PATTERNS!!!!!

[Faith]

I'm really excited about something new I've learned to do with GIMP and Make Your Own Kaleidoscope! 

I've been sidelined by back problems in the middle of a major family room redo. Unfortunately, I can't get to much in my studio, either, since I stuffed things in there "just 'til I finish." When I saw this past weeks TAST stitch it clicked with a design I saw in one of my Dover design books, but I can't get to the fabric I want for it. Aida won't work and that's what I have that I can reach. Soooo...

I put the design in GIMP and played with it so I can print it on the fabric to stitch and since I couldn't do that, I started playing in GIMP and that got me thinking and....

I love playing with the kaleidoscope as much as with GIMP and I have tons of them in several folders. If I were as disciplined as Sharon, I'd have lots of designs like her Friday freebies. I haven't mastered getting the clean lines, though. I was wondering what else I can do with them.

Recently I've also been looking at COLOURlovers. Mostly I was just getting palettes, but I noticed the patterns and was enjoying a lot of them...

And then it hit me! 

Oh, my! It's wonderful! And easy. I don't have other image programs, but I imagine a "make seamless" filter is a common one (but GIMP is free if you don't have one or don't have an image program and Sharon has a class for it sometimes). That and the kaleidoscope are all you need, but, of course, if you know how to do more with your image program, you get more options. So...

I have been making patterns.  This is my most recent:

(This is about half size. I think you can click for full size.) It's not much to look at as it is, but that's the joy of seamless patterns.

Here it is patterned:

(I've resized again to fit into the blog.)  

And just for fun, this is the original image:

and the kaleidoscope:

(Smaller again.) In this example I have done more than simple patterning. The yellow is a layer behind the branches in the kaleidoscope. The kaleidoscope focuses on the roots. (Not branches! DUH!) I also erased most of the gray base in the kaleidoscope so the background would show through. The black was selected and deleted and the image cropped.

I have a very interesting and pretty one of my cat's eye! I also have some good ones made from a cropped, blurry and generally very bad photo. Sometimes the worst or most boring photos make great kaleidoscopes and/or patterns.

So, what's this got to do with stitchin'?  PRINTER FABRIC!!!!  I'm imagining a quilt made entirely with my own patterns. Think of the possibilities... Your favorite color(s) not currently in fashion? No problem! Need a very personal design? No problem! Need a specific size/type pattern for your art quilt? No problem! You could also submit a pattern to someplace like Spoonflower if you need more than just a little.  [I love the old, like my spinning wheel, hand weaving, stitching, knitting, etc., but I also love the additional creative possibilities technology gives us!]

I'll have more on Airy Nothing when I get some more done. There will be a link to some freebies when I have more to share.

Right now, I want to get back to creating them!

[Nicola Thomson]

interesting  discussion, I learnt a lot!! thankyou

[Elaine Wilding]

Faith this is so interesting. I have never checked out gimp but I will now Thanks for sharing. I love printing on fabric as well so this sounds like a lot of fun. So very cool and creative. Happy Stitching Hugs Elaine

[Faith]

LOL I just noticed the bottle and how it integrated into the kaleidoscope!