New Scenic quilt

This one was actually all cut out from our last quilt camp get together. But by now I was improved on the machine quilting and I think this one came out better than my first ones.




Don't know if it can be seen but this is a closer look at the sewing.













This also comes from a pic I took on another trip we had made to Vermont. I figure if I use my pics, there will be more reality and balance when I try to put the fabric ideas together. I hope to try some more complicated angles now that I am getting the idea.

One more of my older scenic quilts...

This one uses lace to accent 'waves' which I thought was a very clever idea. All of these use a curvy edge border idea, too. And it was encouraged to make the borders and edging wider and very noticeable, like in art work with a big mat surrounding it that made you want to look closer to the small picture within.
Hopefully you can see the lace poking up as surf and a spurt against the rock.

From the attic.....

....I managed to find my scenic quilts I had worked on a couple years ago. I had seen them at a quilt show, and bought a pattern for this one, but typically, I still did it in my own way. I did need the directions to get me started in the basics, but I let my imagination take over once I got those directions in place. This dunes scene is my fav' of the ones I did that year, but I want to do even better in the details and aspects of view, now that I have a better sewing machine, and a lot more learning under my belt. I learned how to open up my thinking a great deal in the making of these 25 different postcards. So now it is time to put that new info to work in a field I had only barely touched on a couple years ago.


Here you can see a bit closer the machine sewing I was newly learning.

The sailboats are somewhat three dimensional in that there is only the black 'mast' holding it to the quilt. I learned how to do the two-sided material in a class called 'Petal-Play' which taught how to make three dimensional flowers etc. Super idea that I have tacked on to this quilt- and a few others. I didn't particularly like how the quilting came out on this one. I think I can do better..sure hope so.


In this close-up you can see what I mean. The shapes are a little more 'blocky' than they should have been.

My first postcard swap all finished...

...with my favorite subject the big cats, and a neat idea I saw on another quilt. Each piece of 'fur' is folded and has an actual edge you can tuck your finger under. The outside edging holds them in place, with the accent cat pic in the middle.


I loved how this color combo turned out. I think it may be my favorite of the whole 25 cards. I did an extra edging with a fancy stitch, and it looks good on the back as well as the front.


This last one is "Victorian" inspired. Deep greens, pinks, and burgandy with that gold sparkle touch - great color combo in my book.



Now that I am finished with the cards, I'm dying to sign up for another swap. They were so much fun to make. But I'm going to hold off and work on my twin bed quilt for my guest bed.

And I wanted to share my 'scenic' quilts with you all, and finish the ones that are still in parts. Went to a small sewing center up in Glastonbury with my sister and got some neat 'grass' material. Have a goodly amount of scenic parts to play with and want to try using my skills that were honed on the great variety I tackled with the postcards. They definately helped me to stretch my imagination.

It also helped that I searched the sites for postcard inspiration and found so many other types of fiber art. So many talented people out there that I am somewhat stopped from trying, and yet encouraged when I read their accounts of how they felt at the beginning and some still do even now. Many humble and hardworking folks who just express themselves in a medium that is fun and beautiful and unbelievably varied.

Now to get back to work...

Almost at the finish line...

Three more fun cards finished for the Postcard swap. This one has my first attemp at using cotton tatting thread on the edging. It broke more than once till I got the tension just right, and the bobbin rewound.(of course it ran out right in the middle of the trip around the edge!!!)


I called this one hot spot for the obvious reason. I had fun doing the free-motion embroidery on the little pink spot. I'm not sure I'm pleased with the black and whites, though. I think maybe I would have liked the round pieces to be exact circles, instead of freeform. And I'm thinking I would have liked it better if the quilting was grey or even black rather than the white. I'll have to try a second version and see if it improves.


This one was my first try at using different yarn and ribbon fibers with the machine embroidery holding them in place. There is a black netting with red dots covering it all, and I left the edge of the linen hanging off for a new effect.

"Fiberart For a Cause" postcards

Took a bit of time out from the 'swap' cards to do some for a great cause. (http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSMakingFFACPostcards.html) This seemed a wonderful way to express myself and to show concern for a terrible disease at the same time. These postcards we donate are actually sold at the "International Quilt Festival" in Chicago! They sold over 350 of them last year. Cancer hasn't got a chance if we all pitch in and fight it. So I am going to try to give it a couple punches of my own.


