Who's That--A 2010 Completion

Current Lexi

This post is about documenting a past book club quilt project. We read "Remember Me" a book by Sophia Kinsella. The main character Lexi wakes up in a hospital bed after a car accident. She doesn't recognize herself. Turns out she is missing about three years of her memory. It was the author's description of the character looking at herself in the mirror viewing coiffed hair, plucked eyebrows, svelte body and straight teeth that she doesn't recognize that was the inspiration for this quilt. 

I created the scene with the character looking at her reflection. I had to cheat on the reflection because I would only be showing the back of the Lexi my character's brain remembered and I wanted to show more of the character. My friend Martha gave me the metallic "mirror" fabric. I thread painted myself in the mirror. This was my first trial at thread painting. I had tried a sample figure where I had used a typical threads--green hair for example to create the figure because I wanted to play with the technique.

A photo of myself helped me with work through the shading of the face and hair color. It was a challenge to make the mouth and the nose! The rouged cheeks weren't as subtle as I had imagined; but, the spirit of the svelte women is visible!

The Lexi the character remembers

I had fun creating the overweight, wild red haired gal that Lexi remembered herself being. I used layers batting to create the figure. I had the most fun creating the hair. I used about six different types of threads to build a base. What makes the hair special is the Razzle Dazzle Superior thread that I used in the bobbin to create the curls.

Over her shoulder you can see the tiny hour glass blocks that I interspersed in the background. In the story, time to figure out the issues was limited. You will have to read the book to determine if she was successful!

Sunflowers also figured into the story line. I had several pieces of sunflower fabrics; but, the fat quarter piece of the one I wanted to use was too small for the border so I used the batik fabric instead. I quilted around the sunflower print in the batik which worked well for me! The other piece of sunflower fabric became a part of the back.

My friend Martha helped me audition lots of fabrics for the mirror frame. None of the ones I auditioned next to the mirror were "it." One day when we were stitching together, she shared that pink fabric with metallic thread. It was a fabric that would be in my stash as I'm not into pink and gold thread isn't too exciting to me either.

Label

I had to admit that the fabric was "it." What I didn't take into consideration was that the additional batting to "trapunto" the figure would cause the piece to hang wonky. 

In spite of the lumps and bumps, I still like this quilt. The grandkids thought it was so funny that I used past photos of myself to draw myself. They showed me how easily they drew themselves and encouraged me to do the same!

I sure wish that I had that same confidence in my abilities; but, I don't. I am practicing drawing figures and I can see improvement. I do like drawing and sketching. I didn't draw as a kid though!

Regarding Covid--

Worldwide: 11.2M confirmed; 6.03M  recovered; 528K deaths

U. S.: 2.89M confirmed; 872K recovered;  132K deaths

Oregon: 9,930 confirmed; 213 deaths

This week there were so many more cases of Covid. One child care center in Milwaukie had 28 positive cases. Statewide, there were many

Finished quilt

more cases. The last three days in a row 300 or more cases of covid were reported. The governor froze moving to a new recovery phase for 60 days and she made an executive order that throughout the state we all must wear a face covering in a public place.

Regarding the protests:

They still are happening nightly. This week a faction broke the windows of the justice center building in downtown Portland. Police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd. The previous day, the city council had voted to ban police from using tear gas unless officer safety was at risk. There was a lot of discussion regarding whether or not the police had not followed the new protocol. 

Yesterday, Amanda and family came for a social distance barbecue. They brought drinks, dessert and buns. We provided the burgers, deviled eggs, potato salad, baked beans and chips. Bob smoked bacon basting it with maple sugar and brown sugar. He made guacamole for the corn chips; but, mostly for the burgers. 

Miss J loves bacon. Traeger smoked bacon is my favorite method of cooking bacon now. It was delicious as was the apple cake the girls

New mask styles

made for dessert! I liked my beer--Amanda selected it specifically for our tastes. She selected another that fit James and Bob's taste better. 

We watched the granddaughters kick soccer balls all over the property. We could tell that they have been practicing their footwork skills. I enjoy hearing their laughter. K told us about opening her restaurant--Keira's Restaurant. She served her favorite foods. She cooked the foods, made actual menus, took the orders, served the entrees, provided entertainment and cleared the table. She was open for lunch and for dinner. Lunch was steamed broccoli, salad and drinks. The sides cost a $1 and the drinks cost $2 with free refills. Drink options included pinot noir and Chardonnay wines with one wine coming from Johan winery. (Her mom's favorite Oregon vineyard) Dinner was pizza with toppings of pepperoni, olives, kalamata olives and a couple other items I couldn't remember. Dessert was ice cream; but everyone was too full after pizza to eat dessert. Pricing for dinner was higher.

She said she had to pay the sous chef (her dad); but, not the dishwasher (her mom) and that she needed to pay her supplier for the foods that she ordered for her restaurant. She felt that she

Modeling the Ithinksew mask

made some money on her venture. Kudos to her parents for indulging her in her restaurant trial. What a great way to practice science skills, math skills and writing skills in addition to all the planning and organizing!

I made some new to me patterns for face masks. Friday, I went to Quilting Delights and picked up a few yards of 1/4 inch elastic. The pattern I made for the granddaughters came from a Leah Day YouTube tutorial. The pattern I made for the adult masks came from the Ithinksew website. Adjusting the elastic is the key. I'm still working out that detail. 

The patterns are free. I liked that the kids' mask had a place for a removable filter. I liked the coverage of the adult mask. I also liked the wide area to slide in an additional filter if wanted. It was easier to make casings for the nose wire in both of the patterns. Both patterns took less time to make than the ones that I made using the Craft Passion pattern. The Craft Passion author has updated the mask pattern to include a vinyl area for the mouth for people who communicate through lip reading.

I plan to make another couple dozen masks for friends and family. This time, I'm sewing a few as I sew other projects. I used 3/4 yard of stash fabric for these masks which brings my total fabric stash use to 50 1/2 yards.