wedding photography

As some of you may recall, last Saturday I had the opportunity of photographing a wedding. I got paid for it, so I guess I can even say that I did it professionally. I'm still feeling a little surprised and puzzled as to how I got here; I just like taking pictures, and I didn't exactly plan on becoming a professional. I am, however, quite delighted with where I find myself and plan on learning and improving and becoming a really good photographer.

I am pleased to say that the bride was also delighted. Here are just a few of my favorite photos.

finished

Little Man's quilt is done!

I cut, ironed, trimmed, and sewed.

I stippled.

I made perfect corners.

(And a few imperfect ones too,

but I'm not showing you a close up of those.)

And I made my own Little Man very happy.

Don't be fooled by his expression in the picture;

it was taken after a long, emotional day.

He loves it.

Yesterday when he called his Auntie Rachel on the phone, he told her excitedly about his blue and orange quilt and exclaimed, "I'll go get it so you can see it!" He then handed my the phone to me and ran out of the room to get it.

I decided to make it into a twin sized quilt and not a toddler bed sized quilt. After all, he'll only be in the little bed for a short time, and I'm hoping the quilt outlasts the toddler bed stage. Right now, though, it's the perfect size for his little bed when it's folded in half. I love seeing him enjoy it.

Guest post

I'm excited that The Nifty Thrifty Homemaker is featuring my article about menu planning today. Check out her blog, read my post, and enjoy her thrifty tips and good deals.

Recipe Reviews

In spite of all the craziness last week, I enjoying being able to try a couple of new recipes. Here are my impressions.

One day Little Man and I, knowing Benjamin's love for apple desserts, made these Apple Muffins as a surprise for him. The only thing I changed about this easy recipe was that I added 1/4 cup of flour to compensate for our high altitude. We're definitely making them again! They're moist and flavorful, and even after the crispy tops got a little soggy in a Ziplock bag, we devoured them.

The second recipe we tried was Chicken Paprikash. I did adapt this recipe a little as I went along. For example, I used boneless skinless chicken breast instead of cutting up a whole chicken. I also was too lazy to look up what an "Italian frying pepper" is and just used the red bell pepper in my fridge. Oh, and I skipped the parsley for the dumplings.

The consensus? While it's definitely not "American" tasting, Chicken Paprikash is a rich, flavorful dish that we'll be making again. The recipe is a little involved, but the deliciousness of the tender chicken and dense dumplings smothered in sauce more than makes up for it.

Monday...er...Tuesday Menu

We are still battling this pesky cold here at my house. It seems like as soon as I think I'm starting to get well, I take a turn for the worse. Oh well, wellness will return to us someday. I've been very thankful for Benjamin's help with making meals these days. I couldn't ask for a better husband (for more reasons than that he's an amazing cook). : )

Here's what's going on in my kitchen this week:

M-stew

T-leftovers (we have a lot in the fridge)

W-Pasta with red sauce and salad

Th-Chili and (hopefully) homemade rolls with carrot and celery sticks

F-Garlic-ginger chicken strips with rice noodles and satay sauce

Menu-ing tip: Check you sale paper (or sale papers if you actually live somewhere with a lot of grocery stores), and sock up items you use frequently when they are on a good sale. Then when you're making your menu plan, check your pantry and plan around what you already have.

What are you cooking this week?

Playing with my new camera

I've been having a lot of fun playing with my new camera. I like it oh, so much, and have been taking photos like crazy. I still have to take time to read the manual and learn how to use all the special setting and features, but I'm well on my way to getting to know it like a friend.

I am pleased with how it responds to low-light situations.

I love how crisply it captures those fleeting moments of boyish cuteness.

I am impressed by how well it focuses on close-up details.

I appreciate how the photo quality is so good that I can crop impressively.

And I very much like being able to capture movement.

I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this new camera.

Stippling

I did it! I overcame my fear of free motion quilting and actually stipped (is that a word?) Little Man's quilt last week. It pretty much took me all day (counting all breaks I had to take for caring for little guys and my sore, aching arms), but I was thrilled by the results. I found Larissa's free motion quilting tips very helpful. This tutorial was really good too and has a lot of good photos.

I skipped the practice step of working with simple sandwiches of fabric and batting because I was afraid that if it didn't go well I would give up. Instead, I dove right in and learned on Little Man's quilt (because once I had it started, I wasn't going to be able to chicken out and stop). My first attempts were ugly.

And along the way there was some unattractive pulling on the back (By the way, does anyone know what caused it? It isn't really looping, it's just that the bottom thread is pulling the top thread through more than it should in some places.)
By the end, though, this is what the top looked like, and the overall effect is wonderful. I'm so happy that I conquered my intimidation and tried something new.

I'll definitely be doing more free motion quilting in the future!

waiting...

for this to get here! Thankfully I won't be in suspense too long since it should be here today. (I'm very thankful for overnight shipping!)

I was already planning on camera shopping, but when my camera died two days ago and we considered the fact that I have a wedding to photograph on Saturday, we decided to put camera shopping on the fast track. I knew I wanted a Canon DSLR, but that's about all I knew. After doing some research and looking at the prices of good cameras I decided on the Canon Rebel XS.

Even as I mourn the loss of my faithful PowerShot S3IS, I'm eagerly anticipating getting to know this new camera. I'm hoping that it will be, as many reviewers claimed, the prefect transition camera from point and shoot to SLR and am looking forward to beautiful photos in my future.

progress

I'm almost done with Little Man's orange and blue truck quilt! The above photo is the only one I've taken of the process; I've been so intent on working on that I neglected to take photos along the way. Let me tell you, all the painstaking trimming of those little pieces paid off in beautiful corners--the most consistent and best corners I've every made.

I got the quilt top all sewn together and the backing pieced in record time, and then I stalled because I didn't have batting. While I was waiting for an opportunity to buy batting, I got out my box of flannel scraps for baby quilts and surveyed them (I have a couple of friends who are having babies soon who will need quilts). Before I knew it, the pieces were sorted into stacks for quilts, and my rotary cutter was going a mile a minute. The next thing I knew, I had squares for no fewer than eleven baby quilts cut out. I used [almost] all the scraps up, though!

Tonight I'm planning on pinning the backing, batting, and quilt top for Little Man's quilt together. I'm hoping to quilt it tomorrow using free motion quilting. It's my first time doing that. (nervous...) I'll try to update as my progress progresses.

Monday Menu

[saturday morning brunch]

Last week the boys caught an awful cold. Little Man is (I think) on the brink of getting well, Brother is in the middle of it, and I'm coming down with it. The humidifier has been going 24/7, and Benjamin and I have been splitting nursing duties. Nevertheless, meal making (and menu planning) must go on. Here's what I have planned for this week:

M-Sweet and Sour Chicken (because I didn't get to it last week)

T-This week I'm in charge of dessert for small group. I was planning on making these. I might have to see if someone else will cover for me, though. We'll see how I'm feeling.

W-Chicken Paprikash (a new recipe) and a veggie

Th-Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches

F-French dip sandwiches and salad

Menu-ing tip: Plan on being flexible. Sometimes a meal doesn't work for the original evening planned, and it needs to be skipped altogether or rescheduled. Whether your sweetie spontaneously takes you out to eat, some friends invite you over for the evening, or the children are sick, it's much less stressful to rearrange your plan if you're prepared ahead of time to hold it loosely.

What are you making this week?