A Little Fabric, a Little Paint

Recently I bought a package of Dy-na Flow fabric paints.  My thought was to use them for sun-printing fabric.  The more I looked at them; the more I considered possibilities. 'Suppose,' I thought, 'Suppose I use them to create a colorful background for one of my quilted faces?"  After a couple of days passed, I ran into my muse, who said, 'just try it, what have you got to lose?'  Seriously, I can always use the fabric in a quilt block, right?  

I wet the piece of fabric and squeezed it out so that it was just damp throughout.  I pleat/scrunched it on the painting board (yes, I have a table that I use largely for painting.)  Then I chose two colors and just went for it. 

You may have noticed that turquoise (or any blue) and purple are some of my favorite colors. So those were the two I chose for this. It was still wet when I took the photo, and it is not flat. It will be heat set when dry so it will be nice and flat at that point.   I also used an extra piece of fabric to "clean-up" the area and to blot some excess.  (No waste-->Bonus!)  

I am already considering other color combos and other uses for the paints. I can see some of my discolored T-shirts getting a new life. 

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.

Almost there, but sidetracked

I must confess that what I am about to show you has been together since August 18th - and then I got sidetracked.  I took a photo (not a great one, I know.)  But I never posted it.  This much of the quilt top is finished, with only the outer borders to be added. 

 I have to say that I really like it so far.  I think that they blue will be a good outside border

 for this. I may use the blue for binding also, unless I can find a print in my stash

that includes the yellow, blue and some of the other colors in the top. 

In other news, I just registered for two music classes at a virtual music festival.

Each class is approximately an hour long.  Ha ha, I retired so that I would "have time

 to do all the things I want to do."  And yet there is never enough time. 

Life is good.

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 8/26/22

Wow another week has passed by me with no sewing and no new face creations.  I did find this cartoon that I did of Einstein. 

I do apologize for the fact that the drawing on the reverse of the paper shows. 

This isn't exactly a face, or is it?

This is a painting that I did of my Dad several years ago. I did the initial sketch in a hospital waiting room. Mom was extremely ill and we really thought we were going to lose her. It was a rough time emotionally. Sketching helped to occupy my mind so I could stay sane. Dad had dozed off so he was nice and still for the sketch. When I did the painting, I wanted to retain the sketchy loose quality.  Unfortunately, I can not find the original sketch. 

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 August 18, 2022

Today is Friday so it is time for a Face Off post.  This week I have not created any new faces, but I found some older ones to share with you.   I should explain that my creative time has gone into making a small bed/lap quilt. I will be back to faces shortly. 

First up is a hand-carved stamp that I created several years ago. I used an image of  a co-worker, but it doesn't look like her a bit in the finished piece.  (C'est la vie!) 

I still think that she is a fun and interesting face. 

Next up is a pen and ink drawing on fabric.  I did several of these for a quilt block swap in 2009.

Each of us were to create a "signature block" for Linda's birthday quilt. 

We had to make one for each participant.  So, there were variations for sure

as they were all hand drawn.  The face represents me at the time. I had

to add in glasses and dimples.  Ha ha

I am also sharing some faces that I did NOT create, but captured on a trip to Mexico. 
I could not resist going to museums to see the art of the region. 

You may see in the first one that the sign says 

Oaxaca (wah, HA, kah) but this is actually in the Yucatan instead. 

Yes that is me behind the figures. One of the museum employees 

volunteered to take the photo for me. 

There were also some quite curious "mashed up" creatures

such as this one with an animal (what animal??) body, a human face, and

rabbit type ears.  I wish some of mine were that curiously creative. 

Wouldn't you love to know what was going on in the artist's mind as he created this?

After writing this post but before it was published, I found the following quick sketch

in one of my notebooks.  While I don't keep a proper sketchbook, almost any notebook

that I have written in is likely to have some sketches or doodles in it. 

Even though it is rough and the paper is wrinkled, I decided it is worth showing. 

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.

Decisions

At times one has to make a decision. Which way do I progress with this quilt?  What do I do with this selection of fabrics.  

