Tag: Modern Quilt

See my quilt at Virginia Quilt Museum

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My quilt, Light Coming Home, is on display at The Virginia Quilt Museum through December 20, 2025.

My quilt is part of an exhibit titled MODern Quilting: A selection of quilts from Quiltcon Shows.

Light Coming Home was part of Quiltcon 2023.

I started this quilt the week of the Eastern Kentucky floods. I grew up across the border in Southwest Virginia. The images of the debris entangled against the bridges and houses. The lives lost. I processed this through making this quilt. Lots of curves and sharp lines. 

When I began, I thought I would use more of the rust fabric, but it felt important to use the vanilla fabric as a dominant background with the black fabric and thread outlining each piece. Mildred Haun’s short story, Darkness Coming Deep, inspired the name of this quilt. It is the story of the death of a child. I wanted to express the opposite of that pain, Light Coming Home. This quilt represents lightness coming to me through the making of this piece.

Hot Flashes

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This is the fourth quilt in my Unmentionables series. This quilt embraces menopause and hot flashes. Unlike the other quilts in the series, the design uses only handwork and an experimentation in creating flames with thread.  

My mother, Rhoda Alice, made the appliqué girls on the back from clothes she made for my sister and me. Polyester! And those prints are adorable plus the color combinations were inspired.

Some of the embroidered words are other words for hot flashes. And, some are expressions of how I felt or I was feeling through menopause. My favorite is “Lexapro doesn’t work; neither does standing naked in the snow.” I had a few hot flashes while making this quilt and that’s why it says, “there’s sweat on this quilt.”

On the Blue Side of the Mountain

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On the Blue Side of the Mountain

Finished in 2024

51” x 64”

This quilt has a history. I have lots of hand-dyed indigo fabric. I learned this technique at Slow Stitching Retreat in Washington, Maine in 2017, hosted by A Gathering of Stitches, and taught by Kim Eichler-Messmer. That fall I hosted guild members at my home, and we dyed fabric. It’s nice to remember those times with those pieces. There are also a few remnants I received from Ana Conceicao, a guild member who works at UFab.

In Summer 2024, I took a hand-quilting class with Heidi Parkes, hosted by the Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild. I used the middle section of this quilt as my workshop piece. I learned to be more observant about how I use my thimble and my hands. I finished it the week before the election. On Election Day I woke up with the idea to frame it with my indigo-dyed fabric. This was the first time I had used a completed quilt in this way.

I also wanted to manifest a “blue day” for the election. That did not happen, and blue represents sadness but also a community of people who are on the blue side of the mountain with me.

I must give credit to Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson who wrote “Blue Side of the Mountain “ and to The Steel Drivers who performed it. The lyrics are:

On the blue side of the mountain where the sun don’t ever shine. So deep and dark like a hurtin’ down in my heart. Maybe someday they’ll show me some kind of sign.