One thing after another

I have been so involved in all sorts of activities (and most of them related to textiles!) that I have been too slack to write in the blog. So this is a kind of catch up.

Following the SCQuilters Retreat I hung the Australia Wide art quilt exhibition at QuiltWest on Tuesday the 20th. I didn't do it alone (Margery Goodall was the artistic director and top row hanger) but it took us quite a long time.

The quilts looked fabulous and it was wonderful to be able to look at them at close quarters. It is impossible to see details on a web image. The range of techniques and materials used was mind blowing. I wish I could afford to buy some of them.


I visited the quilts on Wednesday and Friday, travelling to the Craft Fair by train. The new Mandurah line is so quick and easy - provided you have someone to drop you off at the station so you don't have to find parking. I also spent some time looking at the vendors' stalls. I didn't buy much at all, except for a book about photo imagery on fabric and some wool dyes. I did a hands on workshop on knitting socks with a circular needle and had to buy some sock yarn for that. I just love the way that yarn patterns itself. Otherwise I was very circumspect.

Saturday I went to the Innovative Stitches Group and helped to mount the group textile piece for the exhibition which opens next week. I don't have any pieces in the exhibition because I joined the group only this year, but the work that has been done is stunning.


Sunday I made a small effort to tidy the house after all the comings and goings, then went back to the Convention Centre to pull down the exhibition. This was a VERY much faster job than the hanging of them.

Monday I packed up the quilts and sent them back to NSW, then stitched out a cross stitch design that I had digitised. This one worked well.



Tuesday I did another 4D workshop with Pam. This one was on wildflowers and I am quite pleased with the result. I am thinking about using this technique to embellish some photo printed fabric . . .


Wednesday and today I did a breadmaking demonstration for Helen's kindy class. They also made butter from cream and they just loved eating the fresh bread and butter. They also had a visit from Farmer Mick - a wonderful experience for them.

Some fiddlings

In the last 5 days:

I have cast on 210 stitches for a Moebius scarf at least four times and pulled them out again. Now I am trying to work out how to do Cat Bordhi's method. She SAYS in her book that it is so easy she can do it holding the needles behind her back!! I can't even get one stitch on the needle - all thumbs.

I have unpicked and felted Helen's woollen jacket. Though the label said 100% Pure Wool, the yarn used for the front facings and neck and as a pocket backing was not - or perhaps it was a machine washable yarn. Very uneven results. I think it is going to be a large tote bag. I will use some leather from the skirt she gave me to make handles.

I have finished altering her jacket - I think successfully - and have started unpicking the devore velvet skirt. Boring job.

I have digitised a couple of cross stitch designs. Haven't stitched them yet, but they look OK on the computer screen.

I have made some stamps from erasers. Eight erasers for $2 from Crazy Clarks. I am planning a stamping session tomorrow.

And I have visited my BiL in hospital, attended a breakfast for an aunt's 80th birthday and spent a half day at the Craft Fair on Sunday. Plus I have read 3 books. Been quite busy really.

4D Embroidery Software on a Mac

We bought a new MacBook before I went to New Zealand in September last year. The justification was to make it easy to connect to wireless hot spots to access the Internet. It had proved too difficult to set up my PC laptop for wireless. Once we got back the MacBook was rather on the shelf.

However it has an Intel duo core processor which means it can run both Mac and Windows programs. Fine. But you have to decide how you are going to do this. There are various programs, some free and some expensive. I asked a question on an Internet mailing list and got a heap of replies from people who are using Macs to run the 4D embroidery program.

As a result we installed Parallels and I then installed the 4D Embroidery Pro programs. Success. Everything works fine, except 4D Sketch which requires a graphics tablet. The tablet that came with the 3D Sketch program only has a Windows driver. I did a lot of googling and couldn't even find the model for the tablet on the Wacom pages, so I emailed customer service and got a really prompt reply (Well done, Wacom!)

I downloaded the suggested driver but couldn't get the tablet to work on either the Mac or Windows side. Our own computer guru thought that the problem could be that the tablet just wasn't designed to work with Macs. Maybe a new tablet that WAS? I rang the major Apple reseller and the guy there was gloomy about the prospect of it all coming together.

Today I went to another, closer retailer and bought a new graphics pad. I was assured that if I couldn't get it to work I could take it back.

It has taken about three hours in all, and quite a bit of a work around, but now the tablet works with the program. I have written myself notes so I can replicate the accomplishment!

Catching up

I have been really slack about posting, but I HAVE done some fiddling with fibre.

Monday I played with my 4D software and developed designs for a name badge and for a monogram. This is the monogram design.



I would like to say I did it all by myself, but that would be untrue. I found an online lesson and followed the steps. I am going to try modifying the technique though. I think the background is a bit too stiff.

I have done the transfer printing samples for Juliet and Iris. I delivered them to Juliet this evening and looked at all she has done. She has been direct dyeing polyester with disperse dyes for the green and yellow panels. She has succeeded in dyeing close to 20 metres of white polyester organza in a range of cool and warm greens, graduating from light to dark. I LOVE a particular olive green she has achieved - I will ask her for the recipe.

