Dc. 10 – MaMaw

 

“MaMaw” – 2001 Christmas gift for my Mom.  I think it is about 14” x 20” (Of COURSE the label tells me, but this is at Mom’s house, and since I already called her to give me the year, because I can’t remember, I really don’t want to bug her again!)

I started with this photo of my grandmother taken by my Uncle.  It is SOOOO like her… busy with her crochet.

Deidre Scherer, Work In Fabric & Thread.  1998, C&T Publ.

I ordered this book from that discount book place, Edward R. Hamilton.  You never really know exactly what the books are going to be by their tiny description.  I really was disappointed when I first looked at this one, thinking this was something I would never use.  But then the wheels started turning and ….

Using her very brief description of how she does faces (this is not a PROCESS book, it is more of a collection of works), I winged it, really!  As I encountered problems I would just stop work, and inspiration of how to work it out would just come in my sleep… REALLY!  First I must tell you that I CAN NOT DRAW, so I took the photo to my copy machine and enlarged it umpteen times.  You start to lose shadow and definition after a few times, so I then made a tracing of the enlarged photo, then enlarge THAT to get the size I wanted.  I cut freezer paper pattern pieces and started layering.

 

All stitching was done by machine, starting with satin stitch to hold layers down, then going into zig-zag and free-motion to give it depth.  There are as many as 7 layers of fabric in some spots, with overlays, and in some places cut-aways to give the depth and shadow.  There are many hours of work on this tiny quilt!

I quilted as I went so all stitching on the front also shows on the back…  that is something I would do differently on the next one.  There is a layer of muslin in the place of batting… I did not want this to be puffy.  

The hair was very tricky… MaMaw really did not have gray hair, she had a “rinse” put on her hair so it was a beautiful light auburn color with silver hints.  I bought gray fabrics and then realized that just was not going to work, so I used fabric paints to give them the brown tone that I wanted.  I never was exactly pleased with how I stitched the hair, but it was the best I could do at the time.

I keep toying with the idea of doing another one… I loved doing this once I got going on it, but I just have not had the time… someday I want to do one of Mrs. E.

The moral of the story:  every now and then…GET OUT OF YOUR BOX AND SEE WHAT YOU REALLY CAN DO!  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but you will learn something!!

TOMORROW’S TEASER:  A quilt signed by a FAMOUS quilter with the initials JB.  Can you guess? 

Be blessed, and see you tomorrow!