Hello and thank you for all the lovely comments in last week’s Thanksgiving post—you guys are the best. I felt gratitude to hear how you were adapting your own holiday traditions in unprecedented times—keeping yourselves and others as safe as possible.
We ended up having our own outdoor gathering—which worked out alright with take-home Thanksgiving dinners, on Friday (yesterday), due to a fairly rainy day on Thursday. Tom had kept some firewood dry and our fire pit provided a central focus for a variety of spaced out chairs. Of course, we were all sitting too far away to benefit from any of the fire’s heat, but the thought was there.
My squash soup served in mugs was a warm-in-the-belly hit, along with a new recipe of “stuffing muffins.” (Here’s the recipe. I found if you like the sound of cornbread stuffing finger food!). The last-minute inspiration for stuffing muffins came from my actor friend, Susan Poulin, in her Rethinking Thanksgiving post, told through her alter-ego, Ida. It’s a nice and short read, but I encourage you to scroll to the end and listen to Ida tell it in her own voice—to bring a little bit of Maine humor into your day.
In any case, this Thanksgiving was one to “make a memory,” as another friend of mine says. Tom and I hope you were able to make a new holiday memory as well.
Today is Small Business Saturday and this year more than ever we’re considering ways we can support our favorite businesses by shopping local and/or small. And also this year more than ever, we’re looking to the internet to connect with small businesses—those in our community as well as far away.
And speaking to those of you in our far-flung Fabric Collage community, it’s time to catch you up on the latest developments in this small business. In addition to specially designed gift certificates (Contact Tom if you’re interested) available within the next few days, we have a few additions and changes to tell you about.
Thursday Night in My Studio Live! Showcase
We’re still wrapping up 2020 with two more Thursday Night presentations in December, but Tom has put together a slick new “showcase,” like a table of contents, to organize the many teaching recordings of this year so far. It was so fun to see the listings all put together like this—it made my year feel quite productive after all—and you can almost watch my hair growing longer in the clips!
Twenty-two. That’s twenty-two Thursday Night in My Studio Live! fabric collage presentations we’ve done. With over twenty-two hours of combined video, this series of recordings is now available in this new format: Thursday Night in My Studio Live! Showcase. We’ve made them easier to search and find.
Interested but aren’t sure you want to buy? Click and view a trailer of the episode. Are you missing some from your collection? Now you can find them easily.
Here’s a summary of major topics:
Facial Features: 8 Videos
A series focusing on the parts of the face: proportions, nose, eyes, mouth, neck and hair, child vs. adult faces, glasses, and teeth.
Backgrounds: 4 Videos
Different types of backgrounds are demonstrated: whole cloth, straight-edged collage, and irregular edged collage.
Working in Drafts: 4 Videos
Follow along as Susan creates a spiral as a way to demonstrate fabric collage in four steps, or drafts: first draft (getting it down), second draft (fixing it up), third draft (adding bling), and finishing.
Customizing Patterns: 2 Videos
Learn how to incorporate features of someone you know into Susan’s Sun and Moon patterns to create your own Moon or Sun inspired portrait.
Visit Thursday Night in My Studio Live! Showcase
Celestial Portraits Module
Learn the basics of fabric collage portraiture in a low-stress, playful way.
Our Thursday Night in My Studio Live! presentations generated a lot of interest in fabric collage portraits, so we’re continuing that interest in our new Celestial Portraits Module—currently in production. This will lead you through a pair of specific projects, linked with the Fabric Collage process instructions found in the Master Class Manual. Basically it’s a new video and written instruction eWorkshop that updates and rewrites chapters from my book Serendipity Quilts. The next best thing to taking a one-on-one celestial portrait class with me.
Through my years of teaching, I’ve found that sun and moon faces provide the perfect designs to be able to “cut loose and let go” of perfection, and have some fun while learning the basics of fabric collage portraiture. Through the new Celestial Portraits Module, you can work along with me, with either (or both) of my sun portrait or moon portrait patterns.
The Celestial Portraits Module will launch in early 2021. Selling for $49, this mini-class will require ownership of the Fabric Collage Master Class Manual. The Manual is an overall reference resource for the fabric collage process, and I’ll be referring to the information found there within specific steps of the Celestial Portraits Module. For example, rather than repeat the full instructions and videos on free-hand machine quilting, I’ll give an overview as it pertains to the sun or moon, then refer you to the Master Class Manual for a more in-depth demonstration.
Changes to Fabric Collage Master Class Manual
Starting January 1, 2021, the Fabric Collage Master Class Manual will increase in price to $199. But until the year 2020 is over, the price will remain the original $149.
So if you’ve been on the fence about making this leap into fabric collage instruction, now would be a good time.
We do have special pricing options—that are an especially good deal with current 2020 pricing:
Buddy Pricing: Sign up with a friend and both of you get $30 off. (Contact Tom for info.)
Former Student Pricing: If you are a former student of mine, you can receive a $30 discount. This also applies to this year’s Thursday Night in My Studio Live! registrants. (Contact Tom for info.)
The Sea Turtle eWorkshop will remain at it’s current price of $149 and also qualifies for Buddy and Former Student discounts.
And don’t forget the Spiral eWorkshop at $25—a great introductory course to Fabric Collage.
Free Pattern Continues
A reminder that we are continuing the special 2020 offer of a Pandemic Collage Coping Free Pattern. Get your free pattern by visiting the Patterns page—susancarlson.com/patterns/—and using this Coupon Code:
goawaypandemicfreepattern
Be sure to click Apply Coupon before proceeding to checkout. Those who used the previous coupon code for a free pattern can use this one for a new free pattern. And if another pattern or two catches your eye, you’re welcome to add it to your Shopping Cart. 😉 One free pattern per customer. Offer expires December 31, 2020.
One of the positives to come out of the covid year for me has been your Thursday night and recently Tuesday night sessions. I own both the Masterclass and the turtle e workshop , and they are great ,, teaching the basics in depth. Apart from living in Australia, I would be also unable to attend your in person classes because of both financial and health reasons. What this years sessions have done for me is to make me feel part of your fabric collage community. This is something that people who attend your classes have, especially the repeat attenders, and it’s been great! I hope you can keep it up in some form or another even when covid allows in person classes again. Oh, I’ve also learned lots from the sessions, which I expected, but the being part of the community has been an unexpected bonus. So thank you, for sharing yourself with us!