Tag: modern quilts

Fading Freedoms

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I feel our First Amendment freedoms are under attack, and they are slowly fading. I made this quilt to look at the words carefully and to remind me and viewers what the amendment plainly says. It gives rights to the people against government censorship and prohibits the government from preventing us from protesting peaceably.

The quilt was part of Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild’s exhibit Censorship: Stitched Narratives of Modern Quilters at the Richmond Main Library through Election Day.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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.”