A FAVORITE THEME

 Sunrise & sunset themes, along with trees are subjects that seems to resonate with me.  Creating gel printed fabrics that are featured in these art quilts is....well.....FUN!!  Utilizing my stash of ice-dyed fabrics and commercial batiks completes the palette. 

Often these fabrics end up looking like Swiss Cheese as I "fussy cut" sections to better coordinate with the surrounding fabrics. Photo #1

With the aid of my walking foot, my favorite appliqué stitch is the blanket stitch.  As seen in photo #2.  A simple slightly curvy straight stitch with variegated threads coordinates the various fabric patterns and colors as well as adding texture. Photo #3 & #4.

To prevent the fabrics from distortion/buckling I always use a stabilizer as a foundation for nearly all of my art quilts. Photo #5

HERE I GO AGAIN....

A new project is underway.......surely you are not surprised!?! My first step generally is to gather fabric possibilities. Of course that may be repeated numerous times as selections are eliminated while more are added.

Gelli printing has become a favorite activity, playing to creating the 'grunge' look is challenging, but I'm loving the results. The resists used on the gelli plate (one at a time) were baby oil, baby power, mineral oil, and rubbing alcohol. Acrylic paint in several colors react to the resist, providing mono prints featuring unique design & textures.

Cut and reassembled it's now the lower section of my 'in progress' art quilt. Come back and see how it's shaping up.

GRATEFUL

It's always so rewarding when work is sold.  Not to mention making room in my physical inventory for new pieces.  I tend to conjure up ideas to explore even before the current in-progress work is completed.  

Having a passion that keeps one active, engaged, and challenged makes me a very fortunate person.  What's your passion??

Tweet, Tweet -  SOLD

Sunny Side Up - SOLD

A 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

 My good pal, the one, the only Quilter's Hall of Fame recipient Georgia Bonesteel will be celebrating her 90th birthday next week.  She continues to have more energy than most 50 year olds.  You may recall the impact she had on the quilt world in 1978 when she began her long running PBS TV series 'Lap Quilting With Georgia Bonesteel', along with her many published books.

Though we now live 3,000 miles apart we communicate regularly. I wanted to mark this occasion with a small fabric birthday card that featured her newly designed Western North Carolina fabric.  Naturally, the piece grew as there were so many accompaniments I wanted to highlight.  She has received the gift so I can now share it.

CELEBRATING 90!!!

 23” x 15.25”     July 2026

Celebrating Quilt Legend Georgia Bonesteel’s

90th Birthday!!!

This piece highlights some of her vast accomplishments:

 Georgia’s newly designed WNC motif fabric, a riot of colorful flowers to represent her Master Gardener status, as well as a 

nod to her dedication to the Flat Rock Playhouse.

Original design - made by Mary Stori - Roseville, CA

Artist hand painted, gel printed, Prisma Pencil enhanced cottons, 

hand embroidered, & machine quilted.

HARMONY

 Finally, the reveal of my newest project is here.  It's interesting how only one of the original selected elements remained. The area I had the most difficulty with was the left side.  It needed a vertical design but none of the fabrics I had quite allowed me to say 'YES...this is it.'

So more pondering took place.  Finally I came up with the idea of  using the Japanese calligraphy symbol for 'Harmony'.  After finding one online, I was able to stretch the motifs to the length desired and chose to use red fabric.

                                      HARMONY -  20” x 17.5”

                                                                                $165

      Japanese & ice-dyed cottons, 

    raw edge fused appliqué, metallic thread, 

machine quilted. Double fold binding with fabric hanging sleeve. 

TIME HAS FLOWN

 Digging through a bin of red fabrics I came across a piece purchased in 1987.....at the beginning of my quilting career.  Heck, I blinked and nearly 40 years have passed!!

How old is some of your fabric?

FINISHING UP

 A follow up on my recent post..... It seems there are decisions to make from the beginning of a project to the end. I'm now at the quilting phase and thought I'd share one of my approaches.

I do not FMQ, instead quilt with the aid of my walking foot. For my designs, generally simple background stitching works best to add motion, sometimes color, not overpower, and of course to hold the layers together.

Since my Asian inspired pieces feature scattered motif placement plus background open spaces, I've found it best to outline each motif first. (See photo #1 - backing). Next background quilting is addressed. For this piece I wanted some "cloud" lines....not necessarily connected, rather keeping it sparse and simple.

One trick I use is to audition quilt designs by drawing them onto clear plastic laid over the top of the quilt. Then, with an erasable pen I try out design options. (photo #2). In the end I decided not to use the idea shown. A more continuous design would be better to prevent random puffy pockets of the fabric developing on the unstitched areas around the isolated stitching.

