The Finish Line: Completed Student Work Volume 12

A dozen Finish Line posts! And more in the works! After posts #10 and #11 earlier this summer, there was a bunch of submissions of finished quilts, and I’m grateful that former students keep sending them in. But before I share those new ones, I still have earlier photos to catch up on—a problem that’s great to have.

Most of the following quilts came from people I saw in the first half of this year in another class as a repeat student, or maybe they just stopped by to say hi and show me their finished quilt while I was in California, Colorado, or Montana. Or maybe their email arrived at just the right moment to be included in this selection. In any case, it’s a mixed bag as always.

As much or even more than my own work, these Finish Line student quilts inspire not only a “Wow!” but also a “Hey, maybe I could do that too!” So if you’re looking for inspiration to tackle a fabric collage quilt at last, or maybe to continue on one you’ve already started, this is the place to find it.

For more Finish Line posts click here.

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Empty Spools Seminars, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, CA: March 2016

Pam Munns has been a student of mine three times now, beginning in 2015 with her “Donna”¦the Iguana”¦Carlson,” a finished quilt and story you can read about in Finish Line Volume 10. The latest class she, and her friend Bonita Shaw, were in was just this past June in Morro Bay, CA. In that class, Pam began her “Cuda Carlson” fish (you’ll just have to read the story in the link above if you’re wondering about these titles), and was getting ready to finish “Octavius Rex Carlson” octopus begun in 2016. Just a couple weeks ago, I received the finished versions of both.

Here’s what Pam had to say about the octopus:

After putting him away for a few years, I finally got Octavius Rex (Carlson) Von Kraken finished.  I’m tired of this sucker (pun intended!).  I had him on the foam core board for so long he started losing pieces and I’m still finding suckers.  Figured it had to get done before he fell apart.  I’m not sure if I told you this, but when I was in your class at Asilomar, a lady in the class next to us came over to our classroom and was looking at my octopus.  She told me she was a docent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and asked if I wanted to go see the octopuses.  Uh YEAH!  We got to see two of the giant octopuses, which she said was rare, first because they were less likely to come out in the daytime, and secondly two of them were almost never out together.  I got to stand up close and personal with one of these magnificent creatures.  I have to thank Nancy Ogimachi for taking me there.

The artist whose drawing I took inspiration from is from the Netherlands and his name is Eric Snelleman.  I asked him if I could make the quilt and perhaps show it one day.  He was so gracious!  He was excited that I had kept his “energy in motion”!

I love seeing everyone else’s finished projects. Thanks!

What a great way to link people around the world—a drawing by an artist in the Netherlands, interpreted in fabric by a quilter in California, taught by an instructor (me) from Maine, and spread back around the world to be viewed by you, my readers. How cool. Thanks to all involved.

Unfortunately, I don’t seem to have retained all the earlier in-progress photos of this eight-limbed mollusc, but Pam did a fantastic job keeping track of all the flailing limbs with all their highlights and shadows, not to mention the suckers. Pam made good use of fabrics with circular prints in them, if you look closely, I’ll bet you can recognize some of the fabrics. It’s always fun to say, “I’ve got some of that in my stash too!”

Seven Sisters Quilt Show, Fish-Bug-Butterfly Class, Morro Bay, CA: June 2018

And if completing one quilt wasn’t enough of a summer project, Pam got her latest collage—a barracuda—finished as well. How fun and colorful Pam’s pieces are—they certainly make me smile. Great job all around, Pam. I look forward to the next time.

From Pam about the barracuda:

Well I finally got Barracuda done.  The original name is Cuda Carlson, as you know, but like dogs at a dog show, he also has his foo foo show dog name:  “Barracuda in Pursuita” (which harkens to my career as a highway copper and CHP driving instructor!) It’s hard to get him in a single photo!  By the way, those little fish took me longer than the entire big fish!  I knew there was a reason you always tell us BIGGER!!

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In April of this year, there were two familiar faces in my class at Alegre Retreat in Gateway Canyons, Colorado, Andrea Van Voorhis and her friend, Lois Hunter. They had been in my 2013 Asilomar class where Andrea began this six-foot macaw, and Lois a lovely old and rusty truck (which, Lois if you’re reading this, I’m still waiting for a finished photo—hint, hint).

