older work
Vera Finds Lara’s Lipstick
free motion machine embroidery on cotton
8” x 10”
2022
Jude Being Held By Love
cotton cyanotype, yarn, floss, velvet
2022
Kind of a throw away project that helped me cope and survive a time of turmoil. I made it just because but then kind of on a whim shared it with the folks I am working through The Artist’s Way with. 2021
Amisha and Her Family
cyanotyped cotton, linen, antique lace
16” x 34”
2022
The love and connection between this family already radiates and seems tactile in the photos that Abbie took. I merely accentuated what was already there. Captured lines that were invisible and stitched them down.
Another in the series of photos from Abbie Brandao’s family sessions.
Joel and Mabel and MOMO
silkscreened and cyanotyped fabric, hand stitched
10” x 18”
2021
A picture of pandemic parenting: masked and outside, dear friends not there but something amazing they created is close by. Mabel keeping us grounded in a surreal landscape.
A Quilt for Abbie
cyanotyped cotton, linen, velvet, quilting cotton
80” x 110”
2021
A birthday gift for a dear friend using photos of her family. This project pushed me to get better at making sharper and better cyanotypes. And since it was a special gift, I mixed up some brand new , beautiful fabric with salvaged textiles.
Rachel and Her Family
Cyanotype of an Abbie Brandao photo, hand quilted on vintage fabric
20” x 30”
2021
This photo of Rachel’s children jumping in the air, full of expression and hair and movement felt like such a perfect representation of parenthood and life these days. Smiling parents hardly visible behind the electricity of childhood in full motion.
Abbie captures magic in her photographs and I wanted to honor one of them.
You can find more info about booking a family session with Abbie HERE
A Quilt for Mabel
62” x 64”
2021
Hand quilted and made from pieces of clothing that no longer fit my daughter: the patch I embroidered for her Tigie Scoots club denim jacket, the t shirt Dave and I screen printed for Joel’s surprise party, the linocut print for Grub Club, and so many favorite hand me downs from over the years.
I embroidered the start of the lyrics to ‘Lean on Me’ along the bottom binding because she’s been learning that song on the piano for over a year now and almost every weekday morning I hear her playing and singing the first few lines.
Mabel drew our cats onto it and I embroidered them on too.
I’m really proud of it. And I’m happy to report she’s now sleeping with it every night.
Story Book Quilt
miscellaneous salvaged textiles appliquéd and quilted with velvet and old cashmere sweaters
70” x 80”
2021
I must have read The Color Kittens to my daughter when she was a baby at least one million times. It was the first book we both loved together. The artwork is delightful and inspiring. Plus it’s magical and sweet and about making things and cats so it’s the almost perfect baby book in my eyes. The images from the book are all hand appliquéd with teeny scraps of old scarves or various pieces of clothing. Those pages are mixed with vintage velvet and the backing is made from my old thrifted cashmere sweaters that fit me once upon a time. Spilling out the sides of the quilt is the elusive green that Brush and Hush spent the book searching for.
It’s soft and it’s cozy and perfect for curling up on the couch with Mabel and reading a book.
Friperie, cyanotype on linen dish towel, 2021 (collaboration with Joel Kelly)
You can find Joel Kelly HERE
Sprinkles, embroidery on handkerchief, 2021
Shark Teeth, cyanotype on linen, 2021
Semper Augustus
2021
45” x 100”
salvaged textiles hand stitched on velvet
This large hanging piece is a labor of love.
For a brief period in 17th century Holland, tulips became the most valuable commodity available with some varieties selling for as much as a manor.
Being a mother in the midst of a pandemic; trying to care for my child, work, and make art, has highlighted the fact that the most valuable commodity in my life is time.
This piece serves as a reclamation of my time. Entering my home studio by 4 am each morning, my daughter and partner still asleep, I would sit down to cut each element and then stitch it by hand to a long bolt of deep brown velvet. A meditative and intentional act of creating.
Just as they have traditionally done in paintings for centuries, the flowers in my piece stand in for the fleeting nature of time. The Semper Augustus, with its striking red and white variegation, has been said to be the most expensive tulip sold during Holland’s Tulipmania. Lily of the valley appears at the base of the humble arrangement. In Greek mythology, the flower protected the feet of the nine muses walking through the woods. Claiming those morning hours as my own time to be in the studio helps keep safe the muses that I may gain access to. (sheesh, that sounds a little heavy handed…)
Spinning Quilt Block
2021
25” x 25”
Salvaged silk, linen, and cotton, mounted on wood and a lazy Susan
Based on Coulter Fussell’s fantastic spinning quilt design
A Quilt for My Mother
2021
Made from my grandfather’s ties and cyanotyped fabric using flowers that my grandmother collected and pressed from her garden in the 1970s
Quilt Sketch hanging
Quilt Sketch wrapped
Quilt Sketch Detail