OK…didn’t wait until tomorrow…here’s pics.

Here are Joseph and the three magi (Joseph on the left). Now Joe looks at bit thickwaisted, but he’s gonna stay that way….hopefully he’ll look fine once I add background, stable, animals, buildings, manger, etc. I like the magi….had a ball with the one on the far right..the white-haired one. I stamped green batik (using masking tape to mask off sections) so the fabric looks like a brocade painted in one of Fra Angelico’s paintings..fun!

Debra mentioned that the faces look *very* pale…I agree, especially in the photos. I dithered a lot about making them look Middle Eastern like they probably really did look, and looking like Fra Angelico’s paintings …i.e. northern Italian, a lot of blonds, etc. In the end I obviously went for circa 1430 a.d. Italians, noblemen and peasants. Will have to do another nativity some day that is more true to life…

Here is the tall, young king from the back:

And the old king from the back….you can see how I fused the fabric (which I pleated for the skirts) to the “front” side of the fusible interfacing, then wrapped it and glue-sticked it to the back (using washable, acid-free glue stick).

Of course, once I fixed Joseph, Mary needed some work. I got as far as un-picking part of her dress, and got tuckered out. That flu turned sinus infection is still getting me down. But I’ll finish her basic construction tomorrow and do the shepherds. Hmm….looks like you got a partial self-portrait, too….red fuzzy slippers!

And for something completely different, I needed a break yesterday and the day before, so I FINALLY satin stitched one of the blocks in my “Nourish” quilt, which has been on a back burner for about five months:

No photo today…but wanted to let you know I re-did Joseph from the neck down (using similar fabric) and he is MUCH better. Of course, that now means Mary needs longer skirts, but that’s OK….I thought she needed them anyway, and it’s only a partial re-do. I also got the three kings done today…at least the basic construction. Thanks to all for the hints and suggestions, they helped!

So who besides me is old enough to remember cutting out and dressing paper dolls? Well, that’s what it felt like I was doing today! I’d trace out a drawing of the king / Joseph / whatever onto stillf fusible interfacing with the dots side up, then cut out cloth and pleat and tuck it onto the fusible and fuse in place, then flip over, run glue-stick around the edge and tuck the edges under just like you’d fold the little tabs back. OK…I promise, pictures tomorrow.

Thanks to Terry for her about.com link for human figure drawing. I remembered the 1:7 ish ratio for the human body (as in a person is about 7 heads tall), but some reminders of width of head to torso and that the legs join the body at the halfway point were most useful! So that helped a lot with Joseph. And I got to paint on cloth to make the “brocade” for the old king’s dress….I promise, pictures tomorrow. Now, off to the sofa with the kleenex box (my nose is raw from using TP for two weeks…will I ever be well again?)….

So what does it do on April 5th in Maine? Snow, of course:

As for quilting…..was so whupped didn’t go work out today. Ended up (me????) taking a nap…I gave up naps when I was two, so if I fall asleep during the daytime, I’m really toast. So I was toast today. But before that, I worked on Mary and Joseph. I’m not entirely satisfied, so if anyone has any suggestions, PLEASE make them!

Mary isn’t so bad, and I like the baby. Mary’s pink dress is made from a pink spring uniform dress; for a different piece, I’d probably use a different fabric, but I really wanted to use the uniform fabric, so this is it. I think I’ll thread paint it heavily to shade it, and that will help. The silk cloak is hand-dyed by me, and I like it, and will carefully blindstitch it so that it will puff when the quilt is done. I’m wondering, though, if I have the proportions correct….

Particularly with Joseph. Something is definitely wrong. I trimmed his hair, but I still think he’s “off.” I’m not positive, but I think the head is too big for the body. Or the hair REALLY needs more trimming…definitely too wide. It would be easier to make larger bodies than re-do the heads, and I may try that….. I dithered a lot about the garments to have them wear…I wanted to make the figures look like they might have actually looked when Jesus of Nazareth was born, but in the end decided to go with what Fra Angelico painted, which was what he knew: predominantly northern Italians of circa 1450 a.d. Let me know what you think……hubby mumbled something, realizing after I pointed it out that something was off, but he’s worse off at figuring it out than I am….Thanks!

Well….here is yesterday and today’s work….looks precious little, doesn’t it? Sigh….. Yesterday I “painted” the faces using Tsukinenko inks and prismacolor pencils and began the stitching. Today, I finished the hair. I think I will assemble each figure, hand applique the face part, and machine applique the rest (probably to the machine work first, then ease the face down using silk thread).

These two are destined to be Mary and Joseph:

These will be the shepherds:

The angel or two (?)

The magi:
The faces are different sizes…I’m hoping that it will appear that Mary and Joseph are in the foreground, that the magi are a little behind and to the right, and the shepherds a bit more distant yet on the left…. that’s what I’m hoping since I don’t want to re-do them all! We’ll see…..

And here’s the chaos of my sewing table after the fact…..you’ll notice quilts not put away etc. piled on the bed in the background……

At long last, I started the stitching! PHEW! Last week I sketched before I got too sick to do much of anything. This past weekend, I pinned up the background (dark sky, ground) and mountains (formerly a winter uniform skirt from San Domenico):

Then yesterday, I cut out the sketches and pinned them to the background:

Today, after some serious avoidance issues (the I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing -why-didn’t-I-just-do-simple-piecing-instead-of-trying-to-make-art kind of avoidance) I traced the faces onto white PFD (Prepared For Dyeing) fabric and began coloring them in. I intended to use Tsukinenko Inks to do the faces, but I just couldn’t get the detail I needed in the applicators–the faces are about 1 1/2 to 2 inches tall, so it’s mighty small geography to do a face…even with sharp pencils!

So I used a combination of Tsukinenkos and Prismacolor pencils. Since I have no idea how I’m really going to do this and am making it up as I go along, I cut some fusible interfacing to “back” (and add an opaque layer) each face, spray-basted the faces to some wash-away paper stabilizer, and stitched hair today. Am about halfway done…have the angel, Mary, one of the kings, and a spare angel–the faces that is. Tomorrow need to do the other two kings, Joseph and the shepherds. When done, I’ll take pics of a couple of the faces and upload…..think I’ll use Spray Fixative (the stuff folks use to “set” pastels) on the faces to help “set” the pencils. Sure hope I don’t ruin ’em!

Once the faces are done, I’ll start constructing the individual figures…..in the meantime, here’s a cropped part of one of Fra Angelico’s madonnas. I made my Virgin Mary and baby a composite of three different images, including this one. I LOVE the Madonna della Stella, holding that little baby—just like a newborn looks cuddled next to his mama, but like the face (and get a better view) from other images:

And here’s the basic sketch I’m using for my piece:

I’ve never done foiling before, but plan to do that for the halos, and add beads and sequins…why not go over the top?!! All I can do is fail miserably, succeed, or end up somewhere in between….the question is where (lost in the space inside my mind?????)……