fun if not more fun to take pictures of.



As well there was the beer bottle I found on the ground and my camera did a natural vignetting around it. I'm not sure if you will be able to see it in the image but the original is quite interesting. The lens did this on a few of my images. It was strange.And then lastly there is the image that I photomerged together of the whole parliament library. This is where my exterior architecture is.
This is how the image came out of the photomerge process and I actually really like the areas that don't have image in them. It makes it look a little crazy. I'm sure if I were ever to use it I would have to fill that part in. As well I would have to fix the areas where the images have been stitched together. But for right now I like it.
I hope you enjoy.
-Photo Alley

Comfort Food

I was in the need of some comfort food and thought why not make some bar food. You know chicken nuggets, (would have been wings if I had gone grocery shopping) and some onion rings. I tried the recipe from the "You won't believe it's Gluten Free" recipe book (corn based) and I would say nope it didn't work. a few onion rings got coated well, but not having a deep fryer I used a pot with heated oil in it. This however was not the problem, the problem was the fact that the batter was way to thick and sticky and it didn't stick to the onion rings. I'm not sure if I followed it wrong but I had broken onions, I had half covered onions and I had no covered onions. Then by the time I was done and ready to eat them they were cold and I don't mean like slightly warm as if they had just cooled down. No I mean like cold as if I had just grabbed the onion and was eating it raw. I may have to try this recipe again. As well because the frying went so fast I wasn't able to add the extra salt to the outside.
Later this week I will post the adventures of being a tourist and my architectural preliminary photographs.
-Photo Alley

Pancake Debacle

I made the pancakes. I had made them before with my family and they had turned out pretty well, delicious, just a hint of vanilla. It was perfection in a pancake unlike ones I had tried before that were too eggy, these ones had been great, but I reiterate I made them with my family. And it may just be me but I always find my parents' cooking so much better then my own. So let's just say the pancakes were a complete and utter disaster. The batter was too runny, the things wouldn't cook, and then when they were finally ready to flip the batter just flowed everywhere. It was insane, they I got one omelet like one, 2 that were very, very flat pancakes and then I thought to myself maybe it is the size of frying pan I am using. So I poured in the rest of the batter to coat the bottom. The worst idea yet. I tried flipping and there was so much runny batter that I just flipped have uncooked batter into the uncooked batter and the uncooked batter just spread across the opening I had made. Those 3 (I cut it into thirds) turned into something along the consistency of mashed potatoes. And while the pancakes were strange looking my spatula was caked in half cooked pancake mix. I know doesn't sound appetizing. I did think to myself well I have to eat something so I tried them. They tasted alright but I did end up throwing most of them away. After talking to my mom we decided that maybe I should try them again but leave the batter for longer so it sets because the recipe mentions that it is suppose to thicken (mine didn't) and maybe use a smaller pan. If I decide to make them again, I'll let you know, but I seriously warn if you are an amateur cooker don't try these just yet.
Have a lovely rainy day.
-Photo Alley

Yummy Yummy Comfort Foods

Recently I have been very sick, I was sick and my tooth had still been aching from the root canal I had done a month ago and therefore my doctor put me on some antibiotics which in turn also made me feel sick, actually a lot sicker. I was in need of some comfort foods so after restocking my very bare shelves with food I looked through my cook books for something chocolatey.
I found in my "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free" By Roben Ryberg cook book the corn based brownies on page 353 and the rice based chocolate pound cake on page 302. Both wonderfully delicious and very simple. The chocolate cake came out moist un like the last one I made with a different flour base and was a nice chocolate flavour, not too over powering and enough chocolate so you new it was chocolate. The brownies on the other hand, don't have any water or milk just one egg. I thought it was going to be so hard to mix together, you know all these dry ingredients and some margarine (I replace the butter with Becel Vegan Margerine) but it wasn't, it was very easy actually. This recipe was very delicious but tons more chocolatey. Very powerful so I would recommend only have small amounts at a time, it as well was nice a chewy except for the edges which were hard and crunchy. Both a delicious combo and I have been enjoying them for a couple days. I did not however eat them warm, I let them both cool down to room temperature before I tasted them.
Later this week (possibly tomorrow) I will be trying on my own the corn based pancakes. I am excitedly anticipating these. Another note I should mention when it calls for milk I substitute with goat's milk, being lactose intolerant this milk is easier on my stomach, however I it is decidedly very goaty in flavour and not everyone enjoys the taste of it. I would suggest experimenting if you have say something like a milk intolerance or allergy with different milks you like. You never know how the recipe may turn out.

As for photography, I re shot my environmental portrait and here are a few of the results, these are unedited.My teacher thought it would be better if my model playing Ares were wearing army fatigues instead of a suit with bits of army in it. I like both in different ways. As well it was suggested that the scarf look more like what it was suppose to be instead of just a wrap thrown around her shoulders. I definitely like this look better. I will mention it is very hard to light black clothing and caused me great frustration.