My favorite purples with a fish missing the net. I even added a few red beads to the net edging.


This speaks for itself in it's title -"Gone Wild" The fuzz of the yarn shows off the edge of the card as well. I even took a tiny crochet hook and pulled some of the fuzz looser from under the net.


This came out so cool. I loved the shear white material with the striping and couldn't think what to do with it to make the transparency work. One of the other scraps had a cloud-like shape and the bell went off. "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day" was born.

More lovely colors for postcard art!

I'm happily back at it with the postcards....


Here is a fav combo of mine. Black and White designs with a little bit of red to punch it up.



Lots of red in this one. Every heart design I could find in my stash to give a strong impression of Kitty Love.


Can never work enough with my favorite color purple. Again went into little scraps of my stash and found all the purps I could that would be used up in this little fan.



This one kinda represents my own blue dish collection I used to have in my dining room. Changed the color scheme many times since then, and the dishes are gone, sold on eBay or given away.

Love that EBay! Just went looking for rubber stamp colors. I has bought some garden theme stamps last year and promptly forgot them. I was so busy in other directions that when they finally arrived, I didn't follow through. Re-discovered them today and thought what fun they would be on my postcards so I was off to find some ink. I have never scrapbooked or any thing similar. These rubber stamps are beautiful and I am looking forward to trying them on material. I hope it works.

Another quilt for the Alzeheimers challenge

"GIRL TALK"
Would you believe that first one came out tooooo big by one lousy inch. I'm not at all a mathematician, and have no patience. Most of the time that is not a problem. But this challenge had rules--9x12 max size. Darn thing came out 10x11 1/2, cause I didn't do the math right!!! So here is a second one, definately under the max size. I took the basic idea from the first postcard quilt I had made. I love my big cats and I had these great textures in these materials. I thought these big cats looked like they were enjoying a chat session in the shade.


Here in this close-up you can tell I added gold beads and did a bunch of fun machine embroidery. There is even a little hand quilting around the 'girls' to make them stand out.

Now I get to make some more postcards. Well, maybe I better take some time to catch up on my bookkeeping and pay our bills. Uggggh! But somebody's gotta do it!

Three more going out!

This was a fun one. I had a small scrap of these funny-looking creatures and a square of patch from a quilt and put them together with the red/purple scrap. Voila! Clowns in space!!

Then I went into my purples stash and got 'petals' picked out for the big flowers in this. Similar technique in the sunflower postcard. Love my purples.....


Last, but certainly not least, is more purples-only fishy. And that cool teal print that reminded me of seaweed. There is a lady in the postcard swap who likes fishes, and she inspired me to think in this direction.


So these three are off in the mail this morning. I had a small wall quilt to mail for the Fund-raiser for breast cancer, and a box of knitted squares for "Close-Knit Hugs", so I had to stop at the P.O. While I was doing that, I asked her about those three postcards and she didn't see they would have any trouble going through--and she liked them! That made my day, and I am off to make some more...

Postcards starting to fly!

Got a second one finished with the apple theme. I actually have a 'series' going. That feels real professional--LOL! I'm always impressed with the talented folk who have a wonderful theme going in a whole group of cards.

Speaking of groups---Ta Dah...I sent my first NINE postcards off in the mail. One of them is going as far away as England. Rather nervous about all of them making it in one piece. I'm trusting reports from many swappers that they all do.

Keeping this short, as I have a couple more ideas for continuing some more 'series' cards.

Allzheimers Quilt

Took a break from the postcards to make a slightly larger (9"x12")one for the Allzheimers fund raiser at this nice site...
http://store.yahoo.com/mallerypressllc/index.html
At my age, it is something that worries me just a bit most of the time, and quite a lot when I do something really forgetful and dumb!!
This was a fun try with free-motion quilting on my machine. Had to change colors quite a few times and could probably do it in my sleep now. It's kinda semi-abstract and I had fun doing it. I can only hope it raises a bit of money for the nice folks who are going through all the trouble to do this great thing for the research.




