Mixed Techniques

Got Milk? – 25”H X 34"W. Cotton. Raw edge collage (cats), pieced background. These cats live at the Gates Farm. Based on photo by David Gates.

Lady of the Lake: Champ is not Alone – 29”H X 33”W. Cotton, synthetics, silk. Raw edge collage, pieced background. She is ethereal, she is glamorous. If you don’t look carefully, you may miss her. She is Champ’s best kept secret.

Smuggler’s Notch – 31”H X 34”W. Cotton, with photo embedded in center of quilt. Raw edge collage, piecing, paint. Central photo by Chris Cheatham.

Bluebells in Standish Wood – 34”H X 42”W. Cotton. Based on photo by K and G Johnson, in Gloucestershire, England, May 2017. I was very drawn to the intense greens of a place that shares my name.

Gates Farm – 55”H X 5”W. Cotton, raw edge collage, photos printed on fabric, and piecing. This is the “cow’s eye view” of my home village, based on a photo I had to climb several fences to take. One of three of my “Cambridge from Above” series, part of the corporate collection at the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans Vermont. It is on permanent display in the chapel/reflection room at the hospital.

Emerging from the Woods – 22”H X 21”W. Cotton, synthetics. Raw edge collage (cow), piecing (back ground). This neighbor Jersey was somewhat startled to be watched as she emerged from the woods at the edge of the pasture.

Portal to a Technicolor World – 15”H X 15”W. Cotton, synthetic embroidery thread. I was delighted with this experiment. I drew several circles on the black fabric to define the negative space, covered the piece with improvisational stitching, then cut out the largest circle and inserted a piece of very colorful hand embroidered fabric.

Two Blue Moons, Cabbages, Corn, and a Portal to an Alternate Universe – 15” H X 15”W. Cotton. Threadwork tells the story with very limited color palette.

What if You Define the Negative Space First? – 14”H X 14”W. An improvisational piece, based on drawing in the negative space first, then letting the negative space define where the threadwork goes.

Urban Redwork – 13”H X 13”W. Linen, cotton thread. A repurposed, unused, but old linen apron with red machine embroidery was my base for this very free form improvisational piece. I started with an urban landscape, but as a rural Vermonter, I had no control over the silos and barn that slipped into the threadwork.

Floral Graffiti - 21”H X 19”W. Cotton. Sometimes I just need to follow the thread off an image, doodle, and see where it takes me.

Boyden Farm and Winery – 43”H X 38”W. New and vintage cottons. One of three of my “Cambridge from Above” series, part of the corporate collection at the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans Vermont. It is on permanent display in the chapel/reflection room at the hospital.

Contemporary Meets Modern - 19”H X 20“ W. Cotton. Improvisational piecing, some hand dyed fabrics, hand stitiching.

United Church – 60”H X 53”W. Cotton, oil and acrylic paint. Raw edge collage and piecing. One of three of my “Cambridge from Above” series, part of the corporate collection at the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans Vermont. It is on permanent display in the chapel/reflection room at the hospital. This quilt was featured in the Nov/Dec 2017 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited.

Neighbor – 20”H X 17”W. Cotton. This rooster showed up in the front yard during Thanksgiving dinner in 2016. The rooster is a stitched photo, added to a complex pieced background. Photo by Becca Standish.

Great Horned Owl – 28”H X 23”W. Cotton. Stitched photo, combined with raw edge collage, in poster format.

Mandarin – 14”H X 11”W. Cotton, synthetics, paint. Raw edge collage duck, with painted and stamped background.

Matisse Plus – 28”H X 21”W. Cotton, brocade, silk, velvet, synthetics, paint. Based on commercial fabric panel of one of Matisse’s paintings of women. The image is repeated four times, becoming more complex with each size increase.

Starrigavan – 64”H X 49”W. Cotton, synthetic sheers. Starrigavan means “old harbor” in Russian. This quilt is based on a photo I took while in Sitka Alaska during December, 2007. A complex triptych, showing a wet dark landscape with three cultural influences: Tlingit, Russian, and American. This quilt has won several awards in Vermont, Alaska and Paducah, Kentucky.

Cranes I – 18”H X 12”W. Cotton, synthetics. Raw edge collage, silk screen paint, tulle. The mother of “Cranes II”.

Cranes II – 48”H X 32”W. Cotton, synthetics, vintage velvet, satin, and corduroy. Raw edge collage, piecing, paint. When I make a wedding gift for a family member, I allow the couple to choose the dominant colors, but nothing else. Size, subject, and techniques are all determined by what percolates to the top for me at the time. I was delighted to create a wetland with reds and tans.

Shibori Seascape - 41”H x 35”W. Cotton. I wanted to honor this exquisite piece of hand dyed shibori fabric. Before I started, I made three rules for myself; I would not cut the fabric, I would use only thread to embellish the quilt, and I would use only blue, orange, and white thread. Machine quilted with hand embroidery.

North Hero Heron – 19”H X 13”W. Cotton. Photo with pieced insert and border. Photo by Jim Richards.