I am truly a privileged person. I get to live each day of my life exactly the way I choose, close to the people I love, doing the things I enjoy, and with no regrets whatsoever.
So in starting the new year I did not feel inclined to start any new goals. Well, ok. Maybe one itty, bitty resolution. Perhaps the only frustration as of late has been that I have not been making time in my life for my “personal” projects. So I have promised myself that I will start to define my time better. Like most “normal” people, Monday through Friday are for working (with some play time on Thursdays with my friends). And weekends are for me to do my own thing – mainly learn something new each week.
So this weekend I started to make a mosaic quilt. I purchased a book and some software for this purpose several years ago, and just hadn’t made the time to do it! Unfortunately, this experience left me with mixed feelings. The concept is fascinating – the use of the software pretty much a nightmare. Which is why I will not name it or recommend it here.
To begin, the recommended number of fabrics to work with is 24. I couldn’t get the software to accept that number. I could get 22, or 25 or odd numbers above and below that. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t get it to actually set whatever number I wanted. So I settled for the closest: 25 fabrics.
After much fooling around with the settings (this software took FOREVER to process!) I printed out my grid. By then it was time to stop for lunch… I was too weak to continue. (-:
Naturally, once any quilting process begins, it is (usually) very enjoyable. I settled down with a cup of coffee and an audiobook, and started the task of fusing down 3/4″ squares of fabric onto my grid. And this is fascinating, because it doesn’t look like much is happening, but if you step back you can actually see the design beginning to appear.
I spent all afternoon Saturday and nearly all day Sunday listening to several books (!!!) while fusing those little squares down. I cheated and finished fusing the last little corner down this morning.
I’m a little disappointed. The image is clearly there. At least the shape of the head, the ears, the eyes… but I don’t know what happened to the mouth! In the original photograph of my brother David, the outstanding characteristic is his enormous grin. And I just don’t see it here. I’ve checked the grid several times, thinking perhaps I had made a mistake with the fabric placement, but no. I followed the placement faithfully.
I’ve put this away for the moment, but I’m not planning on giving up. My challenge next weekend will be get that grin showing!
I am a self-learner. I taught myself to sew and to quilt. And I taught myself how to draw. I am learning how to dye my own fabrics and am dabbling with mixed media. I am a quilt designer and teacher, and design and publish my own line of quilt patterns. With this blog I would like to share the bits and pieces of my life.
3 Comments
mosaic quilt
Submitted by crallen0330 on Fri, 02/05/2010 – 01:42.
Angie,
Try taking a picture of the quilt, head on, then put it on your computer, walk to the opposite side of the room, and see if the quilt looks better. There might be a tiny bit of oddness or distortion because the seams aren’t sewn yet, but it should give you a good idea if it’s turning out okay or if you need to adjust some of your fabrics or colors.
You can see the one I made here: http://02f0557.netsolhost.com/WordPress/?p=215
Good luck and hope this helps!
Cindi
Smile is off
Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/05/2010 – 08:56.
On the whole, it works. The problem for me is that the smile does not show up the way it should. And for me, that is precisely what this quilt is all about. I’ve tried playing around with the value of the fabrics in that area, but have not been able to get it right. I’m going to go ahead and quilt it now and maybe try it again sometime. After working with different EQ versions, I am very disappointed with this particular software. Anyway…
Oh! And I should have
Submitted by crallen0330 on Fri, 02/05/2010 – 06:13.
Oh! And I should have mentioned: Do you have a door-peeper? The kind you look through to see who’s outside your door? It’s a must-have while making one of these. Or look through binoculars backwards. Up close mosaic quilts don’t look like much of anything. You’ve got to really stand back. Take it outside, hang it on the porch and stand far away. I promise, it will look like him. In fact, it will stun you because it will look so real. Just remember when sewing the seams to stitch one row to the left, the next row to the right, to the left, to the right. If you don’t it will stretch and distort in one direction. I’ve made about 10 of these, so I’ve learned the hard way LOL!! Whatever you do, don’t give up on it! It’s going to be beautiful!
Cindi
PS – I also had trouble with getting 24 colors on my software. I went back to the older version and just use it now. If you need any help, e-mail me. I’d be glad to help you!