As a lover of textiles, always, I was off exploring in the ‘90s when quilting found me. After that first encounter it took merely two months until my darkroom was transformed with a sewing machine. I was a quilter: and just a few years later I began to lecture, teach, and exhibit my quiltworks.
Quilting lets me express my vision of life’s landscapes with stitched\magic. I love using my Fast-Piece Appliqué™ method to transform curved shapes of colorful fabrics, and building my quilt tops layer by layer. I sprinkle these quilt tops of custom fabrics, rich silks, hand-painted and commercial cottons with texture, and add shiny magic with yarns, beads, and wool along with found and handmade embellishments.
For me it is the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary that keeps me wanting more. By using the techniques I have shared in my two earlier books, Dream Landscape, and Exploring Embellishments, and my new book Design, Create, Quilt, the stitching remains fast-fun and easy, giving me the gift of time to work on the long list of quilts in my head.
My quilt journey now stretches over 20 years, and I continue to love learning all the fabric magic I can find. On this journey, I have created and exhibited my work nationally and internationally, and back in 1996 I started, Quilts on the Wall: Fiber Artists, a group that continues to be a place where anyone interested in quilt art can come and learn and share.
My work has appeared in books, CD-booklets/videos and patterns where I share methods and ideas, and I am continually delighted by opportunities to share my love of transforming fabric. I have been a contributor to Quilting Arts, Quilters Newsletter, Quilters Home, American Quilter, Quilts Japan, and Generation Q magazines, and I had a blast sharing my techniques and my quilts while appearing on Simply Quilts, The Quilt Show, and the Quilt out Loud quilt programs. At any point you may see my quilts, as they continue to appear in solo exhibits, quilt festivals, galleries.
The passion of creating anew, creating something important to the maker is a joyful experience that I always try to pass on in my presentations and workshops. My lectures and workshops are designed to help quilters and non-quilters alike find innovated ways to express themselves while creatively exploring new techniques and building new skills.
Mostly, I love opportunities to share my love and excitement of all things ‘stitched’.