The Quilted Jardin Blog
Fabric Pet Portraits: A Clowder of Cats
There has been a clowder of fabric pet portraits and pet memorials on my design wall this fall/winter. What’s a clowder? Clowder: a group of cats. Over the 16 years that I have created custom pet portraits and memorials, the overwhelming number of customer requests...
Holiday Safety Tips for Pet Owners
Tips on keeping pets safe during the holidays as shared by Echo, leader of the Evening Song Farm pack Dear human(s) in my pack and others, As we get into the season of that white stuff on the ground that sticks to my paws, it’s important that you remember: I...
Preparing for an Art Show After a Long Hiatus
Preparing for an art show is like getting back on a bicycle, except since it’s been 32 months since my last show, I had to: take inventory, redesign the booth layout, order what I needed, put fresh covers on the matted pictures, rewire some wall hangings with stronger...
Polar Bear Fabric Art: A Lesson in Being Patient
What About Me? is one of my artistic responses to the current climate emergency that is facing us. I am not a climatologist like Jake who does climate research and is spending the summer at Evening Song Farm, CSA. (Scroll to end of newsletter). My art isn’t activist...
Fabric Flowers Throughout the Seasons
Sunflowers, fuschia, coneflowers, black-eyes susans, painted daisies, tulips, lilies, zinnias and pansies are some examples of fabric flowers I have created, as well as tended in my gardens over the years. Fabric flowers offer a fabulous opportunity to play with color...
The Creation of a Great Horned Owl: A Fabric Collage Class with Susan Carlson
In January of this year I enrolled in a 5 day on-line animal portrait class with Susan Carlson, an amazing fabric collage artist. Besides being in awe of her artwork over all these years, I wanted to stretch myself as an artist by learning a new fabric collage...
An Interview: Martha Beauchamp, Fabric Artist
Part of my vision for my business is to be recognized widely as a pet portrait and pet memorial fabric artist, to the degree that a magazine or other media asks to interview me. Since no one is knocking on my door yet, I thought I’d practice here this month. What is...
The Art of Remembrance: Pet Memorials in Fabric
When each of us first brings a pet into our home, thinking ahead to the day when they’ll no longer be around is far from our minds. It’s hard to go down that path when your pet is vigorously begging for a treat or nuzzling your neck. After all, they are so full of...
Year-end Reflections of a Maker
It’s that time of year when, as a small business owner, I take stock of how the past year has gone and pull together my thoughts for the upcoming year. When I retired early in 2016, it was to move to Vermont for family, fabric, and farm. Those 3 F’s, with the...
Birds and Landscapes in Fabric Art: A Mini-Lesson and Some Musings
Fall is drawing to a close here in Vermont. The vibrant colors of the maples and aspens have mostly faded and what is left are a few of those dark maroon-brown leaves that cling tenaciously to the branches and piles upon piles of leaves on the ground. For some reason...