Cat at Sunset - This design was inspired by an experiment with hand painting fabric, and a photo I took of one of our cats sitting on the wall of our patio at sunset.
Mariner - My guild had a challenge with the theme of "Seasons". I immediately thought of the summer my daughter was 12, and she practically lived at the Girl Scout sailing camp. My inspiration was a photograph taken of her on a Sunfish.
Blended Trip - Fall colors are my favorite ~ this is a Trip-Around-the-World with a slight twist of inserting 9-patch blocks to blend one color into the next. Completed block size equals 3 inches (even the pieced 9-patches).
Courtyard Flowers - The original pattern showed darker colours with a sunflower border with an option to use brighter colours with a daisy border - I chose the latter. One of my favourite quilts.
Sunflowers to Windmills - Driving across Kansas, weird thoughts come up. Where did those windmills come from? Were they planted? Maybe they're sunflowers that grew really big.
BWR - I made a Ricky Tims' Kool Kaleidoscope quilt earlier (see Mayan Sun Storm), and this quilt was inspired by that look. However, I had to plan/draft the segments specifically to get the star design I wanted, instead of having unplanned "what you see is what you get" results. I also did not use strip sets. I made this for a guild challenge where the only restrictions were to use black, white and only one other color. I saw the button in a store and knew I had to use it for the center.
Arizona - Our President's Challenge for 2010 in our quilters' club was to create an item that included circles. As I do like the motion of circles, this was the right project for me. In creating the wallhanging, I wanted to give the impression of various aspects of the State of Arizona...the Grand Canyon, flowers, Native American heritage, and SUNSHINE.
Every Quilter Dreams - 4083 pieces and 150 hand dyed fabrics, 15 different blacks, 15 Appliqué Blocks, elongated flying geese sashing and an alternate snowball
The Forgotten Road - This quilt is dedicated to my mother, Mary, who is losing her battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The random color placement of the YBR blocks represents the chaos her mind had become. The stars are the pinpoints of light when she recalls an old memory. The original paisley floral designs seek to add beauty to her remaining days. Piecing design is my original enhancement of Carpenter Stars motifs, pieced into the borders and the center medallion on a field of YBR blocks.
The Quilt Block Book Quilt - I just wrote a 192-page quilt book (THE QUILT BLOCK BOOK) with instructions for making 75 blocks (pieced, foundation, applique). After writing the book, I took all the samples I had made for the book and created the quilt pictured. The front of the quilt features 72 blocks, and the backing is pieced to include 5 blocks. So all of the blocks that are in the book made it into this quilt one way or another.
Quilt for Corina - My sister Corina is not a quilter but she supports my "habit." She found a pattern she liked in a quilt shop in Silver City, NM. This year she heard that the local quilt store near her was closing so she purchased fabric to add to my stash. I used some of that fabric to make her this quilt.
Mardi Gras in the Twilight Zone - My bee stepped through an art quilt workbook. For some reason I got a "In the Twilight Zone" theme going. I forgot which technique this one was for, photography I think, but I used an old picture I had taken of myself in a mirror. It looks like I've been frightened. I printed out words and images from the opening of The Twilight Zone and worked them into the quilt. The backing of the piece is the silver inside of a snack cake bag! The image is actually printed on 2 separate pieces of sheer synthetic fabric. One is slightly smaller than the other to give a ghosting effect. I burned the edges of the photograph part. I think I'm a closet pyromaniac -ha! I had a lot of fun making this. It's one of my favourites.