Every quilt has a story.

Quilting is an interesting exploration of color, texture and design, and I probably enjoy the designing aspect the most. Quilting by hand is a long, painstaking process but also a very meditative discipline. Chopping beautiful fabric into tiny pieces - only to sew them all back together - can often feel like a pretty foolish endeavor, but the final outcome always feels well worth the effort.

The photos, unfortunately, are not all up to par. Some of the quilts were never photographed, but they’re out there in the world and hopefully still keeping people warm and happy. Some of the photos above are from the pre-quilted stage, when the layers of the quilt are assembled and basted together.

I have tried to hunt down good quilting fabric when I travel, gathering my stash to make some sort of crazy travel quilt in the future - the Mother of All Quilts. I bought such a large cut of French fabric in Paris, though, that I decided to dedicate a whole “Fleur de Lis” quilt to that experience. (I’ll admit by the time I was finished, I was quite tired of quilting the fleur de lis over and over again).

I do most of the block piecing by machine now, as opposed to the first few quilts which were entirely by hand. I still do all the actual quilting by hand. (For non-quilters, that’s stitching in patterns to hold the pieced-together top, the batting, and the backing together.) I always make my own binding now (the fabric seal around the outside edges of the quilt). I also generally try to design the back of the quilt with enough interest to use the reverse side on the bed. Two blankets in one - why not?