Designing Quilts

Recently an old copy of 100 Quilt Blocks showed up in my inspiration viewing stack.   One of the blocks on the cover started me wondering "What if...."

Finally,  I had looked long enough and decided to play with that block AND draw another block or two to go with it.  I opened Electric Quilt 8 and began to play. 

The alternate block is simply the first block with the outer four sections 

turned 180 degrees. I think it makes a very striking design. 

Next up was the same base block with an alternate block that I just made up

for this design. I am pretty happy with this design also. 

 I think I like the second one better. I decided, on it, to make the 

centers in a variety of fabrics to add a bit more fun.

That also helps to use up scraps. 

Will I make either of these?  At this point it is uncertain. 

In case you are wondering, I designed each block to be 

twelve inches square. However, it should be simple enough  for 

you to resize it to suit your plans. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Faceoff

First of all, let me say that I know I haven't been posting much lately.  This severe summer heatwave has been kicking my backside.  I have done lots of reading lately while enjoying the fact that I do have air conditioning that works. 

Now to the Faceoff challenge:  I have been having "ideas" for songwriting.  While, I have not written any full songs from them during this time, I have gotten a few good starting lines.  When I get a good line, I need to write it down.  I have notebooks around that I use for various things.  I do NOT have one for each thing. I just grab the first one I find and use it.  This week, I grabbed one and opened it up. Inside were faces!  I said "Perfect" and quickly turned to a blank page to get the words down while they were fresh. 

Later, I picked up the notebook and paged through the first few pages where the faces looked out at me. Today I am sharing two of those pages.  I think there is at least one more page with some on it. 

These faces all came into being when I watched a video on how to draw 

simple cartoon faces.  You may notice that the final one isn't as "cartoonish." 

Sometimes, the brain switches gears as you are working. 
I say "Just go with it."  That is the magic of creativity that is happening.

I bought some hand dyed fabric with the intent of using some 

of it for a quilted face.  However, that "magic" happened as I was

starting to work on one. I looked up on one of my fabric shelves

and saw the perfect background fabric. Thus, those fabrics will 

be saved for another day - unless some slips in here to be hair. 

I knew that it would need a face that contrasts nicely to work well

So, into the bin of pre-fused fabric for some face fabrics.

Here is my very raw start for (hopefully) next week's post.

I love the visual textures of these hand dyed fabrics that I get 

from Colorways by Vicki. Using them gives a jumpstart on

an artistic look to my work. 

I am linking up with  DVArtist for the Friday FaceOff.

  Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is a great opportunity

 to see how various people interpret the challenge.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

 Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off 7/21/2022

Once more the week has flown by and it is time for another Friday Face Off. 

This week I have not created a new face, but I am happy to share a 

face that is very familiar to me, because it is the one

that I see in the mirror.  Years ago, a friend took a photo of me that

I happened to like. Later, I used that image to carve a rubber stamp.

That rubber stamp was the jumping off point for this machine embroidery.

For years I played around with embroidery digitizing. 

That is making the digital file that an embroidery machine 

uses to create a machine embroidery.  I finally invested in 

some good software and used the stamped image to attempt 

A self portrait in thread.  

I think it has some resemblance to me. 

Here is the original photo:

And here is an image created by the stamp that I carved. 

So these are my offerings for this Friday Face Off.  

FYI- my embroidery machine is currently out of commission, so

I can not create any embroidery files as I can not do the vital

"test sew" that lets me know if I have succeeded in creating 

a well digitized file. 

The Friday Face Off is hosted by DVArtist.  Clicking that link will take you to 

her blog.  It is a great opportunity to see how various people interpret the challenge.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Prep Work

Perhaps you remember that when I make the Quilted Faces, that there was a mention that I mount them on artist stretched canvas for hanging.   Today was "prep work" day for the canvases.  Normally I just do one as I need it.  But I was out of 12" by 12" canvases, so I made a local purchase to refill my stash. I also have a few 5" by 7" pieces, not necessarily faces, but tiny quilts.  So, I grabbed a two pack of those also.  

Today, my 6 foot table was set up outside.  All my supplies were gathered, black gesso, canvases, trash bags to protect the table, "lunch room lady gloves" to protect my hands, a brush, a bucket of water to wash out the brush AND a paper plate to use as a palette for the gesso.  I put my phone in a plastic bag, to protect it from the paint also.  It needs to be close in case Mom needs me. If she calls, I get there as fast as safely possible. 

