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Color Wheel
Creating this fabric color wheel was like going on a scavenger hunt. I shopped and shopped to find the perfect fabrics: a blue-green that was equal parts blue and green, a just-right version of red-violet, a complement tint (the innermost circle) of green. It hangs, framed in black metal, in my studio and travels with me to workshops and lectures. See Books and Patterns. 23 x 23 inches

Parfait Dreams
In this redesign of the traditional Connecticut block, the nine main blocks advance because the large triangles are dark and intense, while the alternate blocks and setting pieces recede, thanks to their mostly lighter and less-intense fabrics. The lighter-value striped border recedes even more, putting the focus on the center portion of the quilt. See Books and Patterns. Machine quilted by Carol Walsh (quiltthis@sbcglobal.net). Click image for larger view. 42 x 42 inches


Earthscape
Value, temperature, and intensity are all at work in this small collage quilt. Light-value background fabrics by Elin Noble (www.elinnoble.com) suggest a sulfurous sky; dark-value foreground fabrics depict the volcanic landscape of Kilauea. Where the lava meets the ocean, light-value fabrics imply rising steam. The raw-edge pieces are adhered to the foundation with Misty Fuse. Machine quilted by Carol Walsh (quiltthis@sbcglobal.net). Click image for larger view. 28 x 36 inches


Lotus Leaves Squared
It’s all about value (lightness and darkness) in this design. Half of the blocks began with a red center square surrounded by a light, medium, and dark strip. For the other blocks, I reversed the order—a red center square surrounded by a dark, medium, and light strip. I then “whacked” each block horizontally and vertically to make quarter-units, which I assembled into the final blocks. I didn’t plan to border this quilt, but the Kaffe Fassett lotus-leaf print, which had languished on my shelf for some time, changed my mind. Machine quilted by Carol Walsh (quiltthis@sbcglobal.net). Click image for larger view. 59 x 59 inches


Puss in the Corner on the Courthouse Steps
Kaffe Fassett (www.gloriouscolor.com) and Michael James fabrics make up this original design. Ikat-wash fabrics in light green, peach, and lavender mix with darker prints and stripes in the Puss-in-the-Corner units; strips of darker, brighter ikat-wash fabrics “corral” the units and form the blocks. The striped border has an opalescent quality, a special effect that occurs when various colors in similar values are juxtaposed. Machine quilted by Teresa Leavitt. Click image for larger view. 68 x 68 inches














Tropical Hole in the Barn Door
Students often ask, “How do you choose fabrics for a quilt that repeats a single block?” I follow a color-and-value recipe to create variety and cohesion in repeat-block quilts. For a contemporary take on the traditional Hole in the Barn Door block, I followed this recipe: a red center square; batik surrounding squares; cool, dark inner triangles; light outer triangles; and warm strips that form the lattice. Machine quilted by Carol Walsh (quiltthis@sbcglobal.net). Click image for larger view. 52 x 56 inches


Siesta
This little leftovers quilt illustrates how easy it is to turn a secondary pattern into a primary pattern. Each olive green polka-dot square would be the center of a traditional Churn Dash block, with the striped triangles in the outer corners of the block. By shifting the block units, four striped triangles congregate to make a primary pattern. The light-value Kaffe Fassett stripe, pale batik, and polka dot fabrics form the backdrop and become the secondary pattern. Machine quilted by Teresa Leavitt. Click image for larger view. 44 x 56 inches


Garden Glow
This super-simple, whacked-block design illustrates the luminosity recipe: When you surround a small area of medium, warm, intense color with a larger area of dark, cool, low-intensity color, the result is a glow, as if light and warmth are radiating from behind the quilt. The mostly cool, low-intensity border enhances the effect. Machine quilted by Carol Walsh (quiltthis@sbcglobal.net). Click image for larger view. 59 x 59 inches

Square Dance
This Double Four Patch variation, made up mostly of Cherrywood Fabrics (www.cherrywoodfabrics.com), was inspired by the glass tile backsplash in my kitchen, featured in the Sunset book, Reinvent Your Kitchen; see Books and Patterns. As haphazard as it looks, there is a color recipe at work: warm and cool fabrics for the 1-inch squares (with random squares of batiks for dashes of light); dark fabrics for the 4-inch squares; and lighter fabrics for the 8-inch squares. I fell in love with the hand-dyed rickrack (rainbow@mcn.net), which I appliquéd to the borders before attaching them to the quilt top. Machine quilted by Carol Walsh (quiltthis@sbcglobal.net). Click image for larger view. 50 x 64 inches

Modular Color Blocks
I call these "potato chip" blocks because you can't stop with just one! I set out to make twelve blocks for a duvet cover, but when I couldn't find a sashing fabric, I decided to frame nine of the blocks. They now hang in my living room, three across and three down, as a "quilt." (See "Modular Color Blocks" workshop.) Click image for larger view.

