Gene Autry, the singing cowboy…my first ATCs ever

By on 8-13-2010 in Embroidery, Vintage Patterns

These are my first ATCs. The topic was the Wild West and I thought of Gene Autry right away. When I was a young girl my mother made me a cowgirl outfit for my birthday and added cowgirl boots, hat, guns and holster. I wore them to the Toronto Canadian Exhibition where Gene was starring. He spotted me and waved Hi. A great memory.

Gene Autry, the singing cowboy

Gene Autry sang “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” as well as other cowboy and Christmas songs. I can still remember him singing them.

Gene Autry, the singing cowboy

These ATCs were so much fun to make, beginning with finding vintage images to putting them together along with backgrounds in Photoshop using layers, styles and filters to make them all fit on the little 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ cards. I made the decision to sew them together to continue on using fabric for my creations.

A little girl, her doll and an umbrella …. a story using vintage images

By on 8-13-2010 in Embroidery, Vintage Patterns

This is my first posting for September … what a busy month! Between working on a quilt, several other small projects and putting away some of the produce in abundance this time of the year my days were very full with little time to spare.

A little girl, her doll and an umbrella

One of the projects I was working on was this little animated story about a little girl. When I first saw these vintage images I knew I had to use them. They are wonderful and the story they tell is very poignant. I used layers and shapes as well as brushes and styles in photoshop to create this little gif.

Halloween is just around the corner …. get ready … BOO !

By on 8-13-2010 in Embroidery, Vintage Patterns

This embroidery page was published in the Cross Stitch and Country Crafts supplement. The ghost and jack-o-lantern could be embroidered on a black background and the witch could be given an appliqued dress and hat on a golden moon background. All three embroidered with metallic thread or the new ‘glow in the dark’ threads could look very spooky with the lights out at a halloween party.

vintage halloween embroidery

Digital Collage…..from rusty wheel rim

By on 8-13-2010 in Embroidery, Vintage Patterns

rusty wheel

This is my first digital collage. I started with the image below….a rusty wheel rim. The bright red and orange colours captured my imagination. There is a blade of grass in the center of the rim which gave some colour contrast. I manipulated pieces of the image, cropped them in Adobe Photoshop and moved them onto a new background. The colours for the background were taken from the rim as well. The lines were made with a Photoshop brush and applied before moving the image. This collage would look good on a card, in a scrapbook page or as a block in an autumn quilt.

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November’s ‘sky jewels’

By on 8-13-2010 in Embroidery, Vintage Patterns

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Overnight, freezing rain and snow transformed into ‘sky jewels’ as the sun peaked out for an hour around 9:00 a.m. About 15 minutes after I had taken the photos, the grey clouds brought more snow and freezing rain. What a beautiful interlude. By late afternoon the sun came out again, bringing back those ‘sky jewels’.

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Icicles were sparkling in the sunlight. I was hoping to catch a drop, unfortunately that didn’t happen. But they were very pretty all the same.

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A sunny winter day can be astounding, bringing the clear blue of the sky along with clouds reflecting the light. It lifts my heart when the light appears.