Mid-January 2010 Faces Project Report

I finished number 16 this morning. I've managed to make a face every day in 2010. I stitch first thing in the morning, before my coffee, before I have a chance to talk myself out of it. I try not to be too critical of the newest work. I try to remember to find the line that I love in each sketch. There have been some bumps along the way but my rule is to leave each face alone after stitching it.

Last weekend my critique/support group met and offered a lot of encouragement. Terry Grant wrote a wonderful post about her interest in faces. I've checked out some books of favorite artists from the library for inspiration.

Kathy Loomis has started a blog, Art With A Needle. She has written about her art-every-day journey. It was really her post to the quiltart listserv that challenged me to start this project. What struck a chord with me was that she feels this practice enhances her creativity. I'm believing it.

For documentation, I am using my scanner and it is giving me fits. Each piece is 4-1/2 inches square but the scanner doesn't care. The images it produces are all different sizes. Sometimes Photoshop (PE) will tell me that it can't use my scans. I hope to figure out how to make mosaics of the images. I know it will be very encouraging to see the volume produced by making something every day.

Did I mention that my sewing machine is working like a dream? For my "canvases," I am using a tightly woven, batik-like top fabric; Quilters' Dream Cotton batting; and Pellon fusible interfacing as stabilizer/backing. I'm using a 75/10 embroidery needle and DMC embroidery thread (50/2) on top with Sew Fine in the bobbin.