Fabric Collage Finish Line #86

This is a test. We’ve heard from some that they didn’t receive this post from last Saturday in their email. So we are sending out this post again to make sure our system is running correctly. Thanks, Susan and Tom

Koalas and lions and (red panda) bears, oh my!

Don’t panic. This Fabric Collage Finish Line features some furry animal friends—including the red panda (detail above) by Robyn Ellis from the Land of Oz (a.k.a. Australia). Soulful or playful, these fabric collage creations each has a personality of its own, created through the use of color and pattern. Thank you Cheri and Carla and Robin for sharing, oh my!

I hope you can kick back with a cuppa and enjoy these collage quilts. As I work through the next three Live Online Classes—January, March, and May—more pieces will be started, hopefully to appear in a future Finish Line post. As of this writing there are still a few spots remaining in the May class. See information at the end of the post if you are interested.

If you’d like to submit your own finished fabric collage quilt to display in a Finish Line post, please click on button below. Cheers!

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Cheri Artz

I have never met Cheri Artz of Taylors, South Carolina, in person. However, she has had a steady presence in my online offerings, joining in Thursday Night in My Studio Live! and as a Patron for our monthly Patreon Show and Share. Just a couple days ago in our Throwback Thursday, we linked to a post I wrote about creating the illusion of fur in your fabric collage project. Cheri’s koala is a perfect example of finding fabrics to create fur. Look close at the in-progress photos below, to see how Cheri used the roundness of floral and leaf prints and “softness” of color to create an adorable and fuzzy koala—with great clawed feet. What a lovely memory quilt, Cheri.

From Cheri:

In 2018 I fulfilled a lifelong bucket list item to go to Australia. I thought it would be fun to do a koala for my first collaged animal. This collage is based on a royalty free photo taken by Andras Deak. The name Hartley Hanson is in remembrance of getting to hold a koala at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventure and walking among the eucalyptus trees filled with koalas at Hanson’s Bay Wildlife Sanctuary on Kangaroo Island.

The quilting on the background is meant to evoke eucalyptus leaves. I was also able to incorporate some Aboriginal fabric that I picked up while in Australia (the kangaroos on the tree). The neck area was particularly troublesome, and I don’t know how many times I reworked it and then started over. But I persevered and finally got it!

Very fun project, and I’m pleased with the results. Thanks Susan so much for all of your helpful blogs and videos. I have learned so much from you!

Carla Orner

Carla Orner of Prairie Village, Kansas, picked up fabric collage through my book “Serendipity Quilts” and has watched some of the videos I’ve produced. Carla isn’t kidding when she says that this collage, “…went through many changes.” Just compare her in-progress photos—what great interest she added when she switched to fabrics full with interesting designs of decorative motifs—fish and birds and dragons, oh my! A golden portrait worthy of the mighty Aslan.

From Carla:

My daughter decided to decorate her son’s nursery in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” [a novel by C.S. Lewis]. She asked for an Aslan quilt to hang in the nursery. It took many months and went through many changes. I love the final result.

Robyn Ellis

Robyn Ellis of Sydney, Australia, has taken classes during two of the three trips I’ve made Down Under to the Land of Oz (Australia). First was in 2018 at Caroline Sharkey’s Sewing Up a Storm Coastal Retreat in Urunga. However, this red panda was begun (photos below) during the Australian Quilt Convention in 2019, where she also shared a “lightbulb moment” from the class in this post. Robyn mentions below, of attending 2022’s AQC and it’s Gala dinner. Let me tell you, that brought back some memories, Australians know how to party! Singing, dancing, risqué comedians. Of course there are quilts as well—being exhibited and created—and Robyn’s finished quilt is indeed “Precious.” Robyn has a great eye for fabric collage and I hope to see more finished work in the future, and maybe another chance to see her again.

Robyn Ellis

From Robyn:

I think red pandas are the sweetest things, and this photo by Anton Watman of a young panda took my fancy. As I am showing it in a small local show here in a week or so, I have paid to use the image with Shutterstock. For the life of me I couldn’t find the proof I had when I initially used the photo with you. I can’t even remember how I used the photo ‘legally’, as I know I was careful about that.

My biggest problem was the quilting, not something I ever enjoy, hence the delay. I had completed the top not long after the class, but with time deadlines and life stuff, I did have difficulty as a lot of the glue had lifted and raw edges were fraying in the process. I love playing with fabric and colour, but I cut the pieces too small, must stop that, but I love doing the top.

We had AQC in Brisbane about 5 weeks ago, location a COVID thing, and at the Gala dinner I sat with 2, maybe 3 others who were in your class. We shared photos and had lots to chat about of the class.

Thank you, you are a terrific teacher and your instruction and perspective ensure we all have work to be proud of. I still think that the choice of fabric colours needs to be over extended in values, more that what you see, otherwise you don’t see the contrast of light and dark in your work.

Space Available in May 2023 Live Online Class

You are invited to join me via Zoom for a 5-Day Live Online Fabric Collage Class. This class is for all levels of fabric collage proficiency, from beginner to advanced. The class runs May 29–June 2, 2023.

The Portraits Only class that I had announced earlier filled this past week with my Patreon Subscribers and with those who had earlier sent an Expression of Interest.

I have included the number of spots available for the following May-June class and will do my best to update this number in this post as it changes. If you find on the registration page that the class is sold out and would like to be placed on a waitlist, please email Tom ([email protected]). Thank you.

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Five-Day Live Online Fabric Collage Classes (Animals Only)

Price: $995 per student

Required Class Fee: $169 for the Fabric Collage Master Class—an online resource “manual” to refer to before, during, and after class—yours for life ($199 regular price; contact tom@tomallenbooks for coupon code for discount. This fee is waived if you already own the Master Class)

Hardware and Software Requirements: Computer, tablet, or other larger-screen device; reliable internet; ability to photograph and send images of collage in progress (a cellphone is recommended); Zoom meeting software (free to download)

Maximum Number of students: 12

Subject Matter: This class deals with animal subjects—furred, feathered, or scaled—pets, exotic animals, birds, insects, sea life, sea slugs, whatever type of animal appeals to you.

Included: Forty-five minute private pre-class coaching session to prepare you for Day One of class.

See links below for more information.