Monday, October 26, 2015

Jumping through hoops


Or maybe the title should be ... finding the hoops to jump through.

Well, I finally got a picture to post, though I have not yet figured out how to edit or crop it.

While I have been without anything other than my mobile phone, I have had more time to work on this project.

This banner may be more of a compromise  than other years. Last year I almost quit because I did not want to waste my time adding more words, knowing they would have to be too small and not likely to even be read by people passing through the church foyer.

As it turned out, the pastor asked me to finish it as planned and give it to him. It has been hanging in view now for a year and many people liked it the best of all I have made.

However, this year's theme is the Shinkan-sen or bullet train. Since I was not overly enthralled about the image of jumping on the bullet train ... even if it might be heading for heaven ... I was removed from the committee.

A few weeks ago I was asked by the pastor if I was making a banner for this year. I told him I had been removed from the committee and had not been asked. Then a week or so after that, the committee head came to me and asked if I would make a banner. I told her I didn't want to make a bullet train and she could probably go to JR and get a poster of the Shinkan-sen that she could use.
There is some artist who is making projections that show the train tracks running off the top that have been shown during the service.

She has a fine connection with JR and her voice is one of the first things you hear when the English announcements begin as the train starts to pull out of the station. However, buying an expensive ticket and being then entitled to a comfortable seat, eating or napping or enjoying the scenery, is not an image that speaks to me ... and my train is usually the cheapie one where I stand and just try to keep my body above my feet while lurching from station to station.

Still, she wanted a banner and asked if I would agree to a bible verse ... to which I replied I'd give it a look and decide. Well, this is what she sent me. "Prepare the way". And this is what I could come up with from my stash. I had good advice on the quilting design from my husband and the choir members at the retreat. It was finished Saturday evening during our party and I picked up bias tape on my way home Sunday. My husband bought two dowels for hanging while I was at school yesterday. Tonight I will pass it to the church office.

At the choir retreat, one 14 year old son of two members came along and was kind to give me some time to show me where to find things on my new laptop. It is the same he uses for school but other than e-mail, the applications he uses are not the same as I use.

I wish I had taken my notebook along and written things down. He was quite fast to try things when what he could see didn't work. It did make me a bit braver to try without giving up. Even so, getting this one picture into a place where I could post it took enough effort and I still don't know how I did it.

Now I am back to the Christmas tree skirt. My daughter sent me an envelope with two paper snowflakes to use as patterns. I traced the first one and while I was appliqueing the first one on to the skirt, Nikko took the envelope out of my file box and chewed it up, leaving only a tiny scrap of the second design.

I am also waiting for a few more from Jon's family. I can't complain because he was so quick to come up with this new laptop and whisk it into the post ... all set up and ready to use.

Then .... there is the Christmas hanging for Marie's door .... No more excuses, I have to get out my sketch book and get going.

10 comments:

  1. Lovely banner and the words, the fabric and design fit it all so well. New laptop, it will all fall into place in time.

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  2. It was nice you were asked again to make a banner - they should sincerely appreciate all of your work. Oh Nikko - don't chew on snowflakes!!!! Love the photo - glad you could get it to work. Have you tried irfanview.com - it is a free editing/cropping program - works quickly and lets you edit your pictures and save them to the files you want them in. It is how I keep all my hundreds of photos in order - been using it for years and years - and it is free.

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  3. well if I had been "removed" I would not have been as charitable as you .. and they could go swing for their banner!.. lol but then that's me! Nikko obviously found the design "interesting" Good luck with getting organised with your projects .. YOU can do it if anyone can xx

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  4. It is hard when someone's vision does not fit our own. Your banners are not just a piece of art, but it comes from your heart and soul and you have to feel it, to create it. I love the last one, and your choices and placement of the fabrics makes it even more beautiful. I am not sure on the mac you have, but for me, I do my photos in photoshop and save in a folder. Then when I want to post a photo, I just click on the icon on blogger, for photo and it shows me my desktop and folders, I pick the one I want and it takes it, simple as that. You can pick up a file or photo with your mouse and drop it, called drag and drop;) Just ask and I will try to explain in steps, that is the best way for me to try things.

    Debbie

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  5. I am sorry for not knowing the circumstance but how the theme of the banner for the church is Shinkansen?? How are they supposed to connect?? You have done a beautiful job though. Sorry not sure which bit is Shinkansen....
    Good luck with Christmas skirt. I am sure you make something beautiful!

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  6. Good to hear you are making friends with Mac!
    Shinkansen in a quilt, hm, yes for a 'poster' at a JR station, no for a banner in a church. The large text is easy to read and it must have been a delight not to have small fiddly letters to work with. Keep up the good work, Julie!

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  7. You did get a run around about the banner. It is a bit cheeky to ask you to make it when you had been removed from the committee. Very good of you to do it.
    Good luck with the snowflake patterns. Dogs do love to chew anything!

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  8. A nice bold banner, so much easier when there are only a few words. I really like your use of yellow to outline the letters. Your comments about the young man's willingness to "try" things is something I discovered. Young people and those more familiar with computers will try anything, just to see if it works. I have always been cautious in case I did something "wrong", or lost what I had already achieved.

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  9. The banner looks great! You do have a time with that committee don't you. I think our patchwork group as a whole bowed out of the kindergarten bazaar quilt raffle this year. No one has ever asked us for advice or help (or batting.... the kindergarten usually got their batting through us) for this year's raffle so I guess the world turns without us.
    Nikko! Well at least she gnaws on envelopes and not hands...

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  10. I love how you "paint" in fabric!

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