Happy Independence Day America

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12-12-12 and a christmas wish

December 12, 2012 or 12-12-12 will be the last date of it's kind when all three numbers in a date are the same. The next time something like this will happen will be on January 1, 2101. According to popular belief, 12-12-12 is a lucky date that will bring good fortune.

i hope that your holiday is a reflection of this good fortune.

within the above image you will notice that there is a sweet little flying geese quilt. i received that from Maureen of Pursuit of Quilts. she made four small wonders using some left over flying geese that she had after working on her "October Surprise" quilt (shown within this post). October Surprise was a beautiful quilt and each of the four smaller pieces were just as wonderful. she gave the first two away and did a give-away drawing for the other two. i was thrilled to be one of the lucky recipients~!!~ this little quilt has so many lovely reproduction prints within it and Maureen's work is absolutely perfect~! THANK YOU so much Maureen. i love it~!!~


i haven't actually sewn much of anything since just after thanksgiving.
the carpets were all cleaned a few weeks ago and moving everything was lots of work. i decided that since i was shifting things around (and then back again) i would take the opportunity to do some other cleaning as well as some sorting out of things no longer needed and/or wanted. this slowed things down a bit but feels good to be doing. i've also been working on a bit of face-lift magic in the studio as i go; more shelves, more sorting, more folding and organizing of the fabrics and hopefully more clean surfaces by the end of it all. i guess i have spring fever a bit early this year . . . so-o-o not a lot of sewing.
no progress on TAST at all so i have a lot of catching up to do when i get back to it.
the 15 minute challenge has been designated to studio planning and organizing as i wade through these tasks.
even my photography has dwindled down to a trickle . . .
however, i was able to snap a few still life shots using some pomegranates and that new little quilt that recently came into my life. i layered my favorite with a shot from my archives of some spiderweb that had a heavy frost on it, did some blending, added text and then added a couple of festive borders to it all to create the above christmas "card". 

in addition to all of this cleaning and sorting i've been doing the same sort of thing mentally. thinking about the past year's activities and accomplishments as well as considering various challenges and tasks that i would like to line up for the next year. still mulling all of that over but i'll have it all figured out soon.

this past week has brought me a broken heart. i had to find a good home for River to move away to. i've been in denial for quite some time about my inability to manage two large and very active young dogs. i thought that if i just kept trying and hung in there until my health would give me a reprieve, than things would get better. unfortunately that's not the way it's gone and so with the wonderful daughter's help, River is safely into a new home. i just received word yesterday that she is doing well. she now lives where she is the one and only dog which means that the attention that she craves will not have to be shared with any other dog. she will like that. there is a cat but that has never been a problem with her and in fact, she seems to enjoy their quiet company so i expect that will work out well too. the adoptive owner seems very prepared and has experience with rescued dogs so she understands that River is dealing with abandonment issues from her past as well as the loss that she feels from leaving us. River and i had a special bond and this whole thing has been much more than difficult but i am sure that the right thing has been done and that she is being well looked after. my wish is that the new owner and River will forge a bond that is just as special and that it will last for the remainder of her life. she deserves it.

meanwhile, i will continue to love and care for my grand-dog until the wonderful daughter can take over the task. life is noticeably simpler and quieter which i need it to be in order to deal with my health issues. such a bittersweet ending and so many tears but life goes on and all will be well.

i promised to share photo's of the contemporary/modern piece that i created for a good friend's birthday. it's now been happily received and i can share those.

the piece is runner sized but could also be hung on the wall as skinny art. i think the picture is a bit overexposed so the colors are somewhat washed out but the detail shot does give a little bit better idea of the color.

when i was cutting and pasting the shot of the whole quilt (within photoshop) i didn't completely crop the bit shown in the detail, which is one of the reasons that i have included it. feel free to look at any of the photos in a larger format by clicking on them.

i think i still have a lot to learn about modern quiltmaking and i'm grateful that my friend happily receives experimental pieces from me. there are so many nice examples out there of this style and clearly i need some practice with it in order to achieve those kinds of results.

i am really in love with all of that quilting though~!!

 

 

 

i also have the november postcard that was made for the wonderful daughter. btw: those edges are straighter than the border/edge treatment would lead the eye to believe. i was happy with the results and she seemed happy to receive another card. 

i have begun work on the december card which i will show you within my next post. however, i have decided that i will take a holiday blog break and won't be posting until after the new year. with any luck, i'll have caught back up on my TAST stitching/christmas stockings and have some progress to show you.

i will find time to visit your blogs once in a while as i do still want to keep up with those of you who are blogging throughout the festivities. 

i hope that your holiday season is wonderful and that you are looking forward to what the new year will be bringing as much as i am.

recent gifts include:

• finding an outstanding home for my sweet River
• the smell of hot apple cider simmering on the stove
• a mug full of that apple cider on a cold afternoon
• twinkling christmas lights
• a new little dolly quilt  :-D
• christmas party visiting

Happy Halloween

this week's optional prompt for Photo Art Friday is to use Bonnie's free Cobblestone Road texture. 



