Double Portrait - Part One

I've challenged myself to do a double portrait of my husband.  I took a picture of him looking into a mirror while we were vacationing in Yellowstone National Park.  

We've stayed at the historic lodge at Old Faithful Geyser several times and love the rustic rooms and the architecture of the building.  If I'd had my way when I was younger, I would have liked living in a log cabin in the forest somewhere.  Now that I'm older, I prefer living near the resources that old people need - like medical, social groups, family, and friends.  So, I live out my fantasy while on trips, and much prefer rustic lodges to fancy hotels.

Well, back to the topic.  I liked the picture because it reminded me of one done in 1960 by Norman Rockwell, when he was looking into a mirror and painting a self portrait. 

I used the posterizing method of taking the picture into Photoshop, where you change the image to gray scale, then blur the edges.  That image was traced and enlarged and became my pattern.  I picked blue fabrics for his shirt, and light flesh tones for his head.  Here are two sections cut and fused and ready to assemble.

I didn't trace enough accurately to do his face, and tried to draw them to scale on the pattern.  But, my drawing skills are horrible and I couldn't get his eyes and nose correctly.  If it wasn't a portrait of somebody that I know, I could have just winged it.  But it had to actually look like him and not a characterization.  So, I took the picture back into Photoshop and enlarged just his face to the same size as the pattern, then traced that and overlayed it onto the posterization to get the 4 shades placed in the right spots.  Believe me when I say that these design details stretch my brain - both during the day and at night when they keep me awake.

I have a lot of supplies to do this type of work, but ran out of Teflon coated poster boards after I had only done 2 sections.  My solution was to use parchment paper taped to a couple of other poster boards instead of buying more Teflon pressing sheets. (It's not likely that I will need more than 2 boards in the future.)  Anyway, here are the reflection parts of his shirt and his face.

I hope you like it so far!

Leftover Improv - Part Two and Final - Landscape Improv

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of the leftover improv piece.

I kept adding hand embroidery to this piece in colored thread and in simple embroidery stitches.  They added texture and interest to this piece.  And then, I decided to do some big stitch hand quilting.  This takes so much longer than machine quilting (which can be done in a few hours).  I chose a variety of threads and after doing a few lines with pearl cotton, size 8 and very large needles, I ditched using them for quilting.  They were fine on the hand embroidery, but pulled the batting through to the front while quilting.  I liked the WonderFil spaghetti thread, size 12.  And pearl cotton, size 8 as well.

Here is a look at the work in progress.  For some reason, my camera picks up pink, but it is really black and white.

I worked on this when I needed handwork with my small quilt group, and occasionally worked on it while watching TV at night.  I wasn't in a hurry to get this piece done.  It was more about the slow stitching.  So, after many months,  it was finally done.  It was faced and left wonky.  It measures 30" W x 40" H.  I'm calling it "Landscape Improv".

I hope you like it.  It's going to be auctioned off in November at the Clark County Quilters guild meeting.

Summer Break

It's that time of the year again when I want to be outside most of the time.  I don't have any works in progress and nothing is on my design wall.  The gardening season, going for walks, appreciating nature, and taking short trips is more appealing to me than being in my studio.

Don't get me wrong.  I am passionate about quilting and I have a glorious studio.  But, I also have other passions and the summer season is calling my name.

So, I'm taking my annual summer break and will post if I start another project or have something amusing to report.

Bags - Hello Pouches - by Kaitlyn Howell

I purchased a pattern called "Hello Pouches" that was designed by Kaitlyn Howell of Knot and Thread Design.  There are 4 bag sizes in the pattern that have fabric bottoms and clear tops.  I thought that they were very cute!

There are several sources for bag supplies in the Portland area and I found just what I needed at Sharon's Attic in Hillsboro, OR.  The list included Soft and Stable by Annie, 16 gauge vinyl, and a couple of double slide zippers.  I decided to make all 4 sizes to match the colors of the zippers that I purchased.

If you've ever sewn bags like these that might be Bags by Annie, you'll know that they are not the easiest things to make and there is a LOT OF BULK.  I broke a few sewing machine needles while sewing through some of the bulkier seams, and then had to hand turn the sewing machine wheel over those areas so that I would jam up the machine and break more needles.

Anyway, they are very cute and here they are all done.

The smallest one measures5" high x 6" wide at the top, and 4-1/2" wide at the bottom

The medium size measures 7" high x 8" wide at the top, and 5-1/2" wide at the bottom

The large size measures 8" high x 10" wide at the top, and 6-1/2" wide at the bottom

And the extra-large size measures 10" high x 12-1/2" wide at the top, and 7" wide at the bottom

I hope you like them!

Here is the link to the pattern: hello-pouches

Graduation Quilt

My granddaughter graduated from High School in June and I presented her with her graduation quilt.

Oh, how amazing it is to gift a quilt to a young person full of energy and plans for her future!

Luau Torches - Part Two

This is the second post about the making of Luau Torches.  I pieced it all together and used my new roll of 80/20 batting.  It was quilted on my sit-down longarm machine.  And, instead of donating it to our charity group, as I had originally intended, I gave it straight to one of my friends who is going through chemo treatments.

It is shown unquilted in this picture.  And I hope you like seeing it anyway!

Huge print fabric and 2 charity quilts - part One

I got a large amount of a huge print fabric from a member in our Clark County Quilters group.  It's kind of nice how other members think of me when they are donating fabric, or just looking at what is already on the free table.  I've made all kinds of things over the years and just love how kind other quilters are.  

I sketched up a couple of ideas and discovered that I could make 2 quilt tops for charity with the fabric that I had.  One of the quilts will be the large squares offset with blue and yellow strips.  The other will have red and light blue strips with the large colorful squares.   

And here they are all finished and ready to donate.  They're 50" W x 60" L.

 I hope you like them!