Sew Tessa on Off the Wall Friday

Snowflakes turned into Queen Lace

 Yes, the saga of the Stitched Mosaic continued this week.  I spent most of my sewing time, ripping out sections, redoing applique patterns, and getting them sewed back together.  I'm so glad I did.  In the quiet of my studio, it was much easier to get the curves just right...not to mention most of the seams to meet.  I'm not trying to be overly fussy about it though.  I think the imperfections in the mosaic make it much more interesting!  (Here is the original photo inspiration in case you've forgotten)

obviously still needs tweaking but it's getting there!!

So this is as far as I got....yeah I know...She doesn't have a face!  There was a part of me that said GIVE TESSA A FACE!  Then there was another part of me said ....You have no idea how to give Tessa a face!  NO IDEA!!  That was very true!  For the rest of the piece, I just followed the pattern of the photo, but faces are different.  There are some lines, sure.  But the vast majority of the face is brought to life using values of beige.  But what parts??  and what values??

So I did a little research and played with my favorite online photo editor...Fotor.  I went back to the original photo and cropped out here face.

Then I blurred the pixels and turned up the contrast so I could see the major sections of the value that make up her face.

That still wasn't quite enough so I decided to play with their many art filters.  Here is one version..

Here is another...

With all this inspiration, I could now go back to the original pattern and sketch in the spaces of values ...this weekend!  It was a perfect place to stop.  I mean I love my daughter, but honestly that was enough of her face for one day (grin)!

Sub Rosa, Venice II, Judi Warren Blaydon, 2010

Now on a sad note....I just found out a former teacher of mine, Judi Warren Blaydon died in January. A quilt teacher and lecturer since 1981, she also was the author of a fabulous book...Collage + Cloth = Quilt.  I was first introduced to her work when I was a young quilter at Quilting by the Lake.  I would go by her classroom and see the fabulous work the students were creating in only a few short days.  I thought, OMG how did they do THAT??  Why didn't I take THAT class.  So a number of years later, I did take her class...the Artful Quilt.  It was a fabulous week and you can read about it here and here.  I loved the class; I loved the process; I loved the piece.   

Judi's website says there will be a respective of her work at Gallery 22 North, in Ypsilanti Michigan in August.  She will be missed.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter