Under the Red Hat

  Tonight, we will have our granddaughter for New Year's Eve.  It will be a very happy one indeed for us.  Nothing makes our lives more complete than spending time with our little one.

Speaking of little ones, my newest project is of a little one (not mine), wearing a big red hat, sitting in a small pool on a hot day.

I was busy last night making the pattern in Photoshop.

I think I have captured the major details.

It is printed and ready for tracing.

Traced and pattern is made.

 

It is difficult to see, but it has been traced onto the muslin. 

Ready to begin selecting fabric.

 

Back Again

Back again, from a long hiatus from blogging, but not from sewing and quilting.  During my time away from sharing my adventure I took an online portrait class from Marilyn Belford through the Academy of Quilting.  The price of the classes  are very reasonable and you receive constructive feedback on your work.  I did not finish my portrait due to personal conflicts in my schedule here at home and work.  I plan to sign up for the class again in March.  This is not one of those classes you buy and have access to it forever.  It is an actual interactive classroom format with weekly lectures and assignments.

Here is my finished project that I was blogging about before I disappeared from the blogging scene.

Finding the Time

I found time this week even with my husband in the hospital to work on my wallhanging.  I have to admit though, I made the time Monday before he had his surgery on Tuesday.

I like to stitch each leaf and blossom individually because I like the 3D look it presents.  I think it helps to give the piece character as opposed to painting on canvas.

I Just Wanna Quilt

This week I was side tracked with other projects that took away from my quilting time.  Next week, I will also get called away from my quilting.  However, I will find some time to do some sewing.

 I did find time to sandwich my quilt and do some quilting.

 

 

The bride and groom are almost finished.

 

Sewing the individual leaves and flowers will test my patience.  Hopefully, I will get a handle on that situation along with everything else I have to cope with this week.

My Inktense Pencils were Yelling

My Inktense pencils were yelling, "Use Me !"  Usually, I use material to for the highlights and shading.  I decided to listen to my Inktense pencils and experiment. 

I used the Intense pencils on the trellis to provide the shadows and details.

On the jacket,  I used material for the shading and highlights.  It bothered me all week.  It just didn't sit right with me.  So I peeled them off and replaced them with shading using the Intense pencils.  I think I need to add more highlights to the top of the shadows.  I will have to use the white pencil because unfortunately I bought the small set of Intense pencils, now I wish I had bought the largest set with more colors.

The details on the hand are done with the pencils, much easier than fabric.

 I like the look of the skins tones on the back and arms.  It is less time consuming to color the material as opposed to hunting for the just right shade.  I'm glad I listened to my intense pencils and experimented with them this week.  

Next week, I hope to finish piecing the picture.

Painting on Canvas

Happy 4th of July! 

 This year we are having a very quiet, maybe inside, picnic due to the weather.

 

 

 

This week I had a very difficult time imagining the background and piecing it together with the white area around it.  I cut it off, something I usually do not do before I have finished quilting the piece, but it was something I had to do.  I still have enough room to crop it down after I have quilted to straighten it out.  I have to admit I did enjoy working on the piece with the muslin  cut off.  I was reminded of painting on canvas.  Now onto the figures!

 

 

 

 

Solving a Jigsaw Puzzle

Making the hydrangea bushes was like solving a jigsaw puzzle.  It took numerous tries to get the bushes the way I wanted them.  I would arrange the leaves and flowers one way and then I would take it apart and start all over again.  Finally, I began to think of each flower and leaf arrangement as a single plant and worked with that thought in mind as I built each bush.

 

 

 

 

I think I will need to add more highlights to the leaves.

 

 

A close-up of the beginning of the ornamental grasses in the garden

Microsoft to the Rescue

I used Microsoft Word to enlarge my photo.  I divided it into four equal squares, print each one separately and then I tape them together.  This eliminated the need to use a commercial service to print it.

Then I traced the major shapes.

