The latest Milwaukee Art Quilter’s challenge is entitled “The Blues”. The quilt needed to be 31″ square, at least 1/2 blue and fit the theme. My grandson Willy has the most beautiful blue eyes, so my subject matter was simple. However, creating him in fabric was truly a challenge. I have done very little in the way of faces, so this was a great learning opportunity. I used a mixture of Repliqué and my version of Caryl Fallert’s Appli-piecing technique, all accented with thread painting.
So here’s the picture of Willy with big sister Hanna:
and here’s the quilt:
As you can see, the real Willy’s a whole lot cuter than the quilt Willy, but overall I’m pretty happy with my first attempt and have learned a lot. We all need to try new things :-).
The one part I was pleased with was his hair and that (along with his eyelashes) was my thread painting adventure.
I used a fabric which contained areas of all the right values of golden red to brown, appli-pieced chunks of it together and then the fun began. I changed thread often and truly scribbled horizontally all over. It was freeing and almost fool proof! A great technique to have in your bag of tricks. I hope you have the chance to try it!
Sarah B. says
Nice job. I especially like the hair and think the striped shirt was a perfect alteration.
Bonnie Camp says
Oh, your other grandchildren might want to see themselves in Grandma’s gallery. I love the hair! And the shirt must have been fun to plan. I remember the days when most little boys always wore striped shirts. bonnie
Jan says
Wow, that’s awesome. You did a super job!
Kasia says
Chris –
It IS FUN and Challenging to try new things. I think you captured Willy’s personality in cloth. WOW. An idea that I might need to try sometime 😉