Amy’s Haunted House – The fourth (final? who knows?) in the series of landscape quilts, this one is from a photograph by Amy White, of a house near Weaverville NC (which she jokingly calls ‘haunted’). 27″ x 20″. $475
John Oliver Cabin, Cades Cove – The third in the series of landscape quilts, based on Cynthia England’s ‘picture piecing’ technique. This one incorporates just about every trick in my book. 29″ x 22″. $475
Eastern Carolina Tobacco Barn – Continuing my experiment with Cynthia England’s ‘picture piecing’ technique, I’m enjoying exploring and depicting Carolina vernacular architecture. I snapped this image close to thirty years ago, when I was a field biologist working in eastern North Carolina. Sadly, these old tobacco barns are disappearing rapidly. 29″ x 21″, and about 300 individual pieces. $425
Zahara – known by my family as “New Bridge” this c. 1790 farmhouse is the oldest home in Aiken County, South Carolina. I used Cynthia England‘s technique in this, plus some other tricks. There are over 700 pieces in this 28″ x 20″ quilt. Machine-pieced and quilted, but includes some handwork. $425
Springtime Mountain Home – a commission completed just in time for Christmas. I used just about every trick in the book: cabin was done with Cynthia England’s picture piecing technique, pieced into the background, sky was ‘painted’ using printer ink, mountains hand-appliqued, trees thread-painted on tulle, flower fields done with ‘confetti’ and tulle, red-tailed hawk hand-embroidered. Machine-quilted. 16″ x 37″. NFS
Tunnels Near Point Lookout – second time, but not the last, that I’ve worked with this image. Original photograph below. It’s just to the right and a little off the trail, after you pass Point Lookout, headed east. 21″ x 27″ . On display at and available through Arrowhead Gallery and Studios. $275.
Look! What lies beyond ♦ This moment, this place that calls ♦ To venture further?
Polaris – looking north from my garden, on a warm summer night. The quote included in the quilt’s label is below; it reminds me how hard it is to recreate what we see around us in our chosen art mediums. Completed July 2023, measures 30″ x 29″. $295 SOLD
“Ideals are like the stars. We will never reach them, but, like the mariners on the sea, we chart our course by them.” Carl Schurz
Spring Light – a commissioned piece, inspired by Skyward (below). Incorporates piecing, applique, ‘confetti’, machine embroidery, and hand embroidery. Completed April 2023, measures 47″ x 59″. NFS
Sun streams through bright leaves ♦ Of silent sentinels who ♦ Sway to wood thrush song
Resilience – this small quilt was created for the March 2023 ‘Resilience’ Exhibit at Arrowhead Gallery and Studios. I like to think it’s the first of many quilts in a series I’ll call ‘Things I Learned from Trees’. 22″ x 24″, $135 SOLD
Skyward – If this quilt made sound, perhaps you’d hear the shrill of a hawk rising high above the whispering pines. Completed January 2022. 36″ x 56″. Appraised for $1480, this quilt has been donated to the Hitchcock Woods Foundation, to be auctioned as a fundraiser for their management program.
