Finish Line #18: Three-Dog Nights, and a Few Cats

During the last few months of winter here in Maine we’ve experienced our share of three-dog nights. For those few who aren’t aware of the saying, it’s a means of ranking how cold the night was by how many dogs you brought to bed to keep you warm.

To me this saying unfairly discriminates against cats, which I know despite their smaller mass are equally warming. So when I gathered up fabric collage quilts to use in this week’s Finish Line post of completed student quilts, I let a few creep in on little cat feet (a la Carl Sandburg).

The source of this saying—three dog night—has nothing to do with the rock band of the same name (though I did have have that station queued on Pandora as I was pulling this post together—it seemed a fitting accompaniment). But back to the origin of the saying, in fact the story is somewhat unclear. I used to assume, as did Tom, that it must have originated somewhere in the Arctic with sled dogs for the indigenous peoples there. Some indeed hold to that theory.

But there are perhaps even more that claim the saying originated about as far from the Arctic as it is possible to get: Australia. Somehow, when I called on Google to find the answer, I thought I recalled that was the case. I must have heard it somewhere. Supposedly, it appears to have come from the Aboriginal people. After some thought it seems to me that the desert can get very cold at night and that having a dog or two to snuggle up to wouldn’t be sneered upon.

Upon second thought, however, snuggling up to a dingo doesn’t necessarily sound like a good idea—not if one wants to wake up with all one’s limbs in place. So, back to Google we went, and sure enough, the Aboriginal people, especially the women, did “tame” dingoes and use them for hunting.

The warmth of dogs and cats is on clear display in this edition of the Finish Line. These furry family members are wonderfully portrayed with perky or floppy ears, deep brown or bright green eyes, and a whole rainbow of fur colors.

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Empty Spools Seminars: Pacific Grove, CA—March 2018

Daughter and mother team Shannon (below) and Vicki (further below) Conley both started dogs in my March 2018 Asilomar class. Later, when Shannon sent me the finished picture of her “Bentley the Rainbow Dog” she also included pictures of the quilt of a dog she lost that summer, “Missy,” which she started and finished on her own.

We both really enjoyed your class and I follow the blog so I’ll look forward to your upcoming posts!! I loved doing the dog quilts this way, it was very freeing!

I remember Shannon debating about what color Bentley should be—rainbow it was.

The grey (with touches of color) and white tile background makes a nice background, letting Bentley’s colors take center stage. Take special note of his paws. Shannon did a great job portraying that grasp of the bone—that’s one lucky dog, and he knows it.

And now for Missy and the goggles:

She used to ride on the back of our (my partner’s) motorcycle. She was the “cool” dog in town. She actually hated the goggles, but liked the motorcycle! Here’s a snap of her on it you can share.

Shannon sent me a nice sequence of photos showing Missy essentially emerging from the foundation fabric. In the photo below you can see how she used white and cream fabrics with patterns in them to help give the texture of Missy’s fur. What a cute tribute, like she’s wrapped in a night sky.

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Empty Spools Seminars: Pacific Grove, CA—March 2018

This particular “Asilomar” class had many large projects in the works, and Vicki Conley’s Devil Dog Gibby was certainly one of them. The flaming red color added to her mystique.

Shannon’s mom Vicki Conley sent along the artist’s statement she wrote for her quilt’s inclusion in a show, which she says “says it all”:

Made in memory of our special dog Gibby. She was the smartest, most manipulative dog we ever had and we called her “Devil Dog.” We miss her so much.

(I’m not crying—I have something in my eye…)

Shannon helped me make the float frame and Gibby is quite a presence in our living room. Right now she is out at a show so there is a big empty picture frame on the wall. I really enjoyed your class.

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Empty Spools Seminars: Pacific Grove, CA—March 2018

Diana Roberts was in the same class as the Conleys. She got Cody the Cat’s head and tail mostly done and some of his body, but there was still quite a bit for her to do on her own.

Cody is our neighbors’ cat but we call him the half cat, he spends about half his time at our house. He is a character, you can probably tell by the look in his eyes. I took this picture but wondered if it was appropriate for collage. Turns out it was perfect.

The photo above is the last I saw Cody in class. Diana later sent me the photos below:

As you can see I’ve continued to work on him. I redid the eyes. Also finished his body.

If you look closely at the close-up of his mid-section below, you can see a batik fabric with two fish on it wrapping around his belly—fitting for a cat.

