Sunday, December 19, 2021

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%
 
 

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15 Minutes to Stitch

 

7 comments:

Kyle said...

What a very cool idea. It will be interesting to see what everyone does. I agree the line at the top of her head needs to go and I would soften up the chin area. Looks good.

Robin said...

Hey, this is going to be fun when everybody gets back together. I've never tried anything like this. It will be a new learning experience and an adventure all in one.

Sara said...

What a wonderful idea for a gift exchange! And your portrait drawing has a really nice effect to use with all of the neutrals and browns.

Andree G. Faubert said...

Wow, what a great idea. Good luck!

Michele Bilyeu said...

Wonderful idea. My last week projects have been going awry by not having enough fabric. Really really hope yours turns out great. So nice of you to help your mom out too. Best wishes for all of this holiday season!

Kate said...

What a really fun idea. I hope you share some of the gifts in this week post, it would be fun to see what everyone came up with.

Tanya said...

That's an amazing idea and a pretty cool app too! It is going to be so much fun watching this quilt grow! I think I recognize the recipient!