Many of my printing samples were crappy because I wanted to achieve results quickly, but it is very interesting to compare samples that Juliet did using an ironing press with those that I did using an iron. I have an old non-steam iron with a flat soleplate. I never ironed a sample for longer than 15 seconds. The resultant transfer was comparable to a sample that Juliet did some months ago which took more than a minute using a press.

Since the panels are at least a metre wide and the Wagyl segment is in the upper middle of each panel, using a press will be problematical. I think ironing is the answer, but obviously more experimentation is needed.

AND I did 4 sessions of water aerobics this week! No walking though.

Post #200

I wish I had something terrifically fibre based to write about for this landmark posting, but I don't.

Yesterday I spent entirely too much time downloading security updates for my laptop. I think Microsoft sucks. It took me all afternoon to download and install one file. I hate that you can spend an hour waiting for an installation to finish and then it decides to tell you that it has failed.

I have decided I want to try to blog from New Zealand and so I needed to install better security. I rarely connect the laptop to the Internet - almost all our internet stuff is done on the Macs and we use thumb drives to transfer files. We have bought and installed a WiFi card on the laptop and finally succeeded in installing the required security. Still haven't tested the connection - probably tomorrow at the Dome cafe in Fremantle which offers free access.

We then went out to dinner to a friend's house where we ate some very nice curry and I drank a little too much wine. I have been a bit slow today.

Helen came round in the late morning. Her printer is out of ink and she needed some pics printed of the T&E projects her students have been making so they can be displayed for the Parents' Night on Tuesday. Mum and Dad to the rescue again - except our printer ran out of ink too! We will try a refill tomorrow.

Another Challenge

At Husqvarna Sewing Club last month Pam gave us all a square of fabric and issued a challenge to use it to make something. This is the fabric.

You are allowed to add some more fabric (up to 4 pieces the same size) plus stiffening, wadding, lace or whatever. Size is restricted to a piece that will fit in a bag 25cm x 30 cm.
I decided to do some playing with my software and made a couple of designs the following week. Today I stitched out the designs I had digitised.


Tomorrow I need to turn them into something. I want to go to aquarobics, so I will go to Club on Wednesday.

4D Workshop

The workshop today was to make a felt Christmas card. It was really fun to do. We started from scratch and digitised the whole thing, then stitched it out. I am going to redo the exercise since I made a few booboos. It is also a good way to reinforce what I learned.

This is the outside


and this is the inside

Lots done

The metallic thread behaved itself for once and I stitched out the text I digitised yesterday. I hooped the organza with Hoop Ease, but found I needed more stabiliser. I used a single layer of Vilene 541 and it was just enough. And so easy to remove: the floaty bits look great.

In between hoopings I managed to check out a book of copyright free images for ones that I can use this coming weekend, plus collect together beads and embroidery thread, iron on some interfacing and cut up a piece of constructed fabric for the inchies swap. I also washed some scrim type fabric to use for the dyeing activity on Sunday.

While the embroidered organza was drying (the text is dense and took quite a long time) I printed out the images I had selected, found some others I had saved from the Dover site and printed them out,

did some tidying of my computer files, and had a little play with the 4D software, trying to work out some ideas for this month's challenge.

We didn't go for a walk this morning, but I put on the pedometer for the first time since we got back from the US. 5030 steps. Guess moving from one activity to another, especially when they are in different rooms, can help the step count. I plan to walk tomorrow.

A little (very little) progress

I have now digitised the text for the revised version of the second quilt and I will stitch it out tomorrow. I have done some more unpicking since I decided the placement of the text could be improved. I think I will be able to reattach them without needing to restitch the whole lot - I certainly hope so.

While I was at the computer I decided to print out the new Font Sheets for the 4D Embroidery system. Not all of them - just the ones that have been added. There were about 30, so this took some time. I'm very good at procrastination. Yesterday I sorted out my paper shelf. It needed it, and I needed to do it because of the requirements for the DW Retreat next weekend and the Fibre Forum in October, but it didn't have to be done yesterday. It would have been better if I had done it AFTER the quilt was finished.

Tomorrow is crunch day. If all goes well the second quilt will be basically finished. I am running out of time since I have to send the entry to NSW to get there by the 15th, and need to allow 3 days for delivery. I am so glad that digital images will be accepted - organising slides is a real hassle.

The To Do list

I didn't actually do anything related to fibre today except sort out the pieces I intend to use for the Melville Community Textile Project, but I accomplished quite a few items from the "To Do" list, including a visit to the podiatrist.

I have been suffering from sore feet after walking for a half hour or so and thought I needed to have something done before the US trip. Apparently I need orthotics, but since there is no time to have them made he suggested some gel insoles. I tried for an hour or so, but they were irritating the inside of my insteps, so I am not using them at the moment. I WILL try them in my walking shoes though.

Tomorrow I am doing a workshop on the 4D embroidery software, so I spent a little time playing. I am glad I did since I discovered a couple of little tricks that might have caused me some problems if I had met them for the first time in a class situation.

