Friendly Face

The late afternoon sky.

I'm still working on some of the techniques I'm learning in the Funky Faces course....making it totally my own.  

I was getting a little tired of my own face....and remembered Tracie sent me a few sketches when she gave blind continuous drawing a try.  So I used Tracie's friendly face....and experimented with a few applique pieces and parts.

I'm mostly sticking with my theme of focusing on creating funky backgrounds.  I've enjoyed coming up with the backgrounds as much as I've like the faces....maybe more.  Once the class is over....I know I'll continue with other subjects....with funky backgrounds. I kept pretty true to Tracie's drawing don't you think?

To start....I added some fusible webbing on the back of coordinating polka dotted fabrics....and cut out some circles. At this point it was just an idea in my head....I wasn't sure if it would work.

I drew some very light vertical guide lines around the face to help with placement of the dots. I will admit that I didn't have a whole lot of hope at the point......it looked pretty bad.  But I kept going.  And....my machine takes on a life of its own when I'm free motion stitching....and sometimes I forget what my pattern is....but it just adds to the charm and wonkiness.  Or at least that's my story.

I did love how the polka dots were transformed by stitching......stitching changes everything is one of my mantras.

And the purple batik hair was a game changer.  I wasn't sure I would be sold on applique parts...but I was wrong.

I found the perfect stripe for the border....and used my tried and true fused binding technique to finish it off.  It will be on its way to Madison tomorrow.....and hopefully bring a smile to Tracie's friendly face.