The Fabric Collage Finish Line: Online Submissions 9

In last week’s post I wrote this:

Every week I feel like I should ask how you are doing. I wonder if any of you are ill or know someone who is ill and whether I can bring you a pot of carrot ginger bisque.

Which garnered a comment on my Facebook page from reader Marjorie Elliott:

Well, you could post the recipe for the carrot ginger bisque! That sounds lovely.

At the risk of this blog turning into a recipe exchange, here is the link for the soup I had in mind (the special ingredient is the banana)—it’s a favorite dish of Tom’s and mine—something that doesn’t happen too often.

Sweet & Spicy Carrot Bisque, created by Aylene Lambert, for Vegetarian Times

After you’ve whet your appetite for soup, you can satisfy your appetite for fantastic fabric collage by admiring the completed quilts sent in by followers, such as Laurie Mutalipassi’s “Red Panda,” (detail) above.

If you too have a fabric collage quilt you’d like to submit, please use the link below.

Submit Quilt for "Finish Line"

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Joan Anderson

Joan Anderson of Grant Pass, Oregon, first took a class with me in 2019 at the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, Montana, where she developed a love and knack for fabric collage with a colorfully wild grizzly bear. It’s hard to believe that it was only a year ago, since this bison quilt is her third completed quilt since then! What a wonderfully shaggy coat this gal has! Joan has an impressive and gorgeous series in the works and I look forward to seeing the next quilted installments. Be sure to check out her previous quilts featured in past Finish Line posts with her grizzly and moose.

From Joan:

Since taking Susan’s class, I have working hard on developing a series of art quilts dedicated to the large animals of Yellowstone. I love the Yellowstone area. We have had a cabin there for the past 25 years. So, I am around most of the animals on a daily basis. Especially the moose which come into our yard.

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Laurie Mutalipassi

Laurie Mutalipassi of Westminster, California, began this red panda collage when she took last year’s Empty Spools class at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. Right away, Laurie understood the subtle aspects of manipulating values within each color-way of this basically three color animal. Congratulations on the well-deserved attention this quilt is getting!

From Laurie:

I followed Susan Carlson’s blog via emails for several years. I bought the book, “Serendipity Quilts,” and tried out the technique by making the spiral as a 12 inch block. Then I had a wonderful time taking Susan’s class at Asilomar in April, 2019. Thank you Susan for developing your wonderful collage technique and for being such a great teacher.

My inspiration came from a visit to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. I saw red pandas for the first time and loved them. I found out they are an endangered species whose population has declined 50% in the last 20 years. They are found in isolated mountainous areas in the Himalayas and China. I wanted to showcase a red panda in a quilt to help keep them from becoming extinct. This quilt will show in the “Animal” exhibit at the Road to California Quilt Conference in January, 2020. Also it will be a featured article in the Spring, 2020 edition of Art Quilting Studio Magazine.

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Gina Huskey

Gina Huskey of Anchorage, Alaska has learned fabric collage from my book “Serendipity Quilts” and by following this blog. She did a great job following the steps outlined in my post to create the beautiful eyes of her granddaughter. I laughed out loud at Gina’s comment below about the “disembodied” eyes following her everywhere. That just proves that she nailed the eyes, perhaps the most important part of any portrait. What an accomplishment for a first portrait.

From Gina:

This quilt of my five year old granddaughter was my first portrait. I followed the shading directions from the book Serendipity Quilts. My favorite part was the eyes? I followed the blog post, “Eye for an Eye,” using the technique working “top down bottom up.” It was so creepy when I only had the eyes on the background they would follow me everywhere.

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Sally Fly

It sounds like Sally Fly, of Yuma, Arizona, has a budding business making portraits of dogs, as this is her fifth. And yes, the more time we put into working with a particular subject, the better we get. I like how Sally used just enough textured fabrics to give us the sense of the wiry fur, letting other areas stay soft and fluffy looking. This collage technique definitely has the “problem” of creating more and more scraps—I agree—you put a few together and they multiply. They never all get used up, but that just just means we always have fodder for more collage quilts.

And Sally, don’t worry about fraying, look at it as another way to “blend” from one fabric to the other. Or, run a little of your glue on the cut edge, let it dry and you’re good to go.

From Sally:

A photo of my friend’s Lakeland Terrier enlarged 200%, following instructions in Serendipity Quilts. This is my fifth dog portrait, and I hope I’m getting better! Anyway it is a lot of freedom to create, and I love the ability to cut small pieces and use glue to place them—no restrictions! I’ve also adapted an appliqué pattern to make a waterlily collage. Made four SW desert pots that are great for Arizona, just cut a template for the pot shape and filled in with fabric. My collection of scraps is growing, not shrinking. I am trying to get courage for a portrait of my daughter. Lots of good information in the blog and comments from others. I still have trouble with fraying edges using regular commercial fabric. Keep on sharing all the good tips!

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Susan Arrow

Susan Arrow from Fremont, California has used both “Serendipity Quilts” and the Fabric Collage Master Class Manual to learn this technique of fabric collage—and what an impressive specimen of a trophy fish she’s created—both in size and scale, and in the variety of fabrics and pattern. I think Susan is certainly on a good and creative path.

From Susan:

After purchasing the Master Class I think I am finally seeing the road ahead more clearly.

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Kathy Sexton

Kathy Sexton of Yuba City, California, made this memorial quilt for her friends. Her first Finish Line Quilt was of her golden retriever, Marlow. Kathy’s quilt reminds us that art isn’t always easy, it isn’t always comfortable, though it can be comforting and a beautiful gift to others.

From Kathy:

The young woman is Margery Magill, the “Darling Daughter” of very good friends who was brutally murdered this last summer in Washington, D.C. while at her 2nd job of dog walking. She was an absolutely amazing person, and I wanted to honor her memory and give her parents a lasting gift of how much I treasure their friendship and love. Her hair was the most awesome part of making the collage, and I read your blog about making hair more than once or twice!

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Jenny Satterthwait

The quilt above by Jenny Satterthwait of Eagle, Idaho was begun in my November, 2019 class at Art Quilt Tahoe. I met Jenny a few months earlier when she began a cape buffalo at a class at the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, Montana. The completed cape buffalo appeared in a previous Finish Line. I loved Jenny’s use of patterned fabrics to create the contours of the majestic and bold cape buffalo, and though this little pony is quite a different creature, she’s once again used her fabrics to convey personality, giving “Breta” a windblown warmth. Another beautiful job, Jenny.

From Jenny:

We spent the month of September 2019 in Scotland. I love Highland Coos and it was my intent from the start to capture the perfect picture of a coo for my November class with Susan. While touring the Orkney Islands, we visited this small farm called Kirkbuster. This little Shetland pony came right up to me and said ”˜Why would you want a Highland Coo when you could ”˜paint’ ME!” Well, she was right! (I do have some great Coo pictures, however, for a future project.)

Susan’s eye for detail amazes me! Breta’s eye was missing just a touch. She saw it and a fabric right in front of me that was perfect. The same for a bit on her muzzle. Susan has opened up a whole new world of quilting for me and I am very thankful! I also tried the glued binding on this quilt and loved it!