Blog | Linda Matthews

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday: Summer

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anais Nin

Photoshop Tutorial: Quick Tip for making white backgrounds look whiter

I've mentioned previously about how to how to whiten backgrounds on product photos using the "screen" blending mode in Photoshop. While that technique is quick, unfortunately it doesn't work with every photo. An alternative method is to use the "dodge" tool. The...

Fabric Bowl – finished already

After learning from the mistakes I made while making the first fabric bowl, second time round is a charm and this fabric bowl went together fairly quickly and easily. I'm very happy with the results and it certainly adds a new dimension the usual interpretation of the...

Fabric Bowl – starting over

Since the last fabric bowl didn't end up turning out so well, I'm taking what I learned and starting over. This time I want a bit more texture on the surface so I made a sheet of fabric paper using tissue paper and cheesecloth. I've added the stitching directly to the...

Working intuitively … knowing when to quit

After spending the better part of yesterday working on my fabric bowl, I got up this morning and realized that I have gone about as far as I can with this particular sample. It started here with a basic fabric bowl/plate design. and then some stitching was added Then...

Get hooked on machine needle felting

Is your needle felting machine stuck in the corner gathering dust? It's time to drag it out and explore all the wonderful and amazing things you can do with it! Felt-Punch-Embellish: Basics - eBook Felt-Punch-Embellish: Basics is a 24-page downloadable tutorial...

Working intuitively: there’s fabric bowls and then there’s .. well I’m not quite sure yet

Today I got a little more work done on the fabric bowl that I started the other day. As I mentioned, this is an intuitive work-in-progress which means that I have no clue how it's going to end up, and at this point I have no design or pattern sketched out apart from...

Creating and designing fabric bowls with Peltex Stabilizer

It feels like ages since I did any real sewing - the creative sewing you do because you can't not do it which is different from the sewing you do because you have to. But I've had this idea in my head for a while now to design a fabric plate-like vessel - don't ask me...

How to make photoshop textures – quick and easy

Photoshop textures are something you can never have enough of. It doesn't matter how many I have, very often I just never seem to have the right texture in the right color so I'm always on the look out for ways to create custom photoshop textures - quickly and easily...

Canvas Art – Coneflower

I finally finished the small canvas art textile I began work on the other day and I love the way it turned out. And I especially like it matched with this background fabric. The hand stitching was perfect using the blended thread technique which you can find here. And...

Opening Up

One of my goals this year is to make more art. And the best way to find time to do more of anything you want to do, is to get rid of stuff you don't want to do or reorganize things so that you have more time. So this month I'm taking stock of all the things I "need to...

Photoshop Quick Tip: Increasing the Saturation

This week I've been spending a lot of time with Photoshop. We're still not the best of friends, but we're getting there slowly. One of the things that I do really like about Photoshop is that there are many ways of doing the same task. Some are more complicated than...

Vision Card: Organize

For my vision card for the final month of this year I chose the word "organize", as this month I have to be super organized in preparation for the new year. I made this vision card using several stencils with cutouts of different size squares, representing groups for...

Canvas Art: Contemplation

I began work on Contemplation last week and it's now finished and mounted on a 14" x 11" canvas. I usually add paint and texture to the canvas before mounting my textiles, however this time I wrapped the canvas with a piece of fabric instead. I really like the...

What I’m Working On: Contemplation

Something a little different - designed in photoshop and printed on fabric. I don't often work with images of people, but I like her wistful look. buttons ... some hand stitches to highlight a few of the background flowers ... running stitch around the border ......

Hand Dyed Fabric: All Done Playing with Complementary Colors

If you have been following the process: It started with some hand dyed fabrics; then I began the design process; and now for the final results: This was the result of the sample at the last installment: Now I needed to add a little green because what's purple and...

Making Space

As we move toward the end of the year, it's difficult not to be thinking and planning for the new year. I always find the end of year/beginning of year to be a stressful time with so many things that must be finished before the year ends and so many things that have...

Poppy Photo Art Quilt – finally finished!

It took a little longer than I expected, but I've finally completed my "Poppy" photo art quilt! (Note to self - when you block a square quilt, do it right the first time.) The finished size is 30" square, and all the fabric for the top and binding of this art quilt...

Photoshop Tutorial: Quick fix for dark or underexposed photos

Have you ever taken a photo where the flash didn't go off or you were too far away from the object and the photo turned out a little dark or underexposed? Here's a super quick fix. Note: This tutorial is presented using Photoshop however the steps should be similar in...