Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: This Week in My Studio—Finding Inspiration

Years ago, I combined plastic trick-or-treat pumpkins with torn decorated paper napkins and Mod-Podge—the collaged results are above and below (showing reverse sides). They may not be my usual sort of collage, but it was a fun break in routine. Since I still have all three of those supplies kicking around, I’ve invited a small group of neighbor women to gather in my studio for this collage project—for a break in all our routines—on this holiday weekend.

I’ve been trying to fit in things like this—breaks in routine—into normal weeks to make them stand out as “different.” Tom and I so often turn to each other and say, “Hey, it’s Thursday, again.” And it seems like just a couple days ago when we last said that. Though the last couple months have been an exception for the most part. They seemed to be packed with un-planned and un-expected events—nothing big, just different—breaks in our routine. But it’s felt like we’ve gotten a lot more done, even though we had to take days off here or there to do some of those things—like taking time tomorrow to collage pumpkins with friends. It’s a different sort of busy-ness, and it’s been inspiring.

In September’s “This Week in My Studio” post, I had that same feeling of spontaneity with visits with friends. One of the occasions led to an invitation to teach in May 2027 at NEQS—New England Quilt Seminars. That class was set up and filled quite quickly when registration opened this past Monday. There is a waiting list you can request to be added on to. New dates and years are in the works with NEQS, I’ll keep you informed. Patreon supporters do get early notice of class dates (as they did for this class), as a thank you for helping to support this blog.

Captivating Cats

Tuesday morning began with an invitation to meet my friend Darlene, in a nearby town for a morning cuppa. She brought a gift for me from a visit to Thailand—embroidered cat-face pants! Of course I had to wear them immediately to match up with her embroidered fish pants. Later that day and the next I was collaging the Halloween version of a Captivating Cat—wearing those cat pants as inspiration.

I filmed that first draft of the Halloween cat (video below). It took about 5 hours to collage the portrait to this point, with about 3-1/2 hours of video. Tom then created a time-lapse (below) reduced to 5 minutes. I move very fast in the video—my cutting skills look very impressive.

Since the first presentation of my Captivating Cats Follow Along was this past Thursday, all the previous days of the week contained some sort of preparation—fabric selection, cutting fabric pallets (the other portrait version is a calico cat), placing the Halloween fabric shapes and pinning (as seen in the video).

Djinni Cat helps me make fabric selections that could work for a calico cat.

As soon as the Zoom presentation was finished, Djinni let me know her frustration at not being allowed to participate in the demonstration.

Mother Nature’s Inspiration

The changing leaf colors of autumn are of course, gorgeous. My ginkgo tree just reached is peak golden glow this past week, and when the sun hits it it’s absolutely fabulous. That’s my studio and I’m typing these words right now, on the other side of the wall where Ginkgo stands.

After some trial and error with our nasturtiums, they finally took off into a luscious mound of green and orange by late summer. Almost every lunch I picked a few flowers and leaves to add to a sandwich. Knowing they wouldn’t last far into the fall, I checked to see if nasturtium pesto is a thing, and it is. I had also gone a little leafy green crazy at the farmer’s market, so last Saturday night was Pesto Palooza—processing combinations of greens, nuts, and seeds into 5 different versions of yummy pesto.

Foraging for the week ended yesterday with apples that finally dropped from the big ol’ tree at the end of our road, at Lookout Point on Casco Bay. Looks like cleaning apples (probably for a mean crock-pot applesauce with ginger root) will be this Saturday night’s entertainment. We live crazy lives.

Mr. Drew and His Animals Too

I’ll leave you with a new location I went to last Sunday with my sister and her daughter, Heidi and Maia. Heidi had heard of this place that was closing today, October 31, after nearly a decade of being open. It’s an educational nature center/animal rescue—Mr. Drew and His Animals Too. After visiting once, I can understand how it will be sorely missed as a space to explore and learn—and be inspired by.

I didn’t know anything about this place except that Heidi dearly wished to hold one of their tarantulas. She got her wish. And I never would have guessed that I’d fall in love with an attentive little bearded dragon named, Roku.

As I started wandering through this large facility, I got out my camera and realized I should take reference photos for potential projects. There were quite a few lizards with wonderfully textured heads and feet, a ghostly smooth frog, a very personable gecko, and armored turtles.

The cougar could be a model for a wild Captivating Cat—a skull is always good reference material—and a big ol’ heart was there, to send love and care out into the world.