Saturday, January 1, 2011

Secret Project Revealed!

Recently I have been working, off and on, on a project that I was keeping a secret.  Why a secret?  Chiefly because if it didn't work out, I didn't want anyone but myself to know about it!  (I know--very silly!) 

Sometime in the fall I read about a contest in my QUILTING ARTS magazine, a contest for art quilts that would then become a part of their 2012 calendar.  The theme was "Feeling Pet-ty" and what contestants were to produce were 12"x12" quilts that portrayed a pet.

My first brainstorm (and I still think this was a super idea!) was to do a quilt called "My Granddogs."  For this I needed photos of the three granddogs in my life, Twist (Rob's border collie), Rolie (Kathy and family's miniature poodle), and Ace (Susan and family's Labradoodle).  I had a good picture of the young Twist, and Susan sent me a batch of excellent photos of Ace.  The problem was Rolie.  Since he is solid black, getting my hands on a good picture of him proved to be nearly impossible.  So, despite having put in a lot of work on this plan, I decided to try something else.

I decided to make a portrait of an unconventional pet, thinking that there would be hundreds of dog and cat portraits.  I wanted something different and edgy.  I delved back into my childhood.  I immediately thought about the little critters we used to call "horny toads."  My friend Kitty and I used to capture a baby horny toad, put it in a shoe box whose lid had holes poked in it, give it water in a bottle cap, but we never knew what to feed it.  So eventually we'd let the little thing go.  How well I remember how we'd stroke the baby between its horns, claiming that this hynotized it, though I'm sure it was just frozen with fright.  I can still remember how soft its little under belly was, in contrast with its spiny back.  (Incidentally, in those innocent 1950s, I had no idea that "horny" had a naughty connotation!)

After doing a search for images, I discovered that these are really lizards, not toads, and their official name is "horned lizard."  I found a wonderful photo online, wrote the photographer for permission to use his picture in a quilt, and then I started to work.  This quilt is now finished, but I am not going to publish here pictures of it, since it's soon to be competing with hundreds of others.  (But I will send my readers who are interested photos via email!)  I wish I had more time to perfect this quilt--I can see lots of flaws.  But the Jan. 7 deadline is approaching, and so I have photographed it as instructed and will send three 8"x10" pictures to the contest, along with a narrative about its inspiration, construction, and materials.

Meanwhile, though, I'll show you the images I was working on for the Granddog quilt.  And actually, all is not lost, for I have ideas for a Twist and an Ace product, to give to their owners!



photo above (taken years ago by me) and
below a traced image after I
scanned and enlarged the picture


Here is Twist, traced onto
muslin.  After hearing about
friend Linda's embroidered pet
portraits, I plan to do that for son Rob!

Here is Ace, a photo above
and then a picture printed onto  regular
paper after I doctored it
a bit with Photoshop.


The Ace portrait printed onto fabric,
appliqued onto a string-pieced background.
I had intended to turn this into
a pillowtop for Susan for Christmas, but I ran out of time. 

3 comments:

  1. Alice, what unique ideas you are pursuing! It will be fun to see the finished product(s). As for now, just seeing these pictures of these sweet dogs has produced a lot of pleasure. I wish I could hug and pat Ace right now. So adorable.

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  2. How brilliant to think back to the horned toad of your childhood. That should make a very interesting entry. I wish you had encouraged me to enter, but I wouldn't have thought of something so neat. All those dog photos are going to make some sweet gifts.

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  3. Yes, I think your "horny toad' is an original idea. I can't wait to see it. Your granddogs are cute. Especially, Ace. Both Ace and Twist are interesting names. Did you ever name your horned lizards?

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