Cheryl Challenge # 5 Self Portrait

If you were to walk by me on the street, this is what I looked like 10 years and 20 pounds ago. Haha!



Funny thing is, the picture was taken in March! Everything was going along fine, but somehow the scale on the facial features are larger than they should be. It should be so easy to shed the years! It could be that the original photo was taken with a camera phone, indoors, at night, from a distance...so when it came time to enlarge the photo, the resolution was awful. I think it was a blessing in disguise because I was looking at the contrast rather than the details.

I have come to realize my hair is almost black (not dark brown as I always thought) and I do tend to rest my chin on my hand a lot. Funny. I still have details to add, such as the silver highlights in my hair, but overall it turned out much better than I expected.

This is a part of the process:

 

Below is the original I had to work with...night out with friends.

Lady Gaga

Monster Ball 2011

San Diego

Yep, that's a happy face sticker on my forehead.

Gudrun Challenge # 5 Self Portrait

Woman Easily Distracted

This wasn't easy :)) Self explanatory, yes?

Gudrun

#6 Challenge OUT OF AFRICA due 31st July

It is my turn to set the challenge.
This is exciting and I have had many thoughts but keep coming back to Africa
So AFRICA it is
I will call the challenge
OUT OF AFRICA
Have fun
Delia

Judy

Judy I have been trying to post on your challenge but it will not allow me. I will try in a couple of day as I am going away again.
Delia

Judy Challenge # 5 Self Portrait

I've decided to let this little figure speak for itself as it is a fairly accurate representation of me, both physically and in terms of personality traits.  Would you know me now if you passed me on the street?

Delia Challenge #5 Self Portrait

Ok this is my self portrait. I have made a heap of mistakes and so I covered it with the net. I over machined the hair so the face pucked. I stippled  the dress less and it sat flat. I have post this so you can at least see I tired. This was a very hard challenge for me and it did not turn out the way I would have liked. 

I took a picture and then printed it onto a silk sheet. I then went about thread painting the piece in a hoop. It would have been much better had I not completely filled in the hair with colour.

I can't wait to see the others and how they turned out.

Shirley yours is lovely.

Keep Stitching

Delia 

Challege #5

Shirlry Challenge #5 Self Portrait

I am posting this challenge early as the girls were having problems with the self portrait. I

put some suggestions into our group site and promised to post my picture early after explaining how I did it . I used a simple photo shop method and then thread painted it.

I took a photo of myself and then put 3 pictures of it in photo shop - clicked on filter and then filter galleries (all sorts of wonderful things can be found in the filter portion of photo shop) I found a cross hatch setting and clicked on it ( there are other settings that

focus the colors and divide them more sharply if you want to do a quilted portrait). I then printed it on a fabric photo sheet -- let it dry , removed the back and placed it on a piece of timtex -- or heavy stabilizer - then I thread painted the colors. The original is a bit more like the actual photo although my thread wasn't as dark. This is the first project I have done

since last June as life really got in the way for me-- and I admit I enjoyed it.

I do hope you don't mind me posting it a bit early. Shirley

Challenging ourselves #5 -sneak peak

I have finally opened my sewing machine for the first time since last June and it feels good!

I have started my challenge and am having fun. here is a sneak peak of a start.

I hope you are all having fun with it. My husband is doing so much better after a second visit to the hospital for 4 days to straighten

out his meds so we are doing well. I have the incentive to get back to my machine and hopefully that will remain! '

I just checked all the #4 challenges again - what a creative group we have! Shirley

Gayle's Challenge 4 - The Gods Must Be Angry

Finally - better late than never. I chose to create a background with the blue and purple and make a statement with the orange fabric.

After all that has been going on in the world - uprisings, earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear accidents - I decided that a lightning bolt from the 'heavens' would be an appropriate subject.

The background is fabric collage. I made the bolt dimensional and it stands out from the background a bit. For the binding I used my attempt at a Susan Carlson technique with assorted scraps glued in place.

#5 Challenge

Thank you Cheryl

I am glad you have set the challenge.
I look forward to seeing your challenge.

I dread the challenge you have picked so it is going to be a very challenging

challenge for me

In saying that this is what the group is all about "Challenging Ourslves out of

our comfort zone"

Delia

#5Challenge set by Cheryl

Hi All, sorry I was awol. Taxes and spring break kind of took my breath away. I guess I wasn't paying attention as to how we selected the challenges, but I guess it is alpha order.


We have people from all over the world in our group, some are neighbors and some we could walk by on the street and would never know it so how about a self portrait?

Thoughts?

Thanks for your patience! My challenge is almost ready!

Cheryl

Julie's #4 Challenge - Orange, purple and blue

I'm honored and challenged to be a part of this group.  This is my first challenge in which I've been able to participate.  This challenge has also come at a busy time for me.  You would know that orange is my most challenging color to use - my orange section in my stash only consists of 4 or 5 fabrics.

