A beginner and not afraid to mess up!

First, I apologize for not responding to everyone who has commented on my recent posts. The comments, instead of coming to my email, have been piling up on blogger dashboard and not being published. I didn't realize that was happening and I'll make sure to check from now on!

Several of you requested that I share how I create my next wildlife art quilt project. I'm just a beginner to portraits, animal quilts, collage technique and thread painting so you will see me make many mistakes which is the best way for me to learn! Does anyone else learn best by really messing up?!? I hope you are always learning by whatever method is best for you.

This is a fabric portrait I made of myself in a 2016 workshop with Lea McComas when she came to speak at Prairie Quilt Guild in Wichita, KS. To put it mildly, all the small pieces really made me panic! I like it and I chose to do it that way but now I realize I could have created a portrait of the same quality with fewer pieces. It was a good study of color value.

 It remains only a fused quilt top because I'm afraid of thread painting/quilting it. I don't want to add to the wrinkles I already have!

"That Cat!", 2017

I wanted to learn to thread paint so I took a class with Pam Holland at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX. "That Cat!" was our class project and I remember questioning whether this was truly a class suitable for beginners.

This began as a photo taken by Pam Holland which she had printed on fabric through Spoonflower. All we had to do in class was sandwich it and then stitch with the correct thread colors over the cat. This technique was a great way to learn thread painting because I didn't have to deal with the fusible/glue issue. I also didn't have to stitch as densely as I did on the bison. Having a realistic background to work on almost guaranteed a good outcome!

This brings me to photos - do you plan to use a photo you took yourself or a photo someone else has taken? Copyright issues are very important in the quilting world. If you are using a photo taken by someone else, you must get written permission from the photographer. Most photographers will consent, sometimes with conditions, to your use of their photo. Ask first!

The only camera I still use is my phone camera and I can't decide what I have more photos of - grandkids or quilts! They are both much easier to take photos of than wildlife. I'm grateful that the photographer of the bison has given me permission to use another of his photos for my next project.

Next week I'll include an example of if you don't like it, try something else!

Until next time, Mayleen