And now for something completely different. Today I finally figured out how to create a musical score on my OS X laptop, through my midi keyboard. So I’m trying to learn the pretty Ballad du Paris on a piano accordion, and couldn’t find sheet music for it anywhere on the Interweb. Of course, it’s reasonably straightforward to figure out from ear but so much better Continue reading Creating a score via midi on OS X
Here is my second attempt at a men’s shirt, this time more successful. This is a McCall’s M6044 men’s shirt pattern, very popular for this kind of garment. I tried the variation with contrast lining for the collar and sleeve. The fabric is from the “Cotton+Steel”‘s Rotary Club collection and is called “Ring Ring Red Navy”. The look for this one was geometric overload, and I picked a contrast lining that was primarily blue to complement the infrequent navy in the main pattern. Continue reading McCall’s Men’s Shirt with Contrast Lining
This is the first toy I have made exclusively with my son in mind. Kids have it rough; their days are filled with bumps, cuts, bruises, and other kids coughing in their faces (not that they are any the wiser). It seemed to us that our 4-year old and the ice pack had become best friends. So when I saw IkatBag’s “Owie Doll” pattern, I thought that would a perfect doll to commiserate with the forever-bruised. Continue reading Arjun, the Owie Doll
Scratch and Makey Makey are projects from MIT, which allow kids as young as 6 to create games, and use electronic circuits for real-world controllers. I attended the “GameMaking with Scratch and Makey Makey” workshop with my 8yo daughter this weekend and I was excited enough to write a bit more about it in a blog post, rather than Continue reading Game Design with real-world controllers: Scratch and MakeyMakey
Here is my first attempt at an Indian kurta for Diwali, using raw silk. I find the traditional clothes sold in Little India or other Indian stores in the GTA either too bead-covered, too synthetic, or just too floweryfor my taste. A couple years ago, I first saw the decent Indian fabric collection at Asiyans in Scarborough. So this year I actually got my act together and