Selecting the thread comes next. (Photos #3 & 4, 5) A variegated darker blue on top and invisible in the bobbin were the final choices.

The binding, sleeve & label are next......I'll be back soon.

RAMBLING

**This is long......grab some coffee or take my preferred "bubbly" hydration break while reading.

Several recent comments I've received have generated this post. I'm so thankful for the loyal and growing readership on both my Facebook and Blog accounts which amazes me since I do very little in the way of growing my social media presence. I'd rather be sewing!

Followers are either quilters themselves or simply interested in art quilts and hopefully they are collectors too. It's necessary to sell work in order to keep producing (and avoid having our offspring figure out what to do with them when the time comes. Haha)

So, let's get to it. I'm guessing most of you are well aware that creating one-of-a-kind art quilts is a different process than following a published pattern or making a quilt from a kit. Selecting fabric doesn't take a short period of time. At least for me it can take not just hours but sometimes several days to hit the right combo of design, color, scale etc. Where do my ideas come from? In short, everywhere. Visual surroundings, a comment or phrase, striking color combinations, and most often the fabric itself. I 'shop' for fabric in my own stash.

My style has changed a lot over my career. From whimsical, highly embellished, & whole cloth hand quilted creations, then morphing into nature inspired after our move from WI to the mountains of NC. Asian themed pieces have popped up fairly frequently too after inheriting a very large stash of fabric from a dear friend.

The later has been my biggest challenge and happily often those smaller pieces sell the quickest. With age I've noticed my art reflects a preference for living with simplicity, focusing on minimalism, using earthy but not totally muted palettes, and leaving unadorned spaces.

I've had a preference for working with whole-cloth (rather than pieced backgrounds). In fact one of my books was titled "The Whole Cloth Garment Stori". I began making traditional patchwork quilts in the mid 80's, but VERY soon tired of repeatedly sewing identical blocks. My pieces are always original designs, never duplicated. That takes time!! I may start with an idea, in this case a piece of fabric for the background and some 'fussy cut' circular motifs from another piece. These fabrics are 'auditioned' on my large flannel wall. They are added, subtracted, perhaps added again until the right combination comes together. This could mean hours of pulling piles of fabrics from shelves, standing and staring at them on the wall, sometimes knowing it's not right, but not how to fix it. Time...it takes time, experience and a stick-to-it attitude.

Okay enough...you get the idea. Here are just a few of the many design options I tried while creating my current small art quilt. I'm so fortunate to wake up every day excited to CREATE art quilts! Perhaps this explanation will shine light on my process; creating work to sell. I encourage you to follow your passion, whatever that may be. The finished piece is coming soon..... quilt motif decisions are still being made.

Circles are too big and overpower the design.

I knew I needed a vertical element, yet hadn't hit on just what that was yet.

Back to those darn circles.

Notice, I keep wanting to use those circular motifs......sometimes it's very hard to give up on an idea, even when it's not working!!!

The shifts in design may be small....like the placement of the birds....but necessary to obtain the right balance.

FLIRTING WITH JAPANESE FABRIC

Yup.....another blank fabric slate has pulled me in............

2:00 AM thoughts will be bombarding me in the coming nights. NOT complaining.....I live to create!! And that means pulling out bins and fabric stacks from closest, under bed storage, ETC. .........you get the idea. Stay tuned won't you??

I CAN'T RESIST SHARING THIS......

 Born and raised in Wisconsin and lived there a good portion of my life.....in fact I never considered living anywhere else.  Life happens.

Wisconsin has 3 food groups.....Beer, Brats, & Bars (as is such desert items as brownies.)  My pal Lynn just sent me the list of foods available at this year's Wisconsin State Fair.  One would have to visit the Fair all day, every day to sample all of these items.

Have to say.....a big NO for me.... NO worms, no crickets, no Spam, no Okra, NOOOOO pineapple on pizza.  This is sure not the Wisconsin I grew up in....give me a Meisfeld's brat and a Sheboygan hardroll....I'd be in heaven. Enjoy this food journey:  https://wistatefair.com/fair/new-foods/

                                      Soft serve Beer

                              Bloody Mary Mac and Cheese

Bugged Out Frozen Cheese Cake on a Stick. - yes crunchy worms and crickets......NOPE, NEVER!!!!

CRIMSON SUN

 It's taken me years to get comfortable working with Asian style fabrics which has now proven to be time well spent.

These smaller wall art pieces portray feelings of serenity, streamlined designs, and harmonious color palettes.  Wall art is one of the most accessible ways to update and refresh your rooms.

There are numerous such pieces now available in my online gallery shop.  

The finishing touch of hand sewing a hanging sleeve to this new piece has been completed.

