Back in 2016, writing blog posts was a new thing for both Tom and I, and today’s Summer Rerun Saturday post is my first ever On the Road Teaching post. As they say, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then. I chose this post because, well, it was the first On the Road post, and it was to a sunny and warm part of the country—a “summertime” theme we chose for our Summer Rerun Saturdays—even though this Florida post originally “aired” on February 22, 2016. In any case, I got to pack my summer clothes when leaving Maine in the middle of February.
This post provides a great overview of the simpler themed subjects that you can do in fabric collage. The St. Augustine class was a fish, bug, and butterfly class; in Naples I taught a four-day Sea-Life themed class. These sorts of projects are low-stress in that they encourage you to just play with your fabric—its pattern, visual texture, and of course color.
Above and below are photos from students who “did their homework” before the classes and brought these great collages in for show-and-tell. I love seeing what folks accomplish on their own—the creativity that’s inside of all of us.
So while Tom and I are taking a four-week break from producing any new blog posts, your inbox will continue to receive Throwback Thursday posts and also these weekend posts we’re calling Summer Rerun Saturdays, all showcasing the fabric collage accomplishments of former students in classes from years past—plus there will be a little armchair traveling—easy excursions while relaxing in the comfort of your own home—no face masks needed to keep you safe.
I find myself getting re-inspired seeing where fabric collage has taken others. If you do, too, and need a creative diversion these days, please check out a few of my offerings, best reached through my homepage: from my free blog posts, to eWorkshops such as this online Sea Turtle class —one that definitely fits in with the Florida seacoast theme of this post.
With no further adieu, please join me in a flashback to 2016 through the following post. And if you missed this past Thursday’s trip back to my Maine Quilt Retreat of June 2016, you can check it out here. Tune in next week to go On the Road in 2017! Take care everyone.
Fabric Collage On the Road Teaching: St. Augustine and Naples, Florida
February 22, 2016
It’s my busy time of year for teaching. I’ve been traveling for almost all of the past four weeks—less two days at home in the middle, where basically I did laundry and re-packed. Now, I love my work and feel blessed to spend my time (and get paid for it!) in creative ways, but this was maybe a little much. Good thing that the quilters I meet and teach are such a great crowd.
This latest trip, that I returned home from two days ago, was to Florida. Not a bad destination when you’re traveling from Maine in February. First stop St. Augustine in the northeast of the state. This city is America’s oldest “continuously occupied” settlement—settled in 1565 (another benefit of travel is the free continuing education).
Aside from absorbing some history in St. Augustine, I gave a guild lecture for the St. Augustine Piecemakers and taught a two-day fish, bug, butterfly class that I call Cutting Loose.
The class is meant to present the fabric collage process in a fun and stress-free way with subject matter that are virtually infallible. With the simplified subject matter, we are free to play with the designs, patterns, and colors found in the fabric. It’s all about cutting fabric shapes and rearranging them within the spaces of the designs. As you can see in the slide-show below, the ladies did just that, in very fun ways.
The second leg of the trip was to Naples in the south west of Florida, for which I rented a car to transport me and my supplies. I was encouraged by my first class to stop in Orlando at The Sewing Studio. What full-blooded quilter wouldn’t want to? Well I did stop, spent some money and spent just enough time to put me in the middle of stop-and-go-Friday-afternoon-beautiful-weather traffic. Took me a little longer than planned for that leg of the journey. Lesson learned. Skip breakfast to leave more time in the fabric store!
In Naples, I taught a four-day sea-life (fish, turtles, seahorses, etc.—plus bugs and butterflies) class. With a couple extra days to the class, many were able to get a little farther on their designs, especially with starting to figure out the backgrounds. A couple even got to the quilting stage! I didn’t necessarily get photos of all of them, so you’ll just have to take my word on that. It was a very hard working group, putting a lot of thought into their pieces.
Projects from Naples Quilters Guild:
Two days after class ended was a guild lecture on Thursday evening, giving me a couple days to myself in between. Hmmm, what to do in sunny Florida in the middle of winter? Below is my answer to that dilemma. The slide show starts in St. Augustine, then moves south. Hint: excursions included the Everglades and a parrot sanctuary. Plus alligators!
My travels around Florida:
Now I’m home for a week before travel to the Monterey Peninsula in CA for an Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar Conference Grounds. Not a bad destination when you’re traveling from Maine in late February and early March….