Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Fondling fabric

Ahhh....fabric! Quilters tend to be fabricaholics, as do textile and fabric artists. We are all united in our love of fabric, be it traditional, hand dyed, art cloth or whatever - there's beautiful fabric for any taste. I am currently re-creating one of my original patterns to submit to a magazine, and above are the colours I have decided to use. My forte is using hand dyes in conjunction with commercial prints, and this is what I try to achieve with the patterns I design. This one has a multicoloured commercial print square in the centre, with toning hand dyes and an interesting appliqued design.

The weather is not helping my progress, however, as it's dull and grey which means my camera insists on using the flash, and this is spoiling the photos. I am not that camera-savvy that I know how to adjust it, so am resigned to waiting till the sun shines. If anyone is more familiar with a Sony Cybershot that I am, and can tell me how, I'd love to hear. I know I have an instruction booklet SOMEWHERE...
In the meantime, I received this jelly roll from Hancocks of Paducah today. It's crazy that I can pay NZ$12 to $20 more if I buy jelly rolls locally. This is destined to be another pattern for a class or magazine, but I haven't decided what yet.

Watch this space!

4 comments:

loulee said...

Those fabrics look yummy. It's not quite such good value when we buy from the US, but still a little cheaper.

Julie said...

Gorgeous fabrics, Shirley. Enjoy!

Diane N said...

OK, Shirley. I have some really high tech advice on the Sony Cybershot camera. This is what I do. You can try using the twilight setting on the dial or you can try doing what has worked for me many times. Just put your finger over the flash so it doesn't wash out the fabric. I don't like messing about with all kinds of settings and resettings so that's usually what I do. I try one photo and if the flash pops up I use it and look to see how it looks. Then I try one, leaving the flash up, but with my finger over it. My old camera used two fingers but this model only needs one. Yes, I am serious. Try it and see if it works for you.

Grangry said...

Have to admit, I fondle my fabrics too! I've got some pieces that I like so much I can't bear to cut into them. I keep them in a drawer and sometimes they would be exactly right for what I am planning to do, but I get them out, look at them, salivate a little and then put them back!!!!!!!!!!