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Message in the Mirror - 2018
This little quilt was made to hang on the wall opposite my bathroom mirror. When I'm at the sink and look in the mirror, I see the mirror image of the quilt. It's a great way to start my day, and a fun surprise for guests.
It is raw edge fusible applique, and the piece was covered with black tulle before machine quilting. I quilted random vertical lines with metallic thread. I really enjoy making mosaic quilts! I used the font "Block" for the lettering — I liked how the letters were already made of pieces.
I used a mirror when assembling the mosaic pieces, to make sure everything would look as expected in the mirror. Pictures below show the work in progress, and what it looks like in a mirror.
Click each image below to see the entire picture.
This quilt was inspired by lyrics from a Tom Waits song. Tom's beautiful songs are among my favorites. The words were stitched with variegated thread and the embroidery module of my Bernina.
The leaf fabric in the borders has purple leaves! In fact, the tree fabric is actually purple too. It was a leftover challenge fabric. Very subdued for my taste, but it came in handy here.
For years, I thought about attaching loose appliques to quilts. This leaf is actually a tiny quilt on its own. I layered backing fabric, right side down, on top of the top fabric and batting. Then stitched around edges, turned right side out, then quilted and attached to the main quilt only at the top of the leaf.
Self Portrait : Terry @ 2 - 2009
Amagansett - 2007
I joined the Big House Quilters for an extraordinary 4-day class with Katie Pasquini Masopust. It was an art class for quilters (Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter). After class each evening Katie would go up on the roof to paint. She invited us to join her even if we’d never painted before. So, we got an extra fun painting class! This little quilt is my first painting ever, or at least the first one as an adult. It is acrylic paint on canvas.
Painting on the roof.
We had fun!
Following Katie’s instructions, we painted the water, sky, trees, and a few abstract houses. Then we squirted black and white paints on top. After it dried (and still following instructions) I sliced it up into different width strips. I then shifted the strips, moving some up and some down. When I was happy with the way it looked, I taped the strips together with the raw edges butted up next to each other. Then I zigzagged to join the strips together.
I squared up the canvas, layered it with cotton batting and backing and quilted it! I used glimmery sliver threads. It’s an awesome little quilt. Thank you Katie! And thanks to the Big House quilters for sharing their fun with me. This little quilt won an Honorable Mention ribbon at the 2007 Millennium Quilters Quilt Show in Bridgeport, WV.
Do What You Love - 2002
This was a fun exercise in improvisation. I used rulers to cut straight edges, but didn't measure anything.
This was one of my early attempts at free motion quilting. This was one of many practice pieces I did to improve my skills, so I could make a wedding quilt for my neice.
The yo-yo was added after blocking the quilt (when the multi color fabric bled into the yellow!)
See the famous back of this quilt!
The back of this tiny quilt was in Quilters Newsletter magazine in an article about hanging methods.
My Cup'O Tea
I used this as a sample in my machine quilting classes.
The stitching on the blue fabric was worked on a 1 inch grid that was marked with chalk.
This placemat was made from my first pattern "What's in Your Cup?"
Moon Over Emily’s Mountain - 2001
I made this tiny quilt for my daughter when she moved from the West Virginia hills to the West Coast Rockies.
This was inspired by some wonderful curved piecing in one of Georgia Bonesteel’s books.
Pieces of Home [aka WV Mosaic]
This quilt was inspired by Emily when she moved back home!
Love at Sea
I made this Storm at Sea wedding wall hanging for Suzy & Marty. It was great fun working with the Bride’s bright colors of apple green and bubblegum pink! Photo transfers of the couple were stitched into the outer squares and the piece was quilted and bound. Then, after the wedding I appliqued a photo transfer from the wedding day into the center square.
Seaweed
This delightful little quilt was started in an exciting class with Vikki Pignatelli. What a fun invisible applique technique. Doing it in my favorite color combination only makes it better.
This was machine quilted with a walking foot and my favorite shiny thread — Superior's Glitter. This one is variegated with pink, blue and gold.
I like the zing of the contrasting fabrics for the binding. I used my Magic Strip method, but those inner curves were super challenging. Don't try this until you're experienced with the technique (or use the same fabirc for both binding pieces).
Glass Half Full - Self Portrait - 2014
This started as a solid piece of white fabric. I used Tsukineko inks for color. That was lots of fun. I mixed the ink with clear Aloe gel and brushed it on. The Aloe keeps the ink from bleeding.
The heavy black links are free motion stitched with heavy black thread. The rest of the text was written with a Pigma Pen.
Check out this Judge's Award — for Whimsy!
Can you see the secret message in my hair? I thought it'd be fun to include a secret message. But, it's not much fun when people don't see it.
It's a word that starts with "C" — the C looks like another curl. :-)