I do always say “go BIG”, even back then. Andrea’s much-larger-than-life creation was a stand-out during the walk-through at the end of the session, when students from many classes get to visit other classrooms to see what went on during the week. I still get remarks from people who saw this bird in progress in 2013. I finally got to se the finished version when Andrea took another class from me at Art Quilt Tahoe, where I took the photos below. In-progress and finished, this bird is spectacular.

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Empty Spools Seminars, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, CA: February 2014

I first met Marty Gigler in this Asilomar class, and then again in my Maine October 2015 Leaf-Peeper’s Quilt Retreat, which she attended with her husband in tow. I didn’t save many in-progress photos prior to beginning my blog, so I only have the one below. I do remember this was the “pelican” class, with at least 3 different versions in progress—some classes are that way—with certain birds, reptiles, or pets in abundance.

Marty’s pelican took on a lovely warm and watery look with the batiks she choose to work with. Even the pilings have a great worn and sun-washed texture. I think she did a beautiful job blending the various fabrics in both colors and values.

In June 2014 (yes, that long ago, I told you I was catching up with these selections), Marty sent me the following:

The pelican is finally done….I think!  Sorry for crooked picture.  Thanks so much for all your help and advice.  Your class was fantastic.

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Quilting Adventures, Jordan Ranch, Schulenberg, TX: April 2016

Amid a very busy April of 2016 that involved travel to Texas, Australia, and Colorado, I met sisters Charlotte Lorenzo and Laura Webb. Like any “team” that takes my classes, they are very entertaining in their familiar banter and the way they support each other, and also egg each other on.

Charlotte did a very good job translating the old black-and-white photo of her dad into a colorful portrait. I could tell she was really paying attention in class when, a few months later in January 2017, she sent me the finished photo and wrote:

Susan I have finally finished the quilt of my Dad.  I was in your class at Jordan Ranch in Texas.  I used a tulle layer on the right to keep with the shadowing.  I ended up putting some smaller pieces of tulle under it to give the effect of dappling since the original had trees in the background.  The face has tulle with some smaller pieces under the eyes, etc. to get the shadowing I wanted.  I am really pleased with the end result and it is mostly due to your excellent teaching.  I think I had a lot of guts to attempt a portrait as my first Susan Carlson technique.  I will see you at Asilomar the end of February, I will be doing a Cassowary bird and hope it is a little easier.  Thanks for all of your help and encouragement in the class.

And there’s Charlotte (on the right) and her sister Laura in the Asilomar class a month later. Laura brought along her completed project from the Texas class, “Schulenberg Fish,” which is included in Finish Line Volume 5.

Empty Spools Seminars, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, CA: March 2017—week one

In Charlotte’s second class with me, she took on quite a different subject—a big, gawky, prehistoric-looking Australian cassowary. A quick Google search tells me the cassowary is the world’s most dangerous bird. Wow, I’ll have to look into that—sound like it’s right down my alley of interesting animals.

However, I really like Charlotte’s rendition. Click on any of the photos below to see larger versions of this bird’s progress. I especially like the layers upon layers of fabrics that make up his “black” feathers. You’ll see that there’s all sorts of colors mixed in—blue, purple, green, red, and more—yet our brains still tell us they’re black feathers. Perfect.

From Charlotte in April 2018:

I have finally finished Sydney, the Cassowary.  Actually I was waiting for it to come back from the quilter.  I am quite pleased with it, thanks to your help and a lot of scraps from people in the class.  When I left the class I felt like it was pretty much done.  However once I got it home, I redid the face several times.  The helmet ended up being about 19 redo’s before I was happy with it.  I think that is all part of the process and worth it.

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Empty Spools Seminars, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, CA: March 2017—week one

Across the table grouping from Charlotte and Laura in that March 2017 class was Pam Hadfield. She had a great subject for playing with color and prints in fabric—a clown. His “white” face is almost all light blues and purples with bold color and print in his clothes—a nice collage of floral fabrics!

I like the contrast Pam made between the abstractness of the clothing and the realistic shading in his face and hat—which looks perfectly old and worn in its gradation of browns into yellow highlights.

Getting the photo below in my email this summer, made me smile, as clowns ought to. Pam wrote:

Hi Susan, I finally finished my clown and wanted to share with you. I had so much fun creating him and also quilting him. Thanks for sharing your talents and ideas with us. A fun fun technique. Hope to be able to take another class in the future. Thanks again.

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Amanda came up with a game plan of a color and value range for each little boy and then sat down and did the work with the devotion of a new mom. I gotta hand it to her, she happily plugged away on all the subtle nuances of each toe and pad and arch of each baby foot—and they turned out great, like those toes would just start wiggling at any moment.