I love filling in details with Inktense pencils, but I know I can get carried away and add too much details with them.  Although, I know it is better to begin with the background, I have a tendency to begin with the foreground.  Thus making my life more difficult than it needs to be in the end.

Making Lemonade from a Lemon

It is good to quilt and blog again.  These last couple of weeks have been very crazy due to work and obligations here at home.

Think of one of your worst nightmares as a bride.  Try, the photographer has gone to the wrong hotel one half hour from the hotel where your wedding is to take place.   The before shots are missed because of this error. 

That is where Photoshop is the best friend you can have.  I used a picture a friend  at the wedding took and then lifted  the couple out of  the original photo.  I utilize elements from four other photos to create this one.  I choose not to recreate what should have been a shot from the venue, so as not to remind the bride what could have been.  She likes hydrangeas and they were the flower of choice as her centerpieces.  I will add the shadows when I make the quilt.  Now to make the pattern.

Four Generations of Love

 

 

The wedding dress was made of three layers.  The big question was how do I handle all three layers to make the border.  I ended up fusing the two under layers. 

 

 

I beaded some of the flowers just as I had done on the dress.

 

 

 

I think of this piece as Four Generations of  Love.  The four being: my daughter's wedding, the medallion in the lower left hand side was taken from my wedding dress and it was sewn on the end of her train; the sky is a picture my mother took and printed on material; and the backing is a printed pansy material, my grandmother's favorite flower.

The Bride and Groom

 

 

I want to do the border in the material I made the dress, but.......I put the material away so safely that I can't find it.  The hunt continues.

 

 

I need to put the Inktense pencils away before I overdo it with minor details.

 

Adding details with Intense Pencils

Discovering Inktense pencils is one of the best finds I have had in a while.  I like the fact that they become permanent when water is applied to them with a paint brush.

I used Intense pencils to darken the blue in the water and add details to the dock.  The trees are still too bright.

I did get distracted from the background by piecing together the gown.

I shaded the trees with brown.  I just had to try the gown out on the dock.

I am rather pleased so far.

Life is Easier with the Background

Life is easier when you piece the background first.  Usually, I go straight for the figures in my wallhangings.

I traced the major shapes on the black and white copy before I traced the pattern onto tracing paper. Some of the shapes on the dress were tool light to see under the tracing paper.

I repeated the colors of the trees to keep the eyes moving across the water.

 I bought Intense pencils to draw the lines on the dock.  The color of the trees and the water is a bit too bright.  I will need to work on that. 

A Gift of Love

 

There is no greater love than that of a child, especially on her wedding day. 

First I want to thank  Keats Webb, keatswebb@gmail.com, the photographer at my daughter's wedding for allowing me to use one of her phenomenal photos of my daughter's wedding.  She is a very creative and talented photographer. 

 

 

 

When I first saw this picture, I said this is the one.

 

I wanted to have my mom represented in the wall-hanging and what a better way than to include a picture she took.  In the sky, I put pictures of the bridal party I converted into line drawings.  You can see them close up, but they blend into the sky from a distance.

Pop Art on a Pillow

 

 

The good thing about  staying at home on snow days when you know that it will be made up during your summer vacation is getting projects completed.

 

 

 I figured my niece would prefer a pillow over a wall-hanging, thus the pillow.

Pieced and Face Stitched

Enough already, I know I don't live in Boston,  But enough is enough, everyday they cancel school due to snow is another day of my summer vacation spent in the classroom.

Picking out the prominent features really made me concentrate on the shape of the eyes, nose and mouth, as well as the major shapes caused by shadows in the hair.

I decided to really concentrate on the negative space within the face.  I scanned many websites studying portraits and the quilting patterns stitched on the faces.  I also decided to outline the edge of the nose in black thread.  My first thinking was to do the shading of the nose in black Inktense black pencil, but now I will go back and thread paint over it.  Since this was done in the style of pop art, I decided to do the pattern above.  My major regret is I now wished I had done the rows of stitching closer together. 

