Friday 17 October 2014

Week three - bee my baby sew along

Late but not lost - here is what I did for week three of the sew along. Pattern was my own but then I found this pattern here for the same results :-)
All pentagons are done in different fabric  for a nice sensory experience.  One of them was a gift for a friend's daughter who shares Arthur's birthday.  She is 12 hours younger:-)

Saturday 4 October 2014

Week two - Bee my baby sew along

This week was all about the cuddles. Blankets and sleeping bags, quilts or car seat covers . I went for a sleeping bag of my own design,  because tiny loves his sleeping bag, but he has almost outgrown it. 
Also, we usually sleep with the window open, even in winter, and little babies need warmth. I decided to forgo the zipper because I never use it and it ended up being a very quick project. 

Diese Woche ging es bei Bee my Baby um's drauflegen und Zudecken. Ich hab' dem Winzling einen neuen Schlafsack genäht, denn aus seinem Alten ist er schon fast herausgewachsen. Ausserdem ist es bei uns im Schlafzimmer eher kühl, weil wir bei offenem Fenster schlafen. Aber kleine Babies brauchen nun mal Wärme :-)
Ich habe mich entschlossen das ganze ohne  Reißverschluss zu machen weil ich den so selten benutze - damit wurde es ein sehr schnelles Project.
 
Pattern: my own, I basically traced around the old sleeping bag and made it longer and wider
Fabric: grey fleece outside, Giraffes and clouds on blue jersey inside, both from a surprise bag at "Michas Stoffecke

Schnittmuster: Mein eigenes, Ich habe einfach um den alten Schlafsack  herumgezeichnet und ihn verlängert/verbreitert
Stoff: Aussen ein grauer Fleece, innen ein Blauer Jersey mit Giraffen und Wölkchen, beides aus einem Überraschungspaket von Michas Stoffecke


It turned out super cuddly and he loves it! 
Der Schlafsack ist Superkuschlig!
 
I used CamSnaps to close it, all four in different colors. Mr. Smartypants told me so :-) And I posted this picture mostly because Tiny looks soooooo cute.

Als Verschluss habe  ich CamSnaps verwendet, in vier verschiedenen Faben. Mr Smartypants hat gesagt ich soll das so machen. Das Bild poste ich hauptsächlich, weil der Winzling so niedlich aussieht.

off to Bee My Baby with this post!
Ab zu  Bee My Baby damit!

Keep creating,
Vee


Thursday 2 October 2014

Zumba

I tried my first Zumba workout today.  Yes, I am bright red.  Yes, I am going back :-)

Keep Moving,
Vee

Monday 29 September 2014

An afternoon for mother and daughter

Just the three of us yesterday afternoon - Smartie learned how to ride a bike and we made cupcakes :-)

Keep creating
Vee

Friday 26 September 2014

Week one - bee my baby sew along

So, since I can't slack off in the first week of my first sew along, here is what I made. Tiny needs a couple of new, cute hats and I made an infinity scarf to go with them. Of course, I never stick to plans like this. Clever and Smart  decided that they needed matching sets, too. Now my workspace is filled with children's hats. ..
So far I finished five all seven hats and three scarves.
Here's a crappy cellphone selfie of Tiny and me with one of the new hats :-)


Pattern: Farbenmix, Mini Basics for the hats, infinity scarves are patternless
Fabric: Surprise bags from "Michas Stoffecke"

Keep creating,
Vee

Thursday 25 September 2014

so many things...

have happened in the past two years. My son started school, I went back to university and then back to work. And  in april  we aquired a new addition to our family.
Also, I started sewing clothes for my kids - I just realized that I haven't shown you any of those...

Viel ist geschehen in den letzten zwei jahren. Unser großer hat mit der Schule angefangen, für mich ging es zurück an die Uni und dann auch in den Job.
Ausserdem habe ich begonnen, Kinderkleidung zu nähen, und mir ist aufgefallen, daß ichEuch davon noch garnichts gezeigt habe...


