Sun Printing.

 It was lovely and sunny this morning, so I decided to have a go at sun printing with a new (for me) product from Jacquard called Solar Fast. First I had to make some negative images on transparent film. I wanted to use some pictures that I had taken of cracked and dry mud, but the photos had to be made very contrasty to be used for this process, so a bit of Photoshopping was required.

   Some Solar Fast was spread over a piece of cotton fabric and the transparency laid on top.

 I used Burnt Orange for this test, leaving the film in place for 20 minutes.  Unfortunately the sun started to go behind the clouds at this point, so it was really only intermittent sun shine, but the mud cracks showed up well on this sample.

 By the time that I got to the second trial the sun had gone completely, so I didn't get much of a print at all. This was supposed to be Teal in colour, but it does need the UV rays to develop the colour properly. The technique definitely has potential, but as I don't have a lighting set up inside, I'll have to wait for another good sunny day.

Who's Been Walking in my Mud Puddle?

                                A lovely clear wombat print on the edge of the mud puddle.

Now what's this, 2 wombats out together in broad daylight? Usually solitary and only active at night, this is most unusual. If they are seen during the day it is usually because they are sick, but these 2 don't appear to be sick at all. Maybe it was just such a beautiful morning that they couldn't sleep in!

Unexpected sighting.

                          We spotted this little fellow/girl while out walking this morning.

            It's amazing what a good job a small point and shoot camera can do with its telephoto lens.

Finished!

                   With the exception of a couple of little tidying up stitches, the UFO is finished.
It was not a good idea to hang it from the clothes line in the direct sun for photographing though, as every slight pucker and wrinkle shows up.

                            It looks much better from the reverse however, as it is not in the full sun.

Final Touch.

After quite a bit of trimming of the edges I finally managed to get it all lined up and ready to attach the binding. Not long now until this UFO is finally finished after starting it 5 years ago!

The end is in Sight.

I have just started, or at least spent a few hours working on the quilting of the kaleidoscope quilt.
As a non-quilter I have found it pretty demanding, especially fitting the whole thing through the machine. I have no idea how people would wrestle a Queen size quilt through a domestic sewing machine, or even a double one for that matter. Now I have run out of the right coloured thread, so once I get some more I should be able to finish the quilting. Then of course comes the binding. The quilt police will definitely be waiting to nab me as a result of this project, it's pretty rough and ready, but as it's not going on public display I'm not worried, I just want to finish it!

iPad Play.

 I'm always on the look out for ways of using my iPad for artwork, so I've been experimenting with ArtStudio. As I have been using Photoshop since Version 5, I'm delighted to find that ArtStudio works in a very similar way. Here I've loaded a collage, then added another layer of a different collage and blended the 2.

                           This is a simple inversion with some pen lines added for emphasis.

    I decided that I didn't like the 'bulls eyes' so I've removed them. Under the sea or in the jungle?

Spring Sunshine.

                             A water skink comes out for it's first taste of spring sunshine.

                              How lovely to bask in the warmth after a long and cold winter!