Self-portraits – 2015.12.02

Members of the Canadian Quilters’ Association should have received their Winter issue of The Canadian Quilter magazine.  I knew that my article about how I create portrait quilts – and why I like to experiment with self-portraits – would be included in the magazine, but I was thrilled to see my self-portrait on the cover!

You can learn more about my process here, and see many of my portrait quilts here.

While I was writing the article,  I came across an extremely minimalist image I had created in 2011 when I was first experimenting with the posterize effect.  It’s from the same photo I used for my self-portraits in the magazine article.  Then I saw the Quilting Arts magazine announcement of a reader challenge to make a 10 x 10 inch portrait art quilt, and decided it was time to turn that image into a self-portrait.

Here’s how I made it.  I traced the eyes and nostril onto stabilizer and added the suggestion of a nose.   I cut the eyes and nostril from purple fabric, and fused them to a yellow background, using the stabilizer drawing to position them.

I pinned the stabilizer to the back of the fabric, and stitched the eyes and nose from the back.  Then I added batting and backing and stitched again through all the layers.  I titled it ‘Minimalist Me’.  It was accepted as a finalist, so I hope to see it in the February/March 2016 issue of Quilting Arts magazine.

Thanks for stopping by.  Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative projects to inspire you.