You Know the Old Saying

You know the old saying, "Watch what you post on Facebook, you never know where your posting will end up."  Well, that is definitely the case for my next wall-hanging.  I did get permission from her father before I posted her picture on my blog.

One of my personal goals this year is to explore faces and portraits.  I have always wanted to draw, paint, quilt a portrait, but have always shied away from the challenge.  This is the year of the portrait.  Then I got that once in a while brilliant idea and thought why not do Andy Warhol pop art style portraits to begin this quest.  In doing so, I need to mainly concentrate on the prominent facial features not the coloring, shading, etc.

I changed the portrait to black and white, then I applied the pencil sketch filter (check out my tutorial page).  This was too light....

so I applied another filter and make it darker. I now have options, options are good.

 

Yeah! It is Done!

 

 

 Hard work and perseverance is what it took this week to complete my wall hanging. 

 

 

This is my first "playful" wall-hanging.  Working with the lame and Mylar wrapping paper proved to be a needed challenge.  I do like the way the sunglasses reflect the light adding a dimension to the overall composition.  Looking at the back cushion of the chair, I wonder now if I should have outlined it with the maroon material. 

Still Quilting

 

 

 

 

I spent most of the week visiting my Uncle in Florida helping him to celebrate his 90th birthday.  What a milestone!  If I am so lucky to live that long, I just hope I can still quilt.  I returned early on Wednesday and I bet you can guess what I did!

 

 

 

The stitching, binding and pocket rod hopefully will get finished this week.

Quilting

The only good thing about cold weather.....it's a good excuse to do nothing but sew.

I used every spare moment this week to spend time at my sewing machine.  Every shade of purple on the dog has a different free motion circular style stitch.  I thought in order not to over do the different styles of stitching on the dog, I would at least keep a pattern of curves and circles. 

A Dog's Life?

I Goggled the term a dog's life and found it has a very ambiguous meaning.  When I first named this quilt I was thinking of the title as a satirical statement on life.  As I read the many entries; "today's" definition means the good life for dogs and "yesterday's" definition means a hard, cruel life for dogs.  Well, anyways, my thoughts behind this quilt are the dog has the good life while it's owners do all the work to support his lifestyle.

I decided to have some fun.  I decided to use velour for the cushions on the chair, silver lame for the frames and Mylar wrapping paper for the lenses.  I am thinking about using a different pattern of stitching for each color to add interest.  I just hope it doesn't end up being too much.

I hand tacked the lenses fearing that machine stitching would perforate the Mylar and making it easy to tear. 

Two of the photos of the family working in the background.

 

Casey is Pieced

 

 

 

 

There is nothing better than an icy Monday that lends itself to a two hour delayed opening to start the week.  I have no problem turning over and sleeping an extra two hours.  Then to have another 2 hour delay on Wednesday was the icing on the cake.

 

 

This week I used every spare minute to work on piecing the dog and it paid off.  My next challenge is the sunglasses.  I bought silver lame for the frames and I have silver Mylar wrapping paper to use for the lenses of the sunglasses.   Working with both materials for applique purposes will definitely prove to be a trial and error process. If you have any thoughts, let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Piecing Has Begun

The first week back to school after the holidays is always hard.  Going back to school after a two month break was excruciating.  The snow on Tuesday gave me an added bonus- schools were closed in the area, yeah! Then on Wednesday and Thursday we had two hour delayed openings, double yeah!  It made me realize that I am ready to retire, but it is not in the cards just yet.

I know, my life would be a whole lot easier if I would piece the background first.  In this case, I am not real sure just how I am going to treat the chair and the background in general.  So of course, I will add the background  the hard way.

Well, I was able to get some piecing accomplished this week.  I think I will have to add some black shading between the dog and the cushion.  The dark purple and the maroon are blending into each other.  Oh, what looks white on the dog is really a very light purple.  Still thinking about the background.