#StoryBehindtheArt – “New”

I created this piece as part of a challenge back in 2017. The challenge word was “new” and I did not sit down with a blank sheet of paper and brainstorm what the word means to me as I sometimes do to get started. Instead, I was talking with a friend about taking a step […]

bleeding hearts plant thread painting

#StoryBehindtheArt – “Hearts”

I’ve gotten a lot of use out of this photo I took of a bleeding heart plant while on my one visit to the Hamptons in 2005(?). It was the photo I turned to when I decided to try thread painting for the first time (in 2008?) so it really is the piece that started […]

Stitch Quilt

For this week’s #StoryBehindtheArt post, I am sharing the inspiration for my “Stitch” quilt, which was exhibited at World Quilt New England in 2019. I promise that it’s not the inspiration you are expecting. Though this quilt can be viewed as just a fun, graphic modern quilt, it technically belongs in my Protest Series. The […]

art quilt of cyanotypes of beech leaves

“3 Beeches”

“3 Beeches” started with an act of magic. I made the largest piece on the first day of the wet cyanotypes workshop I took last July with Lesley Riley at the Hudson River Valley Fiber Art Workshops. I was completely experimenting at that stage and just arranged the leaves, randomly sprayed some baking soda and […]

quilt created from close up of purple iris flower

#StoryBehindtheArt – Iris, 2010

I’ve decided to dig back into the archives and share some of my previous work and the stories behind the pieces. “Iris” goes way back. In the fall of 2009, I took a break from four months of staining woodwork in my new house. (Yes, FOUR months of 40 hour weeks of staining baseboards, doors, […]

cyanotype of three fern leaves

The Evolution of “3 Ferns”

Because I am talking about where ideas come from in my Creativity Explorers Facebook group this month, I thought I would share the evolution of my most recent piece to show how the idea for it changed over time.   This piece began, of course, with the three fern cyanotypes. I made each of the prints […]

RIP RBG

Yesterday, I sat watching the Inauguration while I put the finishing stitches into my memorial to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In fact, I was tying the final knot as President Biden walked away from the podium after his speech. Seems fitting. At 65″ long, this quilt is slightly taller than Justice Ginsburg was herself, but the […]

Quilt block missing from top, shredded fabric edges and view of the blanket below

2021 UFO Challenge

I am getting started with the 2021 American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge, though I prefer to think of the projects I am working on as “Works-in-Progress” rather than UFOs. “Unfinished Object” feels like it comes with some judgment, whereas I like to think that I am merely continuing work that is already started. Still, […]

2020 Year in Review

Oof. I don’t need to tell you that 2020 was a crappy year. With all of the stress of the year, the time spent making nothing but masks, and the months when I just couldn’t get motivated to create anything, I feel like I did no quilting this year. But, when I look back at […]

self portrait in fabric

“Fury”

Though there has been an awful lot lately that makes me so angry that I feel as if my hair is on fire and my head is going to explode, I actually began this self-portrait called “Fury” years ago. I was at a livestream event for TED 2018 where I saw Tracee Ellis Ross speak […]