The Fabric Collage Quilts of Grace Crocker

Grace Crocker is a self-identified Fabric Collage Super Fan, a.k.a. Fanatic. A long-time quilter—30 years so far—Grace came to fabric collage about three years ago. She finished her first fabric collage quilt in October 2021. She’s now on number twelve. And that’s only part of the reason why I think Grace is amazing.

I first started seeing Grace’s name during our Thursday Night in My Studio Live! presentations which ran during the pandemic shutdown. She quickly became a fixture in my monthly Tuesday night Zoom Show and Share meetings during which Patreon supporters get short feedback from me on their fabric collage creations. And then she moved on to attending my Live Online Classes. She’s become such a great supporter in everything fabric collage-related that we do, including being a four-time Live Online Class attendee.

Grace is amazing in that she’s one of the first to begin working and one of the last to sign off every class day of the week. Amazing in that she’s already well into her collage project even before Day One (she literally can’t wait to start). Amazing in that she checks off every little thing I point out out that needs work and is ready for more when I get back around to her in class. And amazing with all the insights, tips, stories, and anecdotes she has to share. She also admitted to being blind in one eye. I have to say, Grace sees more out of one eye than many of us see out of two. There’s an old-fashioned and kinda silly word that nonetheless seems to describe Grace very well: gumption. She’s got it.

Grace turned eighty-seven years old this past March. She is a woman filled with energy, talent, wisdom, and laughter. Amazing.

Grace claimed she made quite a mess as she worked on portraits of two of her grandchildren during this past week’s Live Online Fabric Collage—Portraits Only class. I don’t know about that—maybe she tidied up a bit for the photo? In any case, the Portraits Only class was originally scheduled during her birthday week in March and was postponed until now, but we made sure to sing Happy Birthday to her anyway. She seemed quite tickled (see future posts for more about the Portraits Only class).

In Class

The first fabric collage class of mine that Grace attended was in January 2022. It hard to believe that it was only a year and a half ago—she’s created so many more fabric collage quilts since then!

This was when I learned how quickly she works and I admit it surprised me how rapidly and successfully the quilt of her family’s dog, Sam, came together.

I love it when a quilt has a good story behind it. This quilt of Grace’s family’s long-gone dog Sam, is a wonderful example. The story of Sam goes back to the 1980’s when Grace and her husband purchased an eighty-acre almond orchard in California. Sam soon joined them and quickly adapted to his new eighty-acre home. Grace told us the importance of this image was that Sam would graze in the bowl of nuts set out on a table—carefully cracking the shells and eating the meats of the almonds only, never touching any walnuts. He was very discerning.

As she said in the post where the unfinished quilt first appeared:

My goal was to create an image of Sam that each of my children and grandchildren would recognize. It made my granddaughter cry—goal reached!

In the May 2023 online class, the third class Grace has taken with me, she produced the quilt below, of another and current family pet. The piece is entitled “Harper and Nutso.” Harper is Grace’s daughter’s dog and Nutso is the visiting squirrel which seems to enjoy frustrating the amiable dachshund by stealing birdseed from behind her back. As of this date, the collage has gone through a few final edits and is now ready for quilting. I’ll be sharing more about that May class in upcoming posts.

Grace’s Family

This quilt of her husband and the ones below reflect Grace’s affinity for converting old family photos into quilts. “Crossfox” was started in class and but we saw this quilt at least twice in the  Patreon Zoom Show and Share meeting (see image below) so I could give her feedback on the progress she was making. In this way, I saw all these quilts in at least a couple different stages.

From Grace:

My husband acquired the nickname, Crossfox, while working in the Yukon in the late ‘40s, due to his red beard and sun-bleached hair. He purchased this hat in Mexico in 1973 and it was his standby for 20 years, until he ran over it with the tractor! Loved the squinty eyes as he looked over Vancouver. Susan helped me, on Patreon, get them just the way I wanted them.

 

In Grace’s second online class, she began and nearly finished this sweet double portrait of her brother and herself.

From Grace:

This quilt was made from a color slide taken in 1941. A lo-o-ong time ago.

The one-on-one pre-class coaching and the daily feedback were invaluable. Additional help was received during follow-up Patreon sessions.

 

I was able to purchase a copy of My Book House and recreate the pages from our favorite book. Learning to create a child’s pudgy fingers was a real eye opener. Thanks to Susan and Tom for making these Zoom classes so enjoyable and successful.

Between Classes

Grace doesn’t wait for the motivation of my classes to keep her mind and hands engaged with fabric collage. The quilts below were inspired by a Zoom series showing how to adapt a drawing of someone you know into my Sun and Moon face patterns. Again, we saw both these quilts in our monthly Tuesday night Patreon Show and Share. The playful approach of projects like these make good practice for life-like portraiture.

From Grace:

In January I worked on my grandson’s Sun face while following Susan as a Fly on the Wall. I learned so much as I watched Susan work  The [Thursday Night in my Studio Live!] videos on facial features were invaluable. I loved doing the glasses and getting the very narrow frame. My goal is to learn to go “far out” with my colors. I love what Susan does but I just can’t get there yet.

From Grace:

I followed Susan’s directions in the half-moon video. It made it easy to make my grandson, Damon, into the man in the moon! Wanted to show his lovely eyelashes and his beard. I had to combine two photos to do this.

 

Planned on collaging the background like the center circle but liked it better without the colored images. Consulted with my friends in the Facebook group and they agreed that I should leave it. I felt that sometimes “more is too much.”

Used glitter tulle and Halogen sparkly thread to quilt the cream colored diamonds, giving me “the light of the silvery moon.” It will be a gift for his 21st birthday in January.

On top of the monthly Patreon Show and Shares, Grace also signed up for a private coaching session to get started on her self-portrait “Gracie,” below. She was itching to get started on a portrait while waiting for the re-scheduled class this June. In a forty-five-minute fabric collage coaching session I can deliver lots of help and answer lots of questions. As always, her session was recorded so Grace could review our time together later at her leisure.

From Grace:

My coaching session was invaluable. Followed all of Susan’s hints to the best of my ability. Not too late to make additional changes but I hope to get this finished before the class at the end of the month.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Before I ever saw Grace in class, in Patreon, or in a coaching session, she had made a handful of quilts based on my book, Serendipity Quilts, and on my patterns—while, as she told me, she was waiting for that first January 2022 class to begin! Practice is an under appreciated habit. Starting simple and working up in complexity is a method that increases success. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Grace definitely did her homework back then and continues to put in amazing time and effort—her skills in fabric collage are ever increasing as a result.

From Grace:

I also finished this butterfly that I started while waiting for the online class. Mickey Lawler’s Skydye was the perfect background.

From Grace:

I started with YouTube, then both books, and finally the Spiral Workshop and the Master Class Manual! And the blog posts. I am in love with the technique. Just dealt with a lot of glue doing several stained glass quilts, Susan’s method is delightful. Anxious to go to more projects. The manual with its many links is a fantastic resource. I am addicted.

From Grace:

Drawing a spiral was the first trick! I kept thinking of other fabrics I could have used but told myself that this was just an exercise. After adding a lot of additional pieces I covered the quilt with a blue tulle with a little glitter on it.

Thanks for sharing yourself and your fantastic work with us, Grace—you’re amazing. Can’t wait to see what’s next! 😉