Portrait Quilts

I’m really fascinated with making portrait quilts and am in the beginning stage of planning several. Take this photo

I need to decide how complex to make the face, so I’ve been playing with the cutout filter in Photoshop.

Should I simplify just a little bit?

A bit more?

Quilt a lot?

Or go so far that it’s only the suggestion of a face? That final image would certainly be easier to cut out and assemble, but is it pleasing?

I’ve also been playing with photos of our dog.

For "Lady at the Pond" I think this is about right. Five levels, with edge simplicity set at five, and edge fidelity set to one. Even at this simplistic a cutout, I may still need to  achieve some of the detail with thread painting rather than fabric.

And I may use the eye area from this 8 level version, as well as the tongue and teeth detail. 

If all this talk of cutouts and edge simplicity is making your head spin you might want to check out a wonderful publication called Quilting Arts. I have learned most of what I know about art quilt techniques from this magazine, and the writers regularly feature articles on how to leverage technology for better quilt-making. 

As for the projects I'm contemplating, I would love to hear what you think. We are headed off for a week at the beach in a few days, but one of these projects will be the first order of business when we return. Well, one of these, or another Ansel Adams tribute. We’ll see.

Excuses

How is it possible that I haven't posted anything this month? Well I could blame it on a houseful of company, which I thoroughly enjoyed, or too many neighborhood commitments, or spring cleaning, or...
The truth is I'm having a terrible time dragging myself out of the garden and back to the computer or sewing machine. How can I think about sitting still in a chair hand quilting, when I could be outside looking at the day to day changes of the Spring garden?

 On Saturday I mentioned to my brother that the Peonies (Paeonia) where about to pop.

This morning I was greeted by this.

The Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) really sets off the Azaleas.

Could this be any more dramatic? 

Oops. Look closely. The macro lens caught some bad actors at work.

Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) is in full bloom. 

Tickseed is such an unfitting name for this cheerful flower. I prefer Eared coreopsis (Coreopsis auriculata)

The False Indigo (Baptisia) is also just about to burst out. I have white (alba), blue and yellow varieties.

When this Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) blooms, it will be light yellow and the gray foliage is a great foil for the baptisia nearby.

American Snowbell (Styrax Americana) is so delicate, I keep expecting to hear those little bells chime as I walk past.

And the American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) will mingle it's gorgeous blooms with all the other plants it romps over and around.

So when will I head back into the house?

Maybe when pigs fly... but I will come back in with inspiration. So please bear with me. I'll be back to stitching and blogging about it soon.

Score!

Last week I wrote about Challenge week over at Amy's Creative Side. Well I'm a day late with my blog post, but I did meet the challenge. I had a dozen 12 x 12 inch quilt "sandwiches" ready to go along to Nashville with me on Friday morning.

As expected, the dog did prevent me from doing much quilting in the car, and the events of the weekend didn't leave much time either. But, the first square is nearly done. You may notice that the swirls in some of the fabrics I'm using gave inspiration to the quilt design. These curlicues are fun to work and random enough that no marking is required. I find that sort of quilting most relaxing - much like free-form embroidery. 

Hopefully I can devote some serious TV time to hand quilting the rest of the squares and joining them up. I'll try to remember to post a finished picture here when I finish.
Thanks to Amy for the challenge. This project has been trying to get started for a long time, so it feels good to have made even this much progress.

A Challenge

Amy Ellis over at Amy's Creative Side has issued a challenge.

"You decide, what’s reasonable for you to get done in a weeks time, and tell me your goal in the comments. Next Monday, I will have a linky and you can link to your blog/flickr post, and show off your met goal!"

My goal? Put together the quilt top squares for a quilt-as-you go project I want to take in the car this weekend. We are headed up to Nashville, which is about a 4 1/2 hour drive each way.

The fabrics I've chosen for this project are actually pretty subtle shades of green, blue and gold, though this photo does not do it justice. My Pentax is giving me fits this morning, so I hope you'll forgive my worse than usual photo. I don't expect to finish the quilt, but if I can get the sandwich squares (12 inches on a side) ready, I can work on the quilting with a lap hoop in the car.

That is if our adorable 70 pound dog doesn't decide she needs to sit in my lap the whole way. The finished quilt will make a baby quilt sized throw for our living room. It will also double as a foil for Lady who thinks the leather chair near the window is the perfect place to watch for us to return. Her claws have already scratched the leather, so I'm hoping the throw will protect it from actual punctures and tears on those days when we rush out and forget to close the doors to that room. 
Either way, whether I meet my goal or not, I'll publish a post with a progress report when we return next Monday. 

Summer Scarves

Keeping it up with the process pledge, this post isn’t about a quilt, but it is about something in process. Remember back in June when I was going on about an embroidered gauze shawl? Well what I didn’t tell you is that in the process of finding the fabric for the teal wrap, I also bought all of this...

Blerg! It’s a whopping total of twelve yards of bubble gauze fabric. How did that happen? I have piles of fabric in search of a project, and I think I’ve been here before.

This little summer scarf project won’t use up a tenth of it, but it’s a start. Maybe if I make one for me and one for a friend in each color?

They are a snap to make – especially if you have a sewing machine that does some fancy stitch work, and a well stocked thread drawer. Gutermann Natural Cotton is my current favorite.

I also love that this raveled edge is built in. That’s the selvage edge. I did hem the other side, top and bottom, but all together, this scarf took about an hour to make. If you like you can use a liquid fabric stabilizer and press the gauze to make it flat for stitching. Just wash it afterward and the crinkles snap right back into place. Just be careful about mixing with other laundry as they all run like crazy. What did you expect for under $4.00 a yard?