Shooting the moon

 Those of you in eastern North America that follow the media have perhaps taken note that today - the 27th of September 2015 - we'll have the very rare treat of a supermoon total eclipse.  A supermoon, aka harvest moon, is a perigee full moon, that, by virtue of being closest to the Earth, appears to us larger than usual. Heh, the celestial body doesn't actually change size, of course.

Not a single stitch of the little lunar observer's clothing was made by me.

Back in 2003 I created this photo-montage of the November 8th lunar eclipse, and it was published by the BBC.  Seriously?  that tickled me more than the publication of all my academic papers put together. 

In anticipation of today's event, hubby and I have been practising photographing the beast these last few days. We use two telescopes: a teeny tiny 260mm one (about the same as a 400 mm telephoto camera lens) for full face pics, and a 6" heavy for close-ups.

I dragged all the digital cameras, new and old, big and small, kicking around our house (stuff accumulates, you know) and tried various approaches.  You can see the moon getting fuller and fuller each day, from the 23rd to the 26th:

The close-ups, though?  You can practically see the Apollo lunar landers. Almost. 

Copernicus and Kepler craters

The giant Tycho crater

These are straight out of the camera, unimproved, unstacked single shots.  Not bad for a pair of backyard rank amateurs.... 

So, what does this have to do with sewing, you might ask?  Lots!  The moon is such a huge part of humanity's culture from the beginnings of time that, well, need I enumerate? Like, just for example, it's the basis of a number of calendars:

a frequent subject in mythology, folklore, and literature:

and in music: 

(if Mr. Beethoven isn't to your liking, have a listen to Debussy or Pink Floyd)

And in sewing?  we find moon buttons: 

moon pillows to sew:

moon quilts to piece:

Described as "phases of the moon", but it sure looks like stages of a solar eclipse to me.

moon pants to sew up: 

and, with Hallowe'en coming, Sailor Moon costumes for all the little darlings in your life!

The full moon is almost upon us...