Double Four Patch
This block is the first exercise we do in my Color! Color! Color! workshop. To make the design work, you need just enough contrast for the pieces to separate visually, but not so much that one fabric "pops." Once again, I had a color-and-value recipe: the vertical small squares are warm and light, and the remaining small squares are warm and dark. The larger squares are cool and dark, while the surrounding triangles are cool and light. The fabrics are all from Cherrywood. Machine quilted by Beverly Bixler. Click image for larger view. 42 x 49 inches

Triangles
I love stripes, and I am addicted to batiks! This little quilt pairs Kaffe Fassett stripes (www.gloriouscolor.com) and light-and-airy batiks in 6-inch blocks. Each block consists of four half-square triangle units, which I made using triangle paper. The border has a bonus: by cutting the strips crosswise and mitering the corners, squares magically appear. Machine quilted by Beverly Rodgers (bevrodgers@msn.com). Compare this quilt to my Summer Triangles vest. Click image for larger view. 39 x 39 inches

In and Out
More stripes, more batiks. These blocks are loosely based on the quilt on the cover of Passionate Patchwork (www.gloriouscolor.com). I did my quilt differently, pairing a strip of batik fabric with a strip of striped fabric. The key is value: the batiks are light or medium in value, while the stripes are darker. When you make the units, you get opposite pairs; that is, for every unit with a stripe on the outside and a batik on the inside, you get a unit with the same batik on the outside and the same stripe on the inside. Hence the name, In and Out. Machine quilted by Beverly Rodgers. (See Books and Patterns.) Click image for larger view. 56 x 56 inches

Garments

Striped Strips Redux
The raw-edge strips are woven, overlapped, and butted on a foundation of lightweight flannel and backing fabric. I zigzagged the raw edges where they meet, then lightly surface-stitched the entire piece. Variegated yarn couched over the raw edges hides the zigzagging. Click image for larger view.

Sail Away
I happily returned to my college days when I painted these striped fabrics using Inkodyes and paste resist. (I dyed the dot fabric in my quilt "Fiesta" in the same way.) The small squares were torn to create soft edges, then topstitched to squares of Cherrywood fabrics (www.cherrywoodfabrics.com). The bias binding is raw edge. Click image for larger view.

Woven Strips
The warp strips, torn from a Hoffman batik, are 3 inches wide; the weft strips, cut crosswise from Kaffe Fassett stripes, are 2 and 3 inches wide. I wove the strips over a foundation fabric layered with lightweight flannel, then pinned and zigzagged the raw edges, stitching through all layers. This vest illustrates the color concept of luminosity: the surface seems to glow as a result of intermixing warm, bright colors with cool, dark ones. Made using Heidi's Banded Vest pattern, available soon. Click image for larger view.

Summer Triangles
Here's yet another vest (at right) made from my Collage Vest pattern, again using Kaffe Fassett stripes and light batiks. These blocks are 4 1/2 inches, compared to the 6-inch blocks in the Triangles quilt. In the vest the units in each block are made up of the same two fabrics (one stripe, one batik), creating a quiet effect, while in the quilt the units are mixed, creating a more energetic look. Click image for larger view.

Kimono Collage Vest
An exquisite Gingko-leaf fabric was the catalyst for this collage-and-surface-stitched vest. The "postcards" were fussy cut from a Japanese fabric. Shots of red-violet and "salmon" accent the yellow-green and black color scheme. This vest is now available as a pattern, which I also used to make the vests "Striped Strips Redux," "Woven Strips," and "Sail Away," above. (See Books and Patterns.) Click image for larger view.
Happy Jacket
The name I've given this colorful jacket is frivolous, but that's just how I felt when making it. And that's how I feel when I wear it--happy! Working on a sweatshirt is very forgiving, and the raw-edge, surface-stitched aspect softens any irregularities. (Translation: precision is not required.) Chenille circles and rick-rack trim (rainbow@mcn.org) make it special. This jacket is a class; see Happy Jacket Workshop. Click image for larger view.

Raw! Raw! Raw!
My first collage and surface-stitched project, this vest is a class; see Lectures and Workshops. My original pattern is available (Misses sizes 8-14). (By the way, that's my friend Heidi Emmett wearing this vest and all of the other garments.) Click image for larger view and detail.

Hong Kong Vest
For this vest I layered a beautiful hand-dyed piece on a foundation fabric (there is no batting) and surface stitched it heavily. The fabric goddesses must have been smiling on me because after washing and drying the piece, I had just enough fabric to cut out the fronts and back, with not a thread to spare. The bands are a Kaffe Fassett stripe. This vest appeared in Threads, May 1999, Number 82. The pattern is available from The Sewing Workshop (www.sewingworkshop.com). Click image for larger view and detail.

Rectangles
There wasn't enough of the ikat fabric used for the sleeves of this jacket to make the entire jacket, so I created my own fabric by top-stitching rectangles of Cherrywood Fabrics layered and offset, to the wrong side of a tablecloth fabric. I changed the thread as necessary to match the rectangles' colors, creating the sense that the rectangles are floating. The jacket was cut from a basic pattern, but I used the neckline and front from my Collage Vest pattern.Click image for larger view.

Kelp Forest
Also made using my Collage Vest pattern, this version features only four fabrics. Complementary red-violet and yellow-green are the predominant colors, but the large areas of blue-violet in the main fabric exert a strong cooling influence. This vest is more supple than Raw! Raw! Raw! because I trimmed away the overlapping layers underneath before surface stitching. Click image for larger view and detail.