Hands all Around and Album: these are my two favorite quilt blocks. They reflect who I am as a fabric artist. Every piece I create is made with my hands and tells a story. My work is inspired by nature, travel, life experiences and twists of words, history, mine and the world’s captured in fabric, thread, embroidery, beads, buttons, paint and novelties at hand. Living in Pembroke, on my slice of heaven with woods and water, has given me the opportunity to reflect on natural beauty daily. This has enabled artistic growth. I’ve sewn forever, starting with doll clothes, then my clothes, and ironically back to creatures and their clothes. My mother taught me to embroider and as a teenager, I decorated my clothes, then boyfriends’ bellbottoms. Living in Kentucky in the 1970s, I learned to piece, appliqué and quilt by hand, and to appreciate traditional patterns. Those foundations have driven my passion for quilt making. Years spent moving around and traveling provided stories to tell with fabric. A husband eventually wore shirts with embroidered pockets. Made by hand, created with love.  Often, like a scrapbook, my work contains writing, my handwriting in embroidery. It adds the meaning for the viewer, I hope, to draw the viewer in close to the story being told. And it adds a layer of history. I use only printed fabrics, spaces are full, details abound. I am no minimalist. Each piece is bursting to share its story.