I was seated at the Pantages theater in Hollywood, waiting for the show to begin, it was “Hamilton” and this was my second time seeing the show and as a bubbly excited anticipation rose up, I thought briefly that this is an exquisite moment, the theme for an art quilt exhibition I had been invited to participate in. That’s when I knew that my quilt would have to be about my life in theater. Where I had experienced so many exquisite moments both backstage as a costume designer with the Los Angeles Opera and as a member of many, many audiences. Here Madama Butterfly from my favorite opera and Alexander Hamilton from my favorite musical share the spotlight. Quilted into the background are logos and lyrics from other favorite productions as “the ghosts of productions past”

Applique fabrics, Tyvek embellishments, hand cut stencil and hand painting for detail.

It was early on a cool, crisp morning in Amsterdam when we turned the corner and witnessed a sea of color. Flowers, mostly Tulips, booth after booth, stretching into the distance in a riot of exquisite colors. Their waxen blooms and leaves so enticing that I had to purchase some, even though we would be leaving the city soon. This quilt is a tribute to the beauty of these fragile and fleeting blooms and that ethereal morning in a more lasting an tangible form.

Colored Pencil on PFD fabric. 28 shades of colored pencil and 32 shades of thread where used to complete this art quilt.

The Houston Quilt Festival was having an exhibit of Sci-Fi and Fantasy quilts that would be premiering at Comicpalooza. I knew that many young people would attend this comic book convention and that many of them were already sewing, bringing their anime and cosplay costume visions to life and that seeing their favorite subject in quilt form would be a great way to introduce, and perhaps lure, them into art quilting. I chose Boba Fett the bounty hunter in Star Wars as he is a favorite character of my Son, Brian. I also felt that the battered and beaten armor Boba Fett wore would be exciting to create with Tyvek mailing envelopes, a rather unusual material I love to use in my art quilts. This piece is nearly life size and having young men costumed as Boba Fett take selfies with my quilt and post them on Instagram was quite fun #bobafettwithbobafettthequilt.

Cotton and Tyvek applique fabric, Tsukineko ink and acrylic paint details, Swarovski crystals

This quilt was created for the “A Better World - Heroes working for the greater good” we were invited to create a quilt about someone we felt had made the world a better place. I love to garden and grow things both for visual enjoyment, exercise and of course to eat! I chose Luther Burbank as my subject. If you like to eat or putter around the garden you may well have Luther Burbank to thank. An American Botanitst known as the “Plant Wizard” he developed more than 800 varieties of plants in his career, many of which are still widely grown today. My quilt depicts just a few of the many he brought us including his July Elberta Peach, Shasta Daisy, Fire Poppy, Santa Rosa Plum, Sweet Plumcot, Formosa Plum and his most famous, the Burbank Russet Potato. His Russet was a direct response to the Irish Potato famine, developed for extreme disease resistance. Luther Burbank loved humanity and worked joyfully in partnership with nature for the benefit of us all.

Cotton and Tyvek applique fabrics (the tree leaves are painted Tyvek mailing envelope) bleach discharge for tree bark, tsukineko ink shading, micron pen lettering, thread.

This quilt was created for an invitational art quilt exhibit with the theme “Patterns”. I am endlessly inspired by the works of art created by those who came before me. Master lace makers of the 1800’s created elaborate yet delicate patterns using bobbins, needle and thread. Here, fabric, needle and thread showcase details of an exquisite Point de Gaze lace handkerchief which I photographed at the lace museum in Brussels, Belgium. I used a variety of fabrics not usually found in quilts from large netting, to polyester gym short material to re-create the motifs in the original handkerchief.. Getting the scale right was very important to me. I used lace trims, couched over cording, hand embroidered and used buttons to mimic the handkerchief in my 500% enlargement.

Assorted Nettings, Mistyfuse, embroidery floss, buttons, polyester and cotton fabrics, cotton cording, thread, Tsukineko ink.

