| Photo of the Month | 
Watch out! Big ol' googly eyes may appear on your quilt if you teach at Empty Spools Seminars over April Fool's Day! |
susancarlson.com
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Serendipity Quilts
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by Susan Carlson
Signed by the Author
8.5 x 11 inches, 96 pages
$27.95 plus S&H
Click Here to Order
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Pets Win Award at Paducah!Pets. We do love our pets. To a fault sometimes. I have piles of fabric set aside for portraits of each of our pets, past and present. Four years ago I completed a quilt of Pippin Dog, entitled Dixie Dingo Dreaming, using Australian Aboriginal fabric. Her quilt and story can be seen on my website. Pippin, passed away unexpectedly over a year ago, and I still miss her so very much. As do I miss Daisy and Hassan, Max, Shadow, and Flicka. They come into our lives and fill them with their deep eyes and warm cuddly bodies.
When Pippin and Max Cat died just two months apart, I just had to add a new cat to our dog/parakeet mix. Then, I got to thinking about how important our pets are to us. I thought about how we idolize our pets, put them on pedestals, give them so much care and attention, and go through (sometimes) unreasonable lengths to keep them with us. I was happy I had done that quilt of Pippin while she was still alive, and I now wanted to do a quilt of our three current "girls", each a separate species. |
| Golden Temple of the Good Girls
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So I dedicated the second half of last year to this new quilt, placing Kali Pup, Djinni Kitty, and Kiiora the Budgie in sunny, golden rooms. It's a lighthearted celebration of their importance in my life. So important in fact, that they are nearly idols in a shrine.
Golden Temple of the Good Girls is currently on display at AQS Quilt Week in Paducah, KY (April 22-25), where it won a Judge's Recognition Award. If you can't visit the show, I have added a bigger image of the quilt to my website.
A month ago, continuing our pet saga, we added a tripawd rescue from Louisiana to our menagerie. His name is Felix the Amazing Pi Dog (he arrived in Maine on Pi Day -- 3.14.15 -- a once in a century occurance!). Guess I've got a new pile of fabric to collect now....  
 Rare moments of stillness getting photos of the "siblings".
Happy Springtime, and if it's your thing, lots of pet kisses,
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Join the Prodigal Quilter at PFC
It's always fun to teach in my old haunt at Portsmouth Fabric Company in Portsmouth, NH. We have four days of teaching lined up, so come if you can!
* May 30-31 and June 6 are 3-days of my Fabric Images class, delving into your choice of subject matter.
* Sunday, June 7th,will be a 1-day spiral class teaching the basics of fabric collage in a very fun and freeing way. It will also be an independent study class to get help with any project begun in any past class of mine -- all at the same wonderful fabric shop in a great old New England town.
See Upcoming Classes bar at left for more info!
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2015 Harpswell Quilting Retreat Dates...
May has two spaces left... June retreat is full! Second October venue in progress....
 Sign-ups have been steady for this year's Harpswell, Maine quilting retreats and the June retreat is now full with 12 students! Thank you! Only two spots remain for the May two-day retreat. Several spots remain open for the Oct. four-day retreat at the historic Harpswell Inn at aptly named Lookout Point.
I'm still working on adding a five-day (been having requests for that) retreat but on the "other side of town" at another gorgeous location (tba) in Harpswell. The dates will be from October 4-8, 2015. I picked those dates 'cause 1) it's a beautiful time of year and 2) you could actually have almost two weeks of instruction if you combine with the Leaf Peepers retreat (see below)! Just trying to give students all that they ask for! I don't have all the particulars yet, like schedule or price, but if you email me your interest you'll be first to know when I get all that figured out. Hopefully within the next month. Otherwise, you'll hear about it in a future newsletter for sure!
At all my Harpswell retreats the participants enjoy a smaller class size (maximum 12) giving more one-on-one instruction, have class in view of and easy walking distance to the beautiful Maine coastline, good and healthy meals provided, chair massage(!), and great camaraderie with their fellow students.
Find further information about these 2015 retreats by following these links:
Thurs. and Fri., May 7-8, 2015 Tues. through Fri., June 9-12, 2015 Sun. through Wed., October 11-14, 2015 |
Where in the World is Susan Carlson?
March Teaching Review
In March I made my now-annual trip to the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA for teaching at Empty Spools Seminars. A beautiful location in this world, at a well managed venue, with energetic and dedicated participants. I had two sessions of twenty students each who put me through my paces. But they created some wonderful work of which I am very proud. I also spent a couple extra days with my good friend Barb sight-seeing, returning to such favorite places as Big Sur. I've included a very small sampling of class and travel photos here. For more student work and scenic shots, please visit my website.
Click here for more class and travel photos from March|
| From the Atlantic to the Pacific!
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| Walking down the boardwalk from the conference center to the beach.
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| My students love color as much as I do!
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| Class #1, though our photographer cut some of us out of the photo! Anyone in the class have a better version to send me?
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| Mikey, my class hostess, with her portrait of her handsome son.
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| I had hard-working students, some staying until all hours of the night.
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| Class #2. I lucked out both times with great ladies!
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| My second class hostess, Bambi, with her awesome fabric creation.
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Teaching Schedule Preview:
After a two-day Mother's Day Retreat here in my hometown of Harpswell May 7-8, on May 17 I travel to Kerrville, TX (near San Antonio) for three and a half days of teaching at The Main House at Creations fabric store. No more air travel for two months after that. Whew! Instead, in June the Harpswell Inn hosts my local Summer Quilt Retreat. Four days of relaxed creative fun in a smaller class size (12 students max.). That class is filled, but I do have openings in the October version of the retreat. See details above. "Local" class:May 2nd will be the final installment of a 3-part Celestial Portraits class at Quiltessentials in Auburn, ME. The suns and moons are so fun and colorful already, I'll post some photos in the next newsletter.   
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