More inspirations

the library of congress has its own flickr account with some pretty cool pictures. My favorites are the 1930-40s in color (click on the pictures to see the whole thing - they get cut off because they're so big):

Ian is ridiculous.

See that kid in the hammock in the middle of the library? That's Ian.

Back from iGEM

Some pictures from my adventure:

Looking across the Charles River towards Boston.

Outside a big fancy MIT building.
Most of the conference was in this Dr. Seuss looking building called the Stata Center.

Opening remarks at iGEM.

Eating lunch and prepping for the presentation. A NY Times reporter came and talked to some of the team members.

Cobalt modeling the award we won.
We won Best Health of Medicine project. It was kind of a big deal for us!

And lastly, a preview of one of my current projects... its 75% done:

Ughhh iGEM

It's hard being assertive and letting people know they aren't doing a good job. I guess this is something you do when you're a grown up. Yuck.

Going to Boston!

This weekend I'm going to Boston with the Stanford iGEM team! iGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine and its a "research competition" for undergraduates. The undergrads work on a project all summer and then meet up at MIT to present their work. There are 112 teams from all over the world so I expect it will be very exciting. Since I'm a graduate mentor, I just help the Stanford team rehearse on Friday and then hang out for the rest of the time. It's pretty much a free trip to Boston... I get so lucky sometimes!

Captain's New House

Last weekend Ian went up to Austin and hung out with his friend (and former roommate) Ryan who is now the caretaker of Captain our goat. Together they finished building Captain a new house (more like mansion). Another crappy camera phone picture, but you can see Captain standing in the doorway. Notice how tall his house is compared to him. It's kind of ridiculous and cute.

Current projects...

Here's some stuff that I am currently working on/just made. I made the pincushion the other night when I couldn't sleep. I got the pattern from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. There is a cool flickr group where you can see stuff people have made from the patterns in this book.

The thing underneath is a throw pillow cover that I've been working on. It's reverse applique (sort of) and I'm planning to do a ton of embroidery on it. We shall see how it turns out. The pattern of the cut outs I got from the Alabama Stitch book.


Sorry the picture is bad... I should really invest in a real camera.

Cobalt modeling my first quilt

I am proud of my first quilt, but not too happy with how it turned out exactly (it looks a little grandma to me).But it makes me happy to see Cobalt snuggled up in it!

First Sewing Project

This is a bad picture (taken with my camera phone in my always dark room) but it is an apron I sewed from a Simplicity pattern (don't remember the number right now).