Here is a close up of "The Chase"



Now back to my postcards. I have so many ideas my fingers can't keep up with my brain. Think maybe I better start writing myself some notes.

Tea for Two postcard

Got another one finished. These are parts left over from a neat set of placemats and coasters I put together from a kit. I loved the materials.
As I am a totally tea drinker (truly don't like coffee, not even in icecream!!!) I thought it was a great theme for a postcard for someone with the same liking.

Today the list came through for the postcard swap from Art2Mail. I'm so excited. We even have some folks from Austrailia and New Zealand. And my Timtex I ordered from Ebay arrived this morning too. I'm ready to get stitchin'!!

The Timtex folks suggested the use of a glue stick instead of fusible webbing. They mentioned the best was the one that goes on purple and then disapears. I have been using my spray for larger quilts, as I didn't have any Wonder-under on hand. The spray does and okay job, but you have to protect the area and hope you don't get the glue where you don't want it to be. I like the idea of the glue stick, and intend to get some tomorrow when I go grocery shopping. Stop & Shop has a mini department store in it, and a good selection of stationery goods, and crayons, pencils and stuff like that, so I hope they have the glue sticks.

Now the only thing left to arrive is the pigma pen set I ordered. Then the postcards will be flying and the post office won't know what hit them!!!!!!!!!!

Sister postcards

So of course after I succeeded in sending and getting back my first postcard, I had to make some for my sisters to keep.
This Teddy bear dancer is for my sis Carolyn who loves her bears. I don't know if you can tell, but there is a sparkly yarn around the edge that gives a very delicate fringe to the card. Hope the post office can handle it!

Apples are the collectors item of my sister Sheila's eye. And she has a very tiny apartment so will appreciate the smallness of her new piece of art, I hope!The dragonfly is a close-up to the full size below...

You can also see I am having a fun time using those fancy stitches on the sewing machine. Thought those little round circles kinda looked like apples in the tree.

Sister Barbara loves yellow and has sunflowers as the kitchen theme in her home. So of course I had to give them a try. I really like this one. It was fun doing the freehand stitching on my machine. I always wanted to try, but haven't been that brave about it. This makes it easy as the project is only 4"by 6", so if I blow it, I can just throw it!!
In the close up, I hope you can tell I used different material for the petals of the flower and had fun trying that blanket stitch on the deep brown middle circle of it. I am really liking these threads of 100% cotton I got from Connecting Threads (www.connectingthreads.com) Went to buy some more and found everybody else loved their new line too. You can't get more til July, and a big apology, (and probably very happy faces doing way big orders to the thread makers behind the scenes.--thread makers doing the happy dance!!!)

There we go for today, and more to come tomorrow.

Postcard Quilt Art

Well, I finally got one done! Have been hearing about them, and then saw some great examples, then actually got a blogger account of how to make one. So here is my first try at little postcard-sized quilting.



I love big cats and all animals jungle... so I went for the lion on my first card. I picked up remnants for the fancy materials used. Stuff I could never use in a bed type quilt. A gold shear, a satin with small bits of glitter, and gold threads for accent. That is the fun of these great cards. I sent it to my sister in a nearby town so that she can give it back to me, and I can check out how well it traveled.


The second in my jungle "series"--a zebra and great black and whites. The red is on a very fine black mesh netting I put over the entire card. And the red stitches are a chance to find out what my Janome sewing machine can do with all those fancy settings.

This close-up may show the mesh, but my 63-year old hands aren't as steady as they used to be.
Here is a scenic abstract- kinda!

Anyone out there that wants to swap, please comment and put your email address in the comment. I will get back to you and give you my snail mail addy for a swap. Looking to get one from every state--I'm Connecticut.

Softness

Here is the softest throw I ever made. It is flannel on the pieced side and regular cloth on the backing. That white flannel is the softest flannel I have ever purchased.

Just loved the whole results... Had a hard time giving it away. But hopefully, the folks in Biloxi, Mi will love it, too. This month I gave our lady in our quilt guild three twin size quilts, and this nice soft throw to send to the survivors of the hurricane. She got wonderful pics and letters from the people who received the first packages. It made us all feel so great for the time and energy we put into making them.
This is a closer look at the quilt.

