Embroidered Bags So Far & Mysterious Photo Storage

Well, since getting on my lovely new computer and learning my way around Windows XP and how IT deals with various programs (or fails to, in the case of my fav old photo editing program, PhotoWise), I've been able to hammer out some problems.

Although it doesn't make my new computer work and play well with PhotoWise any better.

I'm old school when it comes to doing certain things, and one of the cardinal rules that was hammered into my head at an early age (in the dawn of the computer era, admittedly) was: 'Never work with the original in case something happens'. So when editing photos, I make a copy of the pic first, then play around with editing IT, rather than the original. In several cases I've been glad I did this, so I still do it today.

The new computer, however, does NOT treat the original picture and it's copy equally. Any copied picture instantly becomes a bastard child and is unceremoniously shoved off into another folder WAY far away from it's parent, even though they both show as being in the same happy folder when I open it in Photowise. I discovered this when I tried to use Photobucket to upload my finished pictures (that I'd cropped, rotated, etc.).

It simply did not seem them. Even though I could see that they are plainly there when I open the folder while in PhotoWise. Hmmm...

OK, back to basics. I go in through Windows Explorer. I check the folder. No edited pictures, just the originals. Wait...what's this? There is a small tab at the top that says 'Compatability Files'. It's a long shot, but I click it.

Hey, there they are! My edited pictures! I go back and forth, comparing the paths to this new area and where I THOUGHT I was storing them, the original photo folder. The path is VERY different, right down at it's most basic level. OK, so I need to change some setting somewhere, telling this dumbshit thing not to overthink it, just store the edited pics in the same damn folder they are already IN, already.

Nope. So far I haven't found it. But--I WAS able to copy the edited pics and place the copies BACK into the original photo folder, which Photobucket, happily, now sees and will upload. In checking, this has only happened with photos loaded onto the new computer from my camera, not my old photos moved from the old computer.

Jesus God. My computer is trying to Gaslight me, I swear.

I hope to eventually get this wierd quirk straightened out, meanwhile, at least I can get the thrice-damned pictures uploaded.

Moving on, here is the latest progress on the embroidered canvas bags! This is the first one in the series, 'Cute Catch':

I used two strands of floss for all the workings, which worked great and shows up well. I used a metallic floss for the French Knots in the middle of the flowers...this floss LOVES to snarl every 7.5 seconds, and the thin metallic strand further loves to come unwound from it's carrier string and break and fray all over the damned place. It's pretty, but has to be worked carefully, gingerly and in short lengths so I don't know if I'd use it again. I still haven't decided if I'm going to do any beading, I'm going to wait until after I've washed the bags to remove the transfer design (and tried the peroxide treatment to remove the iron scorches which you can easily see on the right, which is said to work). I used a simple, short, split stitch for the rest--I wanted to keep the stitches short to lessen the likelyhood of the thing snagging since I expect the bags to take rough handling.

I like the design, although trying to push that needle through heavy canvas can be tortorous for your fingers after a while, and the grain of the weave of the material is so big it takes a bit of fussing to avoid gaps. But certainly acceptable and it works for the project...so, yay!

Here's the other side of the bag started, it's a simple design of the rooster from the series:

This area is a big pocket. I stupidly decided to embroider either the rooster or the hen on the pocket of all the bags. I swear, I DID think ahead and stick my hand in the pocket to make sure I had ROOM to manuver in there and do the embroidery.

Well, technically, I do. But MAN, it's tough in some places and goes slowly.

And I have TEN of those pocket designs to embroider, simple though they are.