Winter on Old Fort Mountain – one of my favorite views when I drive down the mountain from Black Mountain. 25″ x 27″. $180 SOLD
Three wildlife-themed quilts – commissioned by a friend and coworker, these small quilts (2’x2′) depict some of her favorite creatures – Private Collection
Close to forest edge ♦ Lovers speak of times to come ♦ And note Fall’s passage
Fleeting darts arrive ♦ Dashing sips of summer bloom ♦ Soar and light the heart
Crisp winter blanket ♦ Lies over soft paws creeping ♦ He listens, and waits
Tunnels Near Point Lookout, Western Division Railroad – my friend Melinda Halford took this photo, and it struck me as something I just had to recreate in fabric. Original photo directly below finished quilt. 36″ x 46″, completed July 2020. $575 SOLD
Twilight Drive in Pleasant Gardens – based on the view that greets me on my drive home from weekly yoga class in nearby Marion. About 43″ x 28″, completed January 2020. $420. SOLD
Catawba River Fishermen – a small quilt inspired by the Joseph McDowell Greenway in nearby Marion. Sold before I recorded date and dimensions. SOLD
Kitsuma Peak Trail: End of a Good Run – a small quilt celebrating one of our local landmarks, purportedly one of the best mountain biking trails in Western North Carolina. About 26 ” x 21″, completed January 2020. $190 SOLD
View From Pisgah Inn – a commissioned quilt that commemorates a special stay at this iconic landmark on the Blue Ridge Parkway. About 36″ x 36″, completed in November 2019. $370 SOLD
Upper Catawba Falls – I’m becoming more interested in doing smaller, more local and iconic landscapes. Thought I’d start with the biggie .. . . the elusive Catawba Falls here in McDowell County, which only the young, strong, and often foolish can get to (people fall and die there fairly regularly, I’m afraid). I’ll never see it in real life, so I thought I’d make my own version of it. Pieced, with ‘water’ appliqued in tulle. About 21″ x 21″, completed 2018. $335 SOLD
Little Frog King – based on a photo I took at the water-table at Painters Greenhouse. The frog (hand-embroidered) and the rock (pieced and embroidered) were real (though the rock was about as big as my fist, and the frog about the size of a thumbnail). The other elements are wetland plants (applique) with a few imaginary algae (needle-felting) thrown in. About 28″ x 28″; completed 2018; commissioned by Dana Owen, one of Painter’s owners. Private Collection
Sing Me of Sweet Things is a commissioned piece completed in September of 2017. My customer, a carpenter and musician, hosts house concerts at his home in New Hampshire. Staged in front a of picture window, he wanted a backdrop for the concerts that would absorb sound, but also depict the fantastic view of the White Mountains from the window. One thing led to another, and we added friends and family playing music around a campfire, and his wife and grandchild romping with the dog near the vegetable garden, all set on a warm summer evening in June. Measuring 70″ x 53″, this is another ‘kitchen sink’ quilt, featuring machine piecing, hand and machine applique, thread painting on tulle, hand embroidery, some painting, fusible fabrication, etc. This quilt was awarded 2nd place in the Landscape category at the Asheville Quilt Show, Fall 2017. Private Collection
Chalk Cliffs, Hitchcock Woods was completed December 2016. Based on photography by Shelly Marshall Schmidt, it showcases one of the unique environments in Hitchcock Woods, one of the largest urban forests in the US, and the heart of my home town, Aiken SC. This was a commission to benefit the Hitchcock Woods Foundation. 49″ x 41″. Features custom hand-dyed fabric from Vicki Welsh for the night sky. Private Collection
Fiddleheads for Katie was completed June 2016. Commissioned by friend and wonderful dulcimerist Katie LaRaye Waldren, it is based on real sculpture by Harry McDaniel on display at the Kellogg Center in Horseshoe NC. 51″ x 31″. Lots of applique and pearl cotton embroidery. Private Collection
Be Here Now. A companion quilt to Skyland Dawn (below), this 4.5′ by 3.5′ quilt continues my exploration into layering tulle, applique, and embroidery, this time in a much more fanciful approach . . . . no pattern was used anywhere in this quilt; the entire piece is free-form. Completed Summer 2013. Private Collection
Aspen Sunrise. This was a spinoff commission from the previous landscape quilt (‘Summer Evening at the Woodland Edge’, below). Same technique of pieced background and layers of applique, tulle, and embroidery. Also about 4′ x 3′. Completed in January 2013. SOLD
Summer Evening at the Woodland Edge. Completed in 2012, this one won 2nd place in the ‘Large Art Quilt’ category in the 2012 Asheville Quilt Show. It is loosely based on a painting by Carolyn Reynolds, and incorporates applique, embroidery, and tulle. About 4′ x 3′. SOLD
Skyland Dawn ~ Completed October 2010, a gift to my physical therapist and friend Melinda Halford at Skyland Physical Therapy, for ‘fixing’ my hip. About 3′ by 4′. Private Collection
Waterwheel, Berry College, Rome, Georgia ~ Also completed in October 2010, this is a gift for my husband, who is passionate about alternate energy. Pieced and appliqued, but also extensively painted and embroidered. Measures about 3′ by 3′ (the wheel measures 42′ feet!). Private Collection
Mitchell’s Arabian Through the Fog ~ Completed in 2009, a gift for White Horse Black Mountain, a local music venue. About 4 feet by 5 feet. Fog effect created with layers of tulle. Private Collection
Autumn ~ Based on a painting by the same name, I think, by an artist who’s name I can’t remember. My first attempt at a seriously pieced quilt. About 3 feet by 4 feet. Two detail shots below. SOLD
