Portrait quilt
 

The end of the month I am taking a two day class in portrait quilting. The class is focused on doing pet portraits, called Best Friend portrait class. It will be fusible applique type with satin stitch and also have thread painting but I am really not sure how we are going to get to the thread painting part by the 2nd day unless the instructor really simplifies the pattern. We need to send her a picture and she prepares the pattern for us ahead of time. I am hoping that once I see the pattern I will be able to figure out how to do it myself so I can capture all of my fur babies. Here is a link to her site so you can see the style she does
http://heartsdesirequilts.blogspot.com/

Here is the picture I selected. This is Woolybear (aka woozle) my 15 year old Norwegian Forest cat. (he is one of 4 cats I have) He is an indoor cat but we did the photo shoot outside so I wouldn't get any red eye. Those of you who have done portrait quilts, do you think this photo is a good candidate?

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And this is the picture I want to attempt on my own of my two Shiloh Shepherds, Inigo and Keuka. That is if I like the technique and am happy with the way Woolybear's portrait quilt turns out.
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Stay tuned, I will post pics of Wooly bear when he is done.

Keep us updated your shepherds are georgous x

Omg! That is a whole lot of hair. I thought my "family" was hairy. Three cats and one dog.

LOL yes and all of them but one cat are long haired! And did I mention the dogs are 100 pounders? When I groom the dogs it often looks like a small animal met a rather gruesome demise with all the fluff scattered out on the lawn from them. I have dust bunnies (made of fur not dust!) and hairballs that could scare a small child! LOL Which is why no animals are permitted in my sewing room or LA room and the dogs aren't even allowed upstairs.

Since you're sharing pictures of your fur babies, I'll show mine. Here's Gus in all his glory..... always ready for a ride.

I'm so curious about the technique you will learn. I'd love to make a quilt of our past fur-babies just to honor them. They become such precious members of our families. Do keep us posted, okay?

nanna, if I wasn't married I would want to date that cute fella,.............nice pic.....calla

What a beautiful cat! And handsome dogs! But nana up north's dog, ready for a ride, makes me laugh out loud! Thanks for sharing!

Oh my! Your animals are really gorgeous!! I think Tartan's suggestions are right on and can't wait to see what you do with the portraits! Woolybear is beautiful but I can't get over those shepherds! Just want to get my arms around them!

What a wonderful picture! Gus is indeed glorious....how did you get him to pose like that!!! He gets my hugs too!

OMG Nanna that pic of Gus is Fabulous. The expression on his face and the position of him sitting in the driver's seat with paw on the steering wheel. Those eyebrows and whiskers make him look like an old man. Too funny! What breed of dog is that?

Tartan, I am not 100% positive but based on photos of her past class it looks like she crops out the animal with no background elements at all. I am to select a plain background fabric. So I think she is just going to capture the cat only in the pattern.

Purr-fect!!!!!

I'll bet it was hard for you to chose one of your pets since the one's you showed are all beautiful. The three of them look so well kept and intelligent. Good luck with the class. Wish I were nearby to take that class also. Cannot wait to see what you come home with after the second day.

Yes, Gus is certainly a character. We love him but he's not great at coming to us when we call. We live in the woods in the summer so sometimes we really need him to come to us. If we start the truck, he's there, lickety split. He's ALWAYS ready to GO. In fact you have to be careful to not say GO in a sentence because he knows what it means.
I could take that same picture almost daily (might have to put his paw on the steering wheel but he'd let me do that).

Gus is a German Wirehaired Pointer.... very energetic, very needy for attention and very strong willed.

I am so excited to hear about your class and how you will make the picture of your sweet cat. I'm clueless right now about how you would do that but I'd sure like to try it.

Awe, that's the perfect pic for that I think! Can't wait to see it, your shepherds are so beautiful, and Gus too, he does look like a character. All of ya'll are so blessed to have fur babies, I sure miss mine, and not allowed any here, wah!

If anyone can do that cat portrait, you can with your talents.

Nana up North, I love the dog in your picture. What kind of dog is he? He look adorable.

Excellent timing on snapping that picture of your cat. What a beautiful expression on it's face. Have fun.

Ok, I give up....what is the instructors name....even when you click on her profile...no name. I saw a Facebook blog finally on the margin.....Debbie Miller?. She really needs to put her name visibly on her page. Very talented lady...I bet you have tons of fun.

Yes she appears to have abandoned her blog as it has not been updated since 2012. I didn't realize that when I posted the link. She does seem to be more active on Facebook. Her name is Debbie Butler Miller.

Can't wait to see the results of your class. I have always wanted to do a dog portrait and have been collecting "Golden batik fabrics" for our Goldens forever. Maybe someday. With your talent and your adorable subjects, you should do great!

Thanks for all the fur babies pictures and I think they would all be very cute on a portrait quilt-love the cats, and nice pose of GUS

Wooly Bear is a beautiful car, should make an awesome quilt. Your Shiloh Shepherds are gorgeous, haven't seen many of them, and I love Shepherds.

Your cat is gorgeous!! Your dogs are as well...what is a Shiloh Shepard?

Your cat is beautiful, reminds me of Maine Coon cat. Have never heard of the Norwegian cat before.

[QUOTE=nanna-up-north;7254627]Since you're sharing pictures of your fur babies, I'll show mine. Here's Gus in all his glory..... always ready for a ride.

This is hilarious!!!

Great fur baby pictures. Love the pic of Woolybear. He looks to be full of purrsonality. Gus is hilarious - we can't say ride or walk around our 3 dogs either. Just putting on shoes is occasionally dangerous as our shepherd has an internal clock for walk times. I will say her clock is not always accurate!

You could crop it down more. That would remove the post and a lot of the background. I am also taking a similar class in the fall with Sandra Bruce. She calls hers "Material Matrix" and uses 2 1/2" squares. I can't wait to see yours.

Several people in my guild took a similar class. Most of them said they thought they could probably do one themselves after taking the class. They said they learned a lot in the class. It was of course a different teacher, and I didn't take the class.

Good luck with your class but I just had to tell you how beautiful your cat is & your shiloh shepherds are magnificent. I have a tri color Sheltie who is 12 & a Golden Retriever who is 5 1/2 & next to my family, they are the loves of my life.

Woolybear picture should be great. I had a Wooley Bear years ago. Was part Manx but I think he had more hair than your Woolybear. Your dogs are beautiful and will make a great picture. Be sure to post when you are finished This is something that is on my bucket list.

OMG - Gus clearly is a character !! Woozle is beautiful, as are both your dogs. Good luck with your pet portraits, will watch to see the finished portrait.

Gus is a show stealer, great pose.

I love woolybear, what a cute name. Long hairs are my favorite except for the brushing.

Wow, you have set a goal for yourself. Good luck and please share.