a little bit about me...

Hi Everyone!  My name is Sue Bleiweiss and I will be your host here on the 52 Quilters blog for the next week.  I thought I would begin my time here by telling you a little bit about myself and my work.

Working with my own hand dyed fabrics, my goal is to create vibrant colorful and whimsical quilted fiber art collages that delight the eye of the viewer, draw them in for a closer look and make them smile.  Buildings and houses are one of my favorite subjects to work with because they’re easily distorted to create a feeling of whimsy and fantasy while still appearing recognizable.  My use of whimsy combined with imagery that is so closely associated with home, family and love serves two purposes; it triggers a feeling of joyful memories to those with a positive family upbringing while also creating a sense of freedom and escape for those who did not.  Giving them a moment to create an alternative reality to the one they experienced.

City Skyline 72” x 33”

2nd place Art Whimsical IQF 2014

Each piece I create begins in the pages of my sketchbook where I make several small rough sketches of the imagery that I want to work with.  Beginning with a small sketch gives me the freedom to explore combinations of the images and colors before cutting into any fabrics.  I start with black and white pencil sketches and fill in with colored pencils once I feel I am close to a final sketch.

My small sketches are re-drawn into full size cartoons that allow me to adjust the scale of the images before the actual construction of the piece in fabric begins.  These full sized drawings are transferred to tracing paper which are used for my cutting templates and then I begin building the collage.  This process can take anywhere from several days to several weeks.

 I work with professional fiber dyes combined with a process that uses a minimal amount of water to add color to the cloth I use in my fiber art collages.  

I prefer dyeing my own fabric as opposed to working with commercially dyed fabric because it allows me to maintain a consistent color palette from quilt to quilt which creates a sense of cohesion and unity across the body of my work.  It’s also a very satisfying full circle process for me to start with plain white cloth, dye it and turn it into a vibrantly colored art quilt.

I’ve authored several books and I am a regular contributor to Quilting Arts Magazine.



For the next week I thought I would cover a range of topics that those of you who are on your own art quilting journey might find helpful including dealing with the creative slump, critique,  goal setting and working in a series.  I welcome comments and feedback on these topics as well as suggestions for others so either leave a comment here on the blog or feel free to email me directly at sue@suebleiweiss.com



My website
My online classes
Art coaching program
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