Stained-glass look in quilt

Here is a twin size that is a great way to get rid of all those left-over strips of material from years of other projects with edges, sashs, etc. I grouped them in color piles and then sewed them together into a square and diagonal cut the finished square. Add a black diagonal cut square to the other half and you are on your way to a quilt that has a stained glass look. Can you see my error in the layout of the squares???

reversible quilt

Here is one of my most recent quilts. It is a different quilt altogether on the back. Each square is complete with front, back and batting all in one operation. This one is flannel on the back. These are fairly simple as to make them as fast as possible for the hurricane relief.

New Interest!!!

Typical of me, I have done a lot with my screensavers and am now ready to play with something else.

Quilts!

Have done quilting for many years, but it waned in the last year or so. Then my sister invited me to a 'quilt camp', which meant going to a boy scout camp and setting up our sewing machines, etc. and working ONLY on the quilt of my desire. And EATING till we burst. There was a cook there who served us the three meals a day that were real down to earth and delicious meals, and then there were goodies brought by all the ladies........well, you don't think any of us passed up this chance to pig out, do ya!???

It was wonderful fun. New ladies to meet and learn from, new grounds to enjoy, and new or finished quilting to bring home after three days of nothing interupting one's great creativity!!!

So of course, I had to join this quilt guild that she was in, and happily, one of my others sisters did too. So the three of us went to a second 'quilt camp' that even included lessons for brand new techniques. There was even a Quilt Bus that had everything you could possibly need, and lots that you wanted in the way of notions and beautiful material. Got me all fired up to start quilting again. So the screensavers are still there for you to enjoy, but now I want to ramble on a bit about my quilting and what I am learning about it. Feel free to comment and advise.

Time out from Screensavers for "FreeCycle"

So what is a FreeCycle??? It is a great website I recently discovered through my daughter. She saw it mentioned on the news. Apparently it started out in the mid-west, but the part that is important to me is the towns nearby, and MY OWN TOWN are involved.
http://www.freecycle.org is the starting point. Then you pick your state, and then the towns closest to you. If you are fortunate, it includes the town you live in. It involves giving away all the things you don't want or need around your house and yard to folks who would love to use it. It is a dump recycle that is nationwide!!!
We are trying to prepare out house to sell it and that involves lots of 'stuff' that we don't want to haul to the new house. Freecycle was an answer to our prayers. People can still use lots of that 'stuff' and are willing to come to our home and pick it up because it is FREE.
It is easier than a tag sale (dragging all the stuff to the yard and tagging all of it with low prices and dragging much of it back in after the sale)or selling it on Ebay. Many of the items are not worth the effort of setting up a sale on Ebay. It is great for more valuable items, but not for the little stuff that is still useable but no big deal price-wise.
My sister got a HUGE amount of clothing in a very large size from a lady who had been ill and lost weight. Some of the items still had price tags attached. I got a laser printer for myself, and a Cannon printer for my sister. I got a beautiful gas stove for a couple in desparate need.
And I gave away hundreds of daffodil bulbs to very happy folks from all over, and old computer programs and games to folks who still had older computers. And then I gave books away to a library member in a nearby town for their fundraisers, and magazines to folks who were still doing decorative painting, and crochet/knitting, etc. Then of course there was all the crochet threads I had inherited from my husband's aunt. Wow, were those ladies happy with all that old thread!!
If you can't tell yet, I LOVE the idea of freecycle. I'm an enthusiastic participant, and invite all who are reading this to go, go, go to the site and get started freecycling!!!!!!!

Screensaver "time-out"...

Sometimes it happens. I need to totally stop thinking in the directions of screensavers and get other things done. We are trying to re-do and fix up our house to put it up for sale. Cleaning out, painting, scraping, patching, replacing....on and on.
And that is a good thing. My mind takes a break and gets inspiration from new sources. Spring having just arrived, there are zillions of flowers blooming. I feel like I have taken every possible angel of pics in my own garden, so I much reach out for new sources of bloom pics.
I tried a ride around the neighborhood and took a pile of shots of daffodils in use in folk's yards and in areas where you don't expect flowers. I'm torn about the results. The daffies are beautiful, but the backgrounds are mostly brownish, greyish. Trees haven't come into full leaf, and grass is just so-so. Gotta think on this one for a while.
I also started a file of "fence" pics that may work into a nice screensaver. It makes my eye look harder at the roadsides for fences made of different materials. Once one starts looking, it is awesome how many different ways we come up with to keep things in or out of our private space!!!
Enough for today, gotta get back to work clearing out the next room that needs painting. Anyone ever paint their 60's paneling??? We are about to try!

