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| Touchdraw on a Mac |
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| Touchdraw on tablet |
Touchdraw is a favourite of Lynne’s from Lily’s Quilts who has written tutorials on her blog using it. I find it a very useful tool for playing with shapes and creating images for patterns and online sharing.
In other news, Reflections is quilted! I took Yvonne's advice and quilted the background sky with a squiggly water pattern, quilted vertically to give the feeling of rain. Poor dragonfly getting pelted (not sure they can fly in rain!). He is also strictly the wrong size in proportion to the raindrop but hey I'm taking poetic/artistic licence on this one!
I used YLI 50 weight variegated purple thread and I just love it. Quilts up beautifully!
I love Yvonne's suggestion for this, it was absolutely the right decision - thanks so much!
I started quilting the ripples in the water with my walking foot but had difficulty in the tighter circles so I free motioned it. The lines are not perfect. I am telling myself they are organic looking and trying not to look closely at them! I used white and added in some rainbow colours in the ripples to fit the Reflections theme. Just have to trim and bind this one now. Should finish about 36" square or thereabouts!
As I am still a bit under the weather, I stayed pretty close to the fire in the cosiest room in the house, the living room. The dogs joined me on the sofa while I decided to do some comfort knitting. Comfort knitting is not that comfortable when you have a Basset Hound trying to eat your Merino wool!
Still, I had made G a cabled hat with this pattern found on Ravelry and somehow he managed to put a giant hole in it. I think he's blaming the dog! I have no idea how to fix this save frogging it all out. Any ideas?So having two balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran on hand in a very manly charcoal colour I decided I'd knit him another. It really is a very quick pattern to do! Just as well too as we got some March snow!
Then finding my knitting groove I dug out this lovely denimy coloured yarn from Loop Knitting and decided to make myself a cabled waistcoat/vest to keep me warm at the sewing machine!
I chose this pattern Cloud Chaser by Amy Swenson and managed to get a little bit started. This one might take a while!Linking up to WIP Wednesday & Let's Bee Social.
What a shame about that hole in your knitting! I know nothing about these things so no advice. Thanks for the screen shot of Touchdraw, I can compare it to EQ7 and Illustrator a bit better in my head now.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to go check out your post on Touchdraw, I struggle to find the right use for illustrator and EQ7 when I'm sketching on my computer and it's a tough balancing act but I love the idea of using my tablet! Reflections is coming along nicely!
ReplyDeleteThe dragonfly looks great and the squiggly water pattern was a great choice. Thanks for the information on touch draw. I'm hoping my MAC is new enough for it.
ReplyDeleteThe dragonfly and rain quilting look great, Ruth!! I am so glad my suggestion worked for you; I really think it turned out beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI love what you did with that drop hitting the water. The raindrop looks just like a jewel! Very nice work.
ReplyDeleteTouch draw looks interesting. I will definitely check it out. I managed to make a hole in a pair of fingerless mitts I made for myself this year. I think if you careful just rip back enough to put the stitches (at top and bottom of the hole) on needles, you can re-knit and weave in the sides–at least, that's my plan for my mystery hole ... note to self, don't jam those mittens into a bag where they can catch on things.
ReplyDeleteWonderful eye candy! Everything is just lovely.
ReplyDeleteWow--I'll have to check out this app. I feel so lost in EQ, so this might be a better fit for me. And such a LOVELY quilt--it's so interesting and beautiful. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI love the dragonfly, he is just perfect!!!
ReplyDeleteSuper quilting in the reflections quilt. I can't imagine cables being quick to do - all that counting!
ReplyDeleteRuth, I just discovered your blog. Thank you for your comment on my "Blush & Bashful" quilt. I am very intrigued by Touchdraw and its various possibilities. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThe dragonfly is a darling!!!
very interesting quilting pattern you used on the background. I can see your struggle on drops. i think you made very unique applique pieces with texture and colour. I don't really knit and hated cable... bless you.
ReplyDeleteI need to check out that app. Your dragonfly is so pretty it looks like machine embroidery. And the rest of your quilting is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI love your quilting, especially the dragonfly. My sister's cat eats anything made of wool!
ReplyDeleteYour Refections is quite an interesting quilt! I read your previous post about it and I love the overall design of it. I like the effect of the two drops above the water. I really love how you quilted the background.
ReplyDeleteI also knit, but don't make cables. I don't know how you could repair the hat with yarn. That would be quite a challenge for me, if I were in your place. I think that I would sew a perimeter around the hole with my sewing machine to prevent more unraveling and apply a fabric appliqué. I'm not sure that would work, though. Good luck!
Awesome dragonfly! Great quilting.
ReplyDeleteReflection is looking amazing! Great job with the quilting. I am sorry to hear that you are under the weather. Knitting is perfect for those days, isn't it?!! Well your dog is just trying to help while you knit :) Good luck with fixing the hole, unfortunately I have no idea how you would fix it.
ReplyDelete-Soma
Yvonne gave you a great suggestion for a great quilt top - it looks fantastic! Good luck with your hat repair. I use Illustrator, but I tried Touchdraw not too long ago and liked it. I haven't picked it back up lately, but I think I should get better at it - kids are keeping me on the go much more often now.
ReplyDeleteThe vertical rippling pattern on Reflection looks wonderful - you did a great job with it Ruth! It reminds me of watching rain run down a window pane.
ReplyDeleteWow your knitting looks wonderful too! About the hole in the hat. My non-knitting mind says to stitch around the hole with your sewing machine to secure all the yarns and then sew a sports team patch over the hole.
Feel better soon!
Hope you're feeling better now. Very fun quilt -the water looks way more real that way than with "perfect" circles. Better this way! LOVE the dragonfly - and yes, I've seen them flying in rain when we lived in Florida. :) ... which makes me realize I haven't seen any here. Kinda sad!
ReplyDeleteThat dragonfly!!! Love it all :)
ReplyDeleteIf the beanie were for a girl, I would fix it as best I could and then knit or crochet a big flower to cover any wonky darning/fake knitting. For a boy ... a patch of a favourite team?
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