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Proud to be a BERNINA Ambassador
I am proud to be a longtime BERNINA Ambassador. When I joined in 2003 I met people like Libby Lehman and Yvonne Porcella, who befriended and mentored me. Over the years I’ve had 10 different BERNINA machines, and currently I sew on a B 790 and Q 20 – the sitdown model. 2003 was my first year in the BERNINA Fashion Show. Imagine my delight when my entry ended up on the cover of the show book! In 2006 I was invited to attend the ambassador trip to Switzerland, where we toured the factory, had cocktails at the owner’s villa, traveled to textile and lace museums, and….ate a lot of…
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World Animal Day
Last week we lost an angel on Earth – Dr Jane Goodall. Then Netflix released the interview with Jane – “Famous Last Words”. I am sure you have heard about it by now, and I hope you can take the time to hear the final interview with her. The first half she talks about her early life. The second half she speaks plainly about what is happening on our precious planet. And at the end she looks straight into the camera and gives us a message that will resonate differently, but deeply, with each of us. The interview was recorded with the knowledge that it would not be shown until…
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Kyoto Quilt Festival – March 2025 – Part 2
In March 2025 I was invited to show my work in a solo gallery at the Kyoto Quilt Festival, which was held in the Miyako Messe – the Kyoto International Exhibition Hall. This large building also houses the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design. Adjacent to the entrance to the quilt show, was an exhibit of kimonos presented by the craft museum. The exhibit was named “Enjoying the Seasons #14”. Quilt and textile artists are always keen to study kimono exhibits, because the traditional techniques are such an inspiration to us. Shibori detail of plum blossoms in this cream, gold, red and black kimono. The Japanese color aesthetic is often…
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Two Quilts for Durango
I have just returned from Durango Colorado, where I attended the opening reception for the SAQA “Balance” exhibition. My art quilt “Stardust Mothers” is in this exhibit, which will travel to other venues over the next couple years. “Balance” will be at the Durango Arts Center until August 30, 2025. Originally this piece was made for Sacred Threads in July 2022. Then it traveled to a quilt festival in France, another quilt festival in Birmingham U.K., and then spent 9 months at the DAR Museum in Washington DC. It was part of my solo gallery at the Kyoto Quilt Festival in March this year, and now will travel with “Balance”.…
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Kyoto Quilt Festival – March 2025 – Part 1
This is the first of a 3- part blog post about my trip to Kyoto. Last fall I started getting mysterious messages on Facebook from someone in Japan who I had never met. Eventually these messages were inviting me to show my artwork at the Kyoto Quilt Festival, which I had never attended. Fortunately, due to my many years of attending the Tokyo Quilt Festival, I was able to find a mutual friend to communicate with the show organizer Reiko to translate the messages. I didn’t want to presume….but I must admit I was delighted when I could eventually accept the official invitation…..and received the event flier listing me as…
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Kyoto Quilt Festival 2025 – Prologue
Having recently returned from the Kyoto Quilt Festival, I wanted to share some of this experience with you. But also I’d like to share the context of this event. During the early 1980s when I lived in Hong Kong working as a fashion designer, I often went to Osaka to source textiles. I did not have a chance for sightseeing, and mostly experienced a male-centered industry in smoke-filled offices. Starting in 2008, I started to travel to Japan again, to attend the Tokyo Quilt Festival. Honestly, it became an obsession, and I saved up my Star Alliance points all year to get a ticket to Tokyo. Eventually there was a…
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The NASA Connection
In 2016 I made two quilts for the exhibit “Fly Me To The Moon“, organized by Susanne Miller Jones. They premiered that Fall at the Houston Intl Quilt Festival. The quilts traveled 2016 – 2019, but the exhibit I remember most was when a small group were chosen to hang at the NASA JSC Visitor Center, along with artworks by rocket scientists and astronauts. It was at this venue that I met the quilting astronaut, Karen Nyberg. We had our photo taken together with a couple guys in patchwork astronaut suits. Later I met NASA seamstress Jean Wright, who has recently published a children’s book about her work. (Which we…
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First Ladies and the White House – Part 3
In August 2019 (before the pandemic) I was invited to join a stellar group of artists, to create a historic quilt for an exhibit that would premier at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. The exhibit was to be titled “Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices, Women’s Rights”. That invitation email read: “The Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas will be hosting an exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote and the 25th anniversary of Hilary Clinton’s speech at the Beijing Conference on Women’s Rights are Human Rights. The theme of the exhibit will be to tell the story of…
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First Ladies and the White House – Part 2
Please Note – if the images in your blog email are not high resolution – click through to the actual blog to see detailed images! During the Clinton administration (late 90s) I had the chance to tour the White House. It made quite an impression on me. The artwork, the architecture, the history….the ghosts of past administrations….our tour guide gave us a vivid history of each room we visited, and it made me want to learn more. I went from there, to the National Portrait Gallery, Ford’s Theatre, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Over the years I have picked up many books about the White House. The…
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First Ladies and the White House – Part 1
As we contemplate the possibility of having our first woman president in the USA, it is perhaps a time to look back on the women who have already served in the White House – the First Ladies. Over the years I have had several connections to the White House. My best childhood friend served on the Clinton Healthcare Task Force. (They were trying to create a national healthcare system, similar to other developed nations.) During those years I did a tour of the White House, which was much more accessible at that time. My architect brother works in Washington DC and his firm did the renovation/redesign of the White House…