Gallery 1
Untitled Document

GALLERY 1
QUILTED PORTRAITS AND PUZZLE INTERCHANGE QUILTS
In late 1967 I began making pictures with cloth, ie, experimenting with drawings translated into fabric. Then I thought of the silk screen prints of Andy Warhol--the repeated portraits of various movie stars--I thought that doing a self portrait using a photo of myself repeated 80 times was a good idea for a quilt. I also was into nostalgia--after all it was the 60's. Even though this was a new idea for a contemporary quilt, I liked old fabric, and that it reminded me of my grandmother and her house. So for the "Therese quilt" I used all old fabric from thrift stores because I wanted it to look like an old quilt--not only from the past, but actually used, tattered, torn and faded. I liked how the fabrics took my mind back to earlier days and the comforting feelings of grandmother.

1.

1. "Therese Quilt", 72"X90", 1969, $25,000, sold
2.

2. "Betty and Ned", 39"x39", 2000, $4,000 sold
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3. "Mellissa", 38"x38", 2003, $3,500
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4. "Love a Buck!", 38"x38", 2002, $4,500
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5. "Elf Quilt", 38"x38", 2004, $3,500
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6. "Elf Angels", 54"x64", 2003, $6,000 sold
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7. "Ed, Dave, Maxine & Kelly", 38"x38", 2003, $3,500
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8. "I Am Who I Am", 16.5"x38", 2003, $1,200
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9. "Alice & Don", 70"x70", 2004, $8,000
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10. "Tulip", 92.5"x91.5", 2003, $12,000 sold
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11. "Japanese Felines", 38"x38", 2004, $3,500
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12. "Japanese Flowers", 38"x38", 2004, $3,500

"BETTY AND NED", 2000
This is an updated version of some of the quilted portraits that I was doing in the late 60's and early 70's. I wanted to share the technique with others, so I made a new quilt as well as some instructions to take people through the process, step by step. "Betty" and "Ned" (as well as many others) are characters that I made up. These are wonderful fantasy portrait quilts that start with a very simple drawing of a face (like kindergarten!) on an 8 inch square paper. This is repeated 16 times (or however many times you want) using a basic machine appliqué technique with satin stitch. Fusible interfacing is used to anchor the pieces. It is similar to putting a jig-saw puzzle together 16 times. Then the satin stitch is used for the applique. Buttons or beads form the eyes while acrylic or fabric paint and other embellishments are employed for noses and mouths or other decoration. The "Puzzle Interchange" quilt is the same idea, but you can use any image and make it as complex or as simple as you want.

Whatever it is you feel you want to do in art quilts--simply begin, and let it lead you to the next step. You can do what ever you want to do, if you have a sewing machine, fabric, thread, scissors, time and an idea. Tap into your creativity and playfulness! Explore drawing, color and form, while at the same time following a simple, fun "recipe" for making a machine applique art quilt. Accomplish making a quilt with 16 8 inch squares arranged into a square quilt with a border.