Seashells and rope for flowers

Seashells and rope for flowers, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Love this jar full of seashells for a vase, and the rope gave the finishing touch. I used a tiny piece of the rope to multiply for the background, and a shade of green from the flowers to make the skinny frame.
They came all together to make a great floral screensaver. And it is now on the site for any to download FREE. www.collectincat.com to go and register for the screensaver pages. Pick one up today to brighten your spring.

Teals and lavendars in many vases

Teals and lavendars in many vases, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Love this color combo. The shading of the wall square I used made the effect of being quilted when I turned the square to a 45-degree angle. Simple yet so effective. And I finished it off with a purple found in the flowers to give it a skinny purple frame.

Tulips in a mug

Tulips in a mug, originally uploaded by collectincat.

If you look closely, you can see a tulip in the background diamond shapes with odd white lines disecting. Then I picked up the red of the tulip for a thin frame to put it all together. Isn't Paint Shop Pro fun??

Flowers, IT'S SPRING!

Screensavers with flowers seem just the right thing for this month. I found a great book done by a lady who tells you how to take whatever flowers are handy and put them into whatever container looks cool for the moment. She thinks like I think!!!

So I scanned the best photos and then got my PSP tools to work. Had just recently downloaded some new plugin filters for playing with the backgrounds. Many of the shots were tall and skinny pics so I added a nice wide band to them and put in colors and patterns that I hoped enhanced the picture and made it as close to 1024 x 768 as possible. IT'S ANOTHER FREEBIE so maybe you would like to register and get it for yourself to brighten your home or office with beautiful arrangements.

http://www.collectincat.com/screen/registration.html will get you to the sign-up page. After I confirm you, you're IN! Now I'm off to do some more tubes to work with another cat screensaver I have in mind. See Ya!

More Kitty Cat Screensavers.....

Just scanned a couple of great Cat books, and had to choose the best of the rest, to make a reasonable size for a screensaver. They came out quite nicely, and are free.

I'd give you a link, but I have recently decided to have a registration set up for folks who want the screensavers. They are a lot of work, as you may be starting to notice. So even if they are free, I want to know if someone is interested. I may have to upgrade to the paid version, as the limit of 50 people is coming up really fast. Which delights me to no end, but makes a financial investment decision just over the sunrise. I haven't even checked to see what it cost. Every time I put IN money, I get concerned about how much money is coming back at me. If folks aren't willing to part with a mere 6 bucks for all my work, do I really want to put in more money as well as more work???

What do you all think out there? Is anybody out there?

I suppose you could go here and register (free), and let me know you care...

Gollum, owner of "Precious"

Gollum, owner of "Precious", originally uploaded by collectincat.

Here he is , one of the "villians" of the story. Although this one makes you feel pity. He is such a mess, and show's us all what greediness can do to the mind.

Bilbo, The Hobbit

Bilbo, The Hobbit, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Here he is, Bilbo, thinking life is good and peaceful. Little does he know Gandalf is just down the road and about to knock on his door with a request that will change his life.

The Hobbit screensaver is now ready to go!

Finished 'The Hobbit' Screensaver!!

Finally! I started this one about a year ago. Scanned dozens and dozens of the artwork pictures from this old book that was falling apart.

Had read it to my children when they were young and let them read it themselves when they were able to actually read. They loved the pictures and enjoyed reading the story to make sense of the pictures. So the book was well-loved, and therefore, well used up.

The first thing I had to do was put it back in order. Not all the pages had numbers so I had to guess on a couple of them. Then came the scanning.

