"Tammy" ...and How to Mount a 14" Block

Tammy is my neighbor and one of the best people I know.
We were moms together; we each have two boys the same age, one quiet, one loud...she understands and loves my kids more than almost anyone.
Now that all our boys are grown and flown, Tammy and I are still very close. 

I took some pictures of her during the annual 4th of July BBQ she and her husband Frank have every year...knowing I wanted to use her as the subject of a new "Frame it With Flowers" portrait.  I didn't tell her though!

It's a very portable project and I've taken it with me on my summer travels, as you will see.  I decided to mount it when it was finished, to keep it flat and easily hangable on the wall.

So meet Tammy....

I have learned from long experience that a printed photo has to be thoroughly stabilized before appliqueing it onto a background.  So this photo has three layers:  first it is interfaced with fusible interfacing, then it has a layer of batting slightly smaller than the photo, then another layer of fusible interfacing overall, which holds the batting into place.  This works perfectly.

Tammy showed me this vintage print she found and loves, intending to hang it in the living room that she and Frank are turning into their library, now that the boys are gone.  They own thousands of books.
I took this as my color scheme for the flowers I was going to make.

So I got started.  The outer fabric is vintage linen in a color that matches the frame of Tammy's print.  I am so sneaky!

As I said, this is a great project for traveling.

First it went to Atascadero, CA where I was teaching the class, "Frame it With Flowers".

You can see it on the table in the foreground right.
I love this class so much because the photos everyone brings to frame all have such meaningful stories...

Next I took Tammy to Vermont, where the Quilt Alliance was holding its annual board meeting.

This year's meeting was in the studio of Frances Holliday Alford. We not only brought our own projects to work on during the meeting, but Frances had covered the whole table with canvas and set out markers and paints for us to cover it with during our time there.  Yay Frances!  I circled my place at the table so you can see my project.

Next up was the first Salon of Mark Lipinski's Slow Stitch Movement in New Hope, PA.  He wrote an excellent blog post about it here.  You definitely should check out his website to see what this is all about.

Tammy and I were in exalted company.  From left to right next to me is Chawne Kimber, Liza Lucy, Mark, and Meg Cox around the table.  If you don't know Chawne's work, drop everything right now and go see her quilts here.  And her astonishing redwork here.  (Not for the faint of heart!)  The fact that Chawne is a full professor of mathematics awed me for sure, but her work does even more.

Liza is business partners with Kaffe Fassette and she had a whole room in her home with his fabrics for her mail order business.

Treasure indeed....

Then I came back home and finished up my project.  Here is how I mounted it:

1. I cut a piece of batting to fit 1/2" larger all around than the finished size of my block, which is 14" X 14".  I adhered the batting with a shot of Sulky fabric adhesive spray.

2. I couldn't find any foam core in Washougal where I live, so I went with some clean heavy cardboard from a box.  This was cut at 14" X 14".

3. Using wide painters' tape, I gently stretched my project over the batting and cardboard and taped it to the back.  I found that first ironing the folds along marked lines was very helpful.

4. The back of the cardboard needed some padding too, so I cut a piece of scrap fleece exactly 14" X 14" and sprayed it to the back of the cardboard.

5. I cut the backing (also vintage linen) and finished it to size.  But before sewing it on, I prepared the means to hang the block with cording.  I inserted each end to the back of the backing fabric, and zig zagged the ends in place.

6. It was easy to pin the prepared backing to the back of the cardboard--I just inserted the pins straight in to secure the layers. Then I took it outside and finished up, removing the pins as I whipstitched the backing to the folded over edge of the block.

And there is my Tammy.
One of my favorite parts of this project was looking down at her smiling face the whole time I worked.

Here's a detail:

I liked making that kind of wispy outer frame out of the big embroidery stitches.  ;-)

Tammy had no idea this was happening so when she came over to tour the garden (she and my husband are great gardening pals)....

....I led her into my sewing room so she could see her portrait on the design wall.
Well, she started to cry which made me so happy.  Bulls eye!

Is there anyone you want to frame with flowers?  Try it, you will love it!

April Take It Further.....Finished

What I enjoyed most about this project, to be honest, was getting back to crazy quilting. I thought I had burned out on it a little bit, but this piecing and stitching and beading felt really good.

Here is the fan on the left side. Those cute little brass leaves were a gift from Pat Winter last summer. She gets them from Artful Market on Etsy.

And here is the fan on the right. I had to keep the embellishments pretty simple to reflect that this is about boys. No waste canvas this time around, but I did use one of Carole Samples' templates for the wavy lines. (Read about them here.)

