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Featured Quilt: Sentinels at Sunset

I made this quilt for the 2012 Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Celebrity Quilt Auction, Sentinels at Sunset is a tribute to the caretakers that watch over those whose lives and lights are fading away.

The quilt was in a private collection for six years. After the Spring Wildfire in 2018, that burned over 200,000 acres in Southern Colorado, and got within only a few feet of my house (which was miraculously spared), I was speaking at the Colorado Quilt Council's 40th year celebration. A CQC member who had been the highest bidder at the auction, gifted it back to me. It was an emotional reunion. It is a treasure and having it gifted back to me remains one of the most precious acts I've experienced. This small quilt measures only 12" x 14".

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Jigsaw Puzzle: Glen Eyrie Castle

Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

Jigsaw Puzzle

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Featured Quilt: Glen Eyrie Castle

The original Glen Eyrie was built in 1871 by the founder of Colorado Springs General William Jackson Palmer and his wife Queen Palmer who, at age 21, opened the first public school in Colorado Springs. Sitting on their 800 acre estate, the castle was the couple’s dream home. It was remodeled in 1881 with the addition of a tower and made to resemble a stone castle in 1903.

The castle sits near the famous Gardne of the Gods in Colorado Springs and these rock spires served as inspiration as I created the quilt.

The quilt was commissioned in 2004 and is now part of a private collection.

The raggedy and frayed edges are on purpose to create a wonderful, rich visual texture. The pieces were individually place on the background and the dark background allowed me to create the space between the bricks, and individual window frames. Everything was scribbled (free motion stitching) to be held in place. Once the quilt was completed, it was washed in a washing machine to enhance the frayed edges. Unorthodox… perhaps. But it gave me the result I wanted for this quilt.

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Jigsaw Puzzle: Asternoon Delight

Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

Jigsaw Puzzle

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Featured Quilt: Asternoon Delight

I enjoy photography and have for years. Some quilts over the years were inspired by a photo - and some photos were used to create the pattern for a pictorial quilt. Several years ago I purchased a large format printer so that I could blend my passion for photography with quilting.

Asternoon Delight began as a photo that I took of a cluster of asters with a butterfly perched on top. The photograph was manipulated in photoshop with another photo of wood grain superimposed on top - using a montage technique - to create the swirls and swoops in the background. The image was printed full size onto whole cloth and then heavily free-motion quilted to add texture and detail.

Printing on fabric is not an easy process because the color profiles will not generally give rich deep color - but using a proper profile, I’m able to print with successful accurate and intense color. It won an honorable mention in Houston a few years ago.

If you notice a couple of leaves on the main branch (bottom left), they are not ‘there’ in the photo, but they are ‘stitched’ into the image with the quilting process.

The most fun I had with this quilt was naming it. I asked my friends on Facebook for suggestions. The name I liked the most was Asternoon Delight - but the one that made me laugh the most was Kiss My Aster. So I generally call it the former in print, but use the later when I’m talking about the quilt.

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