Sunday 27 July 2008

Going Bonkers

I have to tell you that we have really gone mad this time and we've put our house on the market. We were going to do it early next year, when I'm not teaching and we had more time, but we saw a place for sale in the area we want. Not that we are expecting to sell quickly in this funny market but we thought it was worth a try. We are very much of the opinion that, if it is meant to be, it will happen and we are not getting excited.



So now we have two mags getting to deadline, a book, also close to deadline, two big shows coming up and a looney kitten. I expect we shall survive - lets hope Smudge does, too. He is positivly suicidal in his desire to go outside and runs at doors just as we are shutting them. I am thinking of getting a tiny dog harness and taking him for walks.



Exciting news! The Image to Stitch book has sold so well that they are having to reprint already and they printed more than usual to start with. I have good stocks for the shows so shouldn't run out. I have never known a book to provoke so much comment - I've had lovely feedback. Thanks to all of you.



On to Comments.



Many thanks to you all for birthday wishes.Fiona has found a Wii Fit so I am now Eddie the Eagle on the ski jump. I have password protected my wii fit age and such details as weight and BMI.



Lorraine - you are quite right that we should revel in birthdays. I shall just stop counting.



Writer in res - you were the only one to sing to me and it was much appreciated.



Kate - no. Not sending passwords yet so don't panic.





For any BT users having problems, Clive has put details of what to do on the WoW website FAQ page www.workshopontheweb.com/faq.htm


I want to make a vessel for my MM book. One of my sources is rocks and cliffs so I scanned in a quick, on location, drawing made with pen and Graphitint pencils.









It was a surface with lots of circular pebbles so I though I would emphasis this with a displacement map.











The I used the Balls and bubbles filter, with these settings.








This produced this effect. Rather fun, I thought.











To make it into a vessel I used the Polar co-ordinates.









Liked the result so I copied and pasted it a couple of times to produce this bowl. I shan't be covering computer stuff in the next book but I do find it useful for ideas.



13 comments:

Genie said...

Good luck with house sale, Love the ideas for the vessell

Elliemac said...

Hello Maggie, I am attempting my first comment and am finally moving from lurker into blogger. Your blog is just great and your work inspirational as always. Smudge is a star and is obviously going to shine. Good luck with the house, Oh! and a very belated Merry Birthday.

Jackie said...

Thats the best way to do it I think..but then you have all the anxiety about not selling and losing the house...ooohhh! I hope you get the one you want.

Wabbit said...

Good luck with the house sale. Love the bubbles and thanks so much for the working tips as always. It's such a bummer that Image to Stitch isn't going to be available here in the US til October! I think it's outrageous that I have to read the rest of the world's reactions for months before I get a glimpse! I wish I had just a tenth of your energy.

Unknown said...

Lovely pictures Maggie. Good luck with the house sale

maggik1 said...

I'm turning from lurker into blogger as well. I love 'Image to Stitch' and reading your blog inspired me to get on to the course in Chester. I'm so looking forward to it and hope that my computer skills are up to it! When my blog has 'settled down' I'll try some of the displacement things from your blog. Thanks for the inspiration!

Guzzisue said...

Hi, Flower stitcher arrived on Friday, many, many thanks, hope to try it out next weekend when things aren't so chaotic!!

Writer in Residence said...

Hi Maggie, Thanks so much for the Coiling Gizmo, which arrived in record time from U.K. to Canada. I'm taking it with me on holiday to try it out!

BTW, love your latest photos -- tho' the final one does remind me somewhat of the Bacardi bat logo (perhaps after imbibing a few)! They should adopt your "bat", as it's much more elegant than theirs -- and of course give you a LOT of money for it too. (You can check out their bat logo by Googling it online.)

Cheers from Canada, Marjorie

Judy said...

Dear Maggie,

How wonderful that you are going into a second printing so soon, the book is wonderful I received my copy down here in Tassie last week - cant keep my eyes out of it for the momen, then I will begin trying the inspiring ideas.

Gill H said...

Hi Maggie
Thank you for all the sharing you do - brilliant blog and loads of ideas. Love the tutorials. I can now do displacements. Cuddles to Stevens and Smudge.

Anonymous said...

Hello Maggie, this is my first comment. Smudge is beautiful, and your blog is just wonderful. Please say a big thank you to Clive for the info on WOW about BT email accounts. My partner has been having problems for ages with his BT email account - he's not only not received the usual spam rubbish, but also a lot of important emails from friends and colleagues. I printed out Clive's instructions and he followed them this morning and retrieved all his lost emails. Guess where he found BTs email about the changes to email accounts? In the bulk spam folder of course! Good luck with the house.

Penny said...

The Embroidery arrived today and it is lovelier than it looked on your site, thank you so much.
Happy belated birthday and I hope smudge is behaving. Never moved house so dont envy you on that one.

material witness said...

Oh Maggie!
The bubbly pebble vessel mapping is the most inspiring thing I have seen in years.

Wonderful!