Fabric Collage Finish Line No. 74

I have three orders of business for today’s post before we get to some new finished quilts from our readers:

1. Registration is open for a newly scheduled 5-Day Live Online Fabric Collage Class in January!
2. A big thank you to new Patreon members.
3. A call for submissions for future Finish Line quilt posts. A finished collage quilt in this week’s post (photo above), is “Hiding from the Fire,” by Catherine Bilyard.

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First off, we have scheduled a Live Online Fabric Collage Class for January 24-28 2022. That’s five days plus a 1-hour private coaching session to be scheduled the week before class. For those of you who have been waiting to join such an online event, we took a good look at 2022’s schedule and realized this will likely be the only 5-Day Live Online Class until later in the fall, as I have in-person teaching obligations to fulfill in between.

Here’s the link for more information:
https://susancarlson.com/live-online-fabric-collage-with-susan-carlson-5-day-class/

And here’s the link to register for the class:
https://susancarlson.com/product/january-2022-live-online-fabric-collage-class-with-susan-carlson/

This is a five-day, animals-only class. The class day typically runs from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time to accommodate those on the west coast for whom it runs 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Please feel free to contact Tom with any other questions ([email protected]). And if you live in another part of the world where our time zones are quite incompatible, yet you’d be interested in a live online class, please let us know and maybe we could come up with an alternative solution.

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Second, I want to sincerely thank the new members in my Patreon community. Since I promoted Patreon a couple weeks ago ten followers have signed up for monthly support at the level of their choosing.

The button below takes you to my Patreon page which gives more details on this monthly subscription of fabric collage instruction. There you can see a brief summary of all archived monthly videos (currently 61) which are available to view anytime to subscribers at the $5+ month level.

SUBSCRIBE TO PATREON

Recently we have made it possible to pay once yearly (rather than monthly) and to have your membership start immediately (rather than having to wait until the beginning of the month when cards are charged by Patreon). We hope these changes make the site even more user friendly.

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And finally, the year is winding down and so is my back log of Finish Line quilts to post and share! We  have a couple more “editions” in the wings, but are starting to run low. Hopefully today’s batch will inspire you to finish and share that fabric collage quilt that’s been waiting for your attention. Readers love to see and read about the collage journeys of others.

Tom reminds me that if you’ve sent in a quilt but haven’t seen it appear here, it’s okay to check with him to be sure he has everything he needs. Sometimes he has to email back that the images are too small to use or that the information form is missing, for example. Go ahead and check in with him at [email protected]. He won’t mind.

Please use the link below to submit your finished fabric collage quilts—Thank you.

Submit Quilt for "Finish Line"

And now this week’s edition of the Fabric Collage Finish Line! Remember, you can double click on any images to see them larger.

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Cheri Artz

Cheri Artz of Taylors, SC, has been following my blog posts for a couple years. She participated in my Thursday Night in My Studio Live! presentations throughout 2020. Percentage-wise, not too many people choose boats or other inanimate objects as subject matter. I remember talking to Cheri about this boat in one of those online sessions, when she was just getting started. What a great result with the perspective, form (highlights, shadows, and color values), reflections, and the water in general—wow! Good use of the tulle too. Lovely job, Cheri! I look forward to seeing what you choose next.

Cheri says: “Thank you, Susan, for all your encouragement for all of us “Susan wannabe’s.” :)”

From Cheri:

The photo I used was one I had pulled out of a magazine many years ago that just “spoke to me.” I had it tacked onto the bulletin board above my sewing machine for many years, not exactly sure what I wanted to do with it. Learning about collage quilting (along with a nudge from my sister) inspired me to finally tackle it. Unfortunately, despite searching the internet, I was never able to locate the photographer.

The water — and especially the reflection of the boat — posed a particular challenge to get the right “muddiness”. I finally achieved the right look with using 2 layers of camouflage tulle over most of the boat reflection, and one layer elsewhere in the water. The boat sat mostly done for several months while I debated about whether to make a horizon and add sky like in the photo. In the end I decided to keep it as is, as I felt adding sky somehow took away from it. This was my second project using Susan’s methods. It is a bit addicting! I learned a lot doing this quilt, and now I’m trying to decide what to do next!

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Barbara Fooks

Barbara Fooks of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, tells the circuitous story of her butterfly quilt below. I had to smile with how she never gave up. Even after “finishing,”  Barbara wasn’t satisfied until she had achieved a vision that worked for her. This persistence is an attribute I’m proud she has picked up from the many sources of information I have available—blog, Zoom presentations, Patreon Show and Share, and the Online Master Class. Fabric collage is flexible enough to change, and change again, until you say it’s done.

In the end, five months is not so bad, especially when you give your subject as much thought and details as Barbara did. I think her butterfly is beautiful and joyful. Nice call on the rhinestones, Barbara.

