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My Brilliant Wish List

It’s not very often that I use the word brilliant when talking about myself.  But, in this case, someone else said it first so I’m just agreeing.  (Don’t tell my mother.)

Does your family spend lots of time thinking up thoughtful and surprising gifts for one another?  My family gave up on that long ago.  Of course, we want to give things the recipient would like, so we send our wish lists to one another in the form of links about specific online items.  But, at Christmas, my husband said he needed ideas for some small stocking stuffers for me.  Coincidentally, I was in the local quilt store, when I noticed all the inexpensive items that would fit the purpose.  But, how could I properly describe a particular glue, a particular pen, and specific fabric bundles in a way that my husband could ever find them?  And then it hit me:  photos!

My Brilliant Wish List. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

So, I started taking photos of the things I’d like.  First:  blue-green fat quarters.

My Brilliant Wish List. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Favorite glues and pens:

My Brilliant Wish List. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

My Brilliant Wish List. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Warning:  These Frixion pens leave a ghost shadow on dark fabrics.  I use them only on light fabrics or where the line will be cut off or covered.

Finally, a fabric bundle.  I suggested that each fabric could be an individual gift and I was rewarded with lots of soft squishy packages in my stocking!

My Brilliant Wish List. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I sent these photos to my husband and he took his ipod to the quilt store.  He’d show the sales ladies a photo and say “Where’s this?” Then, the next one, with “Where’s this?” and so on.  They would excitedly show him –  all the while exclaiming “Your wife is brilliant! Your wife is brilliant!”

My mother taught me not to argue.

Especially with logic like that.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  I got lots of wonderful gifts for Christmas, including plenty of fabric!

 

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A Spoonflower Experiment

Have you ever printed onto fabric from your home printer?  I’ve had good luck with it, but every now and then I want to print something larger.  Like the background for Carefree.  At 51″ high, I needed an online service to handle it for me.  I used Modernyardage.com and was happy with the results.

Carefree, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

Recently I found myself with a credit at Spoonflower.com, another online printing service.  Since I didn’t have a particular project in mind, I decided to do some experimenting.  I prepared a large file that would cover an entire yard, 45″ wide.  It was a good opportunity to experiment with various sizes, resolutions, and artistic effects.  This is the file which included notations about each image.

Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

And the printed result.

Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Let’s take a closer look.  These next two images are exactly the same, except the second one has been printed on fabric.Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Actually, I think the fabric version looks better in person.

Here’s a detail shot of the largest image, on which I had used the paint daubs artistic effect.  (PSE)

Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

And the printed result.  It definitely lost some sharpness, but I think it would be useful for most projects.

Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

And the cropped sideways image.

Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

With its printed counterpart.

Experimenting with online printing. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

All in all, I’m pretty happy with these.  Still, I think I’d be most inclined to use such printing services for things that didn’t have to be exact.  Things that were already vintage or could look somewhat distressed.

FYI:  I used the least expensive fabric ($17/yard), and the hand of the fabric is unchanged.

What do you think?  Would you ever use something like this in your art?

Ellen Lindner
P.S. You can read more about how I made Carefree on my old blog.  Check out December 2014.

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Trying New Things

Do you like to try new things?  I do.  Especially as they relate to art and quilting.  Whether it’s a tool, a technique, or a color palette, I consider experimenting with such things to be adventures.  (As a matter of fact, that’s why I call my website Adventure Quilter.)

I recently discovered a new white pen.  It’s permanent and it works pretty well on fabric.  One coat is sort of faded looking, but two passes make a nearly opaque mark.

Trying New Things. Ellen Lindner, AdventurQuilter.com/blog

The pen is called Uniball Signo broad tip.  (The last is a misnomer, since the tip is about like that of an ordinary ink pen.)  Note:  The pen doesn’t cover quite as well as in this photo.

Do you have one of those favorite t-shirts or sweaters that’s so comfortable you want to wear it no matter how ratty it gets?  I have a t-shirt like that, which has been developing holes.  They finally got bad enough that I decided to do something about them.  Namely, mend them in a rather exaggerated way.

Trying New Things. Ellen Lindner, AdventurQuilter.com/blog

I enlarged the holes, patched them with contrasting fabric scraps and embroidered around them.  Now, I sorta feel like I’m wearing an odd work of art.  And I like it.

Have you done any creative mending?

Ellen Lindner

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