What a summer it has been so far! Hot and sunny, foggy and rainy. And so muggy! Not really what we’re used to for Maine summers, but what can you do. No matter what, it’s nice to be home-based for a couple months. Next week I’ll do my annual “What I Did This Summer” blog post with photos of some of our activities.
It hasn’t all been farmer’s market shopping, taking the dogs for jaunts to the shore, and kayak outings for me, however. I had two relatively local lectures/trunk shows plus an exhibition in July. First, I went back to my old stomping grounds in New Hampshire for a slide lecture with my first quilter’s guild, Cocheco Quilters Guild in Dover, New Hampshire. Then I had a special exhibit of my “Specimens” quilts and presented a Specimens-focused slide show at Maine Quilts, our state’s largest quilt show held in the capital, Augusta.
Cocheco Quilters Guild: Dover, New Hampshire
My visit to Cocheco Quilters Guild took me back to my fabric collage roots. When I was an unbelievably young 26 years old, I moved to Portsmouth, NH. Tom had gotten a job nearby with a small publisher. I started work first at an art supply store, then at a picture frame shop, and finally at the wonderful Portsmouth Fabric Company. At this time I was beginning to figure out how to create images in fabric. To get some inspiration and guidance, I joined the Cocheco Quilters Guild in nearby Dover. Two of my early pieces, one of my friend “Susan P.” and “Elements” (both below) were inspired by guild challenges.
I can’t remember if finished size was part of the guild challenge in the quilt above, but I do remember it was to use a particular “ugly” fabric—I used it for the background—and for it to be hand-quilted. As I mention in my lecture, this quilt of my friend remains my only hand-quilted piece. It didn’t take long in the process to realize that when you layer fabric shape onto fabric shape onto fabric shape (using a spray glue at that time to adhere them), it gets a little thick for hand-quilting. I think I counted 10 layers around her eyes. Live and learn. After that, it’s been machine quilting all the way.
The quilt “Elements” was inspired by a guild challenge to depict the four elements earth, air, fire, and water. You can read more about it in this Quilt Stories blog post.
It was at the Cocheco Guild that I met other women whose interests led them away from traditional quilting. We formed a group we called The Renegade Quilters (or just The Renegades), which met monthly at one of our studios. I can’t tell you how influential and important this group was to my development as an artist. In fact, they deserve their own blog post! (Making note to do a future Renegades blog post.)
But back to the present, for the guild lecture I drove the hour and a half south along the coast, first coming to Portsmouth, NH. With some extra time, I visited my former workplace of Portsmouth Fabric Company, always an invigorating and inspiring stop. If you ever find yourself near to Portsmouth, I highly recommend the store to any fabricaholics. It’s an old brick port building stuffed to the gills with a huge variety of fabrics. I always find something I need.
In the early 1990’s I was manager here, as the shop made it’s transition from fine dressmaking to non-traditional (as in not calicos) quilting cottons. Yes, much of my paycheck was spent increasing my stash, and the fabrics and colors I was surrounded by definitely influenced my collection of fabrics for “Elements.”
One of the people greeting me that day was Hannah (above right), the daughter of one of my Renegade Quilter friends, and now herself the manager of Portsmouth Fabric Company. It was quite the reminder of “time flies” as I think she was about four years old when I first met her. Her own kids are about that same age now.
And then it was time to hit the highway again to go another half hour north to Dover, NH and the Cocheco Quilt Guild’s monthly meeting. It was an afternoon that involved thunderstorms that may have deterred some people, so I didn’t see all the familiar faces I was hoping to, but it was lovely to see the ones that were there. Lots of reminiscing ensued.
It was a very enjoyable evening with people whose names I knew and others I had never met, but all having that love of fabric in common. It was fun to share my quilting history, the collage process, and quilts with all of them. Thanks for inviting me back, Cocheco!
Maine Quilts Show and Lecture: Augusta, Maine
And then a week later, it was an hour north to Augusta to hang my “Specimens” exhibit at our state quilt show, Maine Quilts. It’s only the second time this grouping of my quilts has been shown, the first was at Houston’s International Quilt Festival in 2016. I have to say it was a pleasure to be able to share this exhibit with my home, or should I say adopted, state. Even though it’s been home for 22 years, I’ve been told (by Tom) that I’ll always be a “transplant.”
