Snazzy Stitched Portrait class from Craftsy

Hi everyone:

Did you know that there are 36 quilting classes currently on sale on Craftsy? If you haven't yet taken one of their classes or have several on your wish list (yes, you can wish list their classes), now is the time to enrol in some.

I've just added yet another Craftsy class to my ever expanding library. I enrolled in Snazzy Stitched Portraits with Carol Ann Waugh and am really looking forward to these lessons. 

Why did I choose this class? Well, I've enrolled in both of Carol Ann's other classes, Stupendous Stitching and Stitch and Slash and am currently working on a project for the Stitch and Slash class. 

It's such fun to use a seam ripper for a constructive purpose! It's an easy technique with awesome results. You only need 4 fabrics for this project, so I chose 4 batik fat quarters from my stash (using fabrics from my stash again instead of purchasing more fabric - yay!), then drew up a design and stitched it and then the slashing began. Sounds rather violent, doesn't it? Actually it was very freeing to get that seam ripper in there and start subtracting fabric. 

Here are the batik fabrics that I chose - no pastels for this girl!

I thought that I might have problems only ripping through one layer of fabric, but I didn't have any difficulties at all. The only thing that caused me concern was deciding how much fabric subtraction (ie. slashing) to do. As Carol Ann says, "There are no mistakes", so this really took the stress out of this decision making. I just kept slashing until I liked the look of the piece. 

Here is how the top looks - see all the fabrics?

Detail of top

Next I have to add some texture by couching on some ribbon or yarn.  I'm liking the look of the sari ribbon that I purchased from The Steam Trunk Craftworks, just because I liked the colour (see, using up what I already have again!).

I think this sari ribbon goes very well

 I may even add some small doilies or beads - the sky is really the limit here. 

These doilies really pick up the colours in the fabrics

Then of course I'll get to use some of my decorative machine stitches and practice my free motion quilting to finish off the project.

Maybe I'll use one or more of these variegated King Tut threads

This thread might be nice for some
hand embroidery embellishment

Once I finish this project, I'll have to work on the Stupendous Stitching one. I bought the book that accompanies this class as well as a project kit with embroidery threads in it. Although Craftsy no longer offers this kit (it was a great deal!), you can purchase the book and other supplies directly from Carol Ann's store on her website (if you are outside the U.S., you can purchase her book and supplies from Blue Twig Studio).

I highly recommend Carol Ann's classes - she is a great teacher and has a sense of humour, which I think is so important when teaching.

Another part of my Stitch and Slash project

Have you taken one of Carol Ann Waugh's classes or another Craftsy class? I'd love to see what you created.