I just finished another two weeks studying with Nancy Crow at the Barn in Ohio. The class was Working in a Series and I think it was the best one yet! Of course I wouldn’t have been ready for it without taking all the others.
This was my tenth class with Nancy, going back to 2017. Working in a Series is an advanced class, where students are expected to come prepared with a concept, motif or idea that they want to work with over a two week period. I wanted to make significant progress in the class, because the idea of working in a series is intriguing to me. Making quilts takes a long time, compared to many other artistic disciplines, and you can’t (and probably shouldn’t) try to express everything you think and feel about an idea in just one quilt.
So I started with an idea that I thought could be easily sewn, but also had potential to change and expand over the course of a series.
Black and White Composition as a starting point – Cindy Grisdela October 2025
The black and white composition above was my starting point. It’s about 40″ wide x 30″ tall and it has interesting lines and shapes that seem to change as you look at it. Sometimes the black areas come forward and sometimes you see the white areas first. That means there is tension between them that can fool the eye.
Nancy gave several options to choose from to go from the starting point forward, but each student was essentially working independently. Below is my workspace with the first four pieces on the wall. Each student has about an 80″ x 80″ design wall and a work table. I brought my SewEzi table from home for my sewing machine so I would be a little more comfortable sewing. The work table on the left belonged to my neighbor on that side.
The bottom two pieces ended up being changed fairly significantly as I tried to work with colors that weren’t so safe.
Workspace at the Crow Barn – Cindy Grisdela October 2025
I choose to make three versions of the original piece, changing only the color idea each time.
Version 1 -3 in the series – Cindy Grisdela October 2025
The first one on the left emphasizes the colorful shapes, while the background recedes visually. The second and third ones have the shapes and the backgrounds less defined. You can see how I made the second and third ones different from where I started with them in the photo above.
The next three pieces I chose to change the original more significantly–changing the size of the shapes and the relationships between the shapes and the backgrounds using color. I also began to cut into the shapes to create new ideas.
Version 4 – 6 in the series – Cindy Grisdela October 2025
For the final three pieces, I made even more significant changes.
Version 7 – 9 in the series. Cindy Grisdela October 2025
The seventh one on the left above cut into both the shapes and the backgrounds. The eighth and ninth ones changed the relationships of the shapes to each other. Nancy challenged me to use “risky” colors in the last one on the right. I’m not sure I accomplished that, but I certainly used colors that weren’t comfortable for me.
Each of these pieces is about 40″ x 30″. I made ten in all (including the black and white original)–about one a day. That was the benefit of choosing an idea to explore that wasn’t too complicated to sew. I have ideas for several more which I’m looking forward to working on when I get home from my next teaching trip! Some of those are likely to be more complex because I’ll have time in my studio to explore them, instead of being under a tight deadline.
This class really opened up a lot of ideas and possibilities for me. In the past, I’ve never taken the time to really explore one idea more than two or three times. And I always struggled with what should come next. This time the ideas just poured out–I didn’t really stop to think much, just did the next thing. It was exhilarating and I’m grateful for the opportunity.
Studying with Nancy is not for everyone. She can be very critical and she sees her role as pushing students to be the best they can be, not making them feel good. I’ve come in for my share of harsh critique. But there’s no other place or teacher that will give you the opportunity to find out how good you can be if you are willing to put in the work.
I believe my studies at the Barn have made me a better artist and a better teacher. If you’d like to read about my other experiences there, you can go here, here, here, here, here and here all the way back to 2017. I didn’t write about all of them, but I tried to convey the experiences as best I could.
Thank you for reading to the end. Have you worked in a series and how did the experience change your work?
No, I have not worked in a series but yours is stunning! Cant wait to see where you go with this!
Thanks so much, Debbie–I’m itching to get back to it when I get back home.
Cindy
Very insightful, Cindy, and I love your series! It’s an interesting concept and not one I had contemplated.
I love these! And thanks for the light bulb moment. Starting a series with something that can be easily sewn. Silly me. My first series was kaleidoscopes based on clamp-dyed fabric. With templates fussy-drawn by hand to get the symmetry right. It was a series of two, although my plan was to do more. The first one took 6 months (maybe longer). By then I was itching to do something different, but one piece does not a series make. The second went faster with designing for FPP and fabrics that didn’t need the fussy treatment. Both juried, and the first one ribbonned (is that a word?), so I’m glad I took my time with them. I like the idea of building blocks – one idea at a time.
Thanks Chardel–sometimes breaking things down to the simplest start works well!
Cindy
Thank you for sharing toestorm, I love to read this!
Utterly fantastic quilts. Thanks so much for sharing your work at the Crow Barn. It’s always so interesting.
I really love reading this blog, thank you Cindy. Your description of each piece highlight the designs and how you’ve used colour. I’m now encouraged to reread your books and have a try at something new myself.
Thanks so much, Jean–I’m glad you found the descriptions helpful!
Cindy
Thanks for sharing this class and your work. I really like #5 and #7. The background and the foregrounds seem to switch in #5 and the nuances of colors in #7 make that piece so interesting to me. Love your work.
Thank you, Anne–I appreciate your feedback. #5 is one of my favorites too!
Cindy
Cindy, you do such a wonderful job explaining the process and reasons behind the decisions you make. Thank you for the inspiration! Angela
Thank you Angela–I’m glad you found it helpful.
Cindy
Great progression of the series! And beautiful palettes!
Thanks so much Heather! It was a great class.
inspiring to see the progression
Cindy, thank you for sharing your experiences with Nancy Crow. I’ve been in awe of her art for decades and recently decided to take one of her 2 week workshops at MISA. I’m grateful to be able to read about your experiences, and extremely thankful for your sharing the ups, the downs, and inevitably, what your intention was for attending. Powerful.
Thank you Nancy–I’m glad you found the posts helpful. Enjoy your upcoming workshop! There’s no one else who teaches advanced composition and design in quiltmaking like Nancy does.
Cindy
Thanks for sharing. I took a working in a series remote class with Lisa Call which was excellent. I found working in a series to be quite freeing – easier to take risks exploring lots of variations without feeling as much pressure on each incremental decision to make every one the perfect quilt (as I do when I’m only going to explore an idea or pattern once). You can try all the things and just make another. Being”in the series” was also great for getting ideas flowing!
Yes–that’s exactly what happened–I’m looking forward to continuing my work in this series!
Cindy
It’s fun and helpful to see your work Cindy. Thank you for sharing your process with us.
Thanks Susanna!
So interesting to see the progression…. Marimekko fabrics jumped into my head. You are so MOD! 🙂
Thanks Rachel!
Cindy, I love these quilts! What a marvelous accomplishment- so many quilts each unique but absolutely stunning all together. They belong in a gallery. So glad the class with Nancy Crow was so inspiring to you. I always love seeing your work. How will you quilt them? All the best, Jennifer Peterson
Thank you, Jennifer! It was a great experience and I’m happy with the quilts. Some of them I’ll just do matchstick quilting on and some–probably the first three–I’m going to do some free motion quilting because the design is simpler.
Best,
Cindy