Anyway, Stereomint and poppy is hosting a baby sew along and i decided to try it - first sew along for me :-)

Bei Stereomint and Poppy gibt es gerade ein sew along für Babykleidung und ich habe beschlossen, das mal auszuprobieren. Mein erstes sew along, ich bin ganz aufgeregt :-)
http://www.stereomintpoppy.com/2014/09/bee-baby-sew-along.html

Sunday 13 July 2014

On the touchy subject of GMOs

Hi there.
This will be a very long and somewhat dry post - not sure how it will go over with the usual readers of my blog. But then again I haven't posted in almost two years, there's probably no one left reading :-)
If you know me personally, you know that I'm all kinds of passionate about science. And since Biotechnology is right up my alley I always get upset when people use pseudo science to besmirch it.  Luckily, thanks to Ćĥ£œ Ķă¥ on pinterest I found an article that debunks the top ten anti-GMO claims (you can read it HERE). It's long but well worth the read. But after reading I felt somewhat irritated. It went too much in the other direction, painting GMOs in a positive light. I am perfectly willing to admit that there are problems with GMOs that should be addressed, not glossed over.  I decided to use the same ten points that the article uses, summarize the articles point if I agree with it and add my own conclusions.
 

1) Claim: Genetic engineering is a radical technology.

A wonderful summary on how genetic engineering works and how people have been doing it as crossbreeding or cross-pollinating for ages. I agree wholeheartedly; it is not a new idea, we just have the technology now that we can manipulate at a tinier level.

2) Claim: GMOs are too new for us to know if they are dangerous.

Yes, it depends on what you define as "new". Yes, GMOs have been around for 30 years or so, BUT even after Conner et al (The release of genetically modified crops into theenvironment, Conner et al, the plant journal 2003) asked for long term studies, the longest term we had so far was less than a year.
Conner et al estimate that, based on available data to date, it will take decades for current GM crops to have appreciable ecological consequences, if any, on a single agricultural site, and that it will take centuries for any appreciable ecological consequences, if they exist, to occur on a more global scale.
Quoted from: Cumulative long-term effects of genetically modified (GM) crops on human/animal health and the environment: risk assessment methodologies, Henry et al, 2006

3) Claim: Farmers can't replant genetically modified seeds.

And this is where I disagree. The author of the original article mentions terminator genes, but they are not the problem.Hybridization of seeds is used to make the harvest bigger, but that makes the sterile also. Non-GMO seeds can be sterile, too. Yes, it is true that " large-scale commercial growers typically don't save seeds", but they are not the problem. It gets problematic when the GMO corn is shipped to Africa to the poorest farmers on the planet that really can't afford to buy new seeds every year. GMO corn has been shipped to Africa as hunger relieve, but several countries have banned it (source: unep.org).

4) Claim: We don't need GMOs—there are other ways to feed the world.

I wholeheartedly agree again - GMOs are not the only answer, but they can be part of the solution.

5) Claim: GMOs cause allergies, cancer, and other health problems.

It may be true that so far no studies have shown any negative effects, but if you purchase GM seeds you sign an end user agreement that explicitly forbids the use of the seeds for any independent research. (source: Scientific American)

6) Claim: All research on GMOs has been funded by Big Ag.

Not all research, no - but all research on any seed from a "big Ag" corporation has to be approved by it. There is plenty of other research going on, but Research on GM seeds is severly restricted. (source: Scientific American)

7) Claim: Genetically modified crops cause farmers to overuse pesticides and herbicides.

While glyphosate may have only a toxicity 25 times less than caffeine (I found no study supporting that claim, btw), it is still mildly toxic and the sheer amount that is used now is problematic. It is toxic for fish and amphibians. Also, the other active ingredient of roundup, Polyethoxylated tallow amine is more dangerous and the mixture could have a cumulative effect.(no study found, just wikipedia)
 

8) Claim: GMOs create super-insects and super-weeds.

Yes, just like the over use of antibiotic. That's how evolution works.
Totally agree with this one again :-)


9) Claim: GMOs harm beneficial insect species.

I agree with this part - but again, long term studies are missing.

10) Claim: Modified genes spread to other crops and wild plants, upending the ecosystem [and hurting biodiversity]

While I agree with most of the technical aspects of this part, I don't like the conclusion. This is the most criticized part, and GM crop will outperform wild plants if it is resistant to insects.
Problematic: While researching this, I only found ONE study about GMOs and plant diversity, sponsored by CropLife International. It was highly approving of GM seeds. This fits again with the release of only positive reasearche by "Big Ag"

So long and keep creating,
Vee

Saturday 12 July 2014

It's been a while...



It's been a while...
the last two years where awesome and hectic and I'm going to write about some of the things at some point, but for now, this space is officially under construction. It's not that I stopped designing, I just keep having ideas for blog posts that don't fit my current blog and instead I post nothing. Again. And again. So, while I work on the new Design and title,


keep creating,
Vee