[[ HUDSON LINE RAILROAD. ]]

The front of this notebook features one of my TTV photographs of the autumn view from a MetroNorth train along the Hudson River line.

TTV stands for "through the viewfinder," in this case, that of a vintage, square format camera. This gives the images a retro feel and a variance in focus that isn't common to straightforward digtal photography.

- 6.25" x 6.25" (16 cm x 16 cm)
- 200 pages.
- Bound with turquoise blue waxed Irish linen thread.


[[ kateblack.etsy.com ]]




DSCN3639-
Originally uploaded by thekateblack.

Hello! I looked through the user info links and tried a journal search and didn't find anything, so here's hoping my journal search-fu isn't failing. I searched 'stitch computer program' 'stitch computer software' 'cross stitch computer' and the names of a few programs I'm thinking of buying, and it found nothing for any of them.

I'm currently making my own cross stitch patterns via photoshop, but it's rather time-consuming to make a really useable pattern. I've been looking into a good automatic cross stitch pattern making program. Unfortunately, most of the ones I find the free trial download either flat out doesn't work, or when I get it, it's not particularly good. I've noticed a real problem translating black in most programs I've tried- they try to make it dark green, or dark blue, so if you've already got that color in your image you can't tell what is supposed to be black and what isn't. Or else they make it far too pixelly, and there's no way you could tell what the original image was supposed to be.

So I'd like to know what people are using, how happy they are with it, and what some of the shortcomings are. I'm hoping not to spend more than 60, unless the best-best-everyone-loves program is more than that. I don't do machine embroidery, so I don't need a program that is capable of converting to machine embroidery patterns.

I've running on 32bit Windows Vista, but I'm upgrading to Windows 7 relatively soon. I'm finding most cross stitch making programs were last updated for XP, and then abandoned by their creators.

Thanks! I'm going to cross-post this to stitchers as well.

An amigurumi dragon and pegasus that I made

i am thinking of learning to make soap so i can make something other than knitted christmas presents this year. i have no idea where to start and many of the websites i have googled used so many scientific words, i just got confused. could anyone point me in the direction of a good beginner's soap making website? or give any tips/advice on soapmaking?

thanks!

Etsy Buy Handmade onetruetree

All Halloween items are on sale for 20% off of their original list prices (price currently listed is sale price)!

This is...a bit odd, but humor me.

I have a stack of recepies. Old ones. Yellowed paper covered in (usually) pencil cursive. A food stamp application, with a peanut brittle recipie on the back, dates from November of 1976. This collection came with a rack of spice jars I wanted, but now I can't help but think these old, yellowed pages might be a neat art project. They might even be good recipies!

Every time I go to toss them in the recycle, I hesitate. I Just. Can't.

So... does anyone want them?

EDIT: TAKEN!

A silly name, but apt, as there's a story behind the ribbon I used.  Oprah was my commencement speaker a couple of years ago, and she handed out books tied up in ribbons to each graduate.  I kept the ribbons because they were pretty (didn't find the books particularly fascinating), and decided to use one of them for this rose.



It looks like it's attached to the headband, but actually, it's attached to a no-slip alligator clip, and I just layered the headband on top of that for effect.

( Closeup of rose behind the cut )

my friend asked me to make a felt version of her pug mix, wasabi. wasabi is the littermate of my dog, vinci, so i made both. i'm brand new to sewing and it's really fun.

Something new

( +5 full size images )

I was shopping with my sister and she found a limited selection of crystal heart necklaces on sale for $25 (originally $50). I knew I could make something almost exactly the same for much less, and I told her so. She asked for a light pink one.



I also got a few in Siam and Light Vitrail. They're so pretty, and I think they're going to make great Christmas gifts.

I'd love to take custom orders of these. I can order the hearts in just about any color and right now I'm only charging $10 + $2.50 US shipping. You'll have a hard time finding something like this for such a low price. The only real catch is that it takes about a week for the hearts to get to me once I order them, so it'll probably take about a week and a half for you to receive your lovely necklace.

Check out my other items for sale in my Etsy Shop too!

High-waisted wiggle skirt I made for myself. It's thick jersey and quite simple, two darts in the front, 4 in the back.

Do you lovely folks have any tips on picking fabric that you're sure will have minimal bobbling? I particularly have this problem with jerseys which sometimes bobble just from light handling, even before the first wash! I don't know much about fabric properties so what should I look out for?

{x-posted to sew_hip}

brass,
all made by jamaika_

From photos