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On a sunset kayak tour led by my Maine Guide hubby Tom, going under the world's only Cribstone Bridge between Orr's and Bailey Islands, here in Harpswell, ME. |
Golden Temple of the Good Girls
is Getting Around!
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As you may remember from my April newsletter, my quilt Golden Temple of the Good Girls was accepted into the American Quilter's Society Paducah show where it won the Judge's Recognition Award. From Kentucky the quilt then continued on to the AQS Grand Rapids show in August and will soon be on display at the AQS Chattanooga (Sept. 16-19) and AQS DesMoines (Sept. 30 - Oct. 3) shows. I'm now honored that this quilt is featured on the August spread of the AQS 2016 Wall Calendar! How cool is that? Available online from AQS through this link.  ________________
And if one calendar isn't enough...
Another quilt of mine, Million to One, was chosen to grace a weekly page of the Women Artists engagement calendar, produced by Syracuse Cultural Workers. Available online from SCW through this link.  Now I need to decide who gets which calendar for the holidays! |
susancarlson.com
Quick Links | |
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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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NEWS FLASH! 3 Spaces Open in Maine Leaf Peepers Quilt Retreat: October 11-14
 Due to cancellations, I now have 3 openings for my upcoming quilt retreat here in Harpswell, Maine.
The days overlap Columbus Day Weekend, a prime time to catch some spectacular New England color. And though I can't guarantee it, the weather this time of year can be lovely and warm during the day, and crisp and cool at night. But hey, we'll be working too hard at being creative to notice anyway! Feeling spontaneous? This may be for you!
See class description below, call me at 207-833-5665,
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Croc Watch! Volume 3So, I've been a little busy the last couple months, please excuse the dearth of newsletters. For those of us in the northern climes, summer comes on fast and many things call our attention. Luckily, our lawnmower died about a month ago, which eliminated one big thing on the "to do" list. Right now our lawn is filled with pretty yellow, orange, and white flowers from plants that normally never get tall enough to bloom. And the long slender blades of grass look so pretty when they blow in the wind. It's all how you look at things.
I did manage to tag along on a 3-day kayak camping tour, island hopping in Muscongus Bay here in Maine, and we got our son off to college a couple weeks ago. But most of my summertime has been spent in my studio, learning much about crocodile anatomy. When last you saw this big girl, she was missing a couple legs, all her feet, much of her tail, and most importantly, her teeth.
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| Comin' at you. I've never thought much about perspective in a quilt, until now.
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If you follow me on Facebook, you got a couple sneak peaks at Stevie the Croc's summer progress. It's as much posting as I managed, and that was just because my 18 year old took pity on his mom and set up a Facebook Artist page for me (in addition to my normal feed). One small step for him, one giant leap for me. So, if you're into social media, you can "like" that new page (the one with my pink rhino as a header). When the photos were first posted, they got much attention. The likes, shares, comments, and reaches added up at a pace that surprised and impressed the kid. It's not very often his ol' mom can do that anymore. So thanks to all of you who contributed to those numbers.
Many more in-progress photos are now compiled on my website. You can see them by clicking on the link below.
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| | Not sure why, but I saved Stevie's teeth until last. You can't see it here, but they have a bit of watery-like sparkle on them. She seems pleased with the bling. |
Stevie herself is almost done, though it's hard to know when to stop. I was rummaging through the piles of fabric I've collected over the past few years for this project, and found many that I had missed or forgotten about. Some I'm now trying to fit in because I really want to use them somewhere. Others will just have to wait their turn for another project. I actually had a fleeting thought that I needed to make the croc larger than her 20' in order to use up more fabric. Silly me.
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| Djinni Cat continues to keep me company and help wherever she can. I add final crocodile details with overlapping shapes cut from sheer fabrics, which also seem to make a nice nest. Just try pulling one of these out from under a snoozing kitty.
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Next comes the background, and of course quilting. Don't ask. You'll see and hear what happens in the next newsletter. Maybe I'll have it all figured out by then. Click here for more pictures of Stevie in progress.
Take care,
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Saltwater crocodile art seems to be catching on. Look what came ashore on the Maine coast this summer!
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And now, drumroll please, announcing my 2016 Harpswell Quilting Retreat Dates!!!
May 6-7, 2016
Two days: Fri. and Sat.
June 14-17, 2016
Four days: Tues. through Fri. October 4-7, 2016 Four days: Tues. through Fri. It's now been 5 years that I've been offering quilting retreats in my hometown of Harpswell, Maine. All retreats are held at the historic Harpswell Inn at Lookout Point. I offer participants a small class size (maximum 12) allowing more one-on-one instruction, have class in view of and easy walking distance to the beautiful Maine coastline, provide delicious and healthy meals, complementary chair massage, and great camaraderie with fellow students. Click here for further information or to sign up for these 2016 quilting retreats! |
Where in the World is Susan Carlson?
June Teaching Review
Wow! This year's Summer Kickoff Quilt Retreat seems like yesterday and now it's past Labor Day! A full class of 12 students attended the June event at the Harpswell Inn just down the road from me. We had a great 4 days of creating, leaving the floor of the work room covered in a colorful snow of tiny fabric scraps. Photos below.
In late late May and early June, I traveled to my old stomping grounds in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to the shop where I used to work as manager: Portsmouth Fabric Company. See those photos below, too!
There was also a 5-day class in July at the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, MT, but photos from that trip will have to wait for the next newsletter. Though I promise, it'll be worth the wait!
Click here for more class and travel photos from June. |
| Karen Amelia Brown working hard to finish Delilah the grasshopper before class is over.
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| | Violet, a fantastical sperm whale by Canadian Maritime fiber artist, Lucy Neatby. |
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| Daphne Uras, still smiling after four days of intensive quilting retreat time!
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| | By Linda Schmidt, playing with pattern, color, and bugs at Portsmouth Fabric Company in NH. |
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| Re-interpreting a photo of a medieval sculpture into a haunting portrait by Maureen Johnston.
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September Teaching Preview
I'll be taking a short break from working on Stevie the Croc to travel west to the Woodland Ridge Retreat in Downsville, Wisconsin, Sept. 14-18. I'll be teaching my 5-day Fabric Images class and look forward to the variety of subject matter my students always provide. Later in the month and continuing in October and November, I'll be staying closer to home to teach a monthly three-part Sea Turtle class at Quilt Essentials in Auburn, Maine.
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Sneak Peek - Quilting on the Wild Side: Tancook Island, Nova Scotia
A personal treat at June's Harpswell retreat was to be able to spend more time with Lucy Neatby. Lucy is a knitting teacher from Nova Scotia. We met in MI last year, where we were both teaching classes.
Lucy organizes her own knitting retreats on Tancook Island, one of her favorite spots in the whole world. She has now invited me to teach my 5-day fabric collage workshop in the same lovely location next September 17-23, 2016!
Tancook, I hear, is a sparsely populated island off the coast of Nova Scotia, accessible only by ferry, with a very few dubious cars in residence. Sounds like an adventure to me!
We are still working out details, such as cost, but if you'd be interested learning more about Quilting on the Wild Side, email me or stay tuned for future newsletter info!
In the meantime, here's a link to Lucy's Tancook brochure which talks about her knitting retreats specifically, but just mentally insert quilts and you'll get the general idea. |
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