This quilt was created for an Invitational Art Quilt exhibit with the theme “Affinity”. It may sound a little odd, but I have an affinity for weeds. I do my best thinking while enjoying the mindless act of digging them up. I love to hate them all, but my hat goes off to the dandelion, and the dandelion’s great affinity for the tiniest of crevices. Brilliant yellow, it’s new flowers call your eye from a distance. The puffy seed heads begging your lips to blow and your heart to believe in wishes. It doesn’t matter if you appreciate it for its myriad of uses or if you yank it out of the ground in a futile attempt at domination, the dandelion just keeps on doing its thing, seeking out any tiny crack where it can take root and spread its magic….undaunted.

Assorted bridal nettings, cotton and batik fabrics, hand embroidery, Tsukineko ink shading, thread

This piece was created for a guild challenge, we were each given a Chinese food take out box that contained a fat quarter of fabric and a fortune cookie, we were to make a quilt using the fabric in a predominate way and based on our fortune. My fortune read “ Grand adventures await those who are willing to turn the corner” My quilt depicts my BFF and former business partner Cindy Myers and I in Japan. I interpreted my “grand adventure” as our new (at the time) business “A Couple of Old Broads”. I used the challenge fabric for the vase, and painted Tyvek mailing envelope for the branches, maple leaves and the koi fish. I work a lot from photos, for this piece I used a photo taken of of my husband and I while on vacation in Tokyo and “morphed” my husband into Cindy.

Quilting cotton and Tyvek fabric, embroidery floss, Tsukineko  and Micron ink details, Tulle, Swarovski crystals, thread.

Showing the beauty in everyday objects is something I feel drawn to as an artist. This piece started at an art quilt retreat in Asilomar, CA. At the beginning of the retreat, we each showed an image of what we planned to work on that week. I showed a picture of vegetables, clipped from a seed catalog. You could practically HEAR the eyes roll. No one thought much of my subject matter, at all. But I knew all these simple veggies needed were the chance to be filtered through my brain and into fabric to show how beautiful they really are. I got the last laugh when my quilt “Winter Squash” went on to win awards at my quilt guild and Houston Festival as well a be published in Quilting Arts and Quilters Newsletter Magazine.

Quilting cotton, tulle netting, thread.

Once again, my guild was doing a challenge. This time the requirement was to use a specific fabric plus a stripe fabric of one’s own choosing and the theme was “fantasy”. One month before the quilt was due, we were required to fill out the entry form. We had to include the title of our piece. I had procrastinated and I hadn’t even come up with a concept for the quilt yet, let alone a title.  So, I wrote on the title line “Too soon to Tell” which ended up a fortuitous title for this fortune teller scene. Earlier that year, my husband and I had visited Van Goth’s hometown, and I had become fascinated by his work. For this piece I wanted to play with using reflected light in a particular way, like he did in his work “The Potato Eaters”.  The challenge fabric I placed into the crystal ball, and I used sari fabric, silks and trims from my stash of costume construction snippets collected over my years with the Los Angeles Opera. The required striped fabric of our own choosing became the wallpaper in the background. Tulle netting was used to create shadows on the background as well as on the seeker’s face and to create the glow around the crystal ball and candle flames. In this scene I am both the fortune teller and the fortune seeker, and I am equally excited and curious as to how my continuing adventure in life will unfold.

Quilting cotton, silk dupioni, embroidered sari fabric, pleated silk, tulle netting, commercial trims, Tsukineko and Micron ink, thread.

Our family had taken a vacation in Hawaii, we had enjoyed snorkeling together and exploring the beautiful island from its sandy beaches to its lava flow volcano land. We saw giant Sea Turtles on the black sand beach and loved spending time in the water, pool and sea alike. This piece was drawn from my memories of that trip, with our son Brian as the focal point. His hair floating around his face and his eyes huge as he experienced his close encounter with the mysterious sea and its inhabitants.  My quilt began as a guild challenge; this time we were to use the clownfish fabric as the requirement. My idea was to do a more comic cartoony style but somewhere along the way it became far more realistic.  This was a quilt of firsts for me. It was the first time I did a human figure in a quilt, the first time I broke the frame of the quit, the first time I used Tyvek in a quilt, my first time entering a juried quilt show and my first ribbon at a juried show.

Quilting cotton and Tyvek fabric, tulle, acrylic paint, Tsukineko and micron inks, buttons, Swarovski crystals, thread.