Self Portrait 1975

A few years ago when I started working on the redwork of my unique, spirited daughter & handsome nephews, I also did one of me.

The photographs from that 1975 photo session at Olan Mills are so cute, if I do say so myself. I was 13 months old & started walking that day, right in the studio!

So, I thought a close up of my face would make a good redwork pattern. Unfortunately, I had this frilly, Little House on the Prairie nightcap type hat. The folds & ribbons made it a little difficult to transfer onto the fabric. However, I think the end result came out, well CUTE!

Self Portrait 1975 by Tisha Dolton

(I have to remember to iron before I take these pictures!)

Reworking an old, incomplete piece...

Last month my mom was going through some vintage needlework she had accumulated over the years. She used to do a needlework party plan & taught candlewicking for awhile. In this bunch of stuff, she uncovered a partially embroidered piece that looked like Jacobean flowers. Mom said it came from my aunt's house.

Apparently the woman who owned my aunt's house previously was an artist. She used to go down to NYC to pick up supplies & come back to her home Gansevoort (Saratoga County, NY) to work on her ideas. This piece may have been one of her own designs transferred on to a bit of linen.

I decided to remove the original embroidery, which felt like crewel wool, & embroider the piece myself.

Used embroidery scissors to remove the old stitching

A new color pallet of variegated floss

 I used DMC variegated floss, #92 (green), #99 (burgundy/pink), & #105 (brown) to complete the piece. I wanted different colors but didn't want to have to plan a color way. So, I was lazy & used variegated floss!

Detail of the completed piece

Finished piece

Now that the piece is finished, I need to decide what to do with it. Should I frame it? Should I turn it into a table runner?

Redwork grandkids for competition?

Another project I have been working on for awhile is to create redwork renditions of the grandkids for my mom. My grandiose idea involved me learning to sew and creating an entire queen-sized redwork quilt. Ha!

Well, I had 4 of the 5 blocks done, but never got around to the youngest grandson, until Mom got an email from some quilt guru saying she should submit a quilt or 2 for an upcoming competition.

Breaking out the photo I had chosen of my nephew Aidan's cute face I got to work.

outline on blown up scanned image

traced image on bleached muslin using light box & pencil

traced image on muslin compared to outline on paper

Once the image I wanted had been transferred onto fabric, I was ready to embroider. I used my favorite spring tension embroidery hoop, similar to the Darice hoop, & DMC floss #347.

back of project showing my stitches & spring tension hoop

project in progress using outline stitch

Stem stitch vs. outline stitch... check out this blog!



finished redwork square of my nephew Aidan



With all 5 redwork squares done, Mom can create her grandkids quilt. It won't be very big. She is making 8" or 9" Puss-in-the-Corner for the remainder of the blocks.

I'll keep you posted if it is chosen for competition!