As I finish up another teaching week with a great batch of students, as always it’s been quite satisfying having helped them along on their own fabric collage journeys. And when I post another collection of finished collage quilts, it’s always immensely satisfying to see where that journey has taken others. This week, I’ve have the pleasure of both worlds. Not only can I share the finished steampunk portrait quilt (above), “Where are you going, Emily Rose?”, by Carol Allen-Mollgaard, I also had the chance to work with Carol again the past few days (more on that in an upcoming post).
I continue to be awed and amazed by the Finish Line submissions we receive—may you enjoy them and their stories as well. If you have a finished fabric collage quilt please use the link below to submit yours. Thank you to all for sharing your creativity with others.
Submit Quilt for "Finish Line"
Beverly Spurs
I was excited when Beverly Spurs of Concord, CA, said she had chosen a kakapo as her subject in one of last year’s classes at Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar State Park in California. I have a soft spot for the amazingly cute kakapos ever since learning of their story after my first visit to New Zealand. (Tom also was inspired by the birds of Aotearoa, so inspired he wrote a whole book.) Beverly definitely did this bird justice in her fabric interpretation. Her use of symbolic spirals and fern fronds in the collage is perfect for a creature endemic to New Zealand.
From Beverly:
The photo that inspired this quilt came from a calendar I bought in New Zealand in 2019. I managed to contact the photographer, Tui De Roy, who graciously gave me permission to use it. The Kakapo is a flightless New Zealand parrot that is very endangered, and is being nurtured by the Kakapo Rescue organization. Due to their efforts there are now 248 birds known to be living in the wild, mostly in small islands off the coast.
I took Susan’s class at Asilomar in 2022. I finished the bird during class and added the background later. I am very pleased to have finished this quilt in just over a year, and it is going in our local guild’s show this weekend.
Carol Allen-Mollgaard
Carol Allen-Mollgaard of Choteau, MT, attended our Zoom meetings for months during our 2020 Thursday Night in my studio Live! presentations. It was there that Carol acquired the portrait template that led to her collage of Emily Rose. That portrait series is now available as an eWorkshop on Facial Features. I finally met Carol in an October 2021 online class, where she began a collage of a mama and baby buffalo—”Mavis and Norman.”
I found out just this past week in my most recent online class, that Carol is an avid fan of steampunk—science fiction dealing with 19th-century societies dominated by historical or imagined steam-powered technology (from Merriam-Webster). I see it as a category of imaginative art expressed in many ways—visual, written, theatrical, fashion, decor, and so on. For those that are unaware of this World of Steampunk, here’s just one of a zillion links for you. In Carol’s comments below, she points out that her Emily Rose is (like I am) a fan of crocodiles, but I also noticed that we both are fans of rhinos as well. A little “I Spy” activity for you, my readers.
From Carol:
Six years ago, I began my fabric collage journey after watching Susan on The Quilt Show. I studied her method by reading her blogs, taking her classes and lurking in the background during her Patreon Show and Share. When Susan graciously shared her face pattern, I nabbed it and ran.
I’ve always been fascinated with steampunk, so why not collage a steampunk traveler? The motifs floating around the portrait refer to my journey: the sea turtle, the buffalo, riding a unicycle…except for the pig. That’s all on my sister! (And by the way, Susan, you’re not the only one who has a crocodile.
Jean Accola
Jean Accola of Stone Lake, WI, and Tilaran, Costa Rica, attended my November 2021 class at Woodland Ridge Retreat in WI. Jean arrived to fabric collage from her experience as a painter, as opposed to experience as a quilter. Because she’s familiar to dabs of paint, she had no problem adapting to dabs of fabric and was able to easily “Cut Loose and Let Go,” working very intuitively. It was fun to see her “discover” this new fabric medium for her art and the freshness and spontaneity she brought to this beautiful collage portrait.
From Jean:
After seeing the textile paintings by WI artist Margaret Lindeman, I tried my hand at it with mixed success—Marge had died and thus I was unable to learn from her. I had been a painter for decades but always loved textiles. I happened upon Susan’s class at Woodland Ridge Retreat in Downsville, WI, and was given ‘jet fuel’ inspiration and techniques!
I did most of the piecing of this quilt during the five day class and finished it myself on a rented long arm quilter—like learning to drive, but even more focus required. One of the things that helped make this quilt more interesting, was, because I was new to the medium, I had a very limited palette of fabric to work with and was forced to go with value over color. I used dark magenta florals and bright gold highlights for skin tones, and some netting in the sand. Thank you Susan for your excellent guidance!!
