Meet SAQA’s Artists: SAQA’s 20th Anniversary Trunk Show

“Succulent IV” is a cropped version of the first succulent in my series. It will travel for a year as part of SAQA’s 20th Anniversary Trunk Show.


After the end of the show, selected quilts will be donated to the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Experimenting With Paint

I had fun yesterday continuing my coloring experiment in actual paint. I am undecided whether I like the painted version better or not. I think I was hoping that the addition of color would breathe a bit of life into the composition, and give it more character. But it’s just the colored version of the old quilt.

Contemplating Color

I created this quilt in a Pamela Allen class last year. All of the fabrics are black and white, but the stitching is in color. I have been contemplating adding some color to it with fabric paints. Here is the digital mock-up. I think it would be fun to experiment with real paint. What do you think? Color or black & white?

Succulent III

Another Succulent quilt is completed for the Fast Friday Challenge.

My first idea of flower stalks reaching upwards was abandoned, since the only flowers blooming on my succulents right now seem to be the sorts that bend downwards. And the stalks all seem to be at awkward angles. I was having trouble getting a composition I liked. So I settled for leaves reaching upwards.

The original intent was to edge the larger leaves with bright red the way it is in my garden. It was to be my “zinger” color to fit the theme of the challenge. But now I think I should leave well enough alone. I don’t think it needs the red, and I’m afraid to overwork it now that it seems done.

The original photo was backlit with strong light along the edges of the back leaves. I may go back and soften some of the white edges and make the white blend into the green more.

Out in the garden, some of the succulents are blooming.This succulent was received as a gift, and was one of a variety of succulents planted in the one large pot. It was beginning to crowd out some of the other succulents, and was looking rather crowded itself. So I made some cuttings from the potted plants, and a succulent garden was born. The potted plants are still only about ten inches tall, but it took off right away when it was freed into open ground. The tallest plant stalk is now nearly three feet tall, and the leaf rosettes about a foot across. It will likely become part of my succulent series some day.