GALLERY

"Elizabeth's Legacy" (2014)

Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, 2014 - Best Machine Quilting
Pacific International Quilt Festival, 2014
Road to California, 2015

Featuring a vintage piece of Madeira linen, mounted on Hoffman Radiance fabric, this work celebrates the incredible hand-embroidery by the women on the Isle of Madeira, who made Madeira linen world-famous.  In working with this vintage piece, I hoped to honor and enhance the work of the original artist by designing quilting that enhances the original design.

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Annabelle's Wedding Feast (2016)

Best Sewing Machine Workmanship, Pennsylvania National Quilt Exhibition, 2016

Juried into:  Road to California, 2017
Finalist:  Houston International Quilt Festival, 2017
Finalist:  AQS QuiltWeek Daytona, 2017
Finalist:  AQS Quilt Week Lancaster, 2017
Finalist:  AQS Quilt Week Paducah, 2017

This quilt and I have gone through quite a journey together.  It features a vintage Madeira linen tablecloth, probably hand-embroidered in the 1930s in Portugal.  The center medallion includes three stacked vintage doilies, affixed by freshwater pearls.

At one point, this work went through a "problem" phase, and I put it aside in my "bone pile", where it lay unloved for six months...  then I had an inspiration of what to do next.  I'm so glad it's not still in the bone pile!..

I love the original workmanship - here's a closeup, showing how my quilting design was inspired by the original needle artist's work: 



                       

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"Marie Laveau's Garden Gate"  (2016)        

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, 2017       

This work reminds me of a wrought iron gate in the New Orleans French Quarter !  It's made in a technique called 'reverse trapunto'  - isn't it cool?   That black design is made from black quilt batting, sewn to a layer of organza fabric - lots of fun to make !

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Sonoma Sunday

"Sonoma Sunday" was named during a weekend jaunt from our home in the San Francisco Bay area to, of course, the wine country of Sonoma.  It features a piece of linen that likely dates from the 1970s, mounted on a piece of Hoffman Radiance fabric, then quilted and enhanced with tiny beads. 

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Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, 2015 - Judges Choice
Special Exhibit:  New Jersey Quilt Festival, 2015
Savannah QuiltFest, 2015 - Best Use of Theme


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"Aged Beauty (2014)"

This work features one of the most beautiful pieces of linen I have discovered.  The handwork of the original needleworker is just fantastic !  You can tell this piece was used, cause it has some frays and a few broken threads in the cutwork, but, just like those of us who have a few wrinkles, she is still a beauty !

"Mystic Glacier" (2013)

Pacific International Quilt Show, 2013.

This small wall hanging is made from a damask table napkin, with most of the quilting design coming from the napkin itself.  Hard to imagine this piece originally served to mop up a drop of soup or a crumb from the morning's toast!

Mystic himself !



This piece is named after our family cat, named Mystic... he is very white, and very hairy - can you see how he was the inspiration for this piece?



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"A Remembrance for Virginia" (in private collection)

One of my first works with linen, this piece features a gorgeous linen hanky that was owned by a dear friend's mother.  It was a joy to make it and return it to be a part of her memories of her mother.

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Reverse Trapunto - enjoy these samples of this fun technique !