Stitching Jenny

It’s been awhile since I last posted about Jenny but progress is being made slowly but surely. The background is mostly completed, and gold beads were added for the flower centers. I was very concerned about how to stitch her down, but after making samples decided to go for a low key approach. I used my sewing machine’s faux blanket stitch in a matching thread on the plum parts of the body, and hand stitched her hooves and belly. The ears, tail tip, and the gold part of her nose are not stitched down to create a little more dimension.

The blank green area on the left will be getting more “stuff,” so it hasn’t been quilted yet. I might add more decorative details to her, but want to see how the whole thing looks once everything is actually on. This is only about half of the total picture, the rest of it is still in pieces.

Below is a close up of her head. For some reason, her ears are my favorite part.

My hubby Andy and I are going to the World Quilt Show in West Palm Beach this weekend... should be fab!

6 quick digital art tips

Here are a few fairly random tips in no particular order along with the corresponding Photoshop commands, though similar functions can be found in many art programs.

1) Reverse the image you’re working on to look for lines/shapes/colors that look “wrong.”

Edit> Transform> Flip Horizontal.

Work on it for awhile, then flip it back.

2) Learn keyboard shortcuts. I put them on sticky notes on my monitor until they’re sufficiently tattooed on my brain. The very first ones I learned? Cut (command X) and Paste (command V).

3) Put image into grayscale to check values.

Image> Adjustments> Desaturate or keyboard shortcut Shift-Command-U.

Does it still read well or does it turn into mush?

4) Record an Action for anything you do repeatedly that doesn’t already have a keyboard shortcut. I’ve made actions for Flipping Vertical or Horizontal, to Copy or Paste Layer styles, and now in CS4 to Link or Unlink layers (since it now is a hassle to do otherwise.) I need to record a few more Actions, actually.

5) Zoom out so the image is tiny... does it still look interesting?

6) Get ahold of a Photoshop how-to book or two, with plenty of pictures. I’m working my way through Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual and am picking up plenty of good info. I ignore the stuff that doesn’t apply to my work flow, and put sticky notes on the pages with the real gems. Why buy a book? There are a lot of good tutorials, etc. on the web, but a book helps you to systematically cover all the basics of the program. There are many techniques that I use every day that I NEVER would’ve figured out on my own but found in a book. The WOW! series, which have even more pictures, are also excellent. There are many other good ones.

That’s it for now, just wanted to toss those out there. By the way, I upgraded from CS1, so am just now finding out about the Warp tool... love it!!! (Under the Edit> Transform menu.)

I changed my sig to have more autumn-like colors, though it’s still hot here in Florida (ugh!)

#3 is designed, I think

I liked the idea of adding more lime green to this (see previous post comments), but couldn’t find the right color/pattern in my stash. A splotchy batik was not going to mesh with these fabrics and every other chunk of fabric was a little off color-wise AND there were not going to be any shopping trips(!) So I added more hot pink, black, and white.

As I’ve mentioned previously, these 4 tops aren’t supposed to be masterpieces. Yet, if something really nags at me, I have to change it. Do you see anything that looks funny in the photo below?

Those two pink and white pieces with the vertical stripes running through them seemed to break up the design in a weird way. Below the stripes are horizontal, which looks much better (to me, anyway.)

Time to sew. I might break down and buy some lime green for the binding, we shall see. One step at a time!

Top #3... needs what?

Here are the fabrics for the third top ironed and tossed up on the design wall just to see how they’re looking. The other related posts in this series are here. I’m thinking it might need some more mostly black fabric, or mostly white, or both to punch it up a bit. Any opinions?

Here is a close-up of the cute retro fashionistas on several of them.

The next step is to start chopping up these chunks into similar widths and making big stripes out of them. Have a nice weekend, everybody!

Top #2 is sewn together

I took out the dreaded purple polka dot fabric (shown here on the design wall.) This definitely looks better. The pink, white, and black certainly is a cheery color scheme. The other related posts are here.

The dots now live on the back of this pillow, which goes with the quilt.

Only two more tops to go!

Announcing the I.N.K. Think Tank!

If you’re a teacher, librarian, parent, or anyone that is interested in nonfiction books for kids, here is a brand new free resource that you’ll love. The bloggers of I.N.K. (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids), including yours truly, have assigned national educational standards to their books and put them all into this database, the INK THINK TANK.

The participating authors are:

● Don Brown ● Vicki Cobb ● Sneed B. Collard III ● Marfé Ferguson Delano ● Susan E. Goodman ● Jan Greenberg ● Cheryl Harness ● Deborah Heiligman ● Steve Jenkins ● Barbara Kerley ● Susan Kuklin ● Loreen Leedy ● Sue Macy ● Dorothy Hinshaw Patent ● Susanna Reich ● April Pulley Sayre ● Rosalyn Schanzer ● David M. Schwartz ● Melissa Stewart ● Tanya Lee Stone ● Gretchen Woelfle ● Karen Romano Young

The titles range from picture books to YA books, all nonfiction. The awards this group of authors has received are many, including Caldecott Honors, Parents Choice Awards, Silbert Honors, Green Book Awards, ALA Notables, and many more.

Please help us spread the word!

A couple of fab links

Wow, the online studio tour was quite a success. According to Google Analytics, over 300 people stopped by to see mine. (Not sure if it really counts all visitors, but whatever!) Here is the link to the various blogs on the tour, in case you missed the updated page:

Quilting Arts/Cloth Paper Scissors Open Studios

Also, for my quilting readers, if you haven’t seen the blog below, you must check it out. Leah Day is posting a new free motion quilting design with a video showing how to do it, every day for 365 days! It’s pretty amazing, the designs are great, and she’s up to Day 53. Can she do it? Is she nuts, doing this with a 2 year old? Will there be a movie about it? What actress will play her? Stay tuned!

365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs

Hope you’re having a creative week!