If you have ever scanned a picture from a book or magazine, you know it doesn't come out perfectly square or balanced, and depending on size, has left-over edges showing. So the next project was to take each and every picture to the Paint Shop Pro and clean it up, re-size it and clarify and brighten the colors. In some cases, I didn't leave them as I found them. I pulled small ovals or rectangles out of the big page. In others, they were two pages across, so I had to erase and push and clone to get that big page seam out of the middle of the pic.

In making this particular screensaver I felt I couldn't take the easy way out and just make it a slide show. The pics had to be in order of the story, and have captions for those who wanted to be reminded of who was who, and what was happening. Because of the Lord of the Rings trilogy being fresh in everybodies minds, the Hobbit story might be somewhat fuzzy. And I had to do something with the smaller pics to make it more interesting to watch.

It ended up with 61 pics (13 MB) and that was after I cut many from the great stack of possibilities. Rankin and Bass, the artists, did an abundant amount of artwork for the book, as it was meant for children. So you might say there was more picture than words. (Want to know more about Rankin/Bass? Put their name in Google and take your pick...The choices are many)

And after all this work, it's FREE to all those interested. I didn't do the artwork, so I can't take the credit and sell the work. I'm hoping it will draw people to my site and tempt them to check out the other screensavers that ARE mine and for sale.

I'll put in some pics here, tomorrow, to show you a sample.

Fishing with friend

Fishing with friend, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Here is a nice warm sunset terragen that had a peaceful look. I added the boy and his dog fishing and a simple frame. One of the easier ones to do for my Terragen Gallery Screensaver.

The problem with this type of picture is that it is not MINE. I can't claim the copyright. I didn't invent the terragen program, or pay for a license to use it. I didn't paint the boy and dog. I didn't even make the tube of the boy and dog.

So all the fun I have with this program doesn't give me any income. It does give the public FREE screensavers to enjoy. And it gives me free expression with the tools at hand to make a picture that appeals to me, and hopefully to anyone else that may see it.

Many of the free ones out there are under this copyright situation. If the work is totally your own photography or digital art, then it is unique and you are able to sell it under your own name.

Be sure you understand copyright before you consider the selling of any product that is made on the computer.

It's a beautiful day here so I am heading outside to be inspired and get some fresh air. Have a wonderful day in your part of the world, too.

Misty scene

Misty scene, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Finally a chance to show off some fun with Terragen. This scene is one of my better workouts with the program. It can happen very quickly or you can spend quite of bit of time tweaking and starting over to get just the feel you want. I'm still learning more ways to manipulate this cool tool. Tomorrow I will try to get up another pic with some improvements showing. It will come right from the screensaver I made with these fantasy world pictures.

Watch out for EZula screensaver downloads!!!!

I just tried downloading a screensaver yesterday on my brand new computer(so I know it was 'clean' before this)and even said "no" to the programs it wanted to install. I didn't keep the screensaver because it had a trojan virus, and the Ad-Aware program that finds bugs that come in to spy on your computer found 32--- THIRTY-TWO! from just that one attempted download. I'm just so dissapointed in not being able to enjoy these really interesting screensavers I find, when I can't get them direct from the authors site. I hate all the crap that comes with them. I won't screw up my computer just for the pretty pics.

My site is paid for by me, and the screensavers come directly from me, with no added anything!!!

It's frustrating when well-done 'savers are lost to the public or cause trouble for the public because of this added junk.

Sorry, I'm ranting again but I really wanted to see that screensaver.

Terragen has to wait...

I know I was going to get into the Terragen program, but my son from Vt. just moved back home with his lady. We built the apt. over our second garage for him, and he left about three years ago to try Vt. Now they are back!!!!!!!!! I'm obviously pleased to have my kids close by.

Also, my grandson is in a tech school, and chose culinary class as his fav. So off we went yesterday to get his first chef hat, coat, and cute houndstooth pants. I never knew chefs wore houndstooth!! Coool,and so cute on him. He is not quite 15 and almost at tall as his grandpa. He is 6 ft, and getting close to my husband's 6'5"!! I think he might just make it. There is enough growing time left.

Another exciting thing for me is the arrival of my new DELL 'puter. My oldie insisted on freezing at the most inoportune times. I got fed up and now this nice big screen and non-stop machine make working on the 'puter more fun and less stress. Will get back to serious bloging soon!