So I downloaded (egads, yes) the first season and just sort of left it sitting there for awhile.  Then I knew I was going to Virginia and that chances were fairly high that I would be looking for something to do later at night so I copied the Black Butler episodes to my hard drive and off I flew.  And then I settled into bed the second night I was in Virginia and put my headphones on and I started the first episode.  Well, this isn’t too bad, I thought, I’ll watch another.

And then another and another, I was fascinated.  I was hooked.  Black Butler became the most amazing this I had ever seen.  Ok maybe I’m exaggerating a little but I fell in love.  (And just so you know I have purchased both dvds for season 1 – something I never would have done had I not downloaded it and watched it for free first.)   Again, me being me, I started to research this fantastic discovery of mine.  I wanted more!

This was November 2011.  This is when I discovered anime and manga (not that I didn’t know it existed, I certainly did) and that it contained a genre that may as well have been made specifically for me.  Yaoi.  I am not embarrassed to say that I love this genre.  And no Black Butler is not yaoi, it was the key that unlocked the door to something I never would have found had I not bought that doll and posted that picture and had that one girl not commented on that picture.  Fate was working for me.

I’ve been wanting to share my thoughts on the manga I’ve read and the anime I’ve watched but I hadn’t wanted to do it here.  I thought I could create a new page and write entries under that but it doesn’t look like Word Press functions like that.  Maybe I’ll just put the reviews behind click-throughs.  Mostly I wanted to write my thoughts because my friends aren’t into this stuff and I have no one to talk about it with like I would with tv shows or movies or other books I may have read.  It seems funny really discovering this now as an adult of however many years but I’m not complaining.  It just means I’m old enough to legally buy the manga I want to read!  HA.

I told two of my friends I’d teach them to sew and we’re getting together tomorrow night for that. I’m going to have them make tote bags as a first project and I may bring my quilt stuff so that I can work on that while they’re making their totes.

I really wanted to update about a couple of books I’ve gotten. The first is The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam. It just arrived about a half an hour ago and I haven’t had a chance to really look at it yet. I’m really excited to check it out and because I ordered it directly from her site, she autographed it for me! So exciting! If you make bags and you haven’t checked out U-Handbag, what are you waiting for?

The second book is one that I saw posted somewhere at some point, I really don’t remember. So I decided it seemed like my kind of book and after some impatient waiting for them to get with stocking it at Chapters (it was sitting in a box in the back for a bit), I finally got my hands on a copy yesterday. The book is called Dare to be Square by Boo Davis. If you are new to quilting, like I am, you will find the intro section incredibly helpful. I would have to say, of all of the sewing books I have ever seen, this is one of, if not the best, introductions I have seen.

I know it can be a tad redundant once you’ve moved beyond the beginner stages because pretty much every book you buy has these intro sections but I don’t think they’re going anywhere. If you are experienced you can just skip over that part of the book I suppose. What I really love about this book is that the quilt designs are modern, funky and original without being complicated. Now, I’m not saying there isn’t a lot of work involved in making some of these quilts but the construction itself is pretty straight forward. As the title suggests, these quilts are made up of squares (well squares and rectangles) so there’s no curves, no crazy angles and no nothing that will make you throw up your hands in frustration and surrender.

For someone like me, this book is perfect. I like that it’s uncomplicated but you still end up with a beautiful and unique quilt. I never dreamed I’d be interested in quilts because all I knew of them was the classic, country style, dark colours in very classic patterns. While that may be your aesthetic, it’s definitely not mine so when someone said quilt, my immediate reaction was “Ugly!” But then a funny thing happened as I started to join some sewing groups on Flickr. I started seeing some quilts that weren’t ugly. As a matter of fact they were beautiful. That’s what made me decide to take my quilting class back at the beginning of the year. While I learned to make a classic style of quilt block (and I’m glad I have those skills), I really was not into the look. I guess that’s why I joined the quilt along, because the final result is going to be something that is actually my style. Meanwhile, that quilt from my class sits in a plastic storage bin, unfinished. Someday…

But back to my point. Dare to be Square is definitely a book that someone with no quilting experience would be able to use. Since I’m not an experienced quilter I can’t say whether one would find the book incredibly useful or not but certainly the unique patterns would be fun for anyone and they’re definitely not the old fashioned, down home, country quilt that I grew up knowing. The good news is, you can search inside the book on Amazon and decide for yourself if you think it’s worth picking up. The best news is the price! Even if you were only going to make one of the quilts (you think – funny how going back to things always changes your perspective) at $16.29 Canadian, you really can’t go wrong! I’ve seen single quilt patterns sell for as much.

