Quilts

I have made quilts on and off for decades. When I was in my 20’s, I made traditional pieced quilts. In my 30’s, I did quilts from my daughter’s drawings and batik quilts. In my 40’s I made silk quilts occasionally, during my Wearable Art career, doing the last one in 1991.

In 2008, I brought back my Mother’s button tin, and soon after, went to an Ethnographic exhibit where I saw a NW Coast blanket with white buttons on it. I came home, looked at a silk banner hanging on the wall, and thought it would look good quilted with buttons on it, so I did. Friends gave me their Mother’s button collections and the quilt ideas kept coming.

The inspiration for my quilts is that which I value and feel strongly about, the health of our planet and all species of life upon it. I paint the Natural World, the beauty and diversity of all of its Kingdoms, its flora and fauna, and the powerful ancient sites that abound here in New Mexico.

My quilts are almost all made from my hand-painted silk, and are of recognizable, colorful, well-designed, complex imagery. I often border the central image in some way, with traditional pieced borders, borders with my silk designs printed by Spoonflower, photos printed on silk, or silk color blends. I sometimes fuse additional silk imagery, and often embellish with vintage buttons, or turquoise, shell or stone beads.

I create the cloth with which I make my quilts.