My Lovely, Lovely Boys
15" X 15"

The title is a line from my favorite made-for-TV movie, Smiley's People. The character Connie Sacks is sadly referring to the young men she used to work with in British Intelligence, in her role as chief Russian analyst, before she got literally sacked (by the mole who was making her look bad, of course).
But with all the guys in my family--my two boys, my sister's three, and my brother's one, all born within 5 years of each other--"my lovely, lovely boys" as been in the family lexicon for years. And yes, I have lost them...at least a little bit, so I share some of Connie's regret.

Anyway, I am fairly happy with this piece though the technical glitches are what I learned the most from. I really should have been much more careful lining up the photos...I should have pieced the whole block and then appliqued the felted linens, and then appliqued the photos. I would have had better control that way. That they are crooked truly bugs me.
I would have been able to achieve a flatter surface with the photos if I had done that, too. It is o.k. that they puff out, but I would have preferred them flat in this case. Chad wouldn't look quite as weird as a one year old if I had done that.
I loved all your comments on this piece...thanks!!!

Anyway, it is done, it was fun....and the sun is out. We need to be out there digging and making ready for these:

My husband is taking the tomatoes quite seriously this year......

Take It Further, April...Day 2

Adding the embellishments to a naked block is always so much fun.

Above is a detail shot of the center of the block...

...and an overall view. (Please pardon the pins.)
When it goes over foam core I should be able to get everything square and aligned right. It looks a bit crooked at the moment.
More stitching today...but tomorrow when the sun is supposed to finally show up, all bets are off!

Take It Further, April...Day 1

The Take it Further challenge for April, as described by Sharon Boggon here, asks us how we view change...Sharon also gave us a color palette to work that, like last month's, reflects the coming of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. (Hey Sharon, it is spring up here, you know!...)

I decided to address the change that is most important in my life these days....that of the attaining of adulthood in my children. This year Max is 21 and Chad is 18, two landmark ages in becoming adult.

No one tells us at the beginning of the experience of motherhood that we will have to stay very light on our feet during the transition period of "letting go". While we will always be moms and always give unconditional love to our children, we sure have to change the way we behave towards them, and what we expect from them too, as they become independent. We have to relearn some of our own independence as well...I am no longer tied to my kids in the same way anymore. This was hard for me to understand at first, but I am making great progress, especially because my guys are doing so well in their lives and are both genuinely happy. ( A special thank you to Esther on that score!)

So, my little piece reflects all this musing....

I started by felting some hand-dyed soy silk onto a couple of vintage linen napkins that Pam Kellogg so generously shared with me.

The boys at ages 4 and 1.....

...and today.
It is an extremely sentimental setting for them, but this is as much about me as about them....call it their feminine mom showcasing them in her love!

I kept to the palette pretty well except for using blue instead of green. It reflects their masculinity well.
I will square this all up when the stitching is done... for today, I will address those fan blades with some blue embroidery!
The square is 12" X 12"...on point it is 17" X 17".
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A few notes to commenters....Cherry asked for more info about finishing a piece with foam core. The next issue of CQMagOnline will have a how-to article by me on that subject, so please look for it online at the end of this month.

Kim asked what I do with all the things I make....I am thinking about setting up an Etsy shop to give some of them new homes. Stay tuned.....

Family Textile Portraits

I've been missing playing with my beads, threads, and fabrics lately! So I decided to do the third in what is becoming a series of family/floral portraits. It has been so nice to look down at my work this week and see my sister's beautiful face smiling up at me!

But first I'll just show the first two portraits, in case new readers haven't seen them. I combine photographs of the portraitee on silk with floral arrangement "frames" that have also been photographed and printed on silk.

Here's my mother's, in progress...

Here is the completed portrait of my sister-in-law's parents. Aren't they sweet? This was a gift for their 60th wedding anniversary.

And this week it was Mary's turn to go under the needle!

The floral print came out a little muddy, so I drew a few highlights on the flowers with my water soluable wax pastels, which when ironed become permanent. I also added that white around the inside of the floral frame.

Fast forward here...I've just added a few embellishments to this piece, not wanting to go overboard. What you see here is the ribbon border, *edit* done in a herringbone stitch, between the flower fabric and its silk jaquard frame, which is sari fabric I found on eBay.


And here she is, my incomparable sister! This has been stretched over foam core, like Marne's cottage portrait was.
I am going to give this to Mary's daughter Qwen, who turns 6 today, for her birthday.
Every girl should always have their mother smiling at them, don't you think?