A finish and an epiphany!

If you have been following Lilypadquilting for a while, you have seen pictures of the progress on my Roanoke Star table topper . . . designed and sewn by "moi" (imagine that said in a flirty, Miss Piggy voice) using Accuquilt dies --- the chisel die and the 3.5 inch half square triangle die, to be specific. (I was going to post it on Ole Frog Eyes, but I discovered that when I sewed the binding on, I got two of the corners a little wonky, so it didn't make a good photo for use on the site.)

It has been a labor of love to get this done in time for Christmas! And by that I mean I have loved every minute of it! Here is a picture of the completed topper:

Yay!! I quilted it by hand, using Presencia Finca thread in gorgeous red and green colors. I really like how this thread handles -- it is super strong, and doesn't shred during handquilting. It keeps pulling through the fabric and batting with no issues!

I'm going to show you another picture, from a different angle (can you tell I'm proud of this project?):

"Here is a closeup of the stitches," she says bravely, hoping that no one will notice that they are not as tiny as they could be, nor are they consistently the exact same size.

And you know me --- sometimes I love the way the back looks, as much as the front. I'd better correct that.  This time . . . I might like the back BETTER than the front!! Check it out:

Oh my gosh, I can't stand it . . . I gotta show you this one, too:

Well, the Roanoke Star show is over! But let me tell you about the epiphany that I mentioned, OK? On our virtual design wall, Ole Frog Eyes, we ask our subscribers to download the free software called Paint.net so that they can manipulate their photos just perfectly, for use on the site.

I've been using it for a while now, and I love it! I find new things to use all the time, and I wanted to share this with you, in case you'd like to use it on your own blogs, or your Flickr photostreams . . .

Did you notice that on my photos today, there was a small line of text that identified each one as belonging to Lilypadquilting? Cool, huh? You simply click on the button with a capital "T" (for text, of course) and then choose a font and a size. Then click on your picture where you'd like to add your text, and type away! The only change I made, other than to choose the font, was to change the color. I was pretty confident that the black (default) was not going to show up well on my pictures. So, I clicked on the little arrow to reverse the color choice, and used the "secondary" color -- white. I really like how it turned out.

Awesome software, that Paint.net! I think you will like it, too - I'm not getting any credit for tooting their horn; I just like the package, so if you want to check it out, just go to this link.

Have a stupendous day!

Love,