Today’s Throwback Thursday and again this Saturday’s post have distinctly international flavors. Today we revisit a transcontinental fabric collage connection between two students of mine, one from Australia and one from Belgium.
When Australian Terri Ahren and her amazing and monumental collage “Uluru” (above) visited Belgium, it was spotted by Ria Mille, a prolific fabric collage quilter, who recognized the fabric collage technique immediately.
This Saturday, I will provide an update of Ria’s most recent work which appeared together with her departed best friend Rit Verhoeven’s collages as a special exhibit in a 2021 quilt show in Belgium.
Lately, especially during my recent free pattern giveaway, I’ve been noting an uptick in orders from countries around the world, including South Africa, France, Malta, the U.A.E., Australia, Canada, and Great Britain—like a tiny little connection to all these faraway places—very cool.
Occasionally, Tom fields emails from people in Europe and Africa who lament that they aren’t able to attend my Live Online Classes because of the time difference. There are just too many time zones between us and them. Just ask my student from Scotland, Catriona Stirling (see her penguin here), for whom class started at 4:00 p.m. her time and ended at 11:00 p.m. (or later)!
I’ve been asking for Expressions of Interest for upcoming Live Online Classes. I collect emails and contact folks when I’ve scheduled an online class. I will continue doing that, but I’d also like to collect Expressions of Interest from international students for whom I may be able to adjust my schedule to accommodate the difference in time.
So if you are from Europe or Africa or the Middle East, let me know you’re interested and where you’re from. Contact Tom ([email protected]).
If we can gather enough interest, I’ll put together a strictly international Live Online Class. I’m afraid you’ll have to have a good understanding of English, though I can gesture with the best of them. Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch (due to German relatives) and Tom has some “tourist” Spanish, but otherwise we are (regrettably) monolingual.
For those of you in the the Western Hemisphere, we do have a couple more slots open for our upcoming Live Online Class starting on January 24 (one-on-one coaching begins the week prior). See below for more info.
TWO SPACES LEFT for our 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.
And here’s the link to register for the class.
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.
And here’s a link to peruse the work and comments from our 2021 Live Online Class participants.
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.
Fabric Collage Master Class
For instructions on the entire fabric collage process, you can purchase the Susan Carlson Fabric Collage Online Master Class Manual. Using video, photos, and text I take you from soup to nuts, beginning to end in creating your own fabric collage masterpiece.
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Spiral eWorkshop
Wondering if fabric collage is for you? This eWorkshop is intended for beginners in fabric collage. The spiral project is simple, low stress, but still teaches the basic techniques of fabric collage. It also serves as a handy refresher course for those with more experience.
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Sea Turtle eWorkshop
Learn fabric collage with Susan Carlson. Each step is clearly written, illustrated with photos, and demonstrated with video. Learn with a Sea Turtle then launch into any fabric collage project you wish.
Serendipity Quilts for Sale
$29.95 plus shipping. Full color throughout. Four complete projects, start to finish, of increasing complexity. Learn fabric collage with this book.
Wow! Outstanding!
I have followed your work for years, but I am interested in nature and picturesque subjects from my travels ( such as canyons or mountains) rather than people or animals so i decided to ask if this course would be appropriate for me, or is is it geared more towards portraiture (seems like it might).
The Fabric Collage Master Class is more focused on animals and people. My in-person classes are sometimes more flexible. I have had students work on landscapes, though that isn’t my forte. The technique is flexible enough to handle any subject. You might try the Spiral eWorkshop to get a feel for the technique, to see if you like working in this way. Then you could purchase the Master Class if you wish to learn more.
Noreen, another thought for you is to consider my one-on-one coaching for a landscape collage, or other “alternate” subject matter that isn’t the focus of a particular class. That way our discussions can be focused toward what you need to see and hear. You could purchase quite a few of these extended time and recorded sessions for the cost of a class——and through January we’re continuing the 2021 pricing with prepayment of however many sessions you’d like. More info is in the January 1st post, or let us know if you’ve got any questions. Thanks.
Jan. 6, 2022
Susan, I just read your post about your Asilomar Empty Spools Quilt Retreat workshop of 2019. It was meaningful for me as I am scheduled to attend your Fabric Collage Menagerie workshop during Session 3 (March 20-25, 2022). I have tried to enroll in your class for several years…..I have always been too late or had a personal conflict. Finally, this year (2022) it is scheduled to happen. Hopefully, COVID issues will not block efforts to meet.
I will continue to let my excitement grow by getting prepared with some collage practice work. The photos of the Empty Spools work space were helpful…..it helps me to know a little about what to expect. I did text a question to Tom regarding the quality of design boards available at the Asilomar facility. I decided to bring my own sturdy design wall (batting and fabric wrapped 2″ insulation board) and lots of fabrics (currently limited to 5 banker boxes full…….. I think, of course, every piece is necessary for my Clown Trigger Fish design).
I will keep my hopes high and fingers crossed. Thanks for your timely blog post! Bill Horn, Palm Springs, CA.