Long straggling wedges of Canada geese call to each other as they criss-cross our autumn skies. Funnily enough they aren’t all heading south, but wander here and there to one sheltered bay or another. In this time of avian migration, we thought you might enjoy some fabric collage birds. These birds won’t be flying off to warmer climes though they look like they could.
Inspiration for these bird collages varies. Sylvie Aguilar’s goose is from a picture she received in her email in-box. Cheri Artz’s neighbor photographed the elusive green heron. And Vickie Ostrow’s swan (detail above) is from a painting by none other than John James Audubon himself!
As cold weather closes in here in the Northern Hemisphere, maybe it’s time to find your inspiration. The long dark months are a great time to migrate to your studio for a season of creativity!
Be sure to click on any of the smaller photos below to enlarge for viewing and to then scroll through each gallery.
A reminder that all my 2025 fabric collage classes—both in-person and online—are scheduled and (except for one) open for registration. See the link for more information, including dates, fees, and descriptions.
2025 Live Online and In-Person Fabric Collage Classes
Sylvie Aguilar
From Sylvie Aguilar of Acton, MA:
I started exploring fabric collage in 2018. After many hours spent on line, I found Susan’s blog. I was blown away by this art form. I purchased many collage books, including Susan’s, to try to learn as much as I could. Her in person classes always full, I explored different techniques of fabric collage before finally getting a spot in one of her online classes in May of 2021. I started Claudette in my second class with Susan, in September of 2021.
My inspiration for this art quilt came from a picture taken by Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily. Claudette is one of her goose that is often featured on her blog. After contacting her, she graciously gave me permission to use her photo.
The pre-class meeting with Susan is a great way to prepare and get your project up to speed so you can start working with fabrics on day one. having a great pattern is such an important part of getting great results. Susan’s expert eye really helps you see where you need to put emphasis, which detail is most important, how to read your photo, etc. Previewing your fabrics at this time also gives you a chance to decide if you need another run to the fabric store before class starts. Learning to look at fabrics the way Susan does is a great asset.
Susan always suggest to start with the eyes or nose… so the beak was on the menu for day one. It seemed like I wasn’t making much progress but by the next morning, it was done. So many tiny pieces! Taking my time and being precise, was well worth it. I could glue the beak and move on to the head. Since I only had one fabric with a feather design, I needed to find fabrics with movement that could give the impression of feathers. Swirls, wavy lines and different values of purple all played a role in creating an illusion of feathers and the very round and soft parts of a goose body. The most difficult part was the belly. Creating an area with roundness going in two different directions is no easy task. But with Susan’s suggestions and many re-takes, I’m happy with the result.
The collage part of Claudette was done by early 2022. The quilting was unfortunately delayed by small projects and other classes I had signed up for, including two more classes with Susan. I quilted Claudette summer of 2023 just in time to enter her in a fall quilt show in VT where she earned a Vendor’s Choice Ribbon.
Neil Jackman
From Neil Jackman:
I had been working on a quilt of a macaw for about 18 months but was not really happy with how it was progressing. After doing the four weeks of Susan’s sessions I looked at what I had been doing, pulled it all apart to see if I could adjust or start again. The decision was made to start again with a new image and with Susan’s words of the bigger the better I had the line drawing image photocopied to the largest size I could. (so much easier to do this and trace onto the background fabric than hand drawing on a grid). It was then just a case of following the videos of each session and progress from there. I now need to start to use the colour and patterns in the fabric more so have registered to do bugs and butterflies.
Cheri Artz
From Cheri Artz of Taylors, SC:
As I’ve shared before, we live on a lake in SC. We had a neighbor who was always taking the most stunning photos of birds and animals around the lake. When he died last year, I felt like I wanted to honor his memory by using one of his many photos that he shared freely with the neighbors. I chose this particular photo because although we see blue herons frequently, the green heron is a little more elusive, and they have very beautiful and interesting colors. Depending on the light, sometimes (as in this case) they aren’t even green. I got stuck twice in the process of making it where it languished on my table: first with the feathers on the body and then with the background. Once I finally found the right fabrics, it came together pretty quickly. Each collage project has its own challenges and opportunities to learn new things. I continue to be fascinated and impressed by all the quilts that others do. Susan, you have certainly touched a creative nerve in a lot of us. Thanks so much for your teaching and sharing what others do!!
Vickie Ostrow
From Vickie Ostrow of Kittery Point, Maine:
This quilt is based on a John James Audubon print on a Trumpeter Swan. My husband and I have had a framed copy of that print for many years – a gift from my parents-in-law – but it isn’t an “original.” I loved the lines of the print, and I had been considering it as a collage subject for awhile, but I was hesitant to use it because I had heard Susan explain why it is hard to work with white in a collage and make the subject look life-like. Then Susan started collaging a polar bear! I guess that was what gave me the push I needed to stop worrying about how difficult it might be to collage something I wanted to look white and to just jump in.
I researched copyright questions and issues until I knew quite a bit about Audubon and made sure I could use the image freely. Then I started reading about trumpeter swans.
My progress in the online class was slow, unlike the inimitable Grace, who was in my supportive group during the class, but I settled in and have worked on the swan for most of the past year. I made progress, with Susan’s help, learning how to give some movement to large areas of white, and I blended that with what I learned about trumpeter swans to gently shade my swan to fit what I wanted to achieve. Susan sometimes sends students a small bundle of fabric as inspiration to widen our choices at the beginning of a class, and a piece she sent to me became the line where the water meets the land in the background. I figured out how to continue the bird’s body underwater, and I used more tulle than I’ve ever used before.
The swan now hangs over the fireplace in our living room. It makes me feel serene and yet ready to soar every time I see it.