Cobblestone Road Texture from Bonnie at Photo Art Friday





i once again went searching through my archived photos and found a photo of a raven's scull which i happily married to the generously offered texture. i added a favorite quote of mine and ta-da ~!!~ i now have a halloween image.


i've enjoyed adding this weekly challenge of  Bonnie's from Pixel Dust Photo Art to my life and to my blog. it gets me out with camera in hand more often as well as into the PSE7 program to practice a bit. if you have similar interests please come and play along.
                

this weeks stitch for the TAST challenge hosted by sharon b at pintangle was buttonhole wheel cups. this stitch starts out as a buttonhole wheel and then morphs into a cup shape when a detached buttonhole is worked into the outer part of the wheel.
i chose to vary my stitch slightly by not bringing the center "wheel" part of the stitch all the way in. this allowed a bigger hole in the center which i decided to interpret as the pupil of an eye.

with this stitch the more one stitches around the outer part of the wheel the deeper the cupping result will be. i only did one tour around the outside of the wheel with the detached buttonhole because i wanted to create an outline effect rather than have a cupping result.  i used a red pearl cotton (size 12) for the stitching of the wheel and the "cupped" outer (or detached buttonhole) part of the stitch.
i then used a black pearl cotton (size 8) for the satin stitched center/pupil.
i was able to do all of this on a piece of cotton fabric printed in such a way that i could emphasize the shape and look of an eye. the fabric was not printed with an eye but i managed to 'coerce' the print into helping me out with the total effect.

this was recently stitched into the wonderful daughter's october/halloween postcard which she has now received so i'm happy to be showing you the whole thing.

i did manage to get all seven days accomplished with the 15 minute challenge hosted by Kate at Life In Pieces. besides the TAST stitch work and working on the postcards that i have included in this post i also worked on my contemporary/modern piece (only needs a label now) and i even managed to do a little bit of hand sewing on my hexie piece.

i won't be able to post a photo of the finished contemporary piece until it has been mailed and received by the special friend that i made it for but i hope to include it in one of my future posts soon. i can however show the other postcard that i worked on and sent out recently as a birthday card.

 

i used a piece of salvaged, vintage pillowcase that had been embroidered.

i reworked and added to the embroidery in some areas but the rose, it's leaves and the outer parts of the blue flowers are original. the upper edge is a piece of my hand dyed fabric with a lace overlay. the lace has some embroidery (in white) worked in to anchor it as well as to enhance the card. there is a bit of heavy variegated thread (made from recycled sari silk) that has been worked into the lace along the edge that meets the embroidery.

the edges of the postcard have been bound with another piece of my own hand dyed fabric.

 

 

 

recent gifts include:

• discovering that jelly belly now makes dark chocolate covered jelly beans (cherry, orange and coconut) ~pretty tasty~ 
• the discovery of a perfectly heart shaped tomato ~ maybe i'll post a photo of that beautiful surprise next time . . .
• the return home of a certain "prodigal" calico cat . . . where in the world WAS she for three whole days~!?!~

 

my prayers go out to all of those in the east and midwest who are experiencing such horrible weather extremes. may you all be safe, warm and at peace during this difficult time.

 



i've been tucked behind the  computer for most of the day playing in photoshop.
i'm proud to say that i made the background image myself from one of my painted journal pages and my own  macro photo of the surface of a rock. i used the image of the triple frame from a scrapbooking suite (It's My Hx) and i used the lady, the compass and the clock face with a dragonfly from Deviant Scrap/Colorsplash.
in addition to the background, i used my own photos of a clock face(the larger background image) and stained glass hearts (within the triple frame) as well as my own layer of text.

Seeking Direction

today's gifts included:

• the ease of leftover homemade pizza
• clouds and a small afternoon rain to ease the heat of the day (90's)
• time to create today's post

Morning Glory Memories

this morning i went for a visit to see what Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art was up to. i like her artistic style and today she was offering two of her beautiful textures as a freebie to play/test out. they were irresistible and this evening i've given them a little workout.

this first photo is one that was taken while i was in Honduras this past Christmas. i didn't think it was a great shot for a variety of reasons but i wasn't ready to totally give up on it either. so i tucked it away for possible future photoshop play and today while i was looking through my photos it popped out at me as a possibility for using with Bonnie's textures.

so this is what i did:

• cropped it square
• duplicated it
• added the Silent Memory texture at 40% opacity - hard light
• added the Fleeting Memory texture at 30% opacity - overlay
• flattened it

i'm very happy with the results. thank you Bonnie. i hope to play with these textures again very soon.

