And maybe I shouldn’t have? This fabric had stripes running from selvedge to selvedge. I didn’t want pants with horizontal stripes, so I laid the pattern pieces out on the cross grain, so the stripes would run up and down. Hmmmm….

I definitely won’t be wearing this vest and top with the pants (which are summery weight). I think if I wear a top that comes over the top of the pants, they’ll be OK…maybe even tunic length. I aligned the strip carefully with the grainline on the pattern, but they just don’t want to hang straight.

The fabric is a rayon-blend I think, almost crepe-y, kinda crinkly so that if I were to iron out the crinkles, the legs would be siginificantly longer. I’m wondering again if laying out the pattern on the cross-grain was such a good idea. Oh well…that’s what happens when you buy fabric on the internet and can’t actually unroll a length and drape it to see what you’re going to do with it! (original idea was for a jumper or skirt, but since I never wear the jumpers and skirts I have, I nixed that idea after I ordered the fabric……) At least I remembered to pre-shrink the fabric!

Well…after some serious procrastination last week when the boys were home for spring break, I finally resumed work on Tableau, and made a nice leap forward. I gave Joseph a cloak (which helps him stand out against the stable), got the interfacing / foundation for the shepherds cut, ditto for the animals. Here’s a shot from yesterday evening:

I also “foiled” for the first time, to make the halos for the angel (just head and halo at the moment), Mary, Joseph and the baby, and used an extra small halo as a stand-in for the comet / bright star (along with some gold sheer).

I’m testing overlays for the mountains to tone down the white. Will also play with a wash of paint, but of all things think I like the camo mesh from (shudder….) Wal-Mart on the right!

By the way…that’s a cat in the front, bottom /center….I figure if Mary picked up the baby from the warm manger, it’s probably like my house with a cat wanting to move right into the warm spot (there will be a manger in a few days….).

I’ll update with the “colored in” animals (goat, sheep, mule, cow, cat) anon…hopefully before I head to California next week to see Ma.

And a tease: see the lower right corner of the photo? …that’s a box with the other thing I did last week…totebags! I’m going to do a pattern for Janome America (my part of being on the Artists’ loaner program) so developed this tote bag, complete with cell phone pocket and water bottle holster.

Hi all….been very busy here, hence the quiet on the blog. Downloaded photos today…65! And that’s just in the past few days….herewith:

Easter eggs. Asked Paul to buy eggs to color for Easter—Eli asked special. So Paul returns….with brown eggs. How am I supposed to color brown eggs, I said, at nearly 5 pm Saturday? So, we made them after the fact…..when *I* went to the store and bought white eggs.

Here’s Eli in progress (and a can of peaches in progress, too….does anyone else besides me, and now my kids, love them? My dad fed them to me when I was a kid, and it turns out my father in law loved ’em too….as did his dad (who was the same age as my dad…my dad was OLD), so we wondered if it was something with folks who grew up circa 1900-1920?).

Here’s the finished display:

Then, Joshua had been pestering me to dye his hair red. Well….I convinced him to do a wash-in, wash-out color instead. Then, of course, Eli wanted scarlet hair, too. Actually, if they had had turquoise, I would’ve joined them….. where DOES one get a selection of more than two colors (red or blue) for this sort of thing? Anyway, hereis Joshua, with the “mom you are not going to take a picture” look, sporting the team color for the Camden-Rockport Middle School:

Then, there is the daily wrestling match in our kitchen (which all too often migrates to the living room and back) and all too often also includes dad, giving pointers…sigh….. it’s that Defective Chromosome with the Missing Leg (aka the Y chromosome, versus the intact X…..):

And last but not least, Joshua with his trophy for being on the CRMS wrestling team this year at the banquet last night:

Next: fiber and / or fur content….perhaps fur……

Just wanted to add a new button to my blog, and let you know what it’s all about if you didn’t already know. Last year, Virginia Spiegel had a brainstorm that has taken on a life of its own: using fabric postcards to support cancer research. Karey Bresenhan, one of the founders and president of Quilts, Inc., and godmother to quilters everywhere who know of the annual Festival in Houston as “Mecca”, became the honorary chairperson and donated space at Festival to help Virginia’s efforts, and again at Spring Festival in Chicago. Virginia has raised over FIFTY THOUSAND (!!!!!!! yep, I’m shouting!) dollars through the generosity of the artists who donated the cards and the many, many purchasers.

Here’s the button:

If you click on the button in the side-bar area, to the right of this post, it will take you to Virginia’s site. There you can get a sneak peek at some of the postcards and, currently, of the items in the reverse auction, all to benefit cancer research (and we hope, cures!). Thanks to DebR for creating this button and sharing her computer expertise!

Or, what a difference a good camera and some sunshine make! Below you will see a comparison of photos taken with two cameras, and with the new one, indoors and outside on a sunny afternoon. I used a tripod in all cases. Hint–if you click on the pictures, they will open up larger. In Firefox, I can right-click and open in a new tab or a new window…that lets you compare large (and therefore detailed) shots side by side on your screen. Amazing differences!

1. a full shot (and then detail shots) of my log cabin quilt From Sea to Shining Sea taken with my old 3.2 MP Kodak point and shoot digital at maximum resolution. Photo taken in my sewing room with a combination of halogen, daylight, and “reveal” color-correct bulbs.

2. a full shot taken with my new Panasonic DMC FZ30, 8 MP (!!) at full resolution jpeg (haven’t started messing with TIFFs and RAW files yet, due to limitations with Photoshop Elements). Photo taken in my sewing room with a combination of halogen, daylight, and “reveal” color-correct bulbs.

3. a full shot (and then detail shots) taken with my new Panasonic DMC FZ30, 8 MP (!!) at full resolution jpeg. Photo take outside on a sunny afternoon (and even though there were no shadows from trees apparent when I stood there I can now see I ought to try this again tomorrow morning, perhaps less interference from the surrounding trees).

4. Detail shot taken indoors with the same lighting setup with the 3.2 MP Kodak at maximum resolution:

5. Detail shot taken indoors with the Panasonic 8 MP, same lighting, blah blah.

6. Detail shot taken outdoors with the Panasonic 8 MP in afternoon sunlight.

So what did I learn:

1. I need to work on my studio lighting, since given that I live in Maine and it is winter 6 months of the year, I can’t count on taking photos outdoors all year long. But when I can shoot outside, just do it– Mother Nature rocks!

2. My new camera is SO good that I need to remember the lint roller before taking photos …. I saw a thread that was less than 1/2 inch long and two cat hairs when I enlarged the detail photo! Yes, individual cat hairs! I think I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new camera!