| I feel that the majority of my quilts are Nature inspired, even before my research and renditions for the Cincinnati Nature Center (see Gallery 2), I was drawn to the wonders of the natural world. The selections in this gallery encompass different aspects of natures bounty, prompting me to capture it in fabric. These range from stunning landscapes, to small wonders in my spring and summer garden and on to the the amazing riot of color in autumn. Since I also have a love affair with the geometric and repetitive patterns that appear in the traditional quilt, I find that many of my pieces combine these two interests. |
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Cotswold's Winter Quackers
41” x 44”
I used a row by row, strip piecing technique, to build this whole quilt. Each row was constructed in it's entirety, starting at the bottom and adding a row at a time until the top was completed. This was interpreted from a photograph of an old stone farmhouse taken in midwinter, in the Cotswold district in England, complete with pond and resident ducks..
Collection of the Kettering Medical Center, Dayton, OH. |
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Tipsy Tiles
50” x 64”
This quilt was about my fascination with tessellation. The idea of interlocking squares, offset on the diagonal, came from a photo of an Islamic tile floor.
This quilt and it's pattern, were featured in Color the Quilters Guide edited by Christine Barnes, Published by That Patchwork Place .
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Unbearably Bodacious
49” x 60”
This also started life as a challenge piece, with fabric containing images of fuschias. Using the flower as my color prompt, I gussied up the bears paw block with appliqued leaves, stamped viburnum leaves from my garden, and leaf sequins and beads. |
Autumn's Acolytes
59” x 71”
This started life as a green quilt challenge. I found that while
the purple centers of the log cabin blocks made the green more exciting, the addition of orange made it pop. This was the first of my triad of secondary color quilts and the first to be embellished with leaves. These were fused and appliquéd. |
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A Study in Impatiens
35” x 35”
Homage to the impatiens flowers that grow in profusion in my shady garden. This was pieced using Ruth McDowell's piecing techniques. It was finished with three dimensional impatiens flowers and leaves and then beads and ribbon embellishments.
Collection of Helen R. Martin, Cincinnati, OH.
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Gossamer Wings in the Garden
21” x 21”
The butterflies were my first experiment with photo transfers,
and also the first quilt using fabric pens for detailing.
Collection of Harold and Jean Gibson, Croecyceiliog,
Cwmbran, Gwent, UK. |
The following series of small quilts was all done using a quartet of pineapple blocks
to represent the wild flowers. They were then appliquéd with butterflies that were done
from photo transfers enhanced with thread painting. |
Thistle Quartet starring Great Spangled
Fritillary and Viceroy (detail)
15” x 15”
Collection of Nancy and Rick Morgan,
Cincinnati, OH. |
Buttercup Quartet starring Checkered
Skipper and Hackberry (detail)
15” x 15”
Collection of Karen Bender, Loveland, OH.
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Daisy Quartet starring Purplish Copper
and Painted Lady (detail)
15” x 15”
Collection of Mrs. Robert Krehbiel,
Cincinnati, OH. |
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Cloudless Sulphurs and Columbines
42” x 48”
This quilt celebrates the metamorphosis of the Columbine wildflower, from the tight bud stage to the full blown flower and finally to seed pod. I used these abstractions to construct a design that played against the “nine patch” repetitive block which suggested foliage, with patches of sky peeking through. I needed a yellow butterfly, to compliment the colors chosen for the Columbines, and found Cloudless Sulphurs to flitter amongst the blooms. Pieced, appliquéd and embellished with seed beads.
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Byzantine Bouquet
33” x 43”
Inspirations came from ornament used in historic Byzantine designs and abstractions of ferns fronds It become a small study that my husband insists reminds him of the plant
Audrey 2, in “Little Shop of Horrors”.
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