Be Inspiration

Positive thinking is a powerful thing. Combining paint & hand embroidery the stitched painting, be inspiration...or not is 8 X 10 inches on wrapped canvas. 

Stitching in the Raw

A work in progress: this is free-form machine stitch on hand painted fabric. This quilt in the making has lots of raw unraveling edges and multicolored threads throughout.

Without a straight or perfect stitch line to be found, it's a celebration of all things natural, unrefined and informal.

Stitch by Stitch

 A shot of hand embroidery stitches on a work in progress.

And for the sewing machine, some gorgeous new hand dyed threads just arrived. They're from Canadian company Valdani who specialize in enviro-friendly hand dyed thread, floss & yarn.

These two are variegated: blues & yellows and citrus-y greens.

Lots of color to keep my hands busy!

Faded Beauty

Inspired by early 20th century illustration, this painting in acrylic and ink on wood is titled Fond Farewell. Early illustrations are iconic images of childhood and simpler times. 

In this piece, the goodbye wishes of the girl become like mist, her warm wishes floating on the wind. The painting has been aged and weathered adding to it's faded beauty.

Sometimes Y

Going for bold bright colors, Sometimes Y is the newest painting in my typography series. It's 6 X 6 X 1 1/2 inches, in acrylic on canvas.

With inspiration from decaying signage and urban art, it's a painting that celebrates the beauty of aging and decay.

Painting a Cascade in Grey

Cascade Triptych, 6 feet X 2 feet, acrylic on canvas.

This new painting in three parts is off to it's new owner. It's an abstract landscape painting in multiple shades of grey. Each of the three is 2 feet square. 

This is a large piece for me and it was a wonderful challenge to bring it to life.

Hand Embroidery and Machine Quilting Combined for a Quilt of Many Colors

This piece is titled Celebration because of the riot of bright colors. I enjoyed the entire process of creating this quilt. 

It started with a piece of hand painted fabric. I really gave myself a challenge choosing such a multicolored background. It called for more bold color and lots of contrasts to make the design pop.

 Each step of the process was fun. The most time consuming but enjoyable part was the hand embroidery. Hours of satin stitch, french knots and seed stitches. With all the hand stitch complete, the next steps were quilting and binding.

This art quilt was created using a quilting method created by Carol Ann Waugh.

Using a similar technique, my quilt Exuberant is featured in the book 350+ Quilting Tips, Techniques and Trade Secrets

The book is comprehensive, covering choosing equipment, preparing fabrics, color confidence, working with quilt patterns, cutting skills, patchwork techniques, appliqué and embellishments, binding and finishing and so much more. Great for quilters of all levels, it is an amazing all in one resource.

One last recommendation: Go crazy with color and have fun!

Little Cottage

I wanted to spend some time at the sewing machine and this little cottage is the result. With no plan in mind, I began to put together some fabric scraps. At first, the piece looked landscape-ish, but eventually a house began to emerge. With the addition of black stitching, all the details of the house came to life. As a fan of raw edges, I decided to leave it unbound. The little cottage is 7 1/2 X 7 1/2 inches.

This small piece provided the perfect opportunity to stitch the afternoon away after a busy week.