This Week in My Studio: Preparations Abound

This post continues a new series: This Week in My Studio. As the title implies, in these posts I’ll be showing what I’ve been up to recently in my work space. This might mean a close look at a quilt I’m working on—such as my Blue Goldie (above), or it may mean following along as I reorganize my fabrics, or even featuring all the different places my cat Djinni has claimed as her sleeping spots—such as spaces where I need to work or sit (below).

I hope in any case, that what I share can help you in one way or another—by giving you some new ideas or a fresh way of looking at things, or just to entertain you for a small part of your week. You may even find the theme of a post familiar or comforting as you say to yourself, “See, even Susan has too much cat hair in her studio!” Let me know what you think and share your own experiences in the comments below. Have any topic requests? Include them in the comments section as well.

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Preparing for February Fish Class Final Presentation

A great creative moment is when I get into “the Zone.” For me, when that happens, I not only lose track of time, but time is irrelevant. My intuition clicks on as my eyes search for what I need—reaching for a piece of fabric, without really knowing if that’s what I’m looking for. Color, value, pattern—they all move in and out of each other as I rummage through a pile of fabric. And that happened twice this week—getting into the Zone, or the Flow—as I was preparing for Thursday’s fourth and final presentation of my February fish example, Blue Goldie.

I had two major goals for what to show and demonstrate for this final session—first was to decide the what and why of a background choice. I went through quite a few fabric ideas, arranging and photographing many valid options to then flip though and decide upon. That was the first venture into the Zone, making me late to the Zoom meeting we had set up for pre-class coaching, in preparation for an online class beginning in about a week.

In the photos above, I selected a four fabric background and began trimming sections to size (to later glue)—with Djinni’s help to hold the cutting mat in place.

My second fish class goal was to demonstrate the use of sheer fabrics for adding the sort of details that can help give more roundness and volume in this subject. Above, is the spillage from my bag of blue sheers. These sorts of fabrics are quite fun to collect but not to fold and store—there’s much slipping involved if you try. So I no longer try. Instead, large zippered bags that I’ve collected, mostly from quilt shows or stores, are the perfect solution—they hold an amazing amount of the supple material, and the zipper keeps out a curious cat. (More storage solutions can be explored in this post.)

After dinner one evening this week, I went to my studio “for an hour or so” to start pulling out blue sheer possibilities for Goldie. Even though Djinni was ready to settle in for the night, I selected and cut a sheer-oriented fabric palette and started arranging and playing with those pieces on top of my fish—working around the sleepy cat as needed.

Eventually I felt a little tired myself, I checked the time and it was 1:30am! Oh well, a little less sleep in exchange for a second lovely immersion into the creative flow was worth it.

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Missed February’s Fantastical Fabric Collage Fish Follow-Along?

Extended Through This First Weekend of March

You can still follow along and create your own fish through links to the recordings of the four Zoom sessions. Each recording includes an introductory slideshow and live demonstration with closeups and questions and answers. To purchase, email Tom below.

Price: $78
Email: tom@tomallenbooks.com

You will receive a request for payment and then an email with links to the four sessions. Also included will be links to other information expanding on topics discussed or relevant to completing your Fantastical Fish.

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Teaching Preparations

March Live Online 5-day Class

Two afternoons this week in my studio, were given over to pre-class coaching on Zoom for students attending our online class, beginning in about a week. It’s something we’ve always offered to online students since it’s essentially a preview of how the class itself will work. It’s proved to be so effective in preparing folks for the first day of class in so many ways, that Tom now helps me provide the online pre-class meetings for my in-person students as well.

One thing that we’ve kept for online students only is a little welcome packet sent to their home. The photo below shows 8 of the 10 fabrics I’ll select with the chosen subjects in mind (I still haven’t decided on the last two fabrics). This particular collection will hopefully have something in it to add to each person’s fabric palette—subjects include a black dog, an orange dog, a camel, an iguana, a controlled fire burn, and three pairs of legs. Gonna be an interesting week of collage.

In-Person Classes

I’m pleased to note that my Two-Week Intensive class (ten work days) with MISA in Bar Harbor, Maine (near Acadia National Park) this September 2025, has filled and now is accepting folks to the wait list. The popularity of this format has inspired me to schedule another Intensive at the end of April 2026, at Woodland Ridge Retreat in Downsville, WI. This class opened for registration this past week.

Both of these Two-Week Intensive classes will follow a format of five work days, two days off, then another 5 work days. Out-of-class activities will be planned according to the locations, but will likely include field trips to local attractions—and fabric oriented locations.  In Bar Harbor that will include the fabric department at the legendary Maine Marden’s discount store (click here for a classic Marden’s ad).

In Wisconsin, Chris (the owner of Woodland Ridge Retreat and Dye Candy Fabrics) and I have already discussed locations to visit over the open weekend including: Cultural Cloth: https://www.culturalcloth.com/, SR Harris: https://srharrisfabric.com/, and for a special dinner out, Owamni: https://owamni.com/.

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Preparing for Spring

Winter’s grip loosening? I dare not make the question into a statement, but it appears, provisionally, subject to the whims of goddess Mother Nature, the weather may be warming up a bit, here and there. One sign of this is the breaking up of ice in the head of Middle Bay here in Harpswell—Lookout Point is the destination of our morning dog-walks.

Soon after we moved to Harpswell almost 25 years ago, I became friends with a fellow artist, Sandi Ste George. She and her husband are snowbirds who now migrate to New Orleans this time of year—they choose Mardi Gras over ice floes—go figure. But I did get to see her over the holidays and when I told her about my upcoming February Fish Class, it inspired her to create her own February fish, painted on plywood cutouts she designs herself. She sent me photos this week, and when I asked, said I could share her fantastic creations with you—pretty cool, huh?

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Preparing for the Weekend!

Starting and ending the week in my studio, was and will be to continue making it a more creatively inspiring workspace. The last few years especially it’s gotten out of control, even for more-is-better me. As I mentioned last week “In My Studio,” I’ve been doing a Do-Si-Do, moving things here and there to access, take care of, or complete other things. I share these photos to help many of you feel better about your own spaces. 😉

It only took a couple hours to excavate to my fabric shelves. Not bad. Then I had the brilliant idea to move a table I have in storage into the now open space (where my crocodile quilt mailing tube is currently occupying), photo below. The table gets accessed and moved into place this weekend—we’ll see if my idea works. Do-Si-Do. After spending a fair bit of time on the computer this week, I’m looking forward to diving back into the physical aspect of moving furniture around and freshening up—at least a part of—my studio. Wish me luck and fun!