The lamb Barbara mentions as her first fabric collage was featured in this previous Finish Line Post.

From Barbara:

On Easter, I decided to start a butterfly quilt, using Susan’s Sinuous Swallowtail pattern. I struggled at first worrying about the symmetrical nature of a butterfly and following Susan’s pattern. I joined Patreon, for access to those recordings. I thoroughly enjoyed the [Patreon] Show and Share Tuesdays each month, and learned a lot just by watching Susan’s comments on other artists’ work. One Tuesday I asked Susan in the chat about working with symmetrical subjects. Her answer set me free. For one, don’t get hung up on having the two sides match, and two, her pattern is only a guideline – you don’t have to colour between the lines!

Well, next morning I got up up and pulled out all the pins, starting over except for the body, which was already glued, and fine just the way it was. This time I worked on one wing at a time, letting the fabric take me wherever it wanted to go. I was happy with the result, which had taken me until June, almost three months. I have never spent so long on an art project. When I started auditioning backgrounds, there was a turquoise one I liked, but it looked like the butterfly was in the water. In retrospect, who cares, the colour looked great. So I bought a sky blue fabric and decided I liked that. Quilted it, and hung it in my office. I hated it! The colours were greyed down, and the butterfly melted into the background.

 

For two weeks I pondered that quilt. I considered outlining the butterfly with black ink and painting the background with white, or adding tulle or lace and re-quilting the background. Finally, I took the scissors and cut the butterfly out of its blue chrysalis! I pulled numerous fabrics out of my stash, thinking of doing rectangular pieces, as Susan used on her crocodile. I reread the info about backgrounds in the master class manual, as well as every blog that has info about backgrounds. In the end, I really liked two batiks. I was going to glue the quilted butterfly to them, but I ended up pulling out the grey quilting, and redoing the whole thing with variegated rainbow thread.

Five months of work with several detours along the way, but I am pleased with the results and grateful to Susan for the Master Class, the blog posts and Tuesday show-and-shares, as well as the gracious way she shares her talent. When I reach the point where I feel the need for her personal help, I will definitely sign up for private online tutoring or increase my Patreon support for feedback in the Tuesday show-and-share.

 

I chose the butterfly because after my first project, a lamb in natural colours, I wanted something fanciful with lots of colour. The topic seemed apropos for a project started on Easter, since the butterfly is symbolic of Christ’s rising from the tomb. Using Susan’s pattern, I thought, would make for a quick project. Well, I soon learned that for me, there probably is no quick project in collage. Also, the process of tracing the subject helps with planning the palette and layout of the subject. Using someone else’s pattern means you need to spend some extra time getting to know the subject. Even with Susan’s pattern, I put a lot of me into the project, and it takes time to pull the creativity out of your heart. I used colours in the butterfly that reminded me of Easter eggs – pink, and purple and turquoise.

As I was finishing the butterfly, it asked for some rhinestones. So I went searching online for rhinestones, since we were in full lockdown. So the eyes and ends of the antennae are rhinestones, and there are a few more on the wings and body. I have so enjoyed this project. After so many years of trying every method and medium out there, at the age of 71, I have found both the medium, and the method! Thank you, Susan! Any previous project that took more than a month or so would turn into a UFO!

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Catherine Bilyard

I met Catherine Bilyard of Hayden, ID, in a Sequim, WA class, September, 2019. Catherine got quite far on her collage during those class days, and it’s fun to now see it finished. She made great use of the patterns in her colorful fabrics, using them as visual texture for the deer’s fur and an indication of the contours of his body. The African fabric Catherine used for the background works beautifully with his colors, and its resemblance to flames adds to the deer’s story in an effective yet vulnerable and unsettling way. It makes you think, and that’s good.

From Catherine:

Started in a class with Susan in Sequim, WA. Moved to Idaho and chaos took over. I just finished it, after smelling the smoke from forest fires for weeks, I think the background and the title are appropriate. I had taken a picture of a deer laying down. I wanted to show Susan how gutsy I could be with fabrics and color. The background fabric is an African batik I had in my stash and I love that fabric. I love collage and Susan!

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The Winter Solstice—or Summer Solstice for my Southern Hemisphere readers—will fall next week on Tuesday the 21st of December. With the shortest day and longest night of the year (or vise versa), it seems like a fine celestial event to celebrate either way. May your Solstice be filled with twinkling stars and the warmth of the sun.

A Holiday Gift from Us—Enjoy a FREE PATTERN of Your Choice

These downloadable patterns are perfect for fabric collagers of any level—created to give alternate design options to the fabric collage technique found in my Serendipity Quilts book and eWorkshops.
Use the coupon code below.
This code may be shared (just forward this post to a friend) but applied only once per user. 

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Visit susancarlson.com/patterns to select.
And feel free to add additional $5 patterns to your cart, if you so desire. 😉