Friday Face

Welcome to another Friday Face! This lady seems to be suffering from seasonal depression which can be a very big problem this time of year.  Did you know that many people suffer winter depression? Some people call it the "winter blues,"  but for those prone to depression, it can be a serious issue.  I know that I need more light in my house in the winter to combat the gloom of winter.  I freely admit that I have suffered depression in the past.  I needed both medication and counseling to get past the problem. I no longer require either, but I stay vigilant and would seek help if needed.  

People, this is NOT something to cause shame - the only shame is not seeking help and overcoming the depression.  If you would like to read more about seasonal affective disorder, here is a link to the Mayo Clinic article.
(end of my public service announcement/rant)

I enjoyed creating this lady, and I didn't realize how sad and forlorn she looks until after I had finished. I think part of that is created by the heavy eyes and perhaps by the colors I used. Also, the mouth is "pouty/sad" because I used the darker color for the top lip. 
Because the face is darker, I chose a bright yellow into green hand dyed fabric for the background. 

All of the face, neck and hair are also hand dyed fabrics. The torso bit is a nice batik that just looked perfect, but it needed that hand dyed ruffle around the neck to keep it from blending into the neck. 

Ms. Nancy

 The next stage will be to mount the small quilt onto a 12" square stretched canvas. The canvas will be painted black around the edges and on the front part that will show in the completed piece.  Putting it on a canvas makes it easy to hang this on the wall like a painting. 

I am linking up with  DVArtist for the Friday FaceOff.

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

 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.

Dec 9 Friday Face Off

I am still having a lot of fun creating face quilts. One of the things that I love best is the personality of each character.  Today's face is named Cora Mae. Cora Mae sings in a bluesy jazz style. 

Cora Mae was created on one of the scrappy backgrounds that I showed previously  Cora Mae is made of all warm colors to contrast nicely with the cool colored background.  The one exception is her lips. Those are a cool purple that looks almost blue in this photo. Originally, the planned photo didn't have the highlights in the eyes.  I noticed that as I was beginning to write the blog post. A quick run into the studio and less than a drop of white paint fixed that quickly.  Here she is without the eye highlights.

You can see that the highlight adds character and life to the gaze.

On this one, the quilting seems subtle to me.  

Once the face is fused, I use black thread to do what I call coloring book outlines to sew down all the edges of the figure.  In this case, while it was still under the needle, I created the hair design also. 

And prior to that here is what she looked like  fused into place with no lines added.

Although this shows the process in reverse, you can see that each layer adds and builds on the previous layer to complete the piece.  The next stage will be to mount the small quilt onto a 12" square stretched canvas. The canvas will be painted black around the edges and on the front part that will show in the completed piece.  Putting it on a canvas makes it easy to hang this on the wall like a painting. 

I am linking up with  DVArtist for the Friday FaceOff.

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

 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.

Scrappy Backgrounds

Since I am clearly not out of my "make a quilted face" phase,  I decided to make a couple of background pieces using  Steam-a-Seam, batting and scraps.  First up, I wanted a neutral one so that I can use it behind a  wildly colorful face - because you know I love vivid colors.  

 After making that one, the thought hit me to make one with analogous colors (colors side by side on the color wheel.)  I grabbed a bag or two of scraps and started pulling out greens and blues.  Honestly I could have made at least five backgrounds from all the scraps I pulled out.  Now, both of these backgrounds are "ready for my close up, Mr DeMille."  (ha ha)  

I am hoping to make a face with every color of the rainbow on the neutral background. 

Meanwhile on the blue and green one, I plan to use mostly warm colors -reds, yellows, oranges.

Of course I will probably have some purple in there also. And perhaps on the interior, I will even include some blue and green, but I don't want it "fighting" with the background. 

Meanwhile,  I was given a video with my performance in the Rocky Horror Play. 

I may get in trouble for sharing it. If I do it will go away. But for now, 

here it is 

I was amazed that some people clapped and cheered when I walked on. Then when the song ended and they went wild, I was amazed - of course the applause was more for the whole show than for just me, but I basked in the reflected glory. 

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.

Good Morning World!

While looking at past projects  I remembered making a chicken quilt back in 2012.  I wanted to remake the quilt with some changes and mount it on a stretched canvas like I am mounting my face quilts.  I searched diligently for the pattern, to no avail.   I decided that I would contact the artist and ask if it was still available. Shock! She sent me the pattern attached to an email.  Of course, then I really had to make another one.  (Thanks Laura!)  She then made the pattern available on her website as a freebie and told us about it in her newsletter.  What a great Thanksgiving gift. 

Here is my latest chicken quilt "Good Morning, World!" 

The background sky is a fabric that I dyed, but if you don't dye or paint fabric, I would recommend fabrics from Artfabrik (Laura)  and Colorways by Vicki Welsh.  Both make wonderful dyed fabrics. 

Several of the chicken fabrics are from my stash of fabrics from Vicki. The breast is a fun shibori that I got from Vicki.  The head, comb and wattle come from a stash pack of reds from Vicki called Zinnia. 

Have you ever made a chicken quilt of any kind?

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.