And lastly crafting. First about quilting. I designed another quilt to look like a fan, actually I have about 4 more designed quilts one is the fan, then there is also a rose compass one which will be done in blues, a constellation one of one of my favourite constellations, and lastly a heart quilt. I may actually make two constellation ones, one for each of my favourite constellations. Now none of these have actually been made yet or even cut out, but I have told my mom I might just have to hijack one of the sewing machines when I get home for a break. I have most of the colours for the rose compass quilt and it will involve one of my more detested parts of quilting... paper piecing like there is no tomorrow.
And as for crocheting my other brother has commissioned me to make him a beaded dude in blue and purple, as well I want to make a few halloween themed guys from a pattern I just bought to go along with my petite bat. And then I saw a project a person on the net did of a heartless from the video game Kingdom Hearts, and it got me thinking he was soo cute I might just have to try and make him as well. I think it is going to be a lot of trial and error but keep a look out here, I think I might start tomorrow to help stress relieve and will be posting updates.
Keep it real all.
-Photo Alley

Gluten Free Marg

I was making my toast this morning and realized I had never mentioned the gluten free margarine that is being made now. I first saw a commercial for it at the beginning of the summer but it didn't come out for another month or so, but I was thinking this morning how wonderful it is to have the taste without the gluten. The brand is Becel. Yes the beloved margarine of my family forever, slightly less lactose then butter and definitely tastes better to me. I remember one day I was talking to the woman who told me about celiac's and she was saying how she loves butter but it's just too expensive and it goes so fast, and then I mentioned that becel had just come out with a gluten free margarine. Now the best part about this margarine is that it is also vegan and therefore lactose free. Perfect. So if you are looking for a substitute for butter go find the Becel vegan margarine and it is gluten free. Enjoy.
-Photo Alley

Environmental

Hello all,
I thought I would post the prelim of my Environmental Portrait that is going to be going into my portfolio this year. These are just test shots and I will be reshooting this week. Hopefully they will turn out amazing.
These two are by far my favourite ones, let me know what you think.
-Photo Alley

Misery loves company

I start this blog with the fact that it always seems that misery loves company. See I haven't written in a while and it all started when I was feeling sick and then I started worrying about my portfolio, with this worry I let the program get the best of me and I found myself sitting on my bed in a funk, forgetting everything I had to do and just lying there watching movies crocheting. It seems weird but I would have to say when I get into a photography create funk, usually caused by my constant worry about how little time I have these year for all my images and ideas, I find crocheting and quilting very lethargic. It just makes me forget about everything and just be. It may be the fact that I count all my rows instead of using a marker or maybe it is just the repetitive stitch over and over again. It may also be the combination of both, you know the repeating and the counting. I find sometimes I try and count while walking when my brain just becomes to much for my head and I need a break.
Then I was talking to my mom that week I went home for Applefest and she let me know one of my brother's was going to try the gluten free diet. He also has felt sick for a very long time. Like I said misery loves company, 2 sickies in the same household dealing with it differently. Well I just found out this week like me he has started feeling much better. So in a way my statement still holds true, yes we feel better but now I have some one I can commiserate with about the gluten free diet and all the things we can't have anymore. BUT at the same time I also now have someone I can also share new food ideas and what the food tastes like. It's kind of good and bad.
As well this week I had to shoot my Environmental prelim. My idea was Ares and Athena, gods of war. When I get a chance to convert them to a smaller file I will post a prelim and then the final image for you all. It's very exciting and stressful all rolled into a small energetic ball that I can be.
I'll just have to keep crafting away to keep myself sane, if I ramble a little too much I'm sorry, I also have been trying to write a book and it's coming along but that creative block is stuck in the wall right now and my mental pry bar hasn't been able to remove it yet. Hopefully this weekend I can get some work done, you never know it is my favourite holiday of Thanks.

I'll leave you know with the images of the guys I created while in my funk, and my proto-type robot guy. All the bead guys are orders I actually had from friends and family.My favourite part of this guy would definitely have
to be the heart I created. Might just
have to put it on a few of my guys.

This guy is for a family friend who loves turtles.
I definitely like the shell and when creating this
little guy I got an idea so who knows
you may see another shelled companion
soon.You may recognize this one. But no it isn't the same.
My really good friend I showed them too
picked my very first guy out of all my beaded
dudes and asked if I could make her one like him.
This is the result.
He is for my cousin. And reminds
me a whole lot of a frog. I might make a frog
from the left over yarn.This one is my other cousins. Her only
stipulation: it has to be blue and
white.Lastly, here they are all ready in their bags
to be packed up and mailed
to the recipients.

As you may have noticed they all turn out differently. Each has their own little quirks and sizes. These ones are fairly similar in size but only because I used the same brand of yarn and needle. But everything from the expression to the size of lips on the head. I seem to find them all turning out slightly differently, especially my older ones when I was still playing with ideas.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

-Photo Alley