Quilting

My love of creating everything beautiful with my hands led me to quilting. Way back in the 1970s, I took an adult education class to learn the techniques of hand piecing and quilting. In those early days, I stuck to pillows pieced in Ohio Star and Bear Claw patterns. Quilting by hand has always appealed to me more than machine quilting.

Lately, I’ve been studying art quilts, creative, colorful, unique expressions of fabric art. Quilting arts allows me to combine multiple areas of interest: quilting, knitting, collage, block printing, etc. The sky’s the limit! I’ve studied painting and drawing techniques, abstract art, color theory, pattern-making, and more. Totally immersed in the art of working with fabric and fiber, my soul yearns to stitch my visions together to share with others.

I’m currently working on an Asian-themed wall quilt. I’ve stamped the black border fabric with a simple, gold pattern. The background is pieced with both cotton and silk fabric. I’m using machine appliqué to apply the ginkgo leaves and the Chinese symbol for together, as in bringing a community together for the common good. I think I’ll hand stitch this with silk thread, but improvisation is my middle name… so who knows what I’ll add to this quilt?

Baby quilts are just plain fun, with bright colors and playful patterns. I’ve been collecting African and African-inspired fabric, and incorporated some into this project. This pieced top is waiting to be quilted, along with a few other baby quilts. I hope to sell these. Let me know if you’d like to purchase a baby quilt from me.

If I need a break, simply looking at fabric on-line is enough to bring a grin to my face and release any tension. There are so many beautiful fabrics with large patterns, unlike the calicos from the 70s, and vivid colors. Kaffe Fassett is a recent influence in design, with his own lines of yarn, fabric, and patterns. Jane Sassaman is another favorite of mine. My oh my, I sink into pictures of her fabric, melting into the bliss evoked in her abstract, organic patterns. Sunday mornings are always spent browsing through eQuilter.com. I swim through pages of batiks, designer collections, hand-dyes, silks, and Asian fabrics… aaaaa.