Maine Quilts had a crew of six waiting for us to help hang the exhibit. Since Tom had devised Stevie the Croc’s hanging system (lengths of connecting metal conduit) he supervised our white-gloved helpers. They had Stevie all set in no time. I barely got my job done—deciding the hanging sequence of the remaining ten quilts—when they were ready to unfurl the croc, captured just in time in the video below.
This is a 3-day quilt show, Thursday through Saturday. I couldn’t attend day one (I had a blog post to finish!), but I was there bright and early Friday morning to shoot a short 3-minute video about one of my quilts for Quilt Alliance’s “Go Tell It At The Quilt Show!” project. I hadn’t heard of this before, but what a great idea. As Quilt Alliance says on their website, “one person talking about one quilt in front of one camera for three minutes”“another quilt story shared.” I decided to talk about “Crocodylus Smylus,” a.k.a. Stevie, since that’s the quilt I get the most questions about, but it was kinda like choosing who’s your favorite child. I haven’t seen the video yet, I was told it would be a few weeks to get it posted on their site. I’ll let you know when it’s out, maybe, if it turned out well. But in the meantime, here’s a whole bunch of other quilt stories to check out, or tell your own, the Quilt Alliance tells you how to do it.
After that short talk, I decided to make my own similar length video (below) panning the entrance to the show and walking you through to see the rest of my quilts—didn’t want any of them feeling left out.
Below are some stills of the Specimens exhibit. To see them larger, click on any photo and advance with the arrows that appear on either side.
We had warned the organizers of Maine Quilts that Stevie needed a little distance to be viewed, and they placed her in a great spot. I went up into the balcony seats to get this panoramic photo above and the video below. It was a great vantage point to see a teaser of all the great quilts peeking out from all the rows.
Since I usually travel a lot farther than an hour up the road to show my quilts or to give a lecture, my family who lives in the same town I do, rarely gets to attend either a show or a talk. My sister Heidi (above), stopped by one day to check things out. She agreed to pose with her two favorite quilts of mine, which by chance, I had hung next to each other. Anyone who knows Heidi would not be surprised that two unlovable creatures, the carrion-eating marabou stork and a bat, would be loved by her.
My dad came to the show on Saturday and was able to attend my noon lunchtime lecture. I altered my regular lecture for length and decided to focus specifically on my love of animal subjects and the making of a couple of the Specimens quilts. Again, it was a great crowd—but then they also had food to help keep them satisfied!
But it wasn’t my exhibit or lecture that got my dad to drive to Augusta, it was the thought of seeing a particular quilt that my sister and I had mentioned called “Adolescent Chick,” pictured below, with artist and student, Nancy Cooledge.
Nancy has attended a couple of my Maine retreats and started this chick in one of them. Nancy’s idea was to depict the awkward stage her chicks go through as they leave the cute and fluffy look behind on their way to the mature feathered creatures they will become. And that’s what appealed to my dad, the Nebraska farm boy too, as he remembered the life cycle of the chickens he used to tend.
I really like Nancy’s treatment of this little chick—she used the prints in the fabrics so nicely to indicate those short little feathers sticking out at all angles. Be sure to click on the photos below to see them close-up.
It was after my dad left on Saturday that I saw Nancy and her friend Jean Savalchak (below). Jean is also a repeat Maine retreat student whose work may look familiar to you. I know her “Portrait of the Quilter’s Husband as a Young Man,” has been featured in a past Finish Line blog post.
It was fun for me as I wandered through the show, to come across both Jean and Nancy’s quilts, like running into old friends that you knew when they were young. And then to run into the ladies themselves, that was an extra treat.
The theme of this year’s Maine Quilts Show was “Bee Sew Inspired,” which was presented as a quilt challenge from the Pine Tree Quilters Guild, a group that encompasses numerous smaller state-wide guilds. At least two or three rows were dedicated to these theme quilts and I loved the imagination that went into them. The end-cap display (below right) made me smile, though if that masked bee-keeper was for real, I would have kept my distance.
