Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Senior cell phone



Having gone from a Tracphone that I barely used to a Droid, I absolutely love this image a friend sent me. Am always trying to play catchup to advances in technology and spend hours trying to figure it all out....

Dubai fountain

This is an awesome video. 

*To watch the fountain, click on the link below.
http://www.wimp.com/dubaifountain/

It was done by the same people who did the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas.

*When it starts, click the "full screen button" at the bottom right of

the "small screen" next to the time of the video (4 minutes).

*Then, just let it run. **Do NOT click on the word NEXT in the upper right of the picture square.

*Be patient and wait for the fountain to do its thing, and listen to the gorgeous duet performed by Andre Bocelli and Sarah Brightman

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Setacolors to paint quilts: If diluted by half, they don't change the hand of the fabric. If you use them full strength, they do become a bit stiff, and if you quilt through them full strength, you make holes in the paint when you quilt. Golden liquid acrylic paints go very far, they don't change the hand of the fabric at all, you don't make holes in it when you quilt, it's permanent.


The best fabric paint, in regards to changing the hand of the finished quilt the least, is Dye-Na-Flow by Jacquard. Part of the reason is that it is very close to the consistency of ink or dye. That means that you must learn to control its coverage; easily done through the use of resists or by thickening it with a product that will wash out once the finished image has been heat set, leaving behind the paint but not the thickener. Dye-Na-Flow can be applied quickly and dries in no time.



Embellishments: If you are using light applications of roving and other fabrics, and if there are "holes" where no roving shows, you can add some hot-fix crystals to add glitz.



14yds of fabric weighs slightly less than 5pounds



Masks for discharge: There is a difference between Organic Vapor masks, used for spray painting/petrochemical fumes, and Acid Gas cartridges, which is what you want for discharge. A link for masks and cartridges:

http://tinyurl.com/33xfofc (NAYY) . It was recommended by folks over on the DyersList - the masks come in small, medium and large sizes and have interchangeable cartridges. The dust filters are also color-coded - P95, which cuts 95% of particles out of the air, are yellow. P100 are hot pink. Typical disposable masks say P95 on them. And you can get combo filters - dust and acid gas together. And yes, keep the cartridges in zip loc bags. Pro Chemical's anti-chlor instructions, which mentions acid gas cartridges.

http://www.prochemical.com/directions/Discharge%20PDF/Antichlor.pdf

... Be sure to keep it sealed in a zip-loc bag when not in use, or the cartridges will keep filtering the surrounding air, and become exhausted very quickly.

.. the gas from chlorine bleach discharging is the same gas that injured the lungs of so many soldiers in world war one. Take it very seriously.


Aquadoodle marker (found with the crayons sold in Grocery stores/ Target/Walmart ): fill with water. Go over the water soluble crayolas that marked the quilted areas with the Aquadoodle pen and the marks wash right out. Be sure to test before using them on your quilt.

.. Try Aquarelle (watercolor) art pencils instead of Crayola's. http://www.thefind.com/family/info-aquarel-pencils

.

Green ink Uniball : used these on black and was able to see the markings.



Glide is this fabulous poly thread made by Fil Tec. It's so lustrous that it almost appears to be metallic, and it glides onto the fabric. I can't say enough good about it.



Executive Sunlight Desklamp from Walmart . FABULOUS sewing table light. $10. Illuminates the whole sewing table with a weighted base and adjustable angle for the arm. Lighting is 150 watts but only 27 fluorescent watts used.



Artist's quality acrylic paint WON'T fade if you look for the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) label. If it conforms to ASTM1 (1–Pigments of excellent lightfastness) or ASTM2 (Pigments of very good lightfastness) the pigments are of archival quality and will remain true and vibrant for generations. Brands that guarantee their artist's paints include Chroma (Jo Sonja, Atellier), Matisse, Liquitex etc.



If you add a magnet to the bottom of the tin it serves double duty. It holds the pins in the tin and it acts as a magnet to pick up the spilled pins



***NEW VidCast #46 Fabric Embellishments -
Liz Kettle, Ruth Chandler and Heather Thomas sat down to talk about their
book "Fabric Embellishments" and share a few of the gorgeous and innovative techniques including ricing, glass beads and ribbon printing! http://www.bonniemccaffery.com



http://mairuru.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-make-origami-drawstring-bag.html from 2 squares, hanky, pillow panels



basting in about 3 minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvx76JkxY7Y



http://www.adventurequilter.com/e-Learning/Articles/Squiggle.html



http://lindastamps.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/stampbusters-episode-5-the-dirt-on-stamp-cleaners/



tutorial on making shimmer mists using mica powders
http://techniqueszone.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/diy-powdered-mica-spritzer-backgrounds/

http://bonniemccaffery.com/vidcasts/index.html



"sketchbook" project: Sounds like a great project to participate in.

http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

Sharon B's Dictionary of Stitches for Hand Embroidery and Needlework

http://inaminuteago.com/stitchindex.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maggieart/

http://fibreartnetwork.com/exhibitions/GeoPhysical/19

http://fibreartnetwork.com/exhibitions/EdgingForward/14

http://ideas-of-inspiration.blogspot.com/

http://www.wiquiltmuseum.com/



http://www.needlenthread.com/videos

http://www.wellingtonarts.ca/wcm/documents/wcm/Threadwork2010CAT.pdf

You can watch full episodes of the new Art reality TV show , Work of Art here: http://www.bravotv.com/full-episodes

http://quiltersguildnsw.com/quiltshow/

http://www.byannie.com/shop/category/patterns/texture-magic-1/

http://janeville.blogspot.com/2010/06/1.html needlefelting

http://dianatrout.blogspot.com/2010/06/sumi-smoosh-tutorial.html inks

preserving fiber: http://www.lacativa.com/hold10/demo/

http://www.gericondesigns.com/weblog/?p=6328

http://www.quiltart.com/15/

Friday, July 2, 2010

Minneapolis Trip

Sucheta and Sunil showered us with warm Indian hospitality during our trip to Minnepolis. At Sneha’s graduation party, we met some wonderful people including Reshma and Manoj who had us over for a wonderful dinner.
My gift to Sneha was a graduation pillow. I started with a Ginko Colorwheel. To the center, I added a kaleidoscope of her photo in Kaleidoscope Creator 2 and then printed it on fabric. I also printed vital stats on a transparancy via the inkjet printer. I then cut the text apart and sewed it onto the Gingko leaves. I added a clarinet tie to the side of the pillow and added her favorite quote to the back.



The Minneapolis Institute of Arts was fun.




The Mall of America had a great bead shop..we were looking for beads and crystals for a peacock’s eyes and feathers for our quilt. The quilt was a duplicate of one we had started last year. We added dots in the feathers for highlights. We worked together to finish the quilt during this visit and it just sparkled!

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden had a Conservatory with a huge glass fish along with many plants and trees. The giant Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture with a spray of water created a colorful rainbow. It was a wonderful walk on a picture perfect day.