As promised, this week’s post finishes up the fabric collage quilts from Show-and-Share at this year’s Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar Conference Grounds, in Pacific Grove, CA. (If you missed the first post, you can find it here.)
Most of the completed quilts featured this week came from previous Empty Spools classes and were brought back to Asilomar by their creators to share on stage in one of the evening programs. However, two of these quilts were either begun or worked on in classes this year. I’m not usually able to share them quite so quickly!
Finishing is a difficult thing sometimes. I suffer from UFO (unfinished object) syndrome as much as anyone. A hard deadline often finds me working into the wee hours, just as Juliet Sandquist worked right up to the last moment in order to submit the quilt of her dog Cajun (pictured above). Hers is but one of the stories below.
Jan Soules
Jan was in my March 2018 class. In the beginning photos below, it’s hard to imagine how large this portrait of Jan’s granddaughter really is. I encourage my students to “go big,” and she certainly took that idea to heart. You can get an idea of the scale a few photos further on, where Tilly stands next to “her” quilt.
This quilt could be measured in square footage and Jan covered a lot in the five days of class. As a finished quilt, it made quite the impact up on stage. It was fun to see it again and to hear of the small details Jan worked into the overall design, which you can read about in the write-up Jan sent me below.
Tilly is my youngest granddaughter and is nicknamed after my Mom. She lives in the Netherlands and I rarely see her. She loves all the Disney princesses. I incorporated the characters from Beauty and the Beast into her hair, as a fun element and for something for her to remember from her childhood when she is older. When she came to visit in 2018, I took her picture with the quilt. She loves it, as does her parents.
For the background, I used a variety of large scale Kaffe fabrics and some Australian Aboriginal ones, to create an enchanted garden, hence the name: “Tilly in the Enchanted Garden.”
Phyliss Lewis
Phyliss was also in my March 2018 class. If I remember correctly, she may even have been working side to side with Jan on their large and colorful portraits. Though Phyliss’ was of the large purple feline variety.
The eyes of the snow leopard were captivating from the beginning and draw the viewer right in. Be sure to check out the “snowflakes,” a.k.a. crochet doilies, Phyliss placed onto the background. A great idea.
My purple snow leopard won 1st place in Art Quilt category at 2018 Quilts in the Park – Pendleton. Particular comment about the glue on binding and the eyes. Validation of I need to do more!
The original photo was taken by a friend of mine, Cabby Bloss. Her web site is www.cabbybloss.net. She is a hobbyist photographer with a great eye, I use her photos often. I will do another thread painted photo and scrap appliqué and have a couple photos selected.
“Roving eyes” (snow leopard #1) by Phyliss Lewis
This picture is all thread. It was done in class taught by Pam Holland the week before Susan’s class. ”˜Roving eyes’, is what I call it! It is about 15 x 15 inches. I seem to favor animals. The two methods are opposite in the spectrum!
Carole Olsen
Carole attended Asilomar in March 2017, finished “Kelly, the Irish Cow” a year later, and then was at Empty Spools Seminars this year to share her with the other attendees, and me.
I got to see Kelly up close when Carole dropped by my classroom where I got not only detail photos, but one of the nice label on the back (below), where she tells the sweet story of the quilt.
Click on this, or any photo, for a larger view.
Carole Olsen
Kenzie Preston
Kenzie attended the first week of classes I taught at Empty Spools this year. Yes, as in April 2019! It wasn’t the first time I had Kenzie as a student though. Years ago, pre-blog posts, she took a Fish, Bug, Butterfly class and created an awesome beetle. You can check it out in a previous Finish Line blog post here.
This year she came totally inspired to create a wonderful memory quilt. As Kenzie described her thought process below, she mentions wishing to create her bird portrait in its natural colors (as opposed to the wilder colored subjects that often appear in my classes). That may be so, but be sure to notice the great patterns in the fabrics Kenzie chose. Very fun and interesting.
A circle theme repeated itself in a few places, including the background. And a couple layers of black tulle created an abstracted yet convincing shadow under the fellow, further highlighting his impressive feet.
I chose the blue footed booby as the subject for Susan’s class because it was a reminder of a wonderful trip that my husband and I took to the Galapagos Islands. We were able to get up close to these elegant birds to watch their fascinating courtship dance in which the males show off their beautiful blue feet to potential mates. I decided to go with naturalistic colors for the booby (the way to make the most of its blue features), and a stylized background.
Juliet Sandquist
Juliet started the quilt of her dog Cajun at Asilomar in March 2017 and I just had the pleasure of seeing her (and her three besties) in my most recent Empty Spools class about three weeks ago in May, the main purpose for Juliet being to finish the pup-portrait for an upcoming quilt guild show. Deadlines are great motivators.
And she made the deadline.
Juliet is the sort of person that can’t help but make you smile, and I’m sure Cajun made plenty of quilt show viewers smile as well.
But it wasn’t until she sent me the final write-ups and photos that I realized how many “firsts” this quilt represented for Juliet. So enjoy “Remembering Cajun,” in Juliet’s own words below.
The real-life Cajun was a retired show dog who joined our household when he was a year old. He was still puppy-like and curious, but also very calm and sort of an “old soul.” On walks, strangers were drawn to him–attracted by his serene nature and soulful eyes. He was my faithful companion for the next twelve years and my first choice for Susan’s fabric collage technique.
This quilt represents several other “firsts” for me; first art quilt, first attempt at free motion quilting, and first time entering a quilt into a quilt show.
From the first moment I saw one of Susan’s spellbinding fabric collage quilts, I couldn’t wait to try her technique to create a fanciful version of my chocolate lab, Cajun. I bought tons of chocolate brown fabric before my workshop but most of it went unused as Cajun happily morphed into a much more colorful canine!
Susan’s influence and creativity cannot be understated–her input was vital from my first workshop at Asilomar in 2017. Drawing a clear, concise pattern is truly essential. In areas where I “stalled,” it was usually due to a flawed or unclear feature in my drawing, and once I referred to the original photo, I got back on track. Seriously, Susan should issue a warning when she teaches; I found this technique habit-forming. I enjoyed all the little pieces of fabric, finding just the right pattern in the fabric, continuing to put the free form puzzle together and watching the image come to life.
And, when I came to a second Asilomar workshop this year with a background for “Cajun” in mind, Susan improved on the original idea. She suggested additional background fabrics to tell more of Cajun’s “story.”
He enjoyed water wherever he found it, balls, dog bones, cats, flowers and the meadows and woods of Yosemite. Cajun loved car rides, too, so it’s fitting that he’s pieced using batiks, metallics and novelty prints, many collected over the years on various road trips together.
I’ve included a couple of pictures after he was glued up. He’s on our king-size bed–just like he was in real life. Talk about art imitating life!
The final date to submit quilts for the quilt show was extended so I am currently working on the quilting.
My last observation is more a personal one. I found Susan’s teaching style encouraging and her suggestions were thoughtful additions to help accomplish my vision for Cajun’s quilt. I’m excited about my next project–I’ve already started “The Ride”, featuring Eileen, the Clydesdale! And, fingers crossed, I’ll be seeing Susan once again at Asilomar in 2020.
This blog was very inspiring! Loved to hear all the stories.!
When is your next class in MA or NH or VT ?
Unfortunately my classes in Maine are full this year. I will be scheduling a new set for next year, which I will announce in the blog and on my website.