This picture was taken on a Snake River fly fishing trip when we visited Swan Valley, Idaho, last year. It's a photo where I'd want to simplify the background and reshape Mike's shoulders a little. Otherwise, it would be a perfect photo to recreate using this method. So, anyway, it was a thoroughly lovely day...even the weather has been beautiful after raining sideways all day on Thursday.
So, again, I wrote a lengthy blog post when I attended last year's class. If you're interested in reading more detail than what I'm giving here, I can refer you to this post where I talk about it at length. As for yesterday's class, I just have a few things to tell you.
In my post about Day One, I mentioned that my piece was keeping me awake because I wasn't happy with what I'd done for the "bib" of the overalls. Here's where I left it yesterday, and it was a mess of lines that really had very little association with how I wanted the quilt to look:
I had an idea how to fix it, and so this morning, I erased some of the lines and tried again:
Ann helped me to reposition the lines, and I think they ended up looking pretty good. There are some pockets with seams and a waistband on the bib, and it was hard to decide how much detail to include while also preserving the separation between the overalls and the shirt. When we had taken it to this point, it was finished and ready for labeling. You can see in the upper left hand corner where we started to label the sections. This is to identify the sewing order.
When that was finished, it was ready to be enlarged. But first, I want to show you the work of a couple of my classmates. Here's the kitty who is only about half finished here. This one is going to be a piecing nightmare with so many little pieces.
Here is the dog of another classmate. The eyes will be done in one piece using a "dot" fabric. I'll show you in my next post so that you can see what I'm talking about. Also, remember what I mentioned in my post from Day One about the bilateral symmetry of the dog's face. A line is drawn down the center bisecting the head, and then the sections branch out from left to right.
And then it was time to enlarge my piece. Here...the magic is happening! So exciting!
My original piece was approximately 12 x 16, and it was enlarged by 275%, making it somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 x 40 inches. It ended up just about life sized. Here, I've laid it on the floor and used my foot for scale.
Since we're working with vellum or tracing paper, we first have a one-to-one copy made onto paper, and this is used for both the enlargement and also to create a color-coded copy. I've colored this in with colored pencil so that I can distinguish the main subjects from the background, and I'll use this when I start adding fabrics.
You can read the post I've linked to at the top where I cover how the freezer paper templates are created along with the "tick" marks that are used for ease of piecing. At day's end, my piece was ready to start adding fabrics, and that's where I'll pick it up today.
Now is when the real fun begins!
16 comments:
Just by your tone, I can tell you are really enjoying the class this time around! And you have made great progress on the project.....and you can even think to begin another one! You have grown thru the process. Good going.
How fun, and changing the bib made such a huge difference! Love the fish photo -- if I ever caught one that nice I'd want to create a memory quilt, too! :)
I took the chicken class from Ann last summer just before we started packing to move. I enjoyed it a lot she is such a good instructor. Now that I am almost settled in the new house I hope to get back to that piece and finish it. It is funny I had people helping me pack and unpack and one of them came to the fabric set aside for the chicken and thought it was something that should be put into the 'go' pile. But in Ann's class you use fabric you ordinarily would not, in ways you would not.
Your post is making me think I need to try her other class.
Yay, good for you! That process is so complicated I can see it taking a second class to learn all of the tweaks and confidence. Can't wait to see the finish.
Oh my goodness.... While I do not see myself ever venturing into this adventure in piecing I am captivated by the whole process you are sharing!!
I can see why you are on the same song second verse and preparing for #3!
Wow! That's a lot of work you accomplished already! Nice bib change-up. And, yeah - that's a fantastic photo of him with the fish. It'd make a nice subject for this approach.
Wow. Just wow. There is a lot more to this technique than I thought! It seems as though you are having fun with it though! Thanks for bringing us along to your class! I would love to take a class like this, but first I think I need a class on organization first!
"Simplfy the background" of my beautiful Snake River canyon? Blasphemy, I say!!!
It would probably make me swear off quilting forever, but you are obviously way more patient than I am, lol! You're going to be teaching this technique before all is said and done!
I hear so many horror stories about bad classes and teachers, glad you are enjoying yours so much. Love seeing the process and look forward to seeing how they look in fabric.
Debbie
Well that is so neat! It seems like you are really enjoying those classes.
I really like watching you create using this method. It is going to be great!
This is truly magic! Working small and then making an enlargement makes it doable. Even I'm excited from afar! It's really a wonderful way to spend four days. A rare opportunity.
Thanks for sharing this, Barbara. So much fun to see what you are doing and learning! You are just clipping along and obviously enjoying yourself! Can't wait to see you work on that neat picture of Mike. Glad it's going so well this year!
Hooray for "smiling, laughing, and joking half the time"!! And I agree, Mike and the Fish would be another good one for you to do.
It's so much easier to see your direction in that colored version. It's looking good.
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