Digitising and Cake Wrecks

Pamella gave a great workshop today on digitising various insects using 4-D Design Creator. I enjoyed it, though I found I could not maintain the level of concentration needed for very long and I frequently fell behind. Thanks to everyone who helped me catch up!

Apart from the workshop, no fibre today. I delivered the pieces for ShowOff, filled a pile of scripts at the chemist and visited the podiatrist to have a painful callous on the sole of my left foot removed. It already feels better.

The podiatrist doesn't have magazines in his waiting room. Instead he has quirky art books. On previous visits I have enjoyed looking at pictures of shoes and handbags. Today I was delighted to find a copy of Cake Wrecks. This is by the author of one of the blogs I have on my Gooogle Reader and I enjoy seeing what appalling examples of the cake decorating art she can come up with. The book has examples I had not seen before. The blog is definitely worth a visit.

Play day and a few other things

I fell in love with the thread sketched peacock feather on the cover of the latest issue of Quilting Arts and was determined to replicate it. I don't usually do this - I haven't made anything from a kit since the 70's, and never copy exactly things that appeal to me. But I made an exception in this case.


I found the pattern on the QA website, downloaded it, adjusted the size to fit A4 paper and printed it out. I traced the colour patches and I have now painted the base fabric. Next step is to stitch the ribs of the feather. I think I will fuse the painted fabric to a very thin wadding before I do.


Today I also digitised the tenth block for my heart quilt. I put the names of the contributors inside a heart shape formed of hearts. It looks great, but I had a problem with the stitchout. Several of the hearts don't stitch out properly. Then I broke the lever on the hoop I was using.

Time for some professional help. I took the stitchout and the hoop to Bestway. David fixed the hoop in about 30 seconds (DUH!) and suggested that the stitchout problem might be due to the foot I was using. I hadn't noticed that I had the open toe on, rather than the usual embroidery foot. So I will try another stitchout this evening. While I was there I had a good look at the new Pfaff and Husqvarna overlockers. I covet one that will do a cover stitch, but the variation in price between the different models in both makes is huge. Something to think about.

I haven't blogged about the Contemporary Quilt Group meeting on Friday where there was a great workshop. I didn't take any photos there except this one. Any guesses what it it is? A clue - it is not in the main part part of the hall. Love the texture.

A Change in the Weather

There were major storms here in Perth last night, especially in the northern suburbs. Here it wasn't too bad, though the hail sounded like cannon balls landing on the metal roof of the veranda. After the hail came the very welcome rain, the first since November last year.


I did a 4D Pro computer workshop today which I really enjoyed. It is the first one I have done this year because they have coincided with chemo days. I plan to stitch out the project ASAP, but it has to go to the end of the queue of WiPs. I have several deadlines to meet in the next fortnight.

I finished modifying photos I want to use on one of the projects and plan to print them on Tshirt transfer paper tomorrow morning before I go to my sewing group. I tried the TAP paper by Lesley Riley, but the photo didn't transfer successfully to the dyed wool blanket I am using as my base fabric. I know the Tshirt transfers will work. I hope I can finish that part of the project tomorrow.

Today

we didn't go walking. We had to deliver Kevin's new (old) Mazda 929 to a garage for wheel alignment and suspension whatsits early in the morning, though they didn't actually do anything till the late afternoon.

I went to Bestway for yet another of Pam's inspirational 4D workshops. I can now digitise grub roses and circles with various fills - more purple circles?

I sat outside and read after we picked up the car. Temperature possibly 22 degrees Celsius - very nice. But as the sun sank, the mozzies invaded. I think they may be a problem this year since we have had so much rain - it even sprinkled a little today.

Dinner was Cardamon and Black Pepper Chicken - so easy and so yummy. Thanks, Helen, for reminding me of this recipe when I rang - she was making it too.

I did absolutely no fiddling with fibre.

Fiddling - not Fibre

I went to Pam's monthly 4D software workshop today. My MacBook played up AGAIN. I think I need to investigate Bootcamp - Parallels is just not coping with this graphics intensive program.

However, I am becoming more and more competent with the software. It didn't take me more than 10 minutes after reboot to get back to where everyone else was - one hour into the workshop.

I really enjoyed this lesson. It mostly involved Stitch Editor, which we haven't used often. Great fun morphing a basic shape. I want to play more, but tomorrow I am hosting the fortnightly gathering of my sewing group, so it will have to wait.

I need to make sandwiches or scones tomorrow morning. Tonight I have made an orange cake. It smells divine - I hope it tastes as good. It was an incredibly easy recipe, so if it is any good I will post it on the blog.

2009 Predictors

I read on one of the blogs I follow with Google Reader that whatever you do on New Year's Day will be an indicator of that year's activities.

