Feel the Mist

One of the quilt groups I attend is called Playing Outside of the Block. Its a wonderful mix of traditional and art quilters. A challenge was issued to make an 18" x 18" piece on the theme of cool or hot. I chose to make a cool piece. I wanted to practice the skills I learned from Vikki Pignatelli on pleated borders and curved piecing. So this was a perfect opportunity to make a small piece. Check out all the 18" x 18" pieces on the Playing Outside of the Block website.

Fire Dance

I entered Fire Dance into the Journal Quilt 2008 Elements II exhibit. It did not get selected for the juried show in Houston. I made Fire Dance under the direction of Vikki Pignatelli. I visited her home for 3 wonderful days in July 2008 and made this journal piece to experiment with her techniques for improvisational design and curved piecing. 

Fire Dance shows the spirit of God in waves of energy, moving over the earth during creation. In the earth’s initial stages, God’s spirit, represented by fire (coral), the waters and air (teal), and the earth (black) are all inter-mingled while the spirit creates their form and they become distinct entities.

This piece is a part of the on-line gallery called Braving the Elements.

Global Balance

This is my Hoffman Challenge 2008 piece. It was selected to travel in the trunk QC-A. One of the venues on its travels include the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in 2009.

This piece incorporates many things that I love: Asian fabrics, metallic and variegated fabrics and threads and using my computer to design.  I used Photoshop® to “Spherize” my drawing of the stacked circles in the squares which is based on the traditional Drunkard’s Path block.

Canna

This is my newest healing quilt called Canna. I tried a new technique using Photoshop to manipulate the photo and then printed it on fabric. The inspiration photo was taken by Craig Cramer and was used with his permission. You can check out his blog at www.remarc.com/craig/.

During the course of our discussion, he posted two blog entries about my work. You can read his entries by clicking here and here.

This quilt will be donated to the University of Michigan Hospital cancer wing.

This project has been deeply satisfying. I appreciate how the Internet brought me together with the photographer and how our work inspires one another.

Googlegänger (Portrait of Lisa Ellis of LisaEllisMusic.com)

A Googlegänger is someone that shares your name that you find in Google. I participated in a group challenge to create a piece called Identity Crisis. My identity crisis is that I want my website to be at the top of the results page when “Lisa Ellis” is Googled. Who is at the top of Google results?  The Lisa Ellis from lisaellismusic.com. So this quilt is of her. (She gave me permission to use her portrait for this project). She is quite the rocker and totally different from me. She’s cool. She’s young and gorgeous. And, she has the number one spot on Google.

To-Be List

2007 Journal Quilt. Sept. '07 Journal Entry: Yikes! I am totally overwhelmed! I am drowning in my TO-DO list! I realize I need to regroup. It’s time for the TO-BE list! I am not defined by what I do or what I get done. What’s most important everyday is to be the person I was created to be. And I will start with “Be Still and Know that I Am” (Psalm 46:10).

Exhibited at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Oct 31-Nov 4, 2007

Rays

This piece was made for the Quilt Patch in Fairfax as a class sample for the transparency class I taught in the fall of 2007.

Azalea

Inspired by a photo of my husband's wonderful azaleas taken in May of 2006. Machine pieced and appliqué. Embellished with ink and Swarvorski crystals.

October Wild Fires

I made this over the weekend following the horrendous wild fires that swept through Southern California in October 2007. My hearts and prayers are with all those that lost loved ones, pets and their homes. This quilt was shown at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in February 2007.

Undecided

Made for the Pacific Transatlantic Challenge.

I fell asleep one night recently with a decision turning over in my brain. The engineer in me processes decisions using a matrix or table weighing the alternatives against criteria with scores or ratings filling in the grid. The image of a matrix and the decision at hand, wove itself into my chaotic, nonsensical dreams as I slept. I kept waking up to seeing grids with grey areas of uncertainty. I saw bits of red as my neurons were firing trying to decide WHAT I SHOULD DO. This quilt shows the weaving of my dreams with choices to be made.

Asian Morning

The Chinese Letter that is quilted in the right hand corner means Faith. There are also cranes and bamboo quilted onto the surface. Donated to the Brehm Center for Type I Diabetes at the University of Michigan.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". (Gen 1:1). This piece represents the blue of the heavens and the brown of the earth. On Sale at the Windrush Gallery in Fairfax, VA.

Rajua (meaning to give home in Swahili)

The quilt was made for UNIFEM (United Nations Fund for the Development of Women). Rajua exhibited at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, February 2007 and AQS Quilt Show, April 25-28, 2007. It was auctioned off on June 22, 2007 and is now in the private collection of author Neale Godfrey.

This is a commemorative quilt that I made for my son on the occasion of his Eagle Scout Court of Honor. We celebrated his achievement on May 28th, 2007. The head of the Eagle was drawn by artist Stacey Mayer and was used with her permission.

Canyon

Recently on Simply Quilts, I caught an episode with Kim Deneault. She has developed a technique called Raggedy Reverse Applique which she uses for working with kids. I decided to give it a try for making art quilt abstracts.

Indescribable

"Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name. You are amazing God."

Thirteenth Tale

Made for a quilt artist's book club. We all read the Thirteen Tale and made a quilt based on the rich imagery. This is of the home Angelfield when it catches on fire. There are ghost ovals which represent the ghostly figures that are present in the home.

Late Harvest

Inspired by John 15 when Jesus says," I am the vine and you are the branches." Made for the Vine Arts auction to raise money for Culpeper Regional Hospital and is in a private collection.

Mutterkraut Collage

Made for the Healing Quilts in Medicine project. Mutterkraut is used in chemo drugs. This quilt is in a permanent exhibit at Walter Reed Hospital.

Oriental Garden

Raw-Edge Appliqué Lazy Landscape for sale at the Windrush Gallery in Fairfax, Va.

Donated to the Vine Arts for an auction on June 12, 2005 to raise money for the Culpeper Regional Hospital and is now in a private collection.

Primose II

Working in a series I experiments with using tulle to soften the greens in the background so the leaves would be more visible.

Almost Winter

Sold by the Windrush Gallery in Fairfax, VA

Whimsical Landscape

My Lazy Landscape technique with a black and white background and bright flowers.

Winter Sunset

I made this using raw edge appliqué. I took a design class in Fall '05, and had this image in mind. But the construction technique used by the teacher would have taken me a year to complete. So I took the shortcut to create the image I had in my head.

Eagle Has Taken Flight

Lazy Landscape made for Mike Glor, Scoutmaster of Troop 1257 as a thank you for his years of service to our troop.

Collage I for Dianne

She liked the landscape that I made for my folks and asked me for a purple and beige series. Christmas 2004. 

I made this Lazy Landscape for my folks Christmas 2004 following my first art quilt class. It was my second attempt at developing this technique.

Autumn Collage

Lazy Landscape technique experimenting with wonky borders.