Well, here goes….
My first Blog post. I never thought I would be doing this, but here it is. First, a little about me. I am a married mother of 3 sons who have mostly flown the nest- Oldest stationed in the Air Force with a wife and our 3yo grandson in North Dakota. Middle son- my resident computer geek, who helped me set up my website, came back home after 1 year at college, then finally got back in school this past week. Youngest son in his second semester in college, signed up to enter the Air Force after this semester. Husband is getting back into remodeling after working at our greenhouse that we owned for the past 8 years. I have a degree in horticulture, and have spent the past 25 years working in or owning greenhouses and flower shops along with raising my sons, and starting a quilting business. My quilting began with a quilt I made for my granddaughter using some of the flowery fabrics I had collected to make dresses for my little girls- I got 3 sons. (My stepdaughter is only 5 yrs younger than me, so I also have grandkids near the ages of my sons.) the quilting bug bit, and I began making traditional bed quilts to sell. Sales were not great, and I found smaller items more interesting to make. I spent years selling wall hangings, placemats, table runners, etc. until I began making what would be considered Art Quilts to be hung on the wall in original designs. My world really opened up when I subscribed to the Quiltart email list, and joined the Journal Quilt Project. I found I could sell quilts in sizes to frame, and began spreading out to slightly larger and much smaller items. Placemats and runners became boring and I quit making them.
2007 begins a whole new chapter to my life. Our greenhouse business closed last fall, after 8 long, hard years. A lot in life is up in the air at this time, but we are moving ahead. I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia along with the arthritis I have had or years, and finally know why I have spent so much of the past few years in so much pain. (I’m not completely crazy!!) The pain isn’t over, but now that I can stay away from the lugging and tugging, and long hours at the greenhouse, and can be in more in control of it now. I have had to put my quilting on the back burner for a long time. I have discovered the therapeutic value of painting and sunprinting and am excited that can now bring my love of gardening to quilting even more than in the past. Most of my work is very floral in nature- thus my gardening in fabric. I am discovering more things I can do with fabric, fibers and paint, leaves and flowers.
My goals for this year are to increase, or get exposure for my work through entering competitions, and challenges. I also look forward to finding places to teach, and show my work and techniques. I have been experimenting with new construction techniques using my “fused quilt sandwiches”. It’s something like contsructing a quilt like a puzzle.
Well, if you got this far without snoozing, great! Sometimes I ramble…. I look forward to getting to know more quilters, and learning what I can from others, along with spreading what I know, and see what happens with my quilts.
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I am a former textile artist and new pattern designer with a degree in horticulture, wishing to share my love of nature, flowers and gardens with everyone through my photos, sunprinted fabrics, and now pattern designs. Chronic Lyme Disease has caused major changes to the direction my life. I have to limit the amount of time spent digging in my gardens, and quilting has become more difficult. I discovered pattern design as a way to get art back into my life. I now use my gardens and photos to inspire designs that can be used on fabrics and print on demand items.
