I started my fibre art journey when I moved to Portland Oregon in 2001. I had sewn garments
throughout my teenage years, but most of my creative energy since I had graduated from high school
had been channeled into theatre arts; mainly acting and directing. I did not even own a sewing
machine at the time. That all changed when I discovered the art of quilting. I was drawn to the deep
rich saturated colours of the batiks and quilting cottons that filled the rows of the fabric stores; they
demanded that I craft them into something beautiful. I answered the call, and my love affair with fibre
art was born. My quilts and quilted art pieces are now in the private collections of people all around the
world.
As much as I love playing with colour, picking out the fabrics and planning quilting projects, quilting is an
exact art – the process of cutting fabric apart and then sewing it back together into a “flimsy” (or quilt
top) is dependent on a consistent scant ¼ inch seam. Stray from that seam allowance and the blocks
will not go together accurately, and even though I strive for perfection, precision is not my strong suite.
I have grown to learn that I do not always like to follow the rules!
I yearned to try a medium that was less rigid and more forgiving of slight deviations from the “plan” or pattern. A trip to Mahone Bay in 2012 led me to Encompassing Designs and my rug hooking journey began. Not being one to curb my creative desires, especially when colour and texture is involved, I picked out my pattern and my colours
of wool and walked away with a kit for the Celtic circle rug. What possessed me to pick a circle filled with multiple spirals as my first hooking project escapes me, (circles are not the easiest to hook on a square grid of linen) but it is indicative of how I approach my art – I dive in and figure out the rest as I go along.
After a few rug hooking courses with Deanne Fitzpatrick and multiple projects later, I am settling into my
hooking style and enjoying the journey that I am on. After pumping out thousands of masks in 2020 to
meet the needs of a COVID world, I was burnt out and my creative soul was crying for nourishment. I
decided to enroll in The Harbour Masterclass offered by Deanne Fitzpatrick as a gift to myself for 2021.
The act of committing to this course gave me the permission to turn off the sewing machine and explore
myself as an artist; to give myself the time and space to immerse myself in my art and produce art for myself.
Creating art with bold colours and textures makes my heart happy and my soul sing. I am not a “neutral” kind of person – I live my life, and create my art, in a bold and enthusiastic way. I have also come to the realization that I get bored easily and that I am always consciously (or unconsciously) seeking out new art forms to engage my creative soul (and use my growing wool collection). My newest passion is weaving which, when I reflect on it in relation to rug hooking and quilting, is yet another step towards the freedom from “rules” that I strive for. I look forward to creating some exciting and fun pieces in this versatile art form, while branching out into the world of dying wool and spinning art yarn.
