Your quilt is done! Congratulations. Now it’s ready to prepare for display. This is not a trivial step. Originally, quilts were utilitarian—they were designed and constructed to be used. They…
The Costa Rican Golden Toad, only about an inch long, is now presumed extinct. It was discovered in 1964 and as recently as 1987 were abundant in a small area of about 10 square kilometers in Costa…
In Maine there comes a day in August when the weather turns. One day the temperature tops out at around eighty with ninety percent humidity. You sit in a pool of sweat. Then a rainstorm or a bout o…
Let’s say you’ve nearly finished your fabric collage quilt. For me, it’s my crazy spiral you’ve seen in recent posts. Pieced image: done. Details: done. To tulle or not to t…
Critters. Why do we love them so much? Even when they don’t love us back, we are thrilled by them. Encounters with wild animals make memories we hold for a lifetime. Many times it’s the…
“You use glue? Really?” I get asked about it a lot and the questions usually fall into one of three categories: why adhesive at all, why not fusible, and how do you do it?
Sometimes I wonder if I’m a “serious” artist. I mean, I don’t really worry about it, but it crosses my mind. Anyway, do I really want or need to be a “serious” a…
Ahh, a sweet summer breeze lifting the sheer curtains (I can hear Seals and Crofts now)…. Wait! Could I use a bit of those curtains in my collage?! I have, and I will again. In my post Using …
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to get your pattern (or design) drawn accurately before you start piecing your fabric collage quilt. In this week’s Throwback Thursday, we r…
This week in October of 2023, summer has decided to make a temporary return to Maine. Temps went above eighty degrees (Fahrenheit), and my longtime BFCFF (best fabric collage friend forever) Darlen…
“What would life be without this great passion?” This is what my friend and former student Ria Mille asked in one of her emails. I first met Ria and her friend Rit Verhoeven when the tw…
As you view and read about more glorious finished collage quilts sent in by others (such as Susan Brier’s sun/moon combo, above), I will have just finished up a week of teaching at the Wiscon…
Some of the venues where I teach fabric collage are really stunningly beautiful. I’m thinking of Tahoe and Santa Fe and Madeline Island and Pacific Grove. But they ain’t got nothin̵…
My mother’s 90th (!) birthday was yesterday and today would have been my grandmother’s birthday. In honor of both of them, I thought it would be an auspicious day to feature my newest (…
This post is the first in a series of three “Finish Line” posts featuring students who excel at fabric collage. The three I chose—Darlene Determan, Joanne Hannon Shaw, and Marilyn David…
What types of fabrics do you use for fabric collage? I am often asked that question. It would probably be easier to answer the opposite of that question: What types of fabrics don’t I use for…
It’s time for another Quilt Story. For those who haven’t been following the blog for long, this is a series of posts where I talk about the quilts I have made—their origins, what I lear…
Three and a half years ago in 2016, I met Jerri Stroud when she attended my class my Maine Quilt Retreat. In September last year, I renewed my acquaintance with her at her quilt guild in Shoreline,…
I received the following comment on my Facebook page the other day: “Question: Do you use Batiks exclusively or regular cotton fabric as well? Many of these pieces have so much detail in the …
There are only so many superlatives I can use to describe the wonderful work exhibited by my past students and others who have learned fabric collage from my book, Serendipity Quilts, or my online …
Your quilt is done! Congratulations. Now it’s ready to prepare for display. This is not a trivial step. Originally, quilts were utilitarian—they were designed and constructed to be used. They…
It’s confession time again. My secret is that when it comes to quilting my fabric collage pieces, I keep it simple–really simple. My quilting (meaning the stitching that happens after t…
One of the unfortunate realities of teaching fabric collage is that I don’t often get to see my students’ finished work. Only rarely do students complete projects in class. They get a s…
In this fourth and final post in a series of Throwback Thursdays featuring my Summer Quilt Retreats held here in Maine, we look back just one year to June 2019. What seemed so commonplace—students …
I made “Monarch Maia” as a gift for my sister, Heidi. This portrait of her daughter, my niece, Maia, was started during Heidi’s fiftieth year, and was intended to be her birthday …
Patterns zapped to your computer. Pick, purchase, and check your email to download a PDF to have enlarged at your local copy shop. These patterns are download only. You will be able to download the…
This post is the first in a series of three “Finish Line” posts featuring students who excel at fabric collage. The three I chose—Darlene Determan, Joanne Hannon Shaw, and Marilyn David…
I enjoy sharing my teaching travels and showing off the work of my students—they make me so proud! It’s now catching on for past students to send me photos of their finished quilts—the stage …
So you want to make a fabric collage quilt. Great! After choosing an image to work from, the next step in creating a fabric collage quilt is making a simple pattern. This is a critical step, one th…
Time for another round of “The Finish Line.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with this series, no, this isn’t a History Channel program about Scandinavians during WWII.…
Patterns zapped to your computer. Pick, purchase, and check your email to download a PDF to have enlarged at your local copy shop. These patterns are download only. You will be able to download the…
I think one of the favorite categories of my blog is the Finish Line. These posts showcase the completed work of my students, with the addition of any photos I may have from the actual classes the …
Help! I’m running out of Finish Line quilts! I have a few left in the inbox, but not enough for a whole blog post, so if you have a quilt you’ve finished using my fabric collage techniq…
As promised, I’m selecting some of the most popular posts from my blog and updating them with video—something that elaborates on or shows more detail in the fabric collage technique. Starting…
I made “Monarch Maia” as a gift for my sister, Heidi. This portrait of her daughter, my niece, Maia, was started during Heidi’s fiftieth year, and was intended to be her birthday …
Sometimes I wonder if I’m a “serious” artist. I mean, I don’t really worry about it, but it crosses my mind. Anyway, do I really want or need to be a “serious” a…
Two Series of Videos Now Available This week I finished up my second four-week series of Thursday Night in My Studio Live! presentations. I’ve really enjoyed these weekly hour-long visits wit…
The more times I’ve returned to a particular location to teach, such as the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, Montana, the more chances that I’ll get to see finished quilts from past students…
