Sunday, July 29, 2012

Happy Birthday, Colleen

The best place to be on a hot day is in my basement working on a quilt.


After arranging and rearranging the photo drafts printed on paper, I finally found a layout I liked.  I have also decided to add some Celtic embroidery designs.



I was taught to tape the backing material on the kitchen floor; it gets an extra good cleaning that day.  The tape helps to keep the  backing from shifting while basting.



Next, I added the batting.  Then the top and basted all three layers together.

Colleen didn't request it, but I decided to include pictures of our Great Great Grandparents who immigrated from Ireland.   I hung it on my design board for a couple of days while I pondered how I would embellish it.


Today is Colleen's birthday and it is finished just in time.  The lace I added on the upper left hand area was hand made probably by our Grandmother or Great Grandmother.  My mother remembers it on a curtain that hung in her house.  The cross was made in Ireland, a souvenior Colleen brought home from her trip.



Here is a picture from the Badlands.  I can't even begin to imagine what the pioneers thought when they tried to cross this area in a covered wagon.


Sunday, July 22, 2012

Colleen's Ireland

Last year, Colleen and her husband traveled to Ireland.  She finally sent me the pictures she wanted on her wall hanging. 




This picture is very pretty, but when it will be printed on fabric the cliffs and foreground colors will darken and the sky will look white.


I added more color to the sky and then lightened the overall picture to get it ready for printing on the fabric.







I darkened the water just a touch, so I could lighten the overall picture for printing.










As you can see in this picture, it was stamped with a date and the colors looked faded.




I used the self healing and clone tool in Photoshop to remove the date and I saturated the color to make it look brighter.
As you can see she wants several pictures on her wall hanging, I will look at scrapbook designs to help give me some ideas for a layout of the photos. 

Here are two scrapbook links:




Here is a picture of a horse I took in Wyoming.




Sunday, July 15, 2012

Age is Just a Number



Turning a milestone, such as 50, is unavoidable.  Everyone handles it differently.  To commemorate my sister achieving that milestone, I wanted to create a special keepsake for her.  I searched through my mother's box of family photos and found three pictures that reflected her personality at different times in her life.  My mother is always quoting the phrase, "Age is just a number.  It's attitude that counts."  The combination of pictures and quote were perfect for her wallhanging.


Remember to sharpen your photo, because you will loose details when printing on fabric.  Also don't forget to lighten the photo because usually it will print darker on material.

Here is a pretty view from Vermont.


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Painting with an Artist

What is the best way to beat the heat?  Quilt, quilt, quilt.  Our outside thermometer reached 108.1 yesterday.

We were lucky to receive an invitation to spend last week in VT, especially since we were without electricity for the week from the serve storms that hit Friday night, June 27th.  Needless to say, I didn't get any quilting done last week.


The weather in Vermont was glorious and we enjoyed our time visiting with my cousin at Smuggler's Notch Resort.  The resort offered watercolor painting classes with a local artist, Karen Winslow . Even though, I have not touched a paint brush since I don't know when, I signed up for two classes on landscape painting and I am happy I did.  The tips I learned from her were invaluable and I will certainly incorporate them into my quilting.


1.  Look at the world through color evaluators, green plastic strip for outdoors and red plastic strips for indoors.  You can also take pictures and convert them to gray scale. 

2. Frame your subject with a framing card or use your fingers to form the frame.  I used my camera view finder as my framer.

3.  Hold your hand out, palm side up.  Now hold your hand vertical to the floor.  Which hand appears lighter?  When you hold your hand palm up it reflects more light, so do objects that are flat as opposed to vertical.


4.  To make objects appear in the distance use cool colors.  Use violet for mountains in the distance.  To make objects appear closer, use warm colors.


5. When illustrating a landscape reflect the colors of the sky on the ground.  At sunset, make sure to put even the pink on the ground.

6. At sunset, what is closest to you is the darkest.


As you can see, I am no painter, but I tried to incorporate, some of her teachings into my painting sketch during the lesson.  We sat in a field at sunset and I tried to capture what a saw.





Here is a picture of a landscape that I took in Stowe, Vermont at the Von Trapp Family Lodge that we visited.  I plan to try to use what I learned from Karen in my painting class in making a wallhanging of this picture.