Crab Nebula and Constellations

A chance discovery of a photo of the Crab Nebula and the almost simultaneous purchase of a hand-dyed piece of fabric lead to the creation of this piece.

Created using free-motion machine embroidery techniques and then embellished with gold Shiva Oil Paint. A graphic overlay was bobbin-couched into place using a metallic yarn. Two layers of tulle were stitched down then burned off with a heat gun. Heavily quilted using silk thread.

Swarovski crystals create named constellations: Ursa Major and Minor, Pisces, Cassiopeia, Orion, Virgo, and many more!

Cotton fabric, wool batting, cotton, nylon and silk thread.

40 x 24

Sailors Delight

A slice of sky, water, and earth at sunset. Stitched in are swirling clouds, the jet stream, ocean waves, flowing water and stone, and bedrock.

Hand-dyed cotton sateen fabric, wool batting, and silk thread.

21 x 39

Skipping Stones

Created with two yards of hand-dyed cotton sateen fabrics: one from bright turquoise to deep teal the other from light gray to black. Free-form rotary cutting and improvisational piecing. Domestic machine quilted using a walking foot.

Captures a memory of skipping stones at a beach on Lake Superior in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

19 x 32

Aurora

Created using a technique in Ricky Tims' book Convergence Quilts and hand-dyed fabrics. Free-motion quilted with an original swirling star design.

71 x 49

Treasure Boxes

One yard of cotton hand dyed fabric cut apart and stitched together creating value variation in the background. Three satin-stitched boxes of treasure flow through the fiery tempest beautiful and untouched.

Machine quilted with rayon and cotton threads, embellished with Swarovski crystals.

27 x 31