Morning Glory Memories

it's interesting how seeing and experimenting with this shot brought back so many different memories from this special trip. it was the first time i had seen my daughter in over a year and a half. not only was i happy to see her again (all whole and happy and oh so freckled) i was also pleased to be able to experience the country and people that she had been involved with during that time. while there with her i realized that she was a young lady with extraordinary discipline. she's tough as nails on the outside and amazingly resilient but inside she has a heart/spirit that aches to make the world a better place. what a winning combination (!!) and such a blessing in my life.

today's gifts included:

• a visit from a close friend
• trying out the newest kitchen gadget: a handy dandy cherry pitter.
• smelling the fresh lemon that i sliced for iced tea ~ lemons smell really good~!!~

Texture Tuesday/7-26-11

good morning. the texture tuesday challenge this week is 'Dream'.

Free To Fly



i've used a recent shot, a layer of 'not too shabby' and a quote that i like.
the layer is a freebie from the very generous and talented kim klassen.

today's gifts have included:

• a few extra minutes of sleep
• the beloved ritual of watering/tending the houseplants
• frozen grapes on a hot summer morning ~ yummy ~!!~

Texture Tuesdays

this week on TT the challenge was to use the layer (free) "golden" by kim klassen.

this is the original image i shot. we had some blackberries in the house so i used a handful of them and some mint sprigs to create a quick still life. i used a small white shell shaped dish and the contrast was so great between the blackberries and the dish that i felt the shot was harsh . . . i shot a lot of images, using a variety of settings/adjustments within camera, but just couldn't really overcome the problem. so . . . it was textures to the rescue . . .

Blackberries A La Mint

this was the result. i think it has a much softer look now. i would be interested to know: which do you like better? what suggestions do you have regarding the original problem of contrasts and harshness? do you like blackberries?

today's gifts include:

• homemade blackberry syrup
• the discovery of rosebuds within the garden
• a recount on the goldfish: there are 15 rather than 14

Texture Tuesdays

it's Texture Tuesday again and this week the challenge was to work with at least one of kim klassen's textures and a photo of a person or people.
i chose to work with a photo of a photo and the texture warm sun.

 Becoming a Ghost

this is a photo that i took of an antique photo that i won in a give-away from Eileen of Keeping it Rural in Wisconsin quite some time ago.
i know that normally this sort of thing is scanned into the computer but my scanner and i are not on as good of terms as my camera and i so i just took a photo of it.
anyway i find these photos fascinating. who are these people that somehow end up in an antique store and eventually are "adopted" by a buyer who finds them interesting in some way? they have faded out of family memory and into the realm of ghosts . . . who were they? what did they live through? photos attempt to tell a story but what was hers? do you have any ideas? go ahead, leave me a comment that helps build her some sort of history. what is she telling you?


today's gifts include

• having my hands in the warm dirt planting some flowers 
• being surprised by the discovery of a clematis vine full of beautiful mostly white flowers. this vine has struggled every year since we moved in (nearly eight~!) and i've never seen it bloom before. and not just one or two blooms but MANY.
• seeing that the climbing rose that i planted last year really has pulled through the winter and is just now beginning it's "climb" through the summer months. no flowers (yet) but a small green branch just beginning to thicken and flourish

Texture Tuesdays

it's Texture Tuesday's over at kim klassens again. this week we were encouraged to do our own thing using at least one of her textures. i used three: warm sun, not to shabby and sweet tart.

 Not to be Forgotten

this is the original sepia image that i used; one of my own still lifes from the archives.


i've been out of town for a couple of days and much of life has gotten ahead of me so it's short and sweet today.


toady's gifts include:

• a bright blue sky
• hot chai tea as i wake up
• a good nights sleep

Texture Tuesdays

this Texture Tuesdays challenge was to use text within our image as well as at least one of kim klassens textures. i used two textures: not to shabby and stained linen.
i was pretty light handed with them and did some erasing on the textures from the parts where i wanted the flowers to really remain light and bright. so they are subtle this week. i was also careful with the text as i wanted it to just be a "whisper".

 Beginnings

this is the original photo taken from my garden a few days ago.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****

and then being the overachiever that i sometimes can be (or maybe i'm just having a really good time) i had to do another one. this one much more dramatic. this time i used only one of kim's textures: warm sun.

