In the song "Country Roads", John Denver refers to WV's Mountains as Mountain Mama. I've been working on a series of post cards, wall hangings, and now a bed size quilt with that theme. I used crazy quilt patches to do design, which is my own. My process included drawing picture on grid paper, then making blocks 13 x13, on a foundation of very light weight gridded foundation fabric (from JoAnn's). I had been collecting flowered fabrics for a long time because I simply loved them. Using very small flower prints and graduating to very large ones. I was attempting to show a garden that started back up in the mountain and came forward to viewer. The mountains too were constructed to show distance with darker ones closer to viewer. I plan to do some quilting on this once I add the batting and backing. For the backing I'm thinking of using a pillow back, no borders, not binding. The actual size of this top is currently around 87 by 87.
And here is a sketch of the portrait for my friend's son with his new bride. It's been blown up to 24 x 36. She wanted a larger one and I've finished fabric selection. My next step is to trace this onto freezer paper and then cut out the individual pieces and iron them to the fabric chosen. I plan to add more pictures of the process I follow in this construction as I go along. I am not happy with the mouth of the male, and will be reworking when I get to that part. I think making the teeth so specific, I made a mistake. When I redo it for the pattern piece, I will just outline the sections of the mouth and not individualize the teeth until they're more right than wrong. In other words, I'm going to simplify that part of the drawing until I feel it better portrays the young man's smile.
Oh my Dee, I love your work. I need to come out to WV to get some lessons, I would love to learn this process. You work with composition and color is truly inspiring.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visitng my site and I will definately return the fav and add your sit to my blog. We FAB Sister have to stick together!!
The admiration is mutual, because I love the idea of African American Fabrics. Will be ordering some soon and spreading the word to others I know who might be interested.
ReplyDeletei have problems with the teeth also. i just take my time when i get to the mouth. i woudl rather do the mounth close. good luck and can't wait to see the results.
ReplyDeleteI've sort of laid it aside for the moment. But I've been playing in the materials I've chosen for them. The problem I'm facing now is that he has a definite pinkish cast to his face and hers is slightly olive, just a hint of. Once I commit to the fabric, I'll jump right in. It's funny, but I'm sort of eager to see how it turns out too.
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