Summertime…

…and the livin’ is easy. Or hectic. My summer has been hectic. Lots of fun…but hectic. Each year my “summers off” have become shorter and shorter. And I try to cram as much into my summer off as I can manage!

We went here:

and here:

and here…where we saw little peeks of snow on the ground in July:

Then we went here:

and here:

We came and took MiniStitcher and MarioFan here:

We were home for a few days and went here:

and here:

where we saw this:

and this:

Two thoughts on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame–I loved seeing all of the “stuff”. But, I wonder, do we really need to see Jimi Hendrix’s family couch? Nothing better to display?

And even though I’m assuming that Jim Morrison wasn’t always the Lizard King, I could not wrap my brain around him being a Cub Scout.

I’m guessing you can see why the blog posts have been slim pickins lately. Not much sewing, quilting or stitching going on. But back to work now. I think I need a vacation from my vacation.

Thinking outside the box

As much as I wanted to sew last weekend, I didn’t.  Not because I didn’t want to…but because I had to catch up.

One of the things I had to catch up on was my photography class.  I realized that I had a class on Monday and nothing to show.  Got out the old camera and fired away with the shutter!  Then I had a plethora of photos to edit.  I’m a slow editor since I’m still not completely comfortable with the process.  I click the Preview button in Photoshop to see what impact my editing has had on the image.  It’s like having an eye test–which looks better…A..click or B..click.  So many decisions!  Here are two images that I played with and was happy with the result.

Spiderwort plant with a vignette applied on the edges.

Leaves with a texture applied.

Since this is a quilting blog, I have a quilt related idea.  Uh oh!  Ideas can be dangerous!  I’m looking to step out of my comfort zone.  I never do pictorial quilts, but I think I  may like to try one.  I feel “drawn” to the tree image.  Here’s where the trouble begins!  I know enough about myself to know a couple of things for certain.

• I’m no artist, so painting this image on fabric is a joke.  Unless I want a Picasso kind of look!  (Which I don’t )
• I’m not much of an appliquer–so cutting little leaves is out of the question.

I’m thinking of transferring the image onto fabric through my printer.  I don’t have very much experience with this technique.  I’ve used the letter sized pre-treated fabric pieces.  I don’t like the stiffness of the fabric.  And I would be limited by the size.  I have a wide format printer so I could go larger than letter sized.  Has anyone had any experience with this technique?  I know I can Google it but I’m looking for someone who has actually done this and can hold my hand!  🙂

See…I can see this with fancy threads, maybe some couching, definitely some beading.  OK…I’m scaring myself!!

In my other life…

When I’m not working or quilting or “family-ing”, I love photography.  As much as quilting is my passion, my camera is a close second.  Having said that, you might think I was good at it.  Not so much.  I’m much better than I was but not at all as good as I hope to be someday.  My friend Debbi and I have been taking some photography classes from her DIL’s friend…a professional photographer.  That girl has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone.  The difference in my photos is amazing…even realizing how much farther I have to go!  Debbi and I began the classes to take better pictures of the grandkids.  I was tired of getting snapshots.  I wanted photos.  I wanted images!  And I have been able to achieve that with them.  Sure, I delete a lot of pictures.  But at least I usually get that one great shot!  I moved outside to our yard and snapped a few of the spring flowers in the back yard.  Thought I might share some of them with you.

My goal this weekend is to take MarioFan to the park and try to get some good shots of him.  Where MiniQuilter poses, he just gives me that cheesy eight year old smile.  God love ‘im!  He promised to cooperate because he’s helping me with my homework.

The real reason why I’m sharing these photos is that I don’t have anything quilty to show you.  I just ran out of time to work on anything this week.  However, I did get to the store and bought lots of batting so when I get time to quilt, I’m ready!!  One quilt did actually get pin-basted.  And Leah didn’t give us any homework this week.  There was nothing to motivate me!  Perhaps a cattle prod….

MiniQuilter wanted to work on her quilt so we sewed together one more row of blocks.  Her progress is slow.  She may have it completed before the fabrics go out of style.  🙂

And, to tie my camera and sewing together, I found this wonderful tutorial!  My camera bag has seen better days.  I looked around for a bag that had a little bit of style.   Guess you have to pay for style!  A lot.  I think I would really like to try to make this bag.  But I’m thinking that cotton fabric would probably not hold up.  What do you think about an upholstery fabric?