I hung around the show for the good part of two days, sometimes answering questions about my quilt exhibit, other times seeing what others were doing in the quilt world. Sometimes I took photos. Below is a slide show of just a few of the hundreds of wonderful quilts that were on display.
Slide Show from Maine Quilts 2018
There was a total of four special exhibits in this show: mine, the bees, a selection from the New England Quilt Museum, and this collection of hand pieced and hand quilted quilts titled, “Not Patience Perseverance,” by Marjorie Lydecker (above). This woman is in her early 90’s and has an amazing legacy of quilts to her name—plus she’s got a lovely personality and a great outlook on life. It was such a pleasure to meet her and have at least a little time to talk.
I never did ask, but I know the Quilt Alliance video crew headed off with her that Friday morning, so I’ll be looking for her 3-minute “Go Tell It At The Quilt Show!” talk as well. Below are photos of just a few of Marjorie’s beautiful quilts. Click on any to view as a slide show.
And then the show was over. A take-down crew appeared and helped me pack up my quilts into a foot locker, with Stevie the Croc rolling up into a six foot tube that could be slung under your arm. Quick and easy. A thank you to Maine Quilts for the invitation and a great experience.
Next stop for my quilts, The New England Quilt Museum for my one-person show this September 26th to December 30th. Like this car quilt says, “Follow me to the New England Quilt Museum, 18 Shattuck St., Lowell, MA—www.nequiltmuseum.org.”
More info coming in future blog posts.
Susan Carlson Maine Quilt Retreat Openings
I have an opening in both my Harpswell All Levels Retreat and in my Portland Advanced Student Retreat this October. The first class, from October 2-5, is for for any level. The second, from October 22-26, is for experienced collage quilters only.
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October 2-5, 2018, Harpswell, Maine
Level: Any. Four days. Price: $740 (Non-refundable Deposit $100)
Lodging arranged by student through the Harpswell Inn.
1 Space Available
If you haven’t taken a class with me before or if you need a refresher this class is for you, though any level may sign up. I start each morning with about an hour-long demonstration that will lay out the basics of fabric collage and will give you the information you need to start your work day. I will then visit each student in turn to address individual needs and your project’s unique challenges.
Retreat fee includes onsite lunches as well as one group dinner.
Lodging arranged separately by student. For information about the Harpswell Inn go to harpswellinn.com. Extended stays can be requested. Lodging and additional meals are extra. Breakfast included with lodging at Harpswell Inn. It is not required to stay in the Harpswell Inn but it is recommended for convenience.
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October 15-19, 2018, Portland, Maine
Level: Advanced. Five days. Price: $925 (Non-refundable Deposit $100)
1 Space Available
Special Price Lodging at Hyatt Place Portland-Old Port: $159/night—only available until August 25, 2018. Discount code will be sent with request for payment of balance.
Dive right in as Susan Carlson hosts a five-day retreat for advanced students only. Susan skips the introductory fabric collage demonstrations and focuses instead on techniques that can take a project beyond the basics. If you have taken two or more classes with Susan previously you probably qualify. Contact Susan to discuss if you have any doubts whether this class is right for you.
Retreat fee includes onsite lunches as well as one group dinner.
Lodging runs from Sunday-Friday nights. Extended stays can be requested. Lodging and additional meals are extra. Breakfast included with lodging at Hyatt.
Fabric Collage Master Class
For instructions on the entire fabric collage process, you can purchase the Susan Carlson Fabric Collage Online Master Class Manual. Using video, photos, and text I take you from soup to nuts, beginning to end in creating your own fabric collage masterpiece.
Serendipity Quilts for Sale
My book on fabric collage, Serendipity Quilts, is back in stock! The price is $29.95 plus shipping. For a signed copy click the button below. Note: If you want a inscribed copy (as in “To Jane”) I have to be home to do it, so you may want to check my teaching schedule. Otherwise your order may be delayed.
I hope “Stevie” will be at the New England Quilt Museum. I can’t wait to see your work up close and personal.