Doctor Who Quilt Update #5

I spent a lot of time the last couple of days playing around with the Gallifreyan text images. I'm never quite satisfied and keep making changes. It's hard to remember that there's really not "right" way to write in Gallifreyan. The system I'm using is from Loren Sherman at Sherman's Planet. It's a good system and the directions are clear. However, there's also opportunity for the personal, artistic touch of the person doing the writing.You do have to get the letters right, though! 

Here are the latest versions of two squares I've come up with. There are eleven (of course!) altogether.

I don't have an expensive image editor, so here's how I did it.

First, using the PDF Guide to Gallifreyan from Sherman's Planet, I created the images in MS Paint. Simple, but effective. Then, I saved each image as a .jpg file. But, I really needed a transparent GIF for the quilt squares. So, I also saved the Paint file as a GIF and used the TransWeb Transparent-GIF Service from MIT. You have to have a place online to store your images as the service requires a URL for the image in order to work. I don't know what I'll do if this service is ever discontinued! I've used it before to great effect. 

I had already created the tweedy-looking image by manipulating a scanned image of real fabric. Using PowerPoint, I layered the transparent GIF over the tweed image and added the text label. I made a separate slide for each GIF and saved them as .jpg's in a separate folder. PowerPoint lets you save all or just a current slide as a .jpg. It's a great time-saver. Voilà! Text images! They're not very fancy, granted, but they are in keeping my one rule for this quilt: "Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!" 

Once I'm done fiddling with the look of the images, I will insert all of them into a word document (to get more than one image on a page, something my image printing software can't seem to do . . . though it might be me. LOL!). And, PRINT! On printable fabric, of course, which I've already written about earlier, so I won't say more here.

I have been thinking about putting them into the quilt by hand appliquing each circle, but that seems like the opposite of "Simplify!" so it's not a serious option right now. 

The simple way to do it is to use squares. The squares will be 4.5" X 4.5" when printed, the same size I'm planning for the bow tie squares. Then, I'll have to figure out where I want them in the quilt. Oh, well! Another decision to make!