Geeky Girl Engineer – Page 3 – Nature, travel, pets, home renovation, and geekery

Solar Eclipse : The solar eclipse is the main reason I came out west for vacation. I have seen a partial solar eclipse before, but never a total solar eclipse. It was like Continue Reading →

Snorkeling in Alaska : While planning for my vacation in Alaska, I learned that there is a company, appropriately named Snorkel Alaska, that leads snorkeling tours near Ketchikan. If there is a way for Continue Reading →

Carrie Blast Furnaces : I’m in Pittsburgh for the long weekend. Today I took a tour with Rivers of Steel of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The area is part of the former U.S. Steel Continue Reading →

Nuttallburg : I started exploring New River Gorge National Park today. It is second on my list of things to see in West Virginia after the capitol. The park is really spread Continue Reading →

Bridge Walk : I spent today doing more exploring of New River Gorge National Park, but I started the day by walking across a bridge. The walk across the bridge was under the Continue Reading →

Bargello Quilt

Posted on February 8, 2023 by geek

I made my first bargello quilt. I have been exploring the different patterns that can be formed using a bargello technique. For my first, I decided to so something simple, and I designed it to look like a parabola. I also quilted it by connecting the corners of the pieces to emphasize the parabolic shape. I like parabolic shapes. Also I love fluid dynamics, and the velocity profile of laminar flow forms a parabola. While I named this quilt Parabola. I could have named it laminar flow. Also, I am a nerd.

All the fabric is from Island Batik, Gemstones and Rainbow Days series.

Parabola quilt, a bargello quilt

Laptop Tote Bag

Posted on January 22, 2023 by geek

I made a couple of tote bags for relatives for Christmas, and now I wanted to make one for myself. I combined elements of a couple of different designs I have seen to make my own. I designed it to hold my laptop, notebooks, and a few other items. It has one outside pocket, and two interior pockets. One of the interior pockets has divisions sewed into it to make it useful for pens and such. I also attacked an umbrella pocket to the exterior. The interior of the umbrella has an iron on vinyl coating in case the umbrella is wet when I put it in. All the fabric is from the same batik collection.

Exterior of tote bag with pocket side

Exterior of tote bag

Interior of finished tote bag

Umbrella pocket before attached

Interior panel that is divided into four different sections via stitching

Interior panel

Winter decorations

Posted on January 18, 2023 by geek

I’ve been enjoying making holiday decorations, mainly in the form of table runners, pillow covers, and a front door hanger. While it is currently carnival season, I was not quite ready to put up my Mardi Gras decorations, so I decided to make some season decorations for winter. Essentially the decorations are snow themed. For the dining room table runner, I designed a pattern that is supposed to look like three snowflakes. I am not sure if that is clear, but I like how it turned out.

Front door hanger with machine embroidery

Dining room table runner, it is supposed to look like three snowflakes

Dining room table runner

Buffet table runner

Pillow covers with machine embroidery

Bletchley Park

Posted on January 8, 2023 by geek

As I am in London, I took a short train to Bletchley Park to see where the British codebreakers worked during World War II. I had read about this place before, so it was neat to see it in person. You can tour the mansion where they originally worker as well as most of the other buildings that were added on later. They also have exhibits explaining how they decrypted codes and machines that were built to aid in decryption. To be honest, even though I understand the basics of decryption, I still had trouble following much of what was explained. However, it was still interesting to see. Also the mansion is beautiful, and the newer buildings are pretty much what you would expect of a WWII government building.

Bletchley Park the original mansion

Bletchley Park inside

Bletchley Park ballroom

Bletchley Park offices

Bletchley Park new building

Enigma machine

While walking to the mansion, there was a fenced off area where there was a hole, so of course, I had to investigate. I’m walking around this historic site reading about cryptography, and I, being me, have to go investigate any hole in the ground, especially when pipes are involved.

