Technology Tracy

Every time I think I am getting the hang of things, there is a massive update and I am not in the loop. I think this may be because I have a tendency to blow off learning new things until I absolutely have to (like putting new music on my MP3 and then finding it again)...and by the time I get the hang of it, there is a new system to replace the one I'm finally figuring out.

My big achievement for the weekend was managing to scan some stick figures and get them into my computer. I don't know why they are so damned big when I open them in Paint, but I'm working on that issue. Okay, and can I just say that the image that I posted up there is like and acid hangover and NOT what I opened to upload! but it's okay. I'll get it someday. I really will.

I'll think: "Hey, this blogging thing seems fun. I love looking at the pictures on other people's blogs and checking out their links and the other blogs they read. I wish I knew if someone was reading MY blog". Of course, this would require that I figure out how to add things to my page...like a little counter doohickey...and links to other people's pages...heck, I finally figured out how to add a link to an email a few weeks ago (that whole copy and paste thing is for more than just word processing!)

I'm thinking that maybe once in a while I should make a point of learning how to do something new. Like adding a counter doohickey to my blog. Then maybe I'll get brave and join one of those cool web ring things that so many people have on their blogs. Maybe some day someone will even read my blog and put me on their list of frequently visited blogs!

creative bodybuilding

Here is an interesting sidetrack that my life has taken...I am actually making money, making posing suits for female bodybuilders...I have made a few for a friend at work, and someone admired my work and she gave her my number...and I have a new client! I am very excited and very nervous. Making stretchy garments that have to cover just the right parts and nothing more is very fussy work! Here are pictures of Abbie in two of the suits that I made, and they cover too much!
Almost as interesting was the reaction of the lady waiting in line for the bathroom at Baba Budan's coffee shop in Clifton this afternoon while Maja and I were taking measurements! She's a beautiful young woman, and I can't wait to work on her suits. I'm also going to be making more suits for Abbie. Now I have to try to build a dressmaker's dummy out of batting and two by fours. What a life I have!

Friday's here!

Okay, it's finally Friday...I know, this was a short week, so next week is probably going to be hell, having to work all five days. Maybe it will snow and I'll have to stay home with the kids! I did hear a rumor that it's going to warm up a bit here in sunny Cincinnati...so no snow, but that's okay if it's going to be warm!


I'm posting pictures of the 'basket' that I knitted and felted and spun...my friend Linda in Hamilton gave me a big old bag of carded wool that she'd had prepped from several years of leftovers from spinning. She calls it the Beast. I spun it thickly and knitted a big giant hat, sort of, to make my bowl shape, crocheted some handles and tossed it in the washer on the hot/cold cycle for a couple of trips. Then I tossed it in the dryer for a while, put it on top of the dryer wrapped around a real basket for a few days. I think it could be firmer if I sent it through the wash/dry thing again, so I might try that this weekend. But for now, I love my Beast Basket, and it's holding some yarn implements next to my spinning wheel.

Kim's Quilt

I finally finished the quilt I have been making for my wonderful (and patient!) friend Kim. I started on this, oh...a long time ago. About the same times as the quilt from Hell (see previous post!)...I took pictures last night (that's my son Sam's leg on my incredibly clean kitchen counter) and Daniel hiding behind the other side (I'm so glad they are getting so tall!)

It looks pretty good from way back here! I have spent so much time with my face smooshed up against this thing that I was seeing every crooked branch and worm eaten leaf instead of the beautiful forest. I quilted this with dense circles (pebbles) with a river of wiggles running through the middle. I'm afraid that there are alot of places where the piecing got squished and folded because things didn't lay as flat as I thought. I'm being okay with it, however...it's done!

I have also managed to learn some rudimentary digitizing with my Viking Princess (DSE). I'm a compulsive doodler, so I scanned a bunch of drawings I've done and played around a bit. I made the label with the D4 Design Creator program and the regular 4D embroidery extra. It's a steep learning curve, but I am getting up the hill!

Viking Princess

I have a new Husqvarna Viking Desiner SE sitting in my basement; and I'm trying not to let it gather dust, but the fact is, I am terrified of it. I have managed to use it a couple of times; I've done some embroidery on some shirts for an actual paying client, and I've been using it to do some free-motion embroidery on a quilt I've been working on, but I haven't done much actual designing with it.

For the first couple of weeks I was completely baffled by the software for this puppy. There are so many things it can do and so few things I know how to do! But I went to a seminar last night, run by the shop where I bought the machine, and I feel a little better about things today. (Partially because several of the other women there that I chatted with are as clueless as I am!)

But I did pick up some clues about things, and today I sat down at work (because I have a very demanding and busy job right now) and figured out how to turn clip art into embroidery. My goal is to turn my own groovy little doodles into embroidery, and now I think that if I can remember how to work the scanner, I might be able to do it!

Who knows, by this time tomorrow, I might have pictures to show you! Of course, by this time tomorrow I might have gotten fired for playing on my computer instead of...oh, I know, chemical inventory, that's what I'm doing today!

The Quilt from *%*$&

My good friend Merrilyn sent me this quilt over a year ago to hand quilt for a client in California. Since I'm all about sitting around watching TV and doing stuff with my hands, I thought, "COOL! A little pocket change for sitting around watching TV and doing stuff with my hands!". Oh my. See all those little hexagons? No? Okay:

Each of those little hexagons gets a bunch of even littler stitches going one way, then the whole thing gets turned, and another bunch of stitches...

Anyway, this thing is taking WAY longer than I had planned. Hey, lady in California--I really AM working on your quilt! I have finally (I think) finished all the big flowers on the interior and am ready to work my way around the outside. Merrilyn has to decide whether we are going to chop off (square up) the sides with "intact" flowers or if we are going to square it off all the way around (my vote, less quilting for me!)

But then, I think the intact flowers are pretty cool looking. This is such a beautiful quilt...the hand piecing is equisite. I'm not sure how old the top is (getting older by the second!) but I'm really honored to get to work on it. I've found spots that must be the blood of the woman who pieced this baby, and I've added a couple drops of my own, I'm afraid...and some sweat and tears by the time it's over, but it WILL be over, I just know it!

Maiden Voyage

Hmm....Okay, everyone else in the fiber universe seems to be blogging, and I really hate being left out...so I'm going to try this. I do have ideas and things I feel like sharing, so I'll give it a go and see how it goes!

I took some pictures of some of the stuff I've been working on:

Oh look, it worked! Second try!

This is a bobbin of singles I spun on my new (to me) wheel...a Louet s75 single drive wheel. I have no idea how many twists per whatever I have here...I'm not that sophisticated yet...my goal is to be able to spin yarn in several different diameters that is knittable. This is my thinnest attempt so far. I am afraid it is terribly overspun...my compensation for underspinning my last pile of wool (the white stuff on the header up there.).

Here is the roving, hanging up to dry in my laundry room--and a little batch of the yarn I plied from some of these singles...yeah, it's really twisty...but I'm not going to swaddle the baby Jesus in it, so I'll forgive myself for a while:

I dyed this wool with kool-aid, which I just love working with. For this roving I used orange, black cherry and grape. I really like how the grape kind of separated into a dark purpley color and a bluish shade. When the yarn dries, I'll knit up a swatch and scan it and see how THAT works for me!