 Widening Towards Enlightenment

i even was inspired to write a cinquain (a five line poem) to go with it:

moon snail

radiant symmetry

an inner mystery

widening towards enlightenment

growth glows

 the black and white snail shell is one of my own photos taken from my archives. i don't think it's a very good photo as a stand alone shot but i didn't want to dump it either . . . i think it worked well here.

this is a photo that i took of a fallen rose petal several summers ago. i loved it's color and luminosity as well as the subtle details.  i hoped i might be able to use it as a texture layer someday. it was fun to work with and i'll use it again i'm sure.

today's gifts include:

• time to work/play in photoshop
• some joyful giving
• a friend's shared happiness

Texture Tuesday

it's Texture Tuesday and here i am right on time~!
:-)


using two of kim klassens (free~!)wonderful textures this time: Not to Shabby and Portrait

if you haven't already discovered this great site and you're interested in photography and  what you can do with your own shots you should really click on the Texture Tuesdays button on my sidebar and check it out. i've been dancing around this activity for years and finally feel like a have a wonderful community of support in which to actively learn and use these skills. i do have a lot to learn and a long way to go to get as good as many of the participants but their talent and sharing spirit is totally inspiring.

this week it's a "garden party" going on over there~it's okay to be fashionably late but do at least come and partake a little~!!~

 Anticipation

this is my original photo which is part of a series of shots recently taken in my garden. i shared another of these shots in a recent post but felt this one was a bit "washed out" looking. i do love what the textures did for it.

today's gifts include:

• starting a new novel and being totally drawn in (The Help)
• seeing many different (and beautiful) birds at the feeder as they make a pit stop on their migratory paths
• water warmed and at the ready whenever i should want or need it (that shower felt good this morning)

For You / Pour Vous

it's so good to be back. i've been experiencing a great deal of problems with my internet connection for the past several weeks and for the past week have had no internet at all so i'm feeling totally disconnected from all my blog friends. the connection is now working although with intermittent lapses . . . not sure what is going on or when it will be totally straightened out but thought i would jump on this evening real quick and show you what i've been up to. i hope to get back on tomorrow and catch up with you too.

For You

this is a textured image that i put together using a photo of mine:

 (that i pulled from my archives) and a texture (Pour Vous) given to me by kim klassen.

i'm very happy with it and if you have a second or two you can hop over to my flickr page and see the image on black by clicking on the little magnifying glass that says "view in lightbox".

it's  quite stunning if i don't say so myself~!~

;-)

i hope to be doing photoshop work on a regular basis so hopefully there will be more to see as time goes on . . .

today's gifts included:

• the pleasure i feel while creating
• walking in the sun with my grandog
• enjoying a pasta dinner (lovingly prepared by my daughter) with my family

i'm reading "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova. this book is a novel about a woman who has been diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease. it's well written and has been interesting, heartbreaking and frightening. although i was within 30 pages of finishing i had to put it down for a while.

meanwhile i decided to play/practice in PSE7 while i stepped away from it . . .
it influenced what i was working on quite a bit . . .

even though i haven't quite finished it i would recommend this book.

have finally gotten back to my Digital Expressions (by Susan Tuttle) lessons.
lesson three pertains to incorporating text into a piece.

i've used two photos and several layers of text hoping to create a painterly botanical type of piece . . . i'm pleased with this and hope to do some more soon.
i'm starting to feel much more comfortable working in my PSE7 program however my pace

is still pretty slow and it takes me forever to create something that i'm satisfied with.

~In memory of my sweet Sophie~

1996 ~ 2010

~St. Nicholas~

in celebration of St. Nicholas day this weeks theme is all about the jolly St. Nick~!~

this week for my Sunday Postcard Art challenge i once again started with a fabric postcard of my own making. i imported an image of it into pse7 for some further digital manipulations.

to see many more fantatstic postcards with a St. Nicholas theme go to:
www.sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com

~!!~happy St. Nicholas day~!!~

~Let it Snow~

this weeks Sunday Postcard Art challenge is "Let it Snow". i recently finished a fabric paper postcard for my daughter and i used an image of that card to create this one by importing it into photoshop elements and adding some additional layers, artwork and text to it. using the pencil and various brushes was challenging for me today and my lines look shaky which i was upset by at first but have now decided that i rather like the childish look of it in this piece . . . i even drew my own primitive little snowflake~!~

for more fabulous postcard art go to: www.sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com

SPA CHALLENGE ~ FLOURISH

this past week has been a busy one for me and i'm just barely getting anything done for the SPA challenge of "flourish". one of my own photographs and a quick insertion of some text and i'm calling it done.

http://www.sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/

"music" was this weeks theme at sunday postcard art. i have once again used several of my own photographs and had fun while learning some more about photoshop elements 7.

to see many more postcards go to:

http://www.sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/

this is my SPA challenge card for the week. the theme was "crackle". i used one of my own images, some special effects from pse7 and added a quote that i like.

to see many more postcards from some very talented artists go to:
www.sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com