Maintenance on pipes underneath

Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern

Posted on January 7, 2023 by geek

I’m in London, and before traveling here, I heard about a great exhibit that I put on the top of my to do list. London’s Fashion and Textile Museum has a temporary exhibit called Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern. The exhibit explores Fassett’s world, with original artworks from invited makers as well as Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably and Philip Jacobs. It also has textiles works, photographs and archival material to further educate on his work. I love many of his fabrics, and the first quilt I created was with his fabric. Thus, I knew I would like this exhibit.

The exhibit is wonderful. I spent the most time studying the works of art by artists using Kaffe Fassett textiles. They are wonderful, and some of them are just breathtaking. I spent quite a bit of time studying them trying to understand how they were created. They inspired me to want to create my own art although I am not skilled enough yet to create works like the ones I saw. Below are some photos of some of the works that most captivated me.

Haze Kilim; designed by Liza Prior Lucy and Kaffe Fassett, made by Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

Tickled Pink by Susan Carlson (designed, maker, quilter)

Tickled Pink by Susan Carlson (designed, maker, quilter) [close up]

Garden Reflections by Vicky Wozniak (designer and maker) and quilted by Jamie Wallen

Levitate by Danny Amazonas (designer, maker, quilter)

Levitate by Danny Amazonas (designer, maker, quilter) [close up]

Grevy’s Zebra by Sophie Standing (designer, maker)

Grevy’s Zebra by Sophie Standing (designer, maker) [close up]

Tusker Bull by Sophie Standing (designer, maker)

Gypsy Dancer by Danny Amazonas (designer, maker, quilter)

Clapham South: Subterranean Shelter Tour

Posted on January 6, 2023 by geek

Last time I visited London, I found out that London Transport Museum offers Hidden London tours, so I signed up for one. It was fantastic, and luckily they were offering another tour while I was here again. This time, they offered a tour of Clapham South subterranean shelter that was built during World War II. When the Germans bombed London during 1940-1941, some people took shelter in London Underground stations, which the transport authorities didn’t really want them to do. The government then asked them to build proper shelters for people. The transport authorities had previously had plans for an express train to run underneath the Northern Underground line, so they used parts of those plans to plan ten shelters to each shelter 10,000 people underneath Northern line stations. Only eight stations were built though, and London Transport Museum now owns one of them, the one that that was built under Clapham South station.

The shelter is 11 stories underground and has over a mile of subterranean passageways. It is accessed via a spiral staircase with many, many steps. [We had to walk down them and then back up when the tour was over.] The shelters were built just like London Underground tunnels with the idea that after they were no longer needed as shelters, they could be used to start construction of the previously mentioned express lines. That never happened though. The tunnels were all divided in half horizontally, so that they formed double-decker shelters. Each level was then divided into eight sections all given names of historical people, with rows and rows of beds. People would be assigned a bed and told which section and which bed number was theirs. The shelter were not finished before the end of the Blitz, but they were used later when V-1 and V-2 bombs hit London. Government propaganda advertised them as “luxury tunnels” with “comfortable canteens.” Those terms are kind of relative. The beds were small and really close together. They did have lavatories, but the toilets consisted of buckets with a possible seat. The buckets were emptied into a tank. This is my favorite part (especially as an engineer), when the tank needed to be emptied, a valve was turned to add compressed air, and another valve was turned to allow the compressed air to (hopefully) shoot the waste up into the sewer tunnels above. However, the shelters certainly kept people safe from bombs. Some people who stayed there had no other place to go as their home was destroyed.

After World War II, they continued to be used at different times. In 1951, there was a huge festival in London, and the shelter was opened as “Festival Hotel.” Also, Caribbean migrants arriving on the Empire Windrush stayed there temporarily. Finally U.S. troops stayed there in the 1950s. Some of the shelter were later used for archiving material.

Exterior of entrance with spiral staircase inside

Clapham South Tunnel/Shelter

Sign with directions to exit, other shelters, and lavatories

Shelter beds

Stairs to Underground station

Tunnel walls

Graffiti on tunnel walls (the yellow dot sticker is there because the museum is a museum and now preserves the historical graffiti)

Reykjavik

Posted on January 3, 2023 by geek

I previously visited Reykjavik while on a two week visit to Iceland. I’m back for a short visit in hopes of seeing the aurora borealis. Thus far the weather and solar activity has not cooperated for that. Today I walked around a bit and took a few more photos.

In the middle of Reykjavik is a large pond, but in winter it is completely frozen over, except for a small corner. All the waterfowl are congregated in that area waiting on people to bring them bread. (On my Reykjavik post from 2014, there are photos of Tjörnin and the area in front of City Hall in May to compare how they look in winter and summer.)

Tjörnin (a pond or lake), which is almost completely frozen over

Birds congregating when people with food arrive

Swans came to determine if the reason I came to the water’s edge was to feed them

Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat

The water in front of City Hall is completely frozen

Entrance to the Icelandic Punk Museum, which is located in a former public restroom

Little Purse

Posted on December 23, 2022 by geek

I wanted a purse, mainly for when I travel, that was light weight but would still hold the essentials. I thought I designed this purse well. I measured my Kindle and my phone to determine what size pockets they need. Then I designed a series of zippered and unzipped pockets for everything. In one of the zippered pockets, I added a card holder for easy access to cards, for example, a public transit card. My design was both a success and a failure. The purse is really cute in my opinion, and it does hold what it was designed to hold. Unfortunately, once I add my wallet and a few other essentials, it is too small. I like to be able to carry my eyeglass case with me, and I can’t put that in here as well as a few other essentials, like a rolled bag for unexpected shopping buys. I should have added a couple of extra inches, but I was trying to keep the bag as small as possible. It was a good learning experience though, and I think if I add about an inch in width and perhaps two inches in height, the bag should work as designed. Thus, that will be next sewing project, to make another that is slightly larger.

The front has a large pocket for my phone, which has a buttoned flip-over piece to hold the phone securely. There are also two zippered pockets.

Front of the purse

The back of the purse has a pocket designed for my Kindle.

Back of the purse

The inside of the purse has a pocket that runs the entire length. My idea for this pocket was to put receipts.

Inside the purse

The top zippered pocket on the front has three card holders.

Front zippered pockets

Springfield, Illinois

Posted on December 13, 2022 by geek

This past weekend, I went to Springfield Illinois to see the state capitol. I took the train from Chicago, so I had a bit of time to wander around based on the train schedule. There are a couple square blocks that are now a national park where Abraham Lincoln’s house is, as well as many other maintained old houses. I didn’t have time to really explore the park, but the houses are neat to look at from the outside. Lincoln features prominently across the city, which although I understand he was from there, is still slightly ironic in that there is also a Lincoln, Illinois. Downtown, at least, is very small and walkable, and I enjoyed seeing many of the old buildings.

Old State Capitol

Restored street across from the old state capitol

Restored building in downtown Springfield Illinois

Abraham Lincoln’s house

Illinois State Capitol

Posted on December 11, 2022 by geek

Yet again, I have traveled quite a distance to be confronted with a state capitol where part of the building is off limits, and no one bothered to post that on the website. I am in Chicago for the weekend, so I decided to take the train to Springfield for the day (3 hours each way). Once I got to the capitol, I saw that half of it appeared to be under renovation. Upon entering, it was confirmed that the entire Senate side is under renovation and off limits. This was not a surprise renovation. It has clearly been ongoing for a while. Did they post this on their website? No. I do understand that many people would not care if they can only see half the building. I am not one of those people. So as with Connecticut, I will have to come back here in several years, once I can confirm the renovation is over.

With that gripe being said, the building itself is gorgeous. It is really ornate. In many of the capitols I have seen thus far, there is a lot of symbolism in the ornateness. Either there is not in this one, or the guide did not mention it. Symbolism or not, it is beautiful. The building interior is covered with lots of different stone, mainly marble, in many different colors. The dome is spectacular. The House chambers has lots of dark wood with crystal chandeliers. As is my habit, I asked how the light bulbs were changed. A pulley system is used. Finally one detail I noted is that the exit signs have a fancy font. I found that slightly amusing and a nice touch. With a building this ornate, no plain font with do, even for the exit signs.