1.6 million African American Quilters

 check out Kyra Hicks new book.  she talks about the statistics of how many African American do quilt and are quilters. the fact that we do spend money on quilting.  she also give you a list of African American guilds, quilting books by African American and a whole list of African American quilter who have websites and blogs on the Internet.  Kyra also added 6 quilting blocks by Francine Haskins.  for this book to be so little it is full of great information about us that i didn't know.  i enjoyed the book it was very easy to understand and read.  check it out.  also this blog is mention in her book.

stitches

yetunde

ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS.

the Bob Marley quilt was used by using the "PHOTO-INSPIRED ART QUILTS: From Composition to finished Piece", book.  i took a class from Bisa Butler at a retreat several months ago on this same technique but using different types of fabric to give it a different look.  i just needed the book to give me a little more understanding of what i was doing.  the other technique i use is by Maria Elkins, she has a DVD that she is selling to teach her technique.  you can find her on the Internet.

the Bob Marley is a picture from a t-shirt.  my old t-shirt has bob marley with a black background. but i saw this one in a store and took a picture of it with my phone and enlarge the picture. 

someone asked what type of fusible web i was using and i am still trying to find the right one for me.  i like to use ulltra heat n bond because it give me a sharp smooth cut. but what i don't like about it is, that it makes the quilt very stiff from the fabric layers that i use.  steam n seam give me the feel i want but not the sharpness. so i am still playing with that.  so i hope that i answered every ones questions.  i am a work, still sick and can't wait until lunch timesoi can take a nap.  friday i am taking the day off and going to my cousin's beach house and i hope i can get some rest there.

stitches

yetunde

i have a cold

yes, i have a very bad cold.  i went to the doctor and the medicine is just not working fast enough for me.  so i am just going to show pictures.

i hope you like.

stitches,

yetunde

bob marley

that's right i am working on a bob marley piece.  at first i started to trace the picture to get my pattern that i wanted to work on. but i change my mind and cut directly from the picture.  so i had to print a couple copies of the picture.  the fabric was fused and the fabric was temporaryly adhesive to the picture.  i cut out the different shades of the picture.  all most just like the other technique that i do.  i posterize the picture, and i did not grayscale the picture.  i left the picture just as it is and posterize it in color and just cut out the different shades.

i use a light box to help me lay the pieces in it right place by having a picture on top of the light box.  here is what i have done so far. 

check me out later. it is late and i have to go to work in the  morning.

stitches for now

yetunde

finishing up

after i start working on this piece, i realise that this one is going to be a hard one to work on.  there are a lot of tiny little pieces that i could not cut out the way i wanted to.  i don;t like the out come of her mouth or eyes.  i am going to try the other technique where i will use a verity of colors.  the quilting of this piece was very easy to use this time sense i you steam -n- seam 2 lite.  i like heat n bond,  it gives a sharper cut with the fabric.  it doesn't fray as much when i use heat n bond.   the problem with heat n bond is that it is a little harder to quilt with the heat n bond.  right now i am using the steam n seam.  so here is my final result of this quilt. i hope you like it, because i don't. 

stitches for now

yetunde

i took the pledge

i join, i took the pledge, this is a group of quilters who pledge to show the progress of their quilts on their blog.  i pledge to show from start to finish of making my quilts.   now this is going to be hard for me because i like to just show you my finish product.  trying to explain is going to be the hard part ,so i hope i can explain clearly so that everyone understand.

so right now i am going to show the quilt that i was working on with the new technique that i was teaching myself from a book.  here is the finish product of the quilt that was in the book.  i like this one better that the one of my cousin with the big hat.  i hope you like it.

 

now that i made this pledge i will explain what i am now working on.  a friend wants me to make a portrait quilt of her sister.  i usually make the portrait quilt no large than 8" x 11" or 11" x 15".  but once i got the original picture the way i want it on the computer, i realize that i did not want to make this into a small quilt.  i didn't think that i would get a good result if i did it small.  i believe that this portrait will be about 17" x 22".  i hope i can do this and i hope she will like it.  i blew the picture up by tiling the pictures into 4 pieces and taping them together.  my printer will not do tiling and and i don't know how to tile a picture on photoshop element.  so here is a picture of the four pieces taped together. i use to outline the different gray scales, but since i have done so many of these i don't have to outline the grayscaling any more.  this picture is just grayscale to number 2 level.  not like some of other portraits that were level 4 grayscale.  i have not decided what color i am going to make this portrait.  check back next week and i will show you what i have done and also about the cookout at my house for the quilting bee that i am in.   here is the picture that i am working on.

stitches for now

yetunde

ok, here is the new portrait technique that i am trying out.  it wasn't to hard to do, but i need more practice.  this is not going to beating me.  i didn't do the one that was in the book that i was using.  but now i am going to go back and do the picture that is in the book and see how i do.    i am working on a quilt for my bed and i am doing it all by hand.  now you know that is not me but i need a quilt for my bed and i am not going to buy one.  so wish me luck.  i will show that one later.  i am trying to decide if i am going to machine quilt it or hand quilt it.
making is short

stitches,
yetunde