Sneak Peak–“Lavender Garden”

I’ve been playing with this new piece for several weeks now–I think it’s going to be called Lavender Garden. I’m sharing a detail of the quilting section I finished today, because I’m so excited about it! I’d been putting off this part because I was nervous about being able to execute the idea in my brain–but today I decided to go for it. If you click on the image you’ll be able to see the stitching more clearly.

This is a great example of what I like to think of as “drawing with needle and thread.” I use a regular home sewing machine and a darning foot–there’s no marking ahead of time and no computer to do the work–it’s just me and my machine. I draw the images freehand directly onto the piece and if I’m in the proper zone, it just flows. Today was one of those good days!

I used several different colorways of variegated thread, depending on the background color, which gives an added sparkle to the overall design. This is a larger quilt–about 25″ high x 42″ wide–and it’s one of the new pieces I’m putting together for my show later this fall at the MPAartfest.  I’ve been busy the last month or so creating new work, putting together a brochure, designing postcards to send out for my shows at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden, the MPAartfest, and the Great Falls Studios Studio Tour. If you would like to be on my mailing list to receive a colorful postcard notification of these events, please fill out a contact form on my website here. I’ll only use your information to send the postcards a couple of times a year.