Studio located in Cleveland, NC. 704-528-4648 Judy@goneawaystudiodesigns.com Hours are by appointment only.

Category: family

Having taken the weekend off……..

Judy2 Comments on Having taken the weekend off……..

Having taken the ENTIRE weekend off and a long one at that (Wednesday through tonight), I got to enjoy some family time.  DH and the youngest grandson have been busy all weekend, and I’ve spent a lot of time cooking for them.  Something that surprisingly I enjoyed!

But, that didn’t meant I didn’t get “fiber” moments, or flower time.  I have to have those to survive.
First I finished spinning all the singles of the Alpaca/Merino blend I’ve been working on forever:

I’ve already started plying them into a 2-ply yarn, which I hope to have finished by mid-week.

And I wove in the ends of my Vermont Shawl so that I can actually WEAR it!

 

And I took some time to enjoy the blossoms in the studio.  My Cactus and African Violets really like the light:

 

This little beauty, planted in a small pot that fits inside a cup was hiding most of it’s blooms on the backside.

 

Now what to do with the remainder of my weekend?  Dear youngest grand goes home in a couple hours and then I still have the rest of the day to go through…..do I sew, spin, knit, read a book?   So many choices, but I know ONE thing I won’t be doing until tomorrow….going back to work!  ;>)

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed your weekend as much as I’ve enjoyed mine!

It’s a NEW CAMERA!

Judy5 Comments on It’s a NEW CAMERA!

DH gifted me with a NEW CAMERA this year!!!!!   YEAH!!!!!!  I was so pleased to receive this particular gift, I’ve missed taking photo’s and having them come out accurate.  Or taking photo’s and actually getting DETAIL!  And I really disliked having to attempt to manipulate the color spectrum in photo’s with editing software.
And because of that, there have been limited pictures taken for months, which translates into minimal blog posts for you, my readers.  And thanks to DH, that can all change now, so I warn you, this particular post may be a bit picture heavy!

Let’s start with the very first picture taken on the new camera:

Of COURSE it had to be of a thread rack!  Taken from the sewing table in my design room, these are Valdani cotton threads and just look at those colors!!!  The REDS are RED!!!!!!  And there’s PINK and PURPLE too!!!!   At this point I was giggly happy!  But I had to test it further, how was it going to do for detail?

I’d say that was pretty good, having been taken from about 3′ away from the thread rack, on AUTOMATIC, simply by zooming in!!!!  So at this point, I let the camera charge for a bit and decided I’d play later in the evening.

Of course there has to be a downfall somewhere if I’m taking the pictures!   LOL   That evening, in our dimly lit living room, while DH watched TV, I thought I’d play again.  My first attempt was a disasterous picture (of course I have yet to read the instruction book).  My subject matter was a little hyperactive and I didn’t have it set for the lighting in the room.

Yes, that’s a dog, would you like to take guesses as to which one it is?  LOL   After playing with the settings, and finding a more calm subject, I hit upon the setting needed for the living room at night (I think it was party mode, but I really need to take notes or read the instruction manual!) and came up with a picture of Baci that is just PERFECT!

Enough for yesterday, this morning I decided to play some more (and have NOT YET read the instruction book).  I started with some pictures of my latest pair of knitted socks and got the best image  right where I got the first image at, in the design room by the window.


Yes, that is the instruction booklet for the camera sitting underneath those socks!  LOL  I will read it later on.  But first, the MOST IMPORTANT TEST!!!  What would it do with fabrics and quilts and quilting?  Would I still be happy?  Let’s take a look!

First, the full quilt on the frame, as the IQ is quilting a pantograph on it (yes the machine head is MOVING during this picture):

OH MY!!!  The purples are PURPLE!  The same shade/tone as the fabric, and the oranges are true!!!  The turquoise is the actual faded grayed color it is!  and the blues are vibrant!    I’m getting happier, but the final test,  WILL IT SHOW THE QUILTING DETAIL!?!?!?!?!


WOO HOO!!!!!   Taken ON THE FRAME, in daylight, NO SPECIAL SETTINGS!!!!  NO adjusting the lighting, no messing around with anything!   Just walk up and shoot on auto and that’s the detail picture I got!!!!   Did I mention my REDS are RED!!!!!  And my orange and purples are true as well!!!!!!

If I seem just a wee bit excited, I am!  One of the things I’ve missed most over the last several months has been the ability to take pictures and share them here on the blog without major frustration.  Thanks to DH and his generosity, I can now do that again.  And he kept in mind that I can’t handle a heavy camera, this one is LIGHTWEIGHT!  Pocket sized really!   It’s a Nikon Coolpix camera, and it’s a burnished purple color!  (hey, that counts too!)

Now, on to opening up the package for my new MP3 Player and downloading an audio book to listen to while I quilt!

P.S. and yes, I WILL read the instruction manual for the camera eventually! ;>)

What a weekend!

Judy4 Comments on What a weekend!

Wow!  What a weekend it’s been!  This weekend I took the entire weekend off, and even extended it a little bit.  I shut down Thursday evening and will go back to work tomorrow; but here’s a rundown of what’s gone on.

Friday, we went to SC to pick up the youngest grand for his monthly visit.  He was ready to go, but his little brother was having too much fun running around, so first off a little game of chase we undertaken:

Later on, Grandpa and Gabe were deciding on a movie and suddenly I realized he’s gotten taller in the last 2 months:

Saturday, Gabe and I went shopping and I found a new (to me) coffee table that does exactly what I wanted it to do:

I LOVE this table!  It’s BIG and STURDY, made from solid wood with dovetail joins in it.  The center is not two small drawers, but one full drawer that goes all the way through and slides open from either side….perfect for storing games in.  The raised parts are solid enough to sit on, and below them is a display area on each end.  What you can’t see is the detail in the wood in the center section.  Four panels in two different colors of wood, with a very small inlay design around it.  Did I mention I LOVE this table?

Of course Brandi is not really impressed with the new table as I moved her blanket to put it in:

Then Sunday morning, while prepping to bake a much delayed birthday cake, I had a slight accident:

Goodbye big mixer bowl!  But it could have been much worse, I was in my slippers when it shattered and nobody else was in the kitchen at the time.  Just  a few little cuts and a lot of cleanup and all is well.  And it gave me the “opportunity” to go on a hunt for a replacement bowl to fit the old mixer!  Yep, I’m looking at the bright side  of this one!

Today brought a little more of the knitting I’ve been doing all weekend, and watching Grandpa and Gabe play a game of Yahtzee, followed by dinner with friends.  I managed to make a decent lasagna and redeem myself as a lasagna maker (last time they came for lasagna, I murdered it!).

Progress on this weekend’s knitting:

“Spring Forward”, toe up version, socks in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock “Parfait” colourway, on size 0 dpns for the knitters reading this.

Also did a little reading, I’ve got the summer issue of  Sew Somerset, the fall issue of Art Doll Quarterly, Rice Zachary-Freeman’s newest book “Destination Creativity”, and a lightweight summer fiction on my Nook.  Yes, I am reading them all at once, kind of, sort of.  No, I don’t have them all OPEN at the EXACT same time, but I do jump from one to another during the course of a day.

All in all, it’s been a great EXTENDED holiday weekend!!!!!  I’ll leave you with a picture of little miss Cocoa, she’s just such a cutie I can’t resist: