Quilt Progress

 

I finished another Postage Stamp block as a Leader / Ender while I was working on the Representation Quilt. In case you missed it, I drew names and our family is sharing art that represents the gift recipient..

We decided to hold our family gathering virtually because of schedules and the virus. This means that we have to give some time to mail our representation gifts. I will let you know what fun ideas everyone had after we distribute them and hold our gathering.

I finished my Representation Quilt and sent it off. I will show that one to you later as well.

2021:  Week 52 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I might have mixed up my weekly count since I am on week 52 and there are 52 weeks in a year. This is the next to last post for the year.

I've made quilting progress. I finished the Representation Portrait Quilt I showed you in my last post. Since it is a gift, and it is in the mail for the receiver, I will wait to show you the finished project.

While I was attaching the borders and working on that quilt, I sewed the rows for the red Postage Stamp block as  a Leader and Ender.

I also worked on the Halloween quilt while I was procrastinating working on the Representation Portrait quilt.

 

There are 52 weeks in a year and I am already on week 52. My date mix-up probably means that my stats are better than reported.  There was a week where I didn't remember what I had done and gave myself a  0 for the week. The auditor is on holiday and not willing to figure out the discrepancy. I am pretty sure it means I am at 100%  now.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 295 out of 360 days

Success rate  = 82%

 

Last year had a Leap year Day, so we also had 53 weeks, and the first week of this year only had 4 days.

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15 Minutes to Stitch

Interesting finds this week:

While I was procrastinating working on the Representation Portrait Quilt, I found a YouTube Channel by Mary Fons. She is the daughter of Marianne Fons of Fons and Porter. The show is actually on Twitch platform, but you can watch on YouTube. She hosts regular casual chat sessions where she shares lots of different quilts and quilty topics. Like Bonnie Hunter, it is a mostly a live show where she interacts with the audience and then tells you some things that makes it worth the visit.

There is no time limit for each episode, but it was difficult to work while watching this, because there are interesting things that require your eyeballs on the show, although there are parts where she is talking where you can work on other things. It is called Quilt Nerd, and she is working on fine-tuning the show.

This quilt is in Issue 80 of Today's Quilter. It is made by Maria Lizano using quilt blocks from the Jane Stickle quilt. I have a whole bunch of blocks left done, more than 100 if I remember correctly.

 

2021: Week 51 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

At our last Zoom family gathering in October, we had this conversation.

One of my relatives mentioned she had painted a portrait of our brother. She said she had heard that you should paint portraits of people you love instead of strangers. She was planning on painting more portraits of family members.

Someone said something positive about this idea.

Another person said that it would be nice for all of us to draw names and gift a portrait to each other this year. More conversation followed about ways this would work with different skill sets. Someone said that we could make something that represented the gift recipient which wouldn't have to be a painting.

Yet another person said, "I'd be up for that."

I said, "Let's do it."

Nobody said it was a stupid idea. Nobody said, "No, I don't want to do that."

We moved on to other conversations. 

So after the gathering, I drew names and texted everyone who they needed to make a "something that represents the gift recipient" for. I wanted to give people lots of time to work on their gift.

Everyone said, "What is this? What are you talking about? Did I agree to this?" Nobody wanted to take credit for this idea.

But they had agreed at the gathering so now they have to do it. They all said okay, some more grudgingly than others.

I thought about what I wanted to do. My plan was to make a fabric collage for my portrait. She sent me a photo she liked. Of course it had to be a picture with a cat in it. I looked for and bought a jelly roll full of different shades of neutral colors, especially shades of brown. I figured I would work on actually making the portrait after I finished the October quilt I showed you yesterday.

We started talking about our upcoming holiday gathering.  The one where we present our gifts to our giftees. People started offering possible dates.

2021:  Week 51 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

I took a good look at the calendar. Even though I knew the deadline was coming up, these concrete dates created a panic. I have to stop working on the October quilt and shift to this portrait quilt.

My mother asked me to print a photo of her recipient on to fabric. I did that for her. She is going to add some embroidery and turn it into a pillow.

I know I had software that could make a line drawing, but that was before the computer crash. I looked for an app that would create a line drawing that I could use for the collage. I didn't find it and didn't want to take more time to keep looking. What I found that I think will work is an app that turns the photo into a color drawing. I cropped the background to keep the focus on the person and to make the pieces bigger. I really like it.

The original plan was to continue with the background so the quilt will be more than 8x10 but we will have to see how much time I have to do that.

I wanted to print this photo in draft mode on paper to use as a pattern, but the app only prints photos as they are, with no way to change it to draft mode. I decided that if this photo was going to be full color, using a lot of my ink, I was going to print it on fabric too. 

I also printed the reverse on paper to use as a pattern for the fusible.

It looks great as it is, but I didn't look for shades of brown threads.  I hadn't been thinking of thread painting, but I will probably do some of that too. 

Plus there are parts I want to cover up. There is a line going through the top of her head that makes her look like an ornament. Her chin has this weird dark spot on the drawing that isn't in the photo. Plus I bought fabric for a photo collage, so I am going to collage over at least some of it.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 288 out of 353 days

Success rate  = 82%

 

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch