Of course, while I must admit that I have such a broad taste in color and design that my husband sometimes says it amounts to no taste at all (I prefer to describe my taste as “eclectic”), I do have some broad guidelines for how I select fabric. If I had to break it down, I might use the following criteria: color, pattern, scale, and quantity.
… More Choosing Fabric for Fabric Collage
When one thinks of quilting meccas, I guess Kalispell, Montana, isn’t the first place to spring to mind. However, I am one of a number of quilting teachers who return to this sleepy little western town each year. The attraction is the Quilt Gallery, owned and operated by Joan Hodgeboom, who runs a first-class fabric store and … More On the Road: Kalispell, MT 2016
This month I give a rundown of my Summertime Quilt Retreat and announce that registration is open for all five of my 2017 Maine quilt retreats. … More 2016 Summertime Retreat/2017 Retreat Registration Open
What’s it like to take one of my classes? In this week’s post, my husband Tom interviews a student at my Summertime Quilt Retreat, following her progress through the four days of class. … More Summertime Quilt Retreat: What’s It Like?
I had a homecoming of sorts this past week when I taught at the Quilters Unlimited show just south of Washington, D.C.. I grew up in Wheaton, MD, just north of D.C., so I feel pretty comfortable in the area. In fact, when someone asks me where I’m from, even after 30 years in Maine, I … More On the Road: Quilters Unlimited, Northern VA
My visit this week to Prairie Star Quilters, just outside Chicago, was short but sweet. For two days we concentrated on fish, bugs, and butterflies. I like it when a class limits the subject matter this way. I found early on when I started making these small collage quilts that fish, bugs, and butterflies allowed … More On the Road: Prairie Star Quilters, IL
Imagine you’re in one of my five-day classes. You’ve chosen an ambitious project: a fabric collage portrait of an important person in your life. But this is day two of the class. You’ve learned some stuff: You can use glue with fabric. You’re beginning to understand how value determines form. You’ve chosen a great photo to work … More An Eye for an Eye
For me, spring in Harpswell, Maine, marks the beginning of retreat season. Mother’s Day I hosted a group of new and returning students at the iconic Harpswell Inn. … More Mother’s Day Retreat 2016
“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? … More Why Glue?
By the time I arrived in Denver, Colorado, I had already been traveling for fifteen days. I’d taught for eight of those days and had forty students with forty projects. I’d slept in five different beds. It was getting hard to remember where I was when I awoke in the morning. Lying there with my eyes not yet … More On the Road: Lyons, Colorado
Susan Carlson Quilts 