Virginia Greaves

When I first started working on portraits, I asked the individual what their favorite color was — and then I would dye fabric in that colorway. It was easy to control the value changes this way — but I have since moved and do not have the facilities to dye. However, the interesting thing about working with color is the way it trains your eye — eventually, I could see that I had the commercial fabrics in my own stash to make a more realistic portrayal.

This is my 2nd piece using more realistic skin tones. In my last one, Sweet Dreams, her face pretty much encompassed the entire quilt — only a little of her coat showed. This quilt, however, required new colors for the shoulders and the space behind her head.

The personality of this particular individual screamed for some vibrant use of color. I tend more towards the cool colors — I tried green and blue — and blue green. But in the end, my husband agreed that this portrait called for hotter colors.

I will start covering the raw edges today or tomorrow — but I’ll have it on my design wall for a while. I can always change the background if I want to. The great thing about fusing is that you can always change your mind.

I have made a lot of progress on my latest portrait quilt. I still have some work to do on the hair — but I am considering changing one of the fabrics. I am still not as good at seeing value change with my eyes as I would like — and I worry that there is not enough change between 2 of the browns in her hair. I am also beginning to think about what the background should be like. In the original photograph, she was wearing a sparkly silver sweater — but I don’t feel bound to stick with that. She and her husband lived several years in India, so I am considering a radical color scheme in fuschia, orange, & purple. We’ll just have to see how it goes. I’m going shopping this afternoon — I don’t have the right purple for something like that.

I made more progress yesterday on my latest quilt. I added detail to the eyes and the ears. I still have her mouth (which will be hard — I picked out some fabrics today I think might work), the hair, and her sweater (which I will not recreate from the original photograph). I love to see the eyes come alive — one of the best parts.

This is a large piece  & I had to take this picture standing on a chair — which is causing some distortion in the photograph — but I currently work with everything pinned down to a table. I don’t want to disturb that at this point in the process — it might throw off the alignment of remaining pieces. Just keep in mind that this is lying flat — and even though I am elevated, there is an angle from the camera’s perspective as I can’t get any higher without moving it.

Cutting is by far my most favorite piece of creating — for me. Even before I touch my sewing machine, I have an idea of what the final product is going to look like. I love when you lay down all the pieces and it begins to look realistic — especially when using commercially printed fabrics — when you can disengage the brain enough to go beyond the prints.

This is what I have been working on — a portrait of a friend of mine. Just her naked face — I still have her hair — and a lot of detail in the ear, eyes, and mouth — but you can begin to see her peaking out at you through the fabric.

Last night, my Fiber Art Fusion group met & had a drawing workshop led by Mary Akers. She is such a talented teacher and was able to bring out the best work in all of her students. No tears — no mad dashes for the door. Using a still life & charcoal, these are the 2 pieces I did using different techniques:

I had so much fun that I may start drawing more. I have a sketchbook, but I don’t use it much. Most of what I do is on the computer.

I have been working on a new portrait of a friend of mine, Susan. When I first printed out the pattern, it was way too large, so I shortened it — and it still seems huge — but I’ve done a few in the 32 x 38 range. It is in the netherworld between 24″ and 40″ that will exclude it from many shows — but it is what is best for a portrait, IMHO.

This is a picture of the pattern traced onto vinyl on top of the base layer of muslin I fuse to.

I have picked out my face fabrics and will start my favorite part today — fusing & cutting!

Twelfth Night — the night of the 12th day of Christmas — is the time that we celebrate the coming of the Magi to give gifts to the baby Jesus. It is the last night before the feast of Epiphany, and we use this time to — well, have a party!

As I prepare to have our annual Twelfth Night feast, I thought that I would take a little time to share what I have been doing lately.

I finally finished my latest quilt. I think I’m going to call it Sweet Dreams. You can read about it on my website here.

I also finished my felted teacup. I was asked to make a pincushion for a swap at my local guild. I never made it to the Christmas meeting — and only finished the teacup today. I spent quite some time trawling the net looking for a pincushion that didn’t look like everyone else’s pincushion. What was the point of spending time on something pedestrian? I finally found the felted teacup and fell in love with it — which of course led me to start searching through thrift shops for wool sweaters I could felt (which has led to some wonderful discoveries other than sweaters). I am amazed at what some thrift stores have — I bought several designer pieces with the original tags still on them.

I also had great fun with the I-cord maker. This wonderful idea is from Betz White who is known for her felted cupcake pincushions.

My second holiday inspiration came from my friend Rebecca Reasons. (By the way, she is the one that won the 5 x 7 of Solomon that I made for our Fiber Art Fusion Holiday gift exchange.) She is an awesome artist and just had an article published in the winter edition of Altered Couture. While I was sitting next to her at our artist’s party last month, she showed me the wonderful book cover that she had made. I loved it. Then when I went to the store to buy a new planner for the new year and couldn’t find one with a cover that I liked, I realized that I could make a cover for it. I hid away in my studio (family was home all last week) and pulled out scraps in purple hues — a little black & white — and then quilted it like crazy in yellow and orange circles. Then I added the inside tabs, a slot for a pen, and finished it in the way I make my coffee cuffs. I also added some threads for a bookmark — my only regret being that I wish that they were longer. I didn’t account enough for the ring in the binder — but I may yet tie more strings to the ends & add beads.

By the way, I am selling my Hinterberg stretch machine quilting frame.  Please email me if you are interested.