I finally finished this latest quilt in my black and white series:

City Skyline – 44″ x 78″

It took me forever to stitch over all those black lines!  I am glad to have this one done and it’s the last buildings themed quilt that I will be making for the time being and I will get to why in a moment.  I mentioned in this post that my goal for the year was to create at least 6 new quilts in my B&W series and with the finish of the City Skyline piece I managed to get 9 done so I am feeling pretty good about that.

So what’s next?

Well if you follow me on facebook or instagram than you know that photography has become a really big part of my life this year.  It is becoming a real passion for me.  I feel like the more I do it the better I am get and that feels good.   Where I am with the photography is a lot like where I was when I first started finding my way with art quilting and I am really liking the challenge and the learning curve.  I also like that it gets me outside and it’s making me very alert to what’s right in front of me – I find myself viewing everything through the lens which is giving me a different perspective on the ordinary and making me notice things that I may have missed.  Birds are a favorite subject but I’m also enjoying the challenge of floral photography .

Seems like an easy subject to shoot but just like with my quilting my goal is to create images that go beyond the expected.  Images that pull you in for a second look.

So does this mean I am giving up quilting?  Absolutely not!  But I do feel that I have arrived at a crossroad and that it’s time once again to start exploring a new direction with it.  And that’s where my photography comes in – my goal is to somehow merge the two mediums.  I am not interested in using any of the techniques that a lot of quilt artists who work with photographs are already using – not that there is anything wrong with any of those techniques, I just want to forge my own path with my own style.  I want to make quilts that look like they came from my studio, not from anyone else’s.

So that’s what I will be working on going forward.  There will be a lot of experimenting and I will no doubt create a lot of trash can filler but I am up to the challenge and I’m looking forward to seeing where it leads!

I’m Teaching at CraftNapa 2020!

Join me at CraftNapa 2020!  I’ll be teaching three classes and I still have a few seats left in each – click here for more information.