And before I go count down 139 comments out of 224, I’m going to put a note at the start of this post:  One commenter has the book already, and  a couple of my replies are in that total.  If I land on Terry’s comment or my replies, I will go to the next highest number that isn’t either Terry or me! (PS:  I used www.random.org to generate a number between 1 and 224.)

Now I’m off to count….

And now I’m back: Annie Copeland of California (and I actually know her!) has won.

I love this kind of book with lots of photos that are clear and show how to do what it is we are trying to learn. I have trouble learning from just words, so this handsome book fills the bill from my standpoint. Thank you for the opportunity. I love the photos, but love the little dog esp. Having my share of pets, this is one I need to get down.

Annie:  looks like things are looking up for you…HOORAY!  I’ll write to you and Susan by e-mail and you two can work out when and where you want Susan to send you the book.

And since there were SO MANY OF YOU who came and commented, I thought I’d add a free pattern of mine.  So, Stephanie of Stephanieestrin.blogspot.com,  please write to me (I’ll send you a direct e-mail too) and you can pick any one of my patterns that strikes your fancy, and I’ll send it to you!

THANK YOU ALL!

Time to get caught up on what all I’ve been doing the past month… first, I came home!

Flying in to mid-coast Maine at sunset....sigh....those rays of sun I call angel escalators. When I was 4, we returned to the US from living in Argentina. I had never seen escalators before and was entranced! I was also bundled off to Sunday School where they wanted us to NAP (not!). I wondered how the angels got from heaven to earth, and decided that sunbeams must really be angel escalators, so that's what they've been ever since, and now my kids know about them, too.

The best part of coming home to Maine is, of course, the people and the critters starting with my husband, sons, pug and cats!  But coming home to Maine is pretty amazing.   I flew in from teaching at Quilt Nebraska on July 31 to this…how can anyone NOT want to live and be here?

I love these aerial shots, this one taken over the wing of the prop Cape Air plane (about 9 seats I think). This is the peninsula just south of Owl's Head which is just south of Rockland. The airport designation is RKD, but it is really in Owl's Head and is 35 minutes from home.

Then the sun began to set…OH MY!

Just LOOK at those colors!

And the clouds…oh my oh my…

And a different view....love those curling up wisps and that one dark cloud hovering over the sun

And more...

As we were landing...

And a close-up

The color got really intense and dark when I zoomed in on the sun.

And touchdown…

And on the ground...see the windsock in the distance... I think the blob in the upper right is part of the plane/tail.

THIS is why you always want to schlep a camera with you….. was heading from Hope to Camden to pick up the teenager at his girlfriend’s.  This is what I saw as I went down the driveway:

And this slightly zoomed view:

Then, as I went down the last hill on Route 105 into Camden, the most enormous moon I’ve ever seen (even larger than that huge one a month or two ago) loomed up over a rooftop.  I promptly called the teen and said I would be a couple minutes late, I needed to drive down to the harbor and take some pics….here’s the best of the bunch:

And going back UP the driveway at home, this breathtaking moon and clouds!  Be still my beating heart!  How did I get to be so lucky as to live here?

Some days, you are filled with life and verve and sunshine.  Other days, the speed with which time disappears can threaten to overwhelm you.  Then I think of people like Melanie Testa (Every-single-day blog here) who is confronting cancer with grace and courage and beauty and strength that inspires so many of us.  We all have small and not-so-small moments of pain or sadness, so I’m thinking every now and then, I shall have to share a photograph or moment of beauty.

Slow down.

Appreciate those in your life and give thanks that they ARE alive and share themselves with you.

And that includes things with four or more feet that love you, too.

And take time to look around you and give thanks.

As I drove to Eli’s wrestling meet yesterday, the fog that had lifted here in Hope was hunkered down along the coast from Belfast north, including crossing the Penobscot Narrows Bridge at Fort Knox-Verona Island and over to Bucksport.  This bridge is stunningly beautiful no matter what, but yesterday it was nearly unearthly…

The Narrows Bridge over the Penobscot, looking up at the suspension cables as I drove over. Photo (c) 2011 Sarah Ann Smith. Photo is clickable to view larger

I had no idea what the photo was going to be.  I saw the wires and reached into my purse one handed, pushed the “on” button and held the camera up to the window to push the shutter.  I just clicked without opening to view screen…. some days beauty comes to find you.

OH WOW am I in love with a new product and process! 

The product is called PhotoEZ and it allows you to make detailed screens for printing (on paper or fabric), such as the treetops in the fabric postcards in the picture above.   The best place to get PhotoEZ  is directly from art quilter Ginny Eckley at http://www.photoezsilkscreen.com/about.htm .  Wonder how many requests Santa is gonna get now……

Many quilt artists now use Thermofax machines to make their own highly detailed screens for surface design printing.  These machines were on their way to becoming dinosaurs and land fill when they were discovered by art quilters and tattoo artists.   In both cases, the artists involved create intricate designs which are then “burned” into an emulsion-coated screen (or for the tattoo guys spirit masters).  The process removes the image, leaving a screen to use for printing or, in the case of tattoo artists, for transferring the design to the skin to use as the guide for inking the tattoo.  As the machines become more and more scarce, the price has   gone through the roof:  reconditioned machines now cost nearly $1000.  Yes, one THOUSAND dollars.  Plus supplies! My budget doesn’t stretch that far.

Well, a year ago at Quilt Festival in Houston, I visited Ginny Eckley’s booth where she sold (among other things) the PhotoEZ screen kits — a starter kit is $37 — and materials.  Here is a picture of my kit and the photo I used:

PhotoEZ kit, instructions and on the bottom left my image

Ginny told me she likes PhotoEZ so much she actually SOLD her Thermofax machines because she no longer used them.  Rather than carry the stuff home, I opted to order the supplies from Ginny (here) and have them shipped to my home.  One key thing:  You need to refrigerate the screen material to keep it fresh!  I have a flat baggie on the back wall of my fridge, behind the shelves, to keep mine fine.

After a year, I FINALLY got around to trying it out.  I was concerned because I don’t have strong sunlight up here in Maine most of the year the way Ginny does in Texas!  But I used my tulip-lights that I use for photography and they worked fine.  When I asked Ginny a couple of “how to” questions this year at Festival, she said she uses a light box most of the time, so this makes the process accessible for everyone (not just those of us in sunny spots).  In addition to the detailed info in the kit, you can find even more instruction on her website.

I had forgotten that the kit included an inkjet transparency sheet, so I fiddled with my photo of treetops in spring in Photoshop Elements (to turn it into a crisp black and white image) and printed it on paper.  The trick was to figure out the correct time under the lights to get the screen to burn.  I thought I had messed it up, but was elated when I did as instructed and popped the screen into the sink:

The image began to materialize; I used a soft paintbrush to swooosh away the area that had "burned" where the black ink reacted with the emulsion

Anyway, here’s another view:

Part of the burned emulsion removed (lighter area), the rest to be removed

And here are the fabric postcards, for a “circles” swap I recently did, in process:

five of the postcards screened, with the full screen on the lower left

The moons and eclipse glow were done with freezer paper stencils using Lumiere paints, and the treetops were screened with Jacquard Lumiere Citrine (the lime green color).  I REALLY like the squeegee that comes with the kit…it was JUST the right balance between firm and soft for me.

What I learned:

• I LOVE THIS PROCESS!
• And it costs a fortune less than a Thermofax.  It isn’t, however, cheap per screen, but it will work and cost less per screen I think than a Thermofax.
• Spring for the extra cost for transparencies for your images.  Then you don’t have to guesstimate the exposure time for your screen.  With a clear sheet, exposure time will be consistent.  If you print on paper you have to think about how heavy the paper is and how much it impedes the light working on the emulsion-ink reaction.
• Play with your image and print it in black and white (to make sure you like how it turned out) before printing it onto the not-as-cheap-as-paper transparency.
• Think about your images; in my case, I deliberately took the photo with only sky behind the treetops to make the photo editing process easier.
• Clean your screens promptly so the paint doesn’t clog the screen permanently.
• There is a learning curve about how much paint is enough but not too much; like most things, it takes a bit of practice and testing the various consistencies of paint
• I’m gonna do more of this!

PS–I am not affiliated with Ginny in any way.  I just really liked the product and process!  I surfed around online and Ginny’s prices seem to be the best out there.  Plus she’s a quilter! While you’re at her site, check out her artwork, here.  Her newest work uses the screens and is amazing (click on the New Work button).

And a last look at all the “circles” postcards:

Spring Moonrise and Spring Eclipse postcards