Playing with Paint Shop Pro...

freesias stylized, a photo by Cali-rhoz on Flickr.

Looking for pix to make a new banner, stopped to play a bit with effects. Looking forward to summer where I will have long blocks of time to play with art and photos and all these things that take time on a weekend.

Ajay's quilt...

So this was a couple of weeks ago when I started out. I had just laid out all the squares and was trying to figure out how to configure it...




And now it is all sewn and simple machine straight line quilted and ready for binding...



I would like to get it finished this weekend so I can get it to her next week!

Third permutation of the Old Time piece...

It needed some other color and some stuff...dull old timey bling... so here is my next permutation of it, still nothing fused down or sewn cause I feel there are probably more changes to come:

Working on a small art quilt...

I have been seeing a lot of "journal art quilts" online -- smallish art quilts that see to range from as small as 5" x 5" to around 9" x 12". I like working in a smaller size so I decided to work on a few designs that have been percolating in my head.

This one uses an old time photo of me and Andy (from around 15 years ago?) that I printed out on muslin. Here is my first putting together of fabrics and ideas:



And here I have added to it and changed a few things. It is still no where near done and everything is still loose -- I just like having it out on my work table and in a photo so I can see it and make changes as they come to me. Different camera so colors are a little different... this bottom one is closer to the real colors.



It still needs something... not sure when it will get finished but when it is I will know it.

Spring Break!!

So yesterday was the first day of Spring Break and it was rainy and stormy. Perfect for staying inside and sewing (with a mid-day side trip with Andy to Trader Joe's and Nugget Markets). I made this shopping tote:



I needed to practice my sewing: making a boxed bottom and getting the straps put in right. Next one I will practice making pockets!



And it folds up when I am not shopping:



Then this morning, day 2 of my break... I was looking for a photo of some hollyhocks I had found on a trip either last summer or the one before and found that I had a ton of flower photos that had not been tagged in my Flicker photos... so I spent a little time this morning starting to organize and tag my photos (HERE are just the flowers so far).







I really want to grow hollyhocks this year -- I'd better get planting!