On Wednesday I am meeting Helen and my sister Dorothy in Perth and we are going to look at the Treasures from Australian Libraries exhibition. This will be my only chance to see it since it opened the weekend we went to Bali and finishes at the end of the month while we are in the US. I was very sorry to miss it in Canberra last February and have been looking forward to it coming to Perth ever since. After we get back we will have to see the Egyptian Treasures from The Louvre exhibition. There is also a exhibition about migration at the Fremantle Maritime Museum which we will try to get to. I hope after we get back.

Dilemma

To buy or not to buy? I went to a demonstration of the new Husqvarna 4D software today. There are lots of "You Beaut" innovations, but since I haven't really mastered the older version I am wondering whether it would be worth it to upgrade. On the other hand, there will be no more tutorials offered in the older software.

The new 4D Sketch offers the option to use any machine stitch in freehand drawing. I am not sure whether I would use that - I have always treated the program as a way to reproduce freemotion embroidery. But then there is the Embroidery Wizard which can turn almost any clip art motif into an embroidery. The last software program I owned that did that was the software for the Poem, and the results were always a bit iffy - results from this new program look great.

This is definitely a decision to sleep on.

Homework

Tomorrow is Computer Club so I decided I needed to do my homework. At the last Club day Pam demonstrated how to use the QuickFonts facility in the 3D software to make embroidery designs. You need to download wingding type fonts first and put them in the font folder, then QuickFonts can access them and in place of a letter you get a little design.

I was all enthused and came home, searched for, downloaded and installed about eight different free pictorial fonts. I even printed them out so I had a reference. I played with a few of them and made some designs, none of which I stitched out. Then I did nothing with the technique for the next seven weeks.

Today I played with a font called Easter Art. The letter g is an outlined Easter egg. I copied it four times, adjusted the way each egg sloped a little bit and combined the designs into one. The original version I made has four different colours, one for each egg, but I used a multi coloured thread and stitched it out twice without colour stops on a cheap teatowel ($5.99 for 6 at IGA).

I am not completely satisfied with the result, for a number of reasons. I should not have prewashed the towel because that made it fluffy and the stitching sinks into the fabric. I should have used a water soluble stabiliser rather than a tearaway - there is so much small detail that it is almost impossible to get rid of all the paper on the back. I should have taken a bit more time and looked at the stitchout in the editing page. There are unnecessary jump stitches that could have been eliminated and the starting stitches could do with a tidy up.

However, I have learned a useful technique. Plus, I can feel smug at tomorrow's show and tell because I did my homework.

A little bit of sewing

I made this piece of fabric ages ago. It is silk tops on top of felt with pintucking, programmed stitches and freemotion embroidery. It was just the the size to make a book cover and I even had a book. So today I did it. It took me less than half an hour.

I also did quite bit of playing with QuickFonts in my 3D software. I had downloaded some Dingbat type fonts and I tried turning them into designs. There are a couple that I am quite happy with and I will stitch them out eventually. The rest went straight to Trash.

On Saturday I did 11129 steps. Yesterday was 7916. Today I will be lucky to reach 7000 - you don't take many steps sitting at a computer or sewing machine. We did go for a walk though this morning.

Technology

I bought myself a new mobile phone today and, after charging the battery, I actually made a call. Success! I can access all my numbers, I have set the date and time and it seems to be quite easy to use. Now I need to read the manual and learn all about its other features. It has a camera and also apparently can be used as an MP3 player. Don't know if I need that. though. The camera could prove useful.





Still on technology, I went to play with 3D Sketch this afternoon. I love this program and have done a lot of play designs which I've never stitched out. The photo is of the first ever design I did, the day after I got the program back in May or April last year. I know a bit more now, and I would do some things differently if I were to repeat this, but I still think it's a pretty good first effort. But I didn't get to play today. Every time I tried to open the program it came up with an error message - something about run time error. Of course it's Saturday afternoon, so no help available from David at Bestway. I have sent out a plea for help on the Designer 1 list and will wait for replies. I hope it's something simple that I can fix myself.

I learned a lot today

This morning I went to computer club at Bestway. The lesson was on using QuickFonts to make applique letters and thanks to my experiments on Monday I was right up there in following the method. Learned a couple of new things as well, including how to get rid of a font you have made and no longer want, and some sources for free fonts. There was some great show and tell too.

Then I went to Teena's and had lunch at her cafe. There were 5 0r 6 Scquilters there as a result of an offer that Bobbie made on the list. She gave a demonstration on the Wondercut rulers, showing how easy they are to use and what different and great results you can get. Now I have no excuse not to make the quilt I have been promising my daughter these last four or five years. The design we selected is based on half-square triangles and I was procrastinating. I made a queen size quilt using these triangles made the conventional way. All that precision sewing and trimming - ugh. I feel much happier about them now. I have had the fabric for the quilt for ages - a selection of Klimt designs in golds, reds and browns. I just hope she still likes them.