I started with a charm pack of fabrics in warm colors,  red, yellow, orange, pink. This is not my usual choice of colors. I like to add purples and blues in with these colors.  I played with the simple block design in Electric quilt.  The plan was decided, or so the thought was at that time.  I started by cutting a number of yellow strips and chain pieced enough for two of the blocks.

 As you should always make a test block before going too far, 
I put those two blocks together. 

Clearly I made a mistake with the fabric charms on the left block. 

The two darks are together as are the two lights. 

While waiting for my zoom meeting Spanish class to begin, 

I used the seam ripper and fixed that issue. 

After my class, I was thinking of color changes. Without changing 

too much, could I make it more interesting?
Here is the original planned layout:

"A"

The blue green isn't the exact color,  I just used fabrics/colors 

that were in EQ to approximate the idea. 

However.........

I could make more blue bordered blocks and do a 

Checkerboard pattern like this:

"B"

But is the blue too intense in the corners that way?

Perhaps I could switch a bit and make this version?

"C"

The question remains, which do I make?  My cutting table is covered
with the beginnings of this and I am still not close to a decision. 

I don't want to redesign the entire quilt in EQ, but I am thinking of 
adding a row of charm squares from the same collection as
between each third of the quilt (top to bottom) to make it a 
longer and more useful quilt. (okay so I did go back in EQ

and redesign!)

A-1

B-1

C-1

D

Now I ask you to choose.  Which version do you like best? 
Should the charms go between the sections 
OR 
maybe at the top and bottom inside the borders????

I didn't put ALL the options in photo form, 

so if there is a not listed option that you think

will be best, tell me about it.

I  would love to hear your thoughts on this. 

Decisions, decisions!

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 8/12/2022

Welcome to my stop on the Friday Face Off, a weekly challenge.  

This week, I am happy to show my latest quilted face creation.  

Some of you may have seen the beginning of this one on

July 29th.  He is now happily finished. 

Mike Morado

You may notice that part of his beard is created with added colored ink/pencil.

I do wish the color blended a bit better. I had him all quilted before the 

decision that he needed more facial hair. 

A close friend told me that he looks like a self portrait. Ha ha.
I have had a goatee in the past but it was different than this. 

After I got the basic "eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows" on this fellow, 

I took a phone photo and used a digital drawing tool to see

just where I wanted him to go. 

Of course that doesn't mean he will come out like the drawing, 

it is simply a rough map to guide my ideas. 

Here is that photo with drawn overlay. 

Sometimes I wonder if I should just grab some paint and

add various parts.  I do the eye pupil with a black marker, 

then the highlight with a tiny drop of white paint. 

If you are wondering, I have considered (many times) coloring

my hair that color of purple.  I am just not sure I could 

wear it with total confidence. And honestly, I don't know 

that I want to stand out quite that much. 

One other thing you may have noticed if you are really 

an eagle eyed viewer, is that the face shape changed from this shape

to a shape with more sculpted cheekbones. 

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 8/2/2022

This week was unusually busy due to circumstances beyond my control.  So, the quilted face did not get finished this week. I did make a bit of progress, but it still has a couple of days work to be done. 

Thus, I dug into the archives (aka my sketch books from years past) and found a face that I don't remember drawing.  Clearly, I did draw it, because I signed it. 

I can certainly image transforming this face into fabric at some point in the future. 

I love the way I rendered her hairstyle. It seems quilt classic and perfect for her face. 

I have no idea if I can render it as well in fabric. 

While I was browsing in the sketchbooks, I also found this drawing

of something that is now pretty much a relic.

Several years ago (after these drawings) I was in Mexico for vacation. 

I was taking "artsy" photos just for fun with my digital camera.  One thing

that kept cropping up was discarded shoes. I took photos of all of them 

although I have no idea if I kept any of those files. 

When I saw the next drawings, I remembered the 
"Lost Shoes of Mexico."

Sometimes, I was sketching in a waiting room - for example the socked foot in a slipper, above.

I think this one was drawn after looking at an ad in a women's magazine. 

But, I confess that the memory is quite vague. 

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.