For this challenge, I turned to a pattern that I've been wanting to try, Ricky Tims' Caveman Quilting, the Chantelle Tulip flower.  My roots are in traditional quilting - so free cutting curves and making things uneven was a step out for me.  Though the picture doesn't show it, I quilted the center of the quilt with orange thread and the borders with purple thread - thus challenging me to be bolder in my thread selection.  This measures about 14x22".

I'll enjoy this quilt hanging on my front door as I look forward to contemplating the next challenge.

Sharon's #4 Orange, Blue & Purple Challenge

Our challenge this month with our challenging ourselves group was working with primarily orange then blue and purple. We could use any shades and a little of some other color. So what I did was I decided to try to put in fabric a Tennessean' dream of a Superbowl....lol  I made the field out of orange and the post and yd lines blue. Then added mountains using fabric, texture magic and fabric paint. the sky was all shades of blue and purple....it was a challenge to only use those colors but all in all I think it came out ok. I used a white marking pen for the numbers and I wished that I did not but it was already too late so I will know next time that it is not good to use for something like that. For the TN Vols I tried just stitching it in blue but did not look dark enough so then I used fabric paint....I learned a few things on what not to use.  But I did overall enjoy trying to figure it out....on to the next one

Sue M's #4, Purple Blue and Orange

I haven't quite finished my piece, just need to stitch the binding down but have taken a photo of the piece for the reveal. I will sit and stitch tonight while the football is on television.

My piece was inspired by the fish in Susan Carlson's book Free Style Applique. I didn't follow her applique techniques though.  It measures approx 10 x 12 inches.

As you can see the fish is made in various orange fabrics and the background is purple and blue. The seaweed is painted vliesofix.

Margaret's #4 Orange Blue Purple Pallet

I haven't done much art quilt work lately so it was fun to get back to it . My wall hanging is 18.5" by 11.5" and is a reprecentative of some of the flowers that are in my spring garden. If the snow ever goes away.The grape hyasinths are done with thread work on solvy and the sewn on to the background , the lilies are done with layers of fabric and wonder under and then I played with them to get the pettals to lay as I wanted them to be. The dementional lilies have painted floral wire as the stamens. I did enjoy this challenge.

Margaret

Miriam 's #4Orange Blue and Purple Pallet

I had some difficulty deciding what to do for this challenge. I rarely buy purple or orange fabric. I used my embellisher and worked on Irish Tweed fabric for the base of my piece. I love to work with sheers and tulles and so combined them with the tweed. I must confess I am not very keen on the background but do love the flower. I used lots of stitching and beading to finish it off.

Miriam

Delia's #4 Orange Blue and Purple Pallet Challenge

 

                                                                      Hi Girls

I also made two quilts for this challenge.

His name is FRILLY. 21inches x 21 inches

The frilly neck Lizard is my real one. The other was the first and I thought it did not have enough orange in it.

The fabric for the Lizard was hand painted my me. I then made the lizard by cutting out the shapes and thread painting in the body and legs. I then set him on a rock and made the 3D frilly and face. I appliqued and machine embroidered in the leaves and grass before adding some quilting lines.

This Celtic quilt is the first I made but then thought it did not have enough orange in it but still it turned out quilt nice. I still have to mount it.

17inches x 17inches

Keep stitching

Delia

Mariam's #4 Orange blue & purple pallet

Oooops, mine isn't patchwork. My first thoughts were to do a piece of patchwork but I hope as it's my first one that the felting will be OK. I did make the felt myself.

Marian

Jackie Doll's #4 Orange, Purple & Blue Challenge

When I heard of the colours, I immediately thought of a sunset. I painted the palm tree with Setacolor Opaque Shimmer Jet Black and used King Tut thread to do the quilting.

Jackie Doll

Sharon M's #4 Orange Blue and Purple Pallet Challenge

Orange, purple and blue.

The colors were a huge challenge for me and then I added 2 more challenges. I challenged myself to use my AccuQuilt Go to cut all my pieces and I also went with the curved border. I started with the applecore die to make my back ground and used 2 shades of orange fabric. Next I used the round flower die to make the vines, leaves and flowers. I used the darker orange for the vines and leaves and did the flowers in shades of purple. I used some of the diferent stitches on my machine to applique the pieces and like the effect. The hardest color for me was getting the blue just right, I made little birdies out of the feather die and every blue I put on the piece just wasn't right. I finally found this speckled blue in a moda jelly roll I had and I love it. The bias binding is also cut with the 2.5 strip die...it was a slow job sewing it on, LOL. In the end I am happy with my table runner, the colors are wonderful together. It is 16 x 25.5".

Judy's #4 Orange/ Blue/ Purple Challenge

I answered this challenge with some springy 3-D daffodils. A learning experience, as I don't recall folding this sort of flowers before. The little bitty quiltlet measures 6" x 7." It's ok. But I don't love it.

Then I stumbled across a Charley Harper Quiltalong currently happening on flickr. The coordinator has permission from the estate for the group to reproduce his drawings in fabric. I googled images and when I saw the cardinal, I knew this is what I was meant to do all along. I intended to use the image for inspiration but I came close to reproducing it.

