Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Scouting out the stitching

Tuesday July 23, 2013

I was imagining the other day what a wilderness camp for stitchers might look like.

Oh I know, wilderness and stitching do not compute... but hey, it's my imagination.... suspend your disbelief.
As some might know, I'm a Scout leader. Scouting and stitching have much more in common than you might think.

All good trips need to start with a fully loaded van. Why a van? Because I know stitchers do not travel light. They also pack unrealistically for these getaways... always prepared for the anything. You never know when you might need 50 more needles. A Scouter should always be prepared too.... see.. there is a link!

Theme - having one makes for a great camping experience. So let's just say 'Stitching in the Great outdoors" is a fabulous theme.

Activities - why of course every good camp has to have fun activities! So here would be a list of non-stop fun filled activities, with stitchers in mind....


Stitching on the climbing wall ( multitasking at to the highest degree)
Knotty stitches (101 ways to tie a Scout up)
Tangled Tangents ( floss knots or not knots, you be the judge)
Pond hopping - How to keep an eye out for frogs
Target Stitching ( aka pointy needles self defence alternatives) 
Colour 101 (How to tell the difference between moss green, grass green and forest green)
Sheltered Stitching (The fine art of stitching in a tent)
Wet & Wild  (How to stitch in the pouring rain in the middle of a field with soggy fabric)
Chocoholic Madness (Effective stash hiding techniques)
Soundly Signs (or how to effectively block out the sound of 300 wee screaming non stitching banshees) 

You probably can hardly contain yourselves now...Ah, who would ever wish to pass on such an ... experience... is beyond the bounds of sane decision reasoning...

Almost forgot to mention the first-class luxurious accommodations in the form of a flimsy cramped nylon structure that may or may not ressemble a tent-like shelter... but looks are deceiving!

Hold it - now you're thinking - what happens if I need to wander through the wilderness to the washroom facilities, in the middle of the night? Well, that's covered, with your very own glowing marker. Yes you too, will not have to wander back to the sleeping nooks and wonder where the heck is your gorgeous comfy sleeping area???? You'll never ever again look at  your  maylooklikeatentanditisbutwearenotgoingtoadmittothat sleeping facility the same way... in fact, you may not find it amongst the 200+ identical ones otherwise.
And we won't even delve into the depths of the 'facilities' ... some things just need to be seen to be believed.

So there you have it.... camping like you've never experienced and may never want to ...

But the question does remain... what stitching to pack for a camping trip... and how do I pack in under 10 minutes, just before I'm supposed to leave, even though I knew this trip was coming over a month ago....

yeah....


well, that's another story...








Monday, July 22, 2013

last of the Lego? Give Piece a chance

Monday July 22, 2013

So are you tired of seeing Lego photos? Too bad...    you really got to



Hard to pick a favourite at the Lego show.  I did like the art creations too...but...

I saw this building last year... looks pretty good from the outside.


Love the details...



 it's the inside that's even more incredible...


(I had to stick my camera in to see any of this...)








But that's not all!
Check out the other side...

Do you know why there are trailers and concession stands outside?





The whole inside of the stadium can be converted into
a circus show!
I seem to recall seeing it last year, set up as a circus show.
Incredible.

Another favourite was the moving amusement ride









Wall-e!!




This last one is really neat - 
The great ball contraption.... inspired by Akiyuky
(search the name .. you'll see examples)

The photo shows only a small portion of the entire contraption
at the Lego show.


It's comprised of units that move in a variety of ways
interacting
to move small marbles,
all the way around the tables 
and back to the starting point.

The kids all loved this display.
I did take a video.. but it seemed to take forever to upload here..
so maybe another time.


Well... enough with the Lego .

Time to do some stitching...




that or imagine what my week will be like...


hopefully without any spiders...

but that's another story.... 










Sunday, July 21, 2013

Lego... to go where no brick has gone

Sunday July 21, 2013

You may have guessed by now... I like to take photos ;)

The Lego show was not the first time I ran out of battery juice. Good thing I had an extra battery.

There was definitely a space theme among the creations. Not just creatures from outer space...



Star Wars remains very popular in the Lego world





Anything outer space is a big hit


and the bigger the better...





amazing attention to detail




another huge creation





phenomenal amount of work.

This one had all kinds of lights and moving parts


and it was big too...


yet even more Sci-Fi






and of course more Star Wars



Luke!



I am 

your father....


Yeah.. sure



uh...daddy...
I could use some help here...
can you lend me a hand?




Space... the final frontier?


You could say that the Lego show was
OUT OF THIS WORLD!


and very entertaining...

but then I'd have to tell you,
you ain't seen nothing yet!
...well, at least not MY favourites...

But that's another story...