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What’s Happening at www.Linda-Matthews.com

What’s Happening at www.Linda-Matthews.com

Photoshop Elements Tutorial: Designing Repeat Patterns One of the most commonly used designs on fabric is a repeat pattern design. Repeat patterns are easy to make in Photoshop Elements using the Offset feature and simple copy and past. So let’s … Continue reading

Using the Decorative Stitches on your Sewing Machine

Do you ever use the decorative stitches on your machine? I know a lot of sewing machine owners – especially quilters – don’t use them. Your decorative stitches, with a little imagination and the right threads, offers great potential for interesting and innovative embellishment.

I love to use the decorative stitches on my sewing machine; they’re a wonderful source of decorative embellishment for all sorts of applications and you’ll see a lot of my quilts and samples have some sort of decorative stitching on them.

You can use decorative stitches in many ways:

… instead of straight stitch for stitch-in-the-ditch.

Use decorative stitches for stitch-in-the-ditch

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Dyeing Your Own Fabric

Dye

Photo courtesy ingermaaike2

Dyeing your own fabric is fun, creative and provides you with endless opportunities for creating unique art. Plus it’s not as difficult as you might think.

Visit the “All About Hand Dyeing” website by Paula Burch for helpful information about all types of fabric dyeing.

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From Technique to Intuition

Zone
Photo courtesy Phillie Casablanca

How do you get to those inspired moments? How can you spend more time in, rather than out of, your zone of creative mastery?

This article from Creativity Portal explores just how to achieve this.

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Creative Ideas

Get Creative
Photo courtesy www.morguefile.com

Get Creative Show! is a vast website full of creative articles, ideas, and tutorials for quilters, needleworkers and crafters, including business tips and advice. You’re sure to find something of interest.

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Printing on Tissue Paper

Image Transfer

One of my favorite techniques is image transfer. Mostly I like to transfer images directly to fabric using various methods, however sometimes I also like to transfer images to “fabric paper”. “Fabric paper” can be made using many different methods, but it’s main features are that you can create unusual texture and of course, you can sew on it.

Making “fabric paper” using plain old tissue paper is one of my favorite types of “fabric paper”. I like the texture and the softness and it’s simple to do.

This video demonstrates one method of transferring an image to tissue paper and then turning it into “fabric paper”.

If the video isn’t visible, link to it here.

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The Most Beautiful Things

Beautiful
Photo courtesy Matthew Fang

The most beautiful things in the world
are not seen nor touched.
They are felt with the heart.

Helen Keller

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More Fungus

Be inspired by these beautiful photos. Look closely … what catches your eye? The colors? The shapes? A pattern, or perhaps a simple line? Inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places.

Fungus

Fungus

Fungus

Photos courtesy www.visipix.com

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Allow, Instead of Seize, the Day

By Valery Satterwhite

Day
Photos courtesy Auntie P

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the various messages we’ve received over the years and generally highly regard. Many success and self-help experts have told us that we need to “Seize the Day”. “Carpe diem” they tell us.

Well, what the heck does that mean? How does one “seize the day”?

“Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.” ~Margaret Fuller

The dictionary defines the word seize as:

- take hold of; grab
- take or capture by force
- assume, seize and take control without authority and possibly with force

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Adding Arty Fun to that Traditional Quilt

An inspirational article by my guest blogger – Christine Predd

If you enjoyed Christine’s article, please leave a comment and let her know!

Adding Arty Fun to that Traditional Quilt

Escape
Escape by Christine Predd

Maybe some readers make quilts from patterns and have a little bit of an itch to reach into the art quilt world at the same time.  This can be done by thinking a little creatively as you work……..maybe adding a different technique, or just something out of the ordinary to that pattern and making it more your own creation. 

Here’s some ways that may work for you to do just that!   These are not original ideas by any means, just ideas I’ve gathered along the way.

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Recyle Those Old Jeans

Recycle Those Jeans

Photo courtesy www.morguefile.com/

Ever wondered what to do with all those old jeans? You know, the ones you’ve been saving because you WILL fit into them again one day. Give them up ladies; move on.

Here’s a great idea!

Or if you don’t like that one, try this one.

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