For these, the center of the canvas is covered by the fabric art.  So I don't waste gesso on that area.  I simply paint the edges and a border on the front for the small part that the quilt doesn't cover.

Here they are after the first coat. 

The red "water bucket" is a recycled plastic coffee canister. 

(waste not, want not!) 

But the trash bags were a bit short and I had 

an OOPS. 

See that paint that got on the table?
Luckily this is my portable work table.

It won't be quite so pretty, but it is not a disaster. 

A few days ago, Vicki Welsh, fabric dyer extraordinaire, 

featured my work in a blog post "Customer Gems"

She also added a section to the Customer Gallery with my work. 

I hope you go there and find it, but here is a bit of a screen capture.

If you order fabric from Vicki and make anything, you can share it to the

Customer Gallery for a 20% discount on a purchase. The discount is good

for three months which I think is outstanding. 

Plus, I love working with Vicki's hand dyed fabrics. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off 7/15/22 Muriel

Welcome to another edition of the Friday Face Off.

Today I am sharing a quilted face that I have named Muriel. 

The quilted faces are later mounted on a stretched artist canvas for display.

All of my faces are available for purchase.

Please contact me for purchase at geneblack @ gmail dot com

Now here is Muriel in all her glory. 

Muriel was created with mostly hand dyed fabric however I did use 

small pieces of one batik fabric in her hair. I also used batik 

for the whites of her eyes. 

Muriel is a woman of mystery. We only know that she lived in 

the 1920s and sometimes attended jazz clubs.

As this was during prohibition, Muriel was once arrested 

during a raid of the El Fey club in New York City. Her

favorite drink was rum.  On some evenings, when the moon

was right and the rum was smooth, Muriel would take the 

stage and croon a jazz tune in her rich alto voice. One of her 

crowd favorites was the A Good Man is Hard Find, written 

by Eddie Green. 

The Friday Face Off is hosted by DVArtist.  Clicking that link will take you to 

her blog.  It is a great opportunity to see how various people interpret the challenge.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Muriel

Previously I had shown you that I had started another face.  Although at that time it was just a head shape on a background.   Over the past weekend,  I started on the eyes, added a neck and a body. On Monday,  I started "playing" and got the rest of the face and the hair added.   Then I fused everything in place and layered the quilt. 

She told me that her name is Muriel.  So far, she hasn't shared her story, but I am sure that she has one.  

I hope to have Muriel quilted and finished in time for  the Friday Face Off.  But for now you can see her in her unfinished state. 

Muriel

When you see the finished portrait,  you will surely see just how much the quilting adds to these pieces. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Quilted, Not Bound - and A Start

Yes, I did finish quilting the baby quilt.  With all the flowers on this one, I am sure it will make some little girl quite happy. Although, the colors are so happy and bright that I think little boys will like it too. 

It is still in need of binding, and I have not decided on which fabric to use. 

I also started (barely) on a new face.  I put the red background behind it, 

but the more I looked at it,  the more I thought "not enough contrast!" 

So I decided to choose a different fabric for the background. 

This background gives a much stronger contrast.

It makes me happier, and perhaps it will inspire me to 

continue with the process.  (Confession:  the featureless face has

been on my quilting table for several days now, just looking sad

and alone.  Hopefully, I will start the eyes soon.  That always

gets me in a great mood to do all of the rest of the facial 

features and start adding hair.  

I love doing the hair, because it is 

just "play with shapes and do something wild."

 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off July 8, 2022

I have been somewhat lazy this week and only started a new face on Thursday.  So today will be a "flashback Friday" face for me.   And since we are in July,  why not "Christmas in July" also?

Several years ago, I took a watercolor class on portraits. That inspired me to paint a few faces. So for a Christmas card that year,  I decided to make a Santa Claus card.  It isn't great but it is a face! 

The eyes are probably my favorite part of this painting.

The Friday Face Off is hosted by DVArtist.  Clicking that link will take you to 

her blog.  It is a great opportunity to see how various people interpret the 

"Face Off" challenge. 

PS  I have finished quilting the small quilt 

It still needs a binding but I will show it to you soon. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off

Welcome to another week of the Friday Face Off.  This "challenge" has really sparked my creative process. 

I am linking up with DVArtist.  You can go to her blog to visit other "Face Off" participants. 

Last week, there was a tutorial showing the process I use to start these.  

That was the beginning of Alien Man.  He is today's face off contribution. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.