The Quilted Jardin Blog
Creating Pet Fur with Fabric and Fiber
People often wonder how animal fur can be created from fabric. They believe there is no way a flat piece of material with a simple design can transform itself into the soft fluff of a cat’s tail or the thickness of chest hair of a Retriever. While this month’s blog is...
Offering Support During Pet Grief: A Heartfelt Approach
Supporting someone whose pet has died is an amazing gift you can offer them. To be comforted with consoling words or gestures makes it a bit more bearable in that moment and throughout the grieving process. Imagine you receive an early morning call or text that goes...
Anticipatory Pet Grief
Watching my cat’s health fail and anticipating her death years ago was a difficult experience. She had been the one we saw first at the shelter and lived the longest. Anticipatory grief, the grief that comes before a pet dies, can be challenging. It comes complete...
Fabric Pet Portraits: A Pack of Dogs
From their reference photos to the final pet pillow or wall hanging, a pack of fabric dogs made their way in and out of my studio recently. This group of canine portraits and memorials graced my design wall. I’m pleased to report they all were on their best behavior,...
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...