Prayer at Sunset - I saw a picture of many people on their knees in prayer, and I was struck by the blocks of color from their clothes. This imagery on the quilt represents the "eye of God," the people on their knees in prayer, and the violence perpetrated in the name of religion (the sword). The words "peace" and "love" written in Arabic are visible on the quilt.

Black Beauties - Story of the quilt--One of my favorite things to do when I'm home (besides working on my artwork) is looking at the view out my window into my backyard to watch the birds at my bird feeder. I particularly like to watch the birds in the wintertime when there is a nice sheet of snow on the ground. I like the stark contrast between the whiteness of the snow and the color of the birds. One particular winter day, ALL the birds on the ground were "those ugly" blackbirds EXCEPT for one beautiful red cardinal. I was really aggravated that the "ugly" blackbirds were dominating the bird feeders, eating up all my seed, and weren't even pretty to look at. After I had ranted and raved, I got to feeling bad about maligning the blackbirds. I realized that they need to eat too, and they can't help the fact that they aren't "pretty." That revelation led me to think about this on a larger scale. People who aren't considered "pretty" by society often have needs that aren't met--simply because of their appearance. We all can't be pretty.

Brain Freeze (I call her Spike!) - Spike is not your "traditional" quilt. She is not appliqued onto a square of fabric; she is cut out to the shape you see here. Her earrings are felt balls hanging from chain. She is made of commercial fabric, felt, beads, and sequins. This piece includes hand and machine applique, hand embroidery, hand beading, and hand quilting. The face and spikes are heavily hand quilted; the shirt is machine quilted.