The other thing that arrived in today’s mail was the wallet I was able to snag when Keyka Lou put it up as a sample sale. I was really excited to get this because I’m a huge fan of hers. I own nearly every single one of her patterns. They are always so professionally done and the best part are her instructions are clear and easy to follow. I even have a separate binder for her patterns and feel like a kid at Christmas (or what I imagine it feels like to be a kid at Christmas – being a Jew, I wouldn’t know) every time she posts a new pattern! I love my new little wallet, it’s so cute and I can’t wait to start using it.

Her latest blog post is a really great tutorial about taking product photos. There’s nothing worse than poorly shot product photos and you don’t need to be a pro or have fancy equipment to take a good photo! It’s a good idea to always take your product photos on the highest setting your camera allows. This will ensure that when you scale down, you’ll still have a high quality image. If you start small, you can’t make it bigger if you need to. Well you can but it will be pixelated and look terrible! I use Photoshop for all of my photo editing but there’s tons of free software out there, as you’ll in the tutorial I linked above.

I think my biggest pet peeve when it comes to photos is shots that are out of focus. With an auto-focus on every modern camera, I don’t understand how people still manage to take blurry photos! My tip for anyone out there looking to take photos is to make sure you depress the shutter button part-way so that your picture comes into focus, then snap! And if you’re selling something online please take the time to make sure your shots are clear and in focus! That’s another great thing about Keyka Lou’s patterns. Every single product shot is clear, bright and in focus! There’s nothing worse than buying a pattern online only to find out most, if not all, the step by step photos are blurry or too dark!

If you are like me and have a DSLR, it’s really helpful to point your flash at the ceiling rather than the product if you’re keeping the flash on the camera. This prevents glare and allows the light to distribute more evenly because you’re bouncing the light source off of a (I hope) white ceiling.

Finally, if you’re going to be taking LOTS of product shots because you’re planning on selling your stuff, you may find it useful to have a light tent. Maybe purchasing a light tent is out of your budget but guess what! You can make one and it barely costs a thing. In fact, depending on what kind of crafty supplies you have at your disposal, it could be free. Check out this awesome tutorial for a DIY light tent on Strobist.

Well, that’s all the rambling I’ve got for today. If I could stop sneezing maybe I could go work on my quilt but it’s not looking too good at the moment! Oh and lastly, I am SO excited about the season premiere of Criminal Minds tonight! I may be mourning the loss of summer but what a week for tv. Criminal Minds tonight, The Mentalist starts up tomorrow, Supernatural on Friday and Dexter on Sunday. Oh idiot box, thank you for sucking me back in!

It’s a nice bag and I really like it. There’s no inner pocket in the pattern and I really wouldn’t want a bag without one so I added a double pocket. The only part that I really had problems with was the faux piping along the top. Every time I got by the snap, it got messed up. I ended up just not doing it after ripping it out twice. There just wasn’t enough room even using the zipper foot.

If I were doing the bag again I would do the straps differently. I don’t like that the short ends have raw edges on them. I couldn’t be bothered coming up with a different way of doing them this time around but it’s definitely not something I would have left if the bag was for someone else.

I’ve gotten tons of compliments and lots of people have said they wanted my bag so I guess that’s a good sign! And here it is!

I wanted to finish the bag before I go away. I’m going to Toronto in a couple of weeks so I wanted to have it for then.

I’ve been reading a lot. I read the entire Sookie Stackhouse series in the span of 2-3 weeks. I’d read the first one a little while ago and then I read the other 9 plus the collection of short stories all this month. Since I finished them I don’t know what to read. People have tried to suggest books to me but I really am looking for something in particular, something I guess I can’t really describe but I will know it if I should ever stumble onto it.

I really enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse series. I think the writing and character development in True Blood is better but that doesn’t take away from how enjoyable the books are in the least. I really wish there were more of them so I could keep reading.

I just watched Repo Men and it was incredibly boring. I guess when you rip off your ideas from another movie you can’t really produce anything of substance. I thought I’d give it a shot even though when I saw the preview I was really not impressed that they’d copied the premise of Repo Man – The Genetic Opera completely. I’ve got to say that was probably a waste of 2 hours, it wasn’t really worth watching but since I have nothing to read I didn’t really have anything else to do!

I wish the summer would never end. I’d like to stop things right now and just stay here forever…

I’m anxious to set up my sewing area.  I haven’t had the time to do much lately but I’ll be very happy once I have a dedicated sewing space.  I may try to post more on the content of the books at a later day.  Right now I need to concentrate on finishing up a paper for class and the million other things that are going on.