If you have followed my artwork for any length of time you probably already know I come from a long line of women who worked with fiber. Taking a length of fabric and transforming it into something else just runs in my DNA. How I came to the style of collage quilting I do has been a lifelong learning process.
My very first ‘real’ quilt was for our daughter. I wanted her to have a quilt. Sewing is something I have just always done so I went to the fabric shop, bought a book, picked out a pattern, and bought the fabric to make it. I cut everything out and shazam like magic I was hooked.
This one quilt turned into bag making, art festivals, and most importantly joining the Cotton Path Quilters Guild which meets on one Tuesday a month at the Lyndon House. I was immediately welcomed into the fold by being invited to help hang one of their quilt shows which is a really HUGE process. As I touched the quilts & talked to the quilters I felt like I was standing in the light of something huge and almost forgotten.
Until then, I had never realized just what was possible with fabric.
I bought books, I took workshops, I experimented at home. I listened intently to what the wise women in the guild had to share. I quickly became bored of squares and triangles and began dabbling in paper piecing and foundation piecing more and more.
The one dilema I have had since the beginning is that I do not draw well. As I began to get away from simple shapes and angles the more I wanted to make portraits and landscapes. Not being able to draw well meant I had to work with someone else to get my idea onto paper.
That was so hard.
Jason has always been willing to help. Sometimes it would take weeks to convey what I had in my mind to him well enough to get a rendering I could work with. We would use a projector to then put it on the wall so I could make a template. The whole process was a nightmare, but the result once I sat at the machine was pretty cool. I pretty well dialed in my piecing style to a science that worked. I made a lot of art and have been fortunate that most of it has sold.
Time passed, life got too busy. For about 10 years quilting had to take a backseat. I found ways to be creative beyond my sewing machine. I think the time was well spent. I also knew I would come back around to it.
In 2019 Kalib and Jason opened the world of technology to me through Adobe Photoshop. I could import an image into it and trace it to determine where the lines would be. Being able to FINALLY put an idea together for myself was the golden moment of shifting my work to the style of work I have being making the last few years. It continues to be an ongoing learning and experimenting process. I’ve been using Procreate on my IPad for the last two wall hanging I have made. Through embracing technology my drawing skills have improved dramatically. I also will forever be a student of my art form so I follow other fiber artists I love on social media. I especially like the people who openly share their creative process which is why I do.
In 2022 as I create I find myself settling into a rhythm. I kind of know what I like. I know what I want things to look like. I also still make an effort to stretch in some new way with every piece I create. I’m pretty excited about the journey of being a creative person and what I can dream up.