As an artist, I've been a painter, have a degree in Printmaking, and have been a seamstress since I was a young teen.  I began making quilts some 40+ years ago for my daughter and family.  I worked with geometric designs because I couldn't make the quilts I was seeing in my mind. I didn't have the skill, and there wasn't anyone teaching how to make art quilts back then.  

In the late 80's, it finally dawned on me to treat my ideas as if I were making a beautiful silk blouse from a Vogue pattern. Once I began to understand that concept of "Vogue" patterns for quilts, I began working from my many drawings, doodles, photographs, and prints. I figured out how to make a "Vogue" style pattern from my drawings, and then figured out how to sew that design together without the distortion that had plagued my efforts in the early years.  

I was already in love with curves and spirals of every sort.  Now, I fell in love with color, playing with the many affects I could create. The patterning in the cloth married to the principles of color use (as applied to painting) became a passionate form of play.  It is that color play, and the curvilinear designs that I find in the natural environment, which drive my work.  I never cease to be amazed by the wonderful lines that mother nature entwines in a piece of driftwood, in a fern, in a flower, and even in a pebble.  All these and many more inform my work.  

I teach because nobody should have to wait the 20 some years it took me to develop adequate skills for the ideas I had.  I love seeing that light go on as a student begins to imagine their own ideas coming to fruition with the tools I convey.

 

Photos of my quilts may be seen here, and descriptions of my classes here.   My current calendar may be seen here. Return home.

I hope to see you at the next quilt show, or in class.

Thanks so much, Teresa