I love everything abut this cardinal. His attitude. His sharp clean lines. His beady black eyes. His knobby knees. He's actually a tomato color, which I consider a shade of orange. Isn't it? The blue seeds are stitched with lilac thread. The little quilt measures 8.5" square.

Great talk by Prof. David Green - Mixed Media

I listened to a talk by David Green today at Palmwoods. He was very interesting and I was amazed by his work on canvas and then stitched. I talked to him in length and then asked him if he would look at one of my pieces (Elements) He was so good to tell me about how I could make the piece work together a little more. So now I am going to add to the piece. I hope to have it posted in the next week.
I asked if he would come to Mountain Quilters and talk and he said yes. I am just delighted that we have someone like him here on the coast that is so interested in sharing his work and his time with us.
Here is the link to some of his work.
http://web.me.com/davidgreen70/musings/home.html

Delia

Postcard Swap Summer

This is one of the cards I did for a Summer card swap. I decided to do something different to the ordinary and did lizards.

Keep stitching

Delia

Bern's post coppied from our Challenging Ourselves yahoo group post.

Hi ladies, as I type this I am uploading photos of my My Favourites challenge quilt titled "Alaska 2005". The photos are in my folder in the Photos section. I have learned heaps from making this quilt - especially what not to do. I'll tell you about those things another day! I like making my backs "pretty" or suited to the quilt hence the photo of the backing fabric! I added the 3D animals to the quilt because I like a touch of whimsy to my quilts if I can work out how to do it. As the glue is still sticking down the wolf I could not take a photo of the label so I have added it in below. Alaska 2005 by Bern Johnson, January 2011 My husband Barry and I visited Alaska in 2005, travelling from Vancouver, Canada to Whittier by cruise ship and then on to Anchorage by train. These photographs were mainly photos that I took during this trip. Here are the subjects in the photos going down each column, from left to right: 1.Mendenhall Glacier somewhere along the Inside Passage enroute to Whittier 2.Barry and I in Ketchikan with a couple of “locals” 3.Lake Hood Seaplane Base – I believe this is the largest floatplane/seaplane airport in the world 4.Alaska welcome sign 5.One of the many harbours in Alaska 6.Amvets Post 2 in Anchorage (like a smaller version of the RSL here in Australia). It was here that we met a lovely lady (the wife of a Vietnam Veteran) called Linda Oliver. Linda and her lovely daughter Corey (and her sons) showed us a few sights around Anchorage in our last two days in Alaska. We still keep in touch with Linda and Corey and swap photos. 7.Salmon swimming upstream at a stream in Anchorage that Linda took us to. This photo is significant in that it took me something like two hundred photos just to capture one photo of the salmon jumping up to the next level of the stream! 8.Bears playing in a pool in a wildlife sanctuary. 9.Sea otters – how could one not love them? I wanted the quilt to look like photo negatives hanging up in a darkroom, hence the cut-outs (they took ages and the fabric distorted when I cut it out and sewed it but I have thought of a better way of getting that effect without the distortion). Ideally I would have had pegs holding the negatives on to a line (in the darkroom) but they would have weighed it down so I discarded that idea. Like I said before I have learned heaps from this challenge and I am glad that I was able to make it so personal. There are more Alaskan quilts to come (I bought heaps of fabric when I was over there). DH and I were very good at finding quilt shops in towns along the route of our cruise of the Inside Passage but I think I need some easy sewing to do for a while after this quilt! The negatives were the hardest thing - measuring, then drawing the squares then sewing around the square, then cutting the squares out, then zigzagging around each one. Sew 1cm, rotate, sew another cm, rotate, again and again ... aargh! This might be why this was a challenge quilt ... in more ways than one! Bern Johnson

Thank you Chris

Thank you Chris I have done what you asked and the blog is back to where it should be.
Delia

problems

I think we should leave it this way for today as quite often blogger gets working on things and manages to ball it up for awhile. Delia - I tried to see if it helped by changing the background and will leave it for a day or two, then we can decide on the background after we see what is happening. Shirley

Hi Girls

Hi Girls
I am just about ready to post on the site.
Delia

One of my most favorite places is at the shore watching the waves come in. Nebraska is a long way from any ocean shores, so I have come to enjoy the shores of Lake Michigan. It helps that my son and daughter-in-law live in Michigan about 30 miles from the lake. On a very windy day Lake Michigan can resemble the ocean.(sort of) I had fun learning photoshop in working on getting all these pictures printed. I even used the distort feature to create the fill in pieces.

Favourite Places

What a fun challenge. I had such a difficult time trying to decide just what are my favourite places. Finally decided that it must be beside the ocean or water. I tried to make my challenge look like a scrap booking page. I printed a few of the places we have visited in the past 12 months, The Great Ocean Road, Port Fairy and the Sorrento Back Beach. As much as I love to visit these places I have no desire to live in a coastal area. I love living here in the country and wouldn't change it. Sorry for the delay in posting, I had to search for the camera.