About

I am a fiber artist living in Eastern Massachusetts with my two sons, husband, and Welsh Corgi (Tyler, above, is no longer with us).

Not formally trained, I consider myself not quite self-taught either since my mother was an art teacher and gave all three of her children a delight in making things.  From her I learned that creativity is a given… that we ALL are creative… and further, that making beautiful work comes from having beautiful materials and getting out of one’s own way.  She sewed EVERYTHING, from tailored, lined wool blazers to slipcovers to smocked dresses with peter pan collars to maxi skirts made out of faux cheetah prints and wedding gowns embellished with hundreds of pearl beads.  She also embroidered and knit and wallpapered and, and, and… (I don’t think she ever made a quilt, though).   In high school, I mostly crocheted and kept journals.  College found me making collages, learning to hand spin and dye fiber with natural materials, and writing.

A degree in English, a few jobs in radio and audio visual production preceded a law degree and four years of law practice  — two downtown and two at MCI/Framingham.  I’m pretty much done with that, although I keep my bar dues current, “just in case”.

I can’t sew anywhere NEAR my mother’s level.  Nevertheless, the love of the smell of fabric under a hot iron, or the sound of talking through a mouthful of pins, or the thrill of a shortcut discovered or a bit of handwork turning out just right, all go way back into my childhood.

I started sewing in earnest during my first pregnancy, which coincided with buying a house.  Curtains, rocking chair pads, baby crib bumpers, pillows, tiny onesies, all were imperative nesting activities.

Prior to quilting, I was very much enamored with paper.  I took several papermaking classes, some beginning bookbinding classes, and made collages and little books.  Eventually, I took a class with Susan Carlson, which took my love of collage and combined it with quilting, and I was off.

Once I had two young sons, I started gardening at their elementary school, because I could, while they played.  That became a more substantive involvement as time went by, including teaching children about gardening and fundraising and acting as volunteer point-person for a major renovation of the schoolyard.  From that I was able to begin a small landscape design business where I design and install several residential gardens a summer.  I call that business ‘Adam & Eve Gardens’.

Only a fraction of what I make ends up photographed and posted anywhere, but I am working on changing that!