She must have been quite driven to finish, ’cause less than a month later I got this email from Amanda:

Attached is a photo of the completion of the twins feet.  🙂  I struggled a lot with the background and then the border — but in the end now I am really happy with the final result and it will find its home on our bedroom wall to gaze at each day.  🙂  It was nice to have taken the class with 3 other people because I would send them updates and get advice from all of them.  Carol gave me the suggestion for the border which I ended up really loving how it turned out.

Amanda’s dilemma with the background stemmed from the original photo where the feet were peeking out from a fuzzy blanket. I think her choice of a bedspread-like textured fabric works really well to convey that idea. The binding/border she mentions is a glued binding I talk about in class and also in my book, Serendipity Quilts. It looks fun and playful on her babies’ quilt.

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Amanda’s mom, Jan Sadowsky, was also in this Quilt Gallery class of June 2017. She made really good progress on her roadrunner and got started on some ideas for the background before the end of the week.

When Amanda dropped in to say hi when I was in Kalispell, Montana teaching this year, she told me her mom’s quilt was also finished and she made sure I received the photo below before too long. Jan had been on track to create a background of patched fabrics (all still glued together), and it’s great to see how it worked out.

A “squared off” background is a good way to bring a variety of fabrics with colors and prints that tell us a little more about the subject. For instance, I can imagine abstracted grasses, rocks, sand, and sky behind this fellow. Jan has carried the colors of the bird into the background and tied it all together. Beautiful job. And pretty cool hanging bar too.

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The Quilt Gallery, Kalispell, MT: June 2017—week two

The second week I was teaching at the Quilt Gallery, I met Marci Robman, who came with a… roadrunner as a subject! But this is what I love about teaching and fabric collage—you can have the same subject matter, but the finished collages will always be different. And it’s always interesting for me to see how differently people see their subjects and where their minds go when looking at fabrics to interpret those subjects.

I got some nice progress shots in these classes, and in the two blogs posts incorporating my two weeks of teaching, I strung together the photos to make a couple short time-lapse videos. You can click on the two class links above to see these and more collages in the making.

Marci was in this year’s Kalispell class as well, where she got a great start on a very colorful iguana. She brought in her finished roadrunner to share and it kept us company all week long. A treat for me to see it close-up.

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The Quilt Gallery, Kalispell, MT: June 2017—weeks one and two

Joan Hodgeboom was the original owner of the Quilt Gallery, and has taken a few classes with me over the years. In June 2016 she created the longhorn quilt (lower left) and it was included in Finish Line Volume 9. This year I got some better photos of the finished quilt, including details, and have updated that particular blog post with them.

In 2017 she began a buzzard “story” quilt. She had recently suffered quite a fall off a 9-foot cliff and onto a log. It’s a testament to Joan’s toughness that she was up and walking at all, much less taking two weeks of classes! She stopped in this year to show us the finished quilt (above right), the in-progress photos are below.

I’m going to include an excerpt from my On the Road post from 2017 to best explain Joan’s choices in design, colors, and fabrics:

I talk to my students about using the idea of telling a story with their quilt to help with the choice of subject matter, colors, fabric, backgrounds, even quilting and binding. Joan did this in spades with her buzzard (a.k.a. vulture) quilt. Why a buzzard? She and her family were on a hike to see buzzard nests in the cliffs. Colors? All the colors her body turned as she was recovering from her fall: black and blue, purple, red, green, yellow”¦ Fabric? Prints with curves, contours, and lines that represent feathers and rock formations. Background? Woods in early Spring, with cliff face and leaf strewn ground—complete with the log she landed on. The completed quilt will certainly tell the story!

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The Quilt Gallery, Kalispell, MT: June 2016

And one final catch-up for the week, Mary Roper’s moose quilt, “Gary Cooper.” Since Mary is an employee of the Quilt Gallery, I ask her every year to bring back this quilt to show a new batch of students.

This year I got a photo detail of the skeleton (below) Mary hid in the waters of New York’s Hudson River—the “un-natural” and perfect environment of Mary’s rainbow moose. This quilt is included in Finish Line Volume 9 along with Joan’s longhorn. Since I was updating that post anyway, may as well get this photo in too. Did you notice Mary’s skeleton matches Joan’s from the buzzard quilt? You can tell they know each other.