Online Color Class
Remember how much fun it was, as a child, to cut and paste paper? My online color students are revisiting that, as they make paper collages which demonstrate the various principles they're learning. Not only are they having a blast, they're also making some VERY creative and beautiful collages. A case in point is Maggi Birchenough's collage, at right, showing her exploration of cool colors.

One of the great things about online classes is they're available to students all over the world. Although I live in Florida, I can easily interact with my international students, such as Maggi, who lives in England. This is a nice bonus, (although we tend to email on completely different schedules!)

Another student, Marcia DesRosiers, sent me an email with the subject line "You've Ruined Me!" She went on to say, "Ellen, you have done it now! I was looking through a magazine and instead of looking at the pictures and articles all I could see were the colors!!! I wanted to tear out some of those pages so bad I couldn't stand it!" My response was "Great! My evil plan has worked!" Can you tell we're having fun?

Color E-Books
Speaking of color classes, I'm working on the e-book version of this class. Learn more about my online classes, e-books, and more here.

Upcoming Events
- St. Augustine, FL, February 10, 2009, Playing with Fabric lecture, and Instant Art Quilt workshop
- Melbourne, FL, March 1-30, Ellen Lindner: Around the Neighborhood solo exhibit
- Orlando, FL, March 2, 2009, Playing with Fabric lecture
- Melbourne, FL, March 21, 2009, Fabric Collage demonstration

Next online class: Instant Art Quilt is coming in April. Course information here. Watch the newsletter for signup details.
See Teaching and Events schedule for more details.

Working Small
This is the 20th anniversary of SAQA, Studio Art Quilt Associates. As part of the celebration, a trunk show of member quilts is being created. Each of the pieces can be no larger than 12" square. However, each one will be mounted and matted so only the center 8" will show. In addition to this size constraint, artists were asked to create something consistent with their usual style and technique.

All of this turned out to be quite a challenge for me! At left, you see my THIRD and final attempt, Ripening II, which is 10" square. (My first attempt was the wrong size, and the second one just didn't reflect my usual style.)

Why was this size so difficult for me? Several reasons:
- Many of the fabrics in my stash had patterns that were too large in scale. As you can see, I ended up using primarily solids.
- My typical technique of loosely cutting jagged shapes resulted in variations that were WAY too wild for this scale.
- Creating an image that evoked my usual style required working with very tiny shapes. (The circles are about the size of those created with a standard hole punch, and I cut them all by hand!)
- In addition, there was the dual challenge of creating something that looked good at its full size, and also when visually cropped to only 8".

In spite of these challenges, I found working in a different scale to be a good creative exercise, which I (eventually) enjoyed. (By the way, this quilt was inspired by a previous one, Ripening.)

Short Challenge
What size do you typically make your quilts? And with what types of fabrics? Why not step outside your comfort zone by altering one of those factors?

Border Decisions
Last month, I shared with you Part One of a photo essay discussing how I make decisions about borders. Part Two is now posted, and I hope you'll find this information useful.

Orlando Award
I was happy to win a third place award at the Quilt Fever 2009 show, in Orlando, FL. The award was given to my quilt
Ti Plants A-Glow-Glow, in the small applique category. This show is produced by the The Florida Cabin Fever Quilters, of Orlando, and all the awards are viewers' choices.

Note to self: Don't perform last minute repairs near the top of your quilt or you risk paritally stitching the sleeve closed, resulting in the quilt hanging VERY unevenly! (I learned this the hard way, with another quilt I entered.)

Resources:
Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a non-profit international organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development and documentation. 

Enjoy the adventure!
Ellen

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