Just wanted you to know Cody won a first prize ribbon at the Utah Quilt Festival. Thanks for your encouragement. The judges especially liked the tulle for shading. I told him he is famous in Utah but he still just wants treats and loving. Off to PIQF (Pacific International Quilt Festival) next.

I made a glicee print for Cody’s family for Christmas. Perfect solution to my dilemma of gifting the quilt or keeping it.

 

My sincere thanks to Susan for being such a thorough and caring teacher.

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Maine Quilt Retreat: Portland, ME—May, 2017

Wanda Rains took quite the creative journey with the quilt of her dog, Ty, “She’s a Girl,” before sending me a photo of the finished piece:

My 10 year old female dog, Ty, was only 8 when I started the collage,😀. She is always mistaken for a boy, so the quilt’s name, “She’s a Girl,” and the pink toenails, seemed appropriate. I loved the class so much with you Susan, and was especially amused when you asked if this was my first collage….why so big could have been the next words out of your mouth. But I think you only said, oh my. I kept thinking I could have done something smaller during the entire project.

Actually, I don’t think “too big” would have been my thought. I think Ty is perfectly sized, and Wanda did a good job then and later on her own looking very close at her fabrics, and making choices that worked for her and her pup.

The above photos show the progress Wanda made in class. The ones below show how Ty changed after Wanda got home to work on her. I actually chuckled when I noticed how Ty’s pink areas were gradually replaced over the ensuing months with greens. I imagine that “more pink” is definitely something I would have suggested in class, and I’m glad to see that Wanda figured out that it wasn’t for Ty after all.

Ty’s face went through a number of changes before Wanda was done, she definitely put in the time on this portrait:

I must have redone her face 4-5 times, not to mention her hip. Not sure I have the temperament for this. Ha. I do love her though.

Wanda says that the final impetus to complete the quilt was a deadline for a quilt show, which it turns out was postponed by a snowstorm anyway. Deadlines are wonderful and frightening things. I’m never more productive than the week before a deadline.

And in the end, a splash of pink showed up right where it counted, making the best impact possible. Congrats Wanda, you did it.

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Alegre Retreat at Gateway Canyons Resort: Gateway, CO—April, 2018

For her pet portrait, Andrea Van Voorhis chose to base her quilt on a picture of her son’s family’s three cats. The cats’ fur was so striking, I had to ask her about it:

My son did use a program to blend their furs. It looked so cool I knew I had to do a quilt of them

I’ll admit that I’m often cautious when using a manipulated photo to base a quilt on. Depending on the program, the photo can get altered in such a way that it loses details that will be later needed for reference.

However, in this case, the photo manipulation accentuated the markings of the fur babies, and inspired Andrea to incorporate fabrics that had equally interesting contours and visual textures.

 

Andrea did a wonderful job giving so much character to these “cat loafs” whose only details are their ears—and then as she explains below, she continued adding character to their surroundings:

They were actually eating, but the photo’s background was boring so I decided to have them watching the fish for fun and color. I did cut the cats off the original muslin and changed their order to have them looking into the water better. Then I glued them onto fresh muslin and worked the collage around them for the final background.

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Quilting Adventures: Schulenberg, TX—April, 2016

Cher Solis’ pup Rocco has been waiting in the wings for awhile, waiting his chance to get into a post. Sorry Rocco, you got lost in my files. But this guy had me smiling from Day 1 of class. He’s an all white fellow, but Cher immediately turned to color—my kinda gal.

Cher was fun to have in class as well, and the title of the quilt tells the entire story: “The Day Rocco Ate My Earring.” When she sent the final photo, she included this note:

 He is finished—note the earring in his belly—vet bill $300—earring returned!

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Woodland Ridge Retreat: Downsville, WI—November 2017

Martha Henrichs piece based on her cat Zumi was memorable for the fact that Zumi was in a crockpot! No, she wasn’t being slow-cooked—how could you think such a thing?—she just liked to sit in things.

Zumi was a cat (she died in 2015 at age 13) who knew no boundaries, whether she was perched on top of the kitchen cabinets or the top shelf in the closet. She could be found in any available container including tote bags, boxes , or the Crock Pot. No pen or pencil left on a table top was safe from flying to the floor.

I wanted to share my completed quilt of Zumi, the cat in the crockpot. I’m probably as pleased with this quilt as anything I’ve ever made. Thank you again for a wonderful week and the opportunity to complete this project. It hangs in a place of pride in my newly remodeled sewing room.

(I told you before, I have something in my eye…)

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MISA West at Tanque Verde Ranch: Tucson, AZ—January, 2019

I had the pleasure of working with Barbara Polston a mere month ago. I was a little worried when I came to class on the second day and she had torn off all of the first day’s progress on a double portrait of her two dogs. She assured me she was okay, and you know, she was more than okay, she got it.