CRIMSON SUN - 17.75” x 17.25”

Available

Japanese cottons, raw edge appliqué & machine quilted with gold 

metallic thread. Double fold binding, hanging sleeve attached.

THAT SPECIAL TOUCH

 Unique design motifs can make a wall quilt extra special. Thank you Lori for sharing these inspiring pieces of fabric with me!! Of course I wasted no time incorporating a section into my in progress piece. Coming very soon.......

DESIGN DEVELOPING

My once large stash of Asian inspired fabrics has to my great surprise dwindled. Actually, the type of prints in that stash have mostly been used up, leaving only small pieces that I'm still attracted to.

Here's how I'm using them on that blank slate I shared yesterday.....a design is developing...

       

                                                            

TRANSFORMATION

 Blank slate.....stay tuned for the transformation.

REFLECTING

 Having a bit of a sentimental moment this morning as I reflect. 

My twin sister's spirit walks with me.  Our shared journey didn’t end with her departure 24 years ago today.  It took on a new form of happy memories that continues to live with me. 

SMILING ALL DAY AFTER VIEWING THIS

 PREPARE TO SMILE ALL DAY....HOMAGE TO WORLD CUP GAMES.....

https://youtu.be/YRwrVzATea8?si=6u9XjHwyWJwu_Zvf

SECRET PROJECT

 Yes, of course I'm working on something.....but I've been quiet lately because it's a secret surprise project that will be gifted.  I doubt the recipient has access to my posts, but just in case....... Shush....

Instead, I can share a few peeks of the fabrics and materials.  This is a small piece, so rather than trying to piece a flagstone path, Prismacolor pencils were used to add that effect on the gray fabric.  

The flowers are made using gel printed fabric.  It provides fairly ravel free edges, allowing some of the flower heads to be 3-d, held in place with a simple French knot at the center.  Others are fused, helping to develop a slight sense of distance from the 3-d flowers.

I dug out a piece of hand painted fabric.....goodness look at the date it was created!!

LUNCH TIME

 

Neutral colors are back in style, providing calming serene wall art options.  This small charming minimalist framed piece is now available.  

LUNCH TIME - 13" x 13”

$125

Hand painted cotton, appliquéd, hand & machine embroidery.

Wrapped on a canvas covered frame & secured in a wood frame 

without glass and ready to hang.

USA HEADING TO KNOCKOUT STAGE!!!!

THIS IS JUST WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS.......USA PRIDE!!

KOI POND

After a bit of a struggle designing and constructing (and okay some whining) this piece is now finished to my complete satisfaction.  Persistence pays off!

Available immediately......DM/Email or check my online gallery shop link on top for details.  Locals welcome to see in person or take advantage of my 'try before you buy' offer.

KOI POND  -  17” x 30.5”

Japanese cottons, artist’s hand-dyed & batik cottons,

 motifs appliquéd with metallic thread. Machine quilted. 

Double fold binding, ready to hang.

Detail

ART SHOWCASE

 The First (& hopefully annual) HPV Art Showcase was a huge hit. The concept was developed by Donna Anderson and skillfully carried out with the help of the many contributing community artists, volunteers, & attendees.

The large space provided for my display was fantastic with the added bonus of the musical talent of Laura and Sue. Thank you all for helping to make this community such a stand out!

                           

'TAKE TWO'

 After the mess I made with the initial start of this Koi pond piece.....the background was totally ditched and the project began again.  You can see by the many pin holes in the water lily pads the motifs have been auctioned over and over again.

Hopefully the piece is now on the right track......

A LOOK BACK

 Our 55+ community is a very active one.  On June 11th, the craft committee is presenting our first Art Showcase highlighting the many artists & their students who reside in Heritage Placer Vineyards.  It's a way for folks to learn about our ongoing art classes and for students to share their accomplishments.

I'm flattered to be included and will be exhibiting 'hands on samples' of the many different techniques utilized in my pieces.  Viewers can see how those methods translated into finished art quilts with ongoing Q & A opportunities.

My art quilt inventory includes various widely exhibited, published and award winning pieces from earlier in my career. The practicality of continued storage had led to the decision that they need new homes where they can be enjoyed.   Here are two that I'll be sharing on Thursday at the Forum.

HERE COME THE HYBRIDS - 45" X 45" - It's a hand appliquéd, hand quilted, & embellished whimsy art quilt created as a spoof of the name of the international traveling exhibit "Enchanted Gardens" it was made for.

SUNSHINE IN MY GARDEN - 38" X 50" - The motifs feature 'bead appliqué, a technique I developed for one of my books.  It features silk ribbons & flowers attached to a patchwork background.