This art quilt, recently on display at Galley Nord in San Antonio at the FASA annual exhibit, just sold! It feels like such a privilege to have my work find a new home, kind of like seeing a child leave home in a minor kind of way. This piece took shape on my design table this summer in the midst of terrible drought -- all the garden was dying, even with regular watering. The heat was fierce, all the world seemed to be coming to a dusty end. So, this piece, Prayer for Rain: Pond, a visual plea for relief from a serious female being rising from water lilies.
As with much of my other work, this piece began with an inkling of an idea, a stack of fabrics and then, cutting, fusing and quilting.
This piece was awarded a prize in the FASA exhibit for the best use of surface design techniques by the judge, with the gift from the Surface Design Association for a year's membership. The piece does have a wide variety of surface design treatments: screen printing, layered stitched overlay, hand and machine embroidery, shibori, even a cyanotype fabric for the sky. I did some of the work, and used found fabric for other additions (notably the cyanotype, a gift from my friend Mary Ann Johnson; and the frayed and torn turtle mole reverse embroidery from an anonymous Cuna Indian maker from Panama. I love using different found fabrics -- and it certainly gives me justification for hours spent wandering around thrift stores!
Click through this gallery below to see more details and gallery shots.
an invite. Pool your supplies. Rev up the sewing machines. This could be even bigger than the conference! Spend a morning transforming some bags then bring/send them to San Antonio. Your creativity will boost our collective economy. Bags not snapped up by conference attendees will be sold on SDA website - with proceeds going to support member programs. 
