Crystal Lake on Sunday morning
bluebells!!!
found heart
ligularia up and at ’em
microclimate and reflection
Mr. Jack
sidewalk and rail shadows
It is worth mentioning that while we were away, a little thing called Spring was also in progress!
After a two week break from computer screens, I am not unlike Jack, above, pausing at the edge, wondering how to re-enter.
Happy New Year, all!
I look forward to another year of sharing ideas, inspiration, techniques, and support on the worldwide web!
I have spent a lot of time quilting and knitting by the fire over the last two weeks.
This was how we saw C. for the most part – on his way out – to job or friends.
I baked 12 varieties this year. This is the third year in a row that I vowed I wouldn’t.
Thursday means class day. We are on to the home stretch and will focus on completion!! A weakness of mine. To be always beginning. Or, these days, stuck in the Middle (Passage)!
Jack was sick yesterday from scraps of lamb I had given him (when will I learn?!!), and I’m not feeling so hot either. These pictures remind me of the power of gentleness.
Jack did NOT know I was pointing a camera at him. This is from two days ago, when we had some warm temperatures and I put blankets out to air.
This is the commission that I just finished. I would not use variegated thread again in a project like this — I didn’t like it changing up on me when I didn’t expect it to. Also, even though this is a blanket, meant to be sat under on a couch, I would NOT have rinsed the photos once they were transferred to fabric — the red shirts bled! So, unlike most of the blankets I make, this one will have to be dry cleaned. Lastly, I should have added another band of color on the right side.
For the inkjet phototransfers, I used pre-treated and pre-backed sheets of cotton available commercially — I like ‘Printed Treasures’. They are pricey, but because it is so labor intensive to produce one’s own sheets, I consider them worth the cost.
I have gone the Bubble Jet Set route (which makes fabric more receptive to color), but by the time you’ve washed, dried and pressed the fabric, measured and cut it to just under 8.5 x 11″, then backed it with freezer paper, you’ve invested a LOT of time in something that has a very good chance of jamming in the printer. Once I learned that you could skip the chemical bath and simply back the fabric with freezer paper and print on it, I tried that, too. But again, the washing/pressing/cutting/backing and jamming are big headaches in my book.
So, while I wish the pretreated sheets were cheaper, I consider them worth it.
