I started sewing when I was twelve. I dabbled in quilted vests and pillows for a few years, and made my first quilt, a queen-size log cabin, when a friend invited me to take a class in 1991. Since then I've made well over 500 quilts. No matter how many quilts I make, a couple dozen projects are always stacked and ready to go in my studio.
Quilts fascinate me. I love to see the complex interaction between the quilt pattern, the colors, and the detail of the fabric. Look at a quilt from across the room and you'll see the larger pattern: the barn raising layout of Log Cabin blocks or the movement in Storm at Sea. Look at a quilt from a few feet away and you'll notice the interaction of the colors, such as the interplay of lights and darks in Ocean Waves. Up close you'll see the curves or angles of individual fabrics or perhaps the cats, kiwis, or fire trucks in novelty fabrics, as well as the actual quilting -- the often decorative stitching used to hold the layers together.
Quilts reflect the personality of the quilter. My interest centers around traditional patterns -- the ones quilters have been using for 200 years -- made with contemporary colors and fabrics. These quilts can be planned carefully, using only a few fabrics or can be a little more "scrappy," incorporating a variety of fabrics in selected colors. Or they can be real scrap quilts, made with a lot of different fabrics and colors. Scrap quilts are my favorites, perhaps because I hate to throw away even the tiniest bit of fabric. My cat Monty, on the other hand, has no favorites. He'll take a snooze on any quilt he can find.
My husband Bill gets a lot of the credit for my success as a quilter. He admires my work without hesitating to make suggestions. His design sense is invaluable when it comes to choosing borders and quilting designs. He willingly visits quilt fabric shops with me, and invariably he discovers a new pattern that challenges my skills and my thinking.