I’m now going to turn the “mic” over to Barbara and let you read the story she wrote out for me, illustrated with photos from the class.

Puppy Brian and Brother Vinnie
by Barbara Polston

 

I had been thinking about adding a dog to my life again. I created a list of the attributes I wanted in a canine pet. A male. Mix breed, preferably with some Boxer. White. After a couple of years, my friend, who fostered for a local rescue group and knew all about my list, phoned. Turns out she had a litter of mix-breed boxers. With one white male. She sent a photo. I was a goner!

My daughter and I jumped in the car and drove across town to meet the puppies. I focused on Mr. White, a laid-back little cutie. My daughter was quite taken with Mr. Green. As this was to be my dog, I committed to adopt Mr. White and he joined our family a few weeks later. I named him Brian. Mr. Green was adopted into another family and became known as Spoon.

 

A word about Brian’s name. Brian is named after Brian Griffin, the family’s dog on the animated TV show “Family Guy.” The importance of this bit of information will soon become apparent.

 

After having Brian for a little over a year, the rescue group contacted us. Spoon was being returned to the rescue, his family having decided that they just couldn’t manage a dog with two small children. The rescue was wondering if I would be willing to foster Spoon until they could find another family to adopt him. We decided to give that a go, as long as Brian and Spoon got along.

 

Not only did they get along, they quickly became the best of dog buddies. After two days of having Spoon with us, I called the rescue and told them not to bother looking for a new family for him. We would like to keep him.

Back to “Family Guy.” As part of the story line, Brian, the Griffin’s dog, was killed off. The family replaced him with a new dog named Vinnie. Vinnie was kind of a Mafia enforcer type personality”¦.think Mack the Knife. Following our obvious dog naming theme, Spoon was renamed Vinnie the Spoon and answered to his new name immediately. It was just meant to be.

 

Having two dogs has been a real joy. As everyone in Susan’s class heard, we consider them the best dogs in America. [Tom says they obviously have not met his dog, Kali.] They will be six years old in April. I can’t imagine life without my boys.

When I registered for Susan’s January 2019 Madeline Island School of the Arts class being held at Tanque Verde Ranch Resort in Tucson, Arizona, I knew right away that I wanted to translate our favorite photo of my boys into fiber. On the second day of class, I basically started the project over, but that was the best decision. I felt that the project flowed smoothly after that and Susan’s guidance was not only appreciated, but spot on. She really drove me to make this, my first collage quilt, the best that it could be. I can’t ever remember being so motivated to get a project into the “done” column! I’m quite taken with this collage quilting “thing” and am already planning a second project.

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Art Quilt Tahoe: November 2017

When Paulette Hawkins started working on the portrait of her dog “Sir William,” it was soon evident she’d be taking a lovely loose painterly style with her fabric collage. In the photo below you can see how multiple small pieces of fabrics, like dabs of paint, are beginning to come together to fill in his forehead.

In these sequence photos from the class, Paulette fills in the guidelines of her drawing, using colors of aqua and purple as highlights on otherwise black fur. A playful approach to color and value that add to Sir William’s personality.

Pulling this post together, I asked Paulette to remind me of Sir William’s story:

Sir William and I were a drafting team. He earned his Novice Draft Dog title with me and was the most devoted and willing partner. His red cart was his signature. The background represents the hours we spent in the park practicing and competing. I miss him every day.

(I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying.)

Click on any of these photos to see the quilting and fabric details that are included in this sweet portrait.

Paulette’s collage style of using very bold and impressionistic strokes, is even more obvious in the following piece, “Haley and Odin,” that she completed on her own.

Boy did I learn a lot doing this piece! Smaller (24 by 30 inches) is harder and skin ain’t easy to make.

She sent me both an in-progress and finished photo and then asked my opinion. I admitted that the figures do get a bit lost in all the activity, but then when you do see them, you get the feeling of the little girl merging with the dog and both then merging into their surroundings. She replied:

You captured exactly the point of the piece. I wanted to blend the pup, his girl, and the beautiful land together. They just seemed like one being in that moment. When I sent it to Haley, I got an email back from her Mom with pictures of her sobbing over it. Warmed my heart.

(Something—in—my—eye—dammit.)

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Interestingly, I just found out that “Love Your Pet Day” fell earlier this week. I think I’ll go now, and do just that—and then settle in for a two-dog one-cat night.