The water is my grandmother

cotton, rayon, recycled clothing
hand pieced, hand quilted

2006

chain stitch embroidery
on reverse

forty

Katie's kaleidoscope

Cotton crib quilt
hand pieced and quilted


1984


thirty nine

NIne Patch

cotton crib quilt
hand pieced and quilted


1984



thirty eight

Baby Quilt

kwik print on satin
(large negatives and real lace was
sun printed)
Hand quilted
1986

thirty seven

My Children

recycled women's blouses
polyester crepe, fabric paint
rick rack, thread

1987


thirty six

December

Velvet, Taffeta, wool, family photos
threads, pinecones

thirty five

1990

Moisture and Greenness

dyed linen, shibori dyed cotton
batik cotton, sequins, cotton floss
machine pieced, hand applique,
hand embroidery

slashed and repaired shibori quilt


2006




thirty four

Pinwheel on the Beach

cotton, acrylic and fabric paint
machine pieced, hand applique, painted
A round robin medallion quilt
made by Judy Martin, Barbara Fraser,
Anne C. Morell, Janet Rice Bredin, Judi Burly
Jean Boyd, Pam Godderis, and Carol McLean
1996
thirty three

Gaea Enthroned

Triptych Quilt
cotton, silk, metallic, fabric paint
machine pieced, hand painted,
hand applique
1992

Commissioned by the Government of Ontario




thirty two

Winter Solstice

layered fabrics, hand and machine embroidered
millennium journal series


2000




thirty one

Flesh and Blood

Cotton, overdyed cotton, polyester sheer,
embroidery floss, buttons
2003










thirty

The future is not ours to see

cotton, fabric paint
painted, hand applique, hand quilted
1990








twenty nine

The Mother, the child

linen, black and white family photos,
water
colour
painting,
thread,
polyester
sheer,ink
painted,
assembled

1988


twenty eight

husband and wife

dyed cotton, cotton floss, beads
hand appliqued, hand pieced
hand quilted with chain stitch embroidery
2004








reverse of quilt



twenty seven

July Garden

cotton, overdyed cotton
machine pieced, hand quilted
1997






twenty six

richness

cotton, heat transfer
hand pieced and quilted
a miniature
1996




twenty five

The House with the Golden Windows: West Wall

metallic fabric, magazine papers, thread, dyed artist canvas, machine stitch and hand stitch, 1993, installation





Ned had already moved to Manitoulin when I stitched this house in 1992 and 93. It's an idealized replica of our house in Kenora


Feathers are stitched into the West wall's golden metallic fabric windows. A beautiful and most traditional quilting stitch.






The papers on the outside wall are from home decorating magazines. They have been arranged as sunshine and shadow, a beautiful and traditional quilt pattern.






the inside west wall
silk and cotton fabrics, buttons, cotton quilt batt, machine sewing threads, embroidery threads and beads, photographs. 1993
This piece measure about 5 feet across and 6 feet high if you count the thread fringe.





Every day during the year 1990, I stood at one of the windows in my house and took a photo. The photos from the west windows show our neighbour's house and yard.

solar images
chain stitch



The west symbolizes middle age, dusk, autumn...all those cyclical things.





twenty four

November

cotton, paper from nature magazines,
family photographs, thread
1990







twenty three

family life

cotton, recyled clothing, variety of fabrics
thread, machine pieced, hand quilted
1990




twenty two

velvet journal: secret garden

taffeta, velvet, floss,
ribbon, beads

journal papers, paint, thread

English paper pieced,
the paper left in

2005





reverse side




twenty one

on the lake

On the Lake 1989

Colour photographs, thread on cotton, satin binding

machine assembled, finishing by hand

this photo taken by the Canada Council Art Bank

When we lived in Kenora, I was invited to submit some work to a Winnipeg Artist Run Gallery for possible purchase by the Canada Council Art Bank.  They selected this piece.  

number twenty

I love you to pieces

cotton, over dyed cotton, thread
machine pieced, hand quilted
1988







Number nineteen

Zen Ecstasy

cotton, variety of fabrics and found objects, threads
layered, hand stitched, embellished
two sided wall hanging
part of the the Millennium journal series

eighteen




2004

Self Portrait

Self Portrait     hand painted cotton, repurposed maternity clothes, hand stitched  46.5" x 43"  1985

In 1985, our third child was born.

I painted my self portrait.  Drawing with one hand, tenderly holding my babe with the other, at the same time.  

In 2000, a university professor asked for images of mothering for her book.  She used a detail of Self Portrait on the cover.  Her name was Andrea O' Reilly.  O'Reilly edited the journal and also contributed the essay, 'A Mom and Her Son:  Thoughts on Feminist Mothering'.  The full image of Self Portrait appears on page 46.

Several other pieces of mine were used to illustrate essays and articles within the book.  October 1986, a paper quilt of photos and gift wrap on cotton, illustrated 'beyond the world of guilt and sorrow' by Nancy Backes.  

Mothering, 1988, dyed felt, printed and painted papers with embroidery floss stitch, illustrated 'mothers, sons, and God' by Aileen M. Fitzke.

self portrait: back of quilt

Self Portrait was chosen to represent my contribution to the history of the Art Quilt in the 2018 hard-covered tome edited by Sandra Sider, Art Quilts Unfolding: 50 years of innovation. 

The book is organized into 10 year sections, (1970's, 1980's, 1990's, 2000's, 2010's).   I am proud that it is given it's very own page (103) opposite Northern Ireland's Irene MacWilliam's 1988 Vision of the World.   By the way, the cover image on Art Quilts Unfolding is Swimming, 1986, by Tim Harding.  

Self Portrait was re-photographed by Nick Dubecki in 2024, and his photos are in this post.    

quilt seventeen