In that case I can look forward to a year filled with textile activities.

I finished off two of the new garments I am making. I used the 4D software to modify and combine designs for a white on black embroidery I am planning to use to embellish a purchased Tshirt. I played with some images in Photoshop, cropping and enhancing in preparation for printing on fabric for a commission. And I tidied up the laundry after a painting session a couple of days ago.

A Productive Day

Yesterday I tidied up the sewing room and put away lots of stuff. Today I have spent the day playing with my 4D software and sewing. Nothing very complicated. I made two foundation pieced Christmas postcards, using a design supplied by Pam at Bestway. I designed the label and stitched it out as the back. I will probably add some crystals to the fronts.



When I was tidying up I found some silk I had dyed. One piece is organza, the other is some kind of slub. The dye has taken up differently on each fabric. The organza is very strong colours, while the slub is more muted.

I have decided to make a scarf using both fabrics. The organza will be the body of the scarf. I have finished the hemming of that. The slub will be made into bagged rectangles to be the end pieces. They will be joined to the organza with Spanish Hemstitching (aka faggotting). I will post a picture when finished.

Haddon's Birthday

Yesterday, in between other things, I managed to edit the bottle we digitised in Pam's workshop on Tuesday and stitch it out twice to make a bottle bag as a gift for a friend's 70th birthday. NOTE: We did put a couple of bottles inside before we presented it.





It was a very pleasant afternoon sitting in the sun, talking , eating and drinking. Here is the birthday boy.

Bottle Bag (and bug)

Pam held another designing with 4D software workshop today. This was intended for people who don't have the full suite. I found it very valuable as a memory jogger and have plans to take the technique further.

We developed an applique of a wine bottle and used 4D Sketch to add a border to the labels and script on the label itself. The applique was buttonhole stitched (rather than using satin stitch). This was an extremely useful technique to learn. The bug was a whimsical extra.


The design was stitched on a black polypropylene bag which we unpicked. Good recycling.

I had trouble cutting away the applique fabric. The ball of my thumb gets very painful with prolonged use and it got a workout today with pen and tablet for 4D Sketch. It is being X-rayed on Thursday. Arthritis is the almost certain diagnosis, but which form? I already have some osteo in my hand, but it doesn't pain me. Kevin has rheumatoid and has a lot of pain. Getting old sucks!

Ugh, computers - day 3

The problem I had loading the update wasn't entirely my fault, hooray! The sequence in which we were told the files were to be loaded was wrong, and when David realised this we had no problems. I have spent the afternoon printing updated sample guides - this update has made all the stitches from both the Pfaff Creative Vision and the Diamond Designer available as motif fills. I doubt I will ever use more than a handful.

I also did some playing with the silk paper and knitting. This time I used some cotton knit that I bought in a roll from an auto supplies place (sold as cleaning cloth) some years ago. I have previously dyed some and used it with the embellisher. I coloured it with some of the Opulence inks that Dale sells, plus a few dabs of Jo Sonya Rose Gold (which looks much better in real life than it does in the scan).



I have realised that I did not sufficiently shake the Moonshadow Mists the other day and that was why there was no colour, only the brown. Today I used some more of the Opulence inks on top and it is much better. Again, even better in real life than in the scan.

Ugh, Computers - Day 2

I managed to purge the laptop sufficiently to defrag the hard drive, even though I only had 4% free space. Then I burnt 3 CDs as backups and dumped a bit more. I am obviously spoilt - the main computer we use (an iMac) has a 200G hard drive, and we have only used 86G.

The laptop is 5 years old and only has a 20G memory. I think I need a new PC, or else to stop thinking of the MacBook as a backup/toy and seriously put it to use. But there is still the need to update the 4D software. I am no longer getting the message that there is not enough space. Instead it seems that I am missing an essential part of the upgrade.

I went to the HV site to try and download the missing bit. More frustration - I am unable to get past the registration page.

Tomorrow I will take the laptop to Bestway and see if David can sort it out.

Ugh, computers

I didn't have a chance to play with silk today. I have spent hours wrestling with a computer.

I need to update my 4D Embroidery software, but I can't do it because there is not enough room on the laptop. So I thought I would defrag the hard drive. Can't do that either; there is not enough space. Needs 15% and it's only got 1% left. I can't understand where all the disk space has gone - I don't have many photos saved there. So now I am going to transfer all my photo files to CD and also back up all the embroidery designs, then restore the system. I hope it works! I have never done this on a PC. Macs are so easy to deal with in comparison.

I can upload photos today, so here are my silk bits. This is the one I made in the Sarah Lawrence class, using her paints and silk knitting she supplied.


Here is the piece I made yesterday. The Moonshadow Mists have not worked - I have no colour except the walnut ink. Maybe I can add some paint or dye, or just leave it.