(2021) I made Melody for my brother-in-law, who wanted to spruce up his kitchen with a table runner. He is partially color blind so I took care to choose colors with contrasting brightness levels so he could see the pattern even if he couldn’t identify the colors. He loves listening to music, so I came up with this simple design that evokes the idea of piano keys or the notes on a musical scale.

When he put it on his table it lit up the whole kitchen — as well as his face! There is nothing more gratifying than making a quilt for someone you love and seeing the joy it brings them.

Size: 54” x 14”

Material: Batik fabric

(2015) I made this King-sized quilt for my own bed. I had originally wanted to try to replicate a quilt my mother made for me that got destroyed in a fire, but somehow it got transformed into my familiar uneven strips. I wanted to jazz it up so I added the splashes of black and white shapes and mis-matching colors. I cut out the bottom corners so it would fit around our beautiful cherry bed frame. Then I had fun quilting it with a zig-zag pattern that riffed off the jagged strips of the quilt.

Size: 108" x 90"

Material: Batik fabric

(2011) This is the third quilt I made. It was a gift to my sister, who had just gotten divorced and was moving into a new place on her own. I sent her photos as I was making the squares and she helped guide the distribution of colors, a collaborative process I thoroughly enjoyed. I had extra squares when I was done, so I made them into pillows.

Size: 92" x 72"

Material: Cotton and batik fabric

(2013) I made this table runner for my ex-husband. Many years after we split up we became friends again and I hope we will continue to be in the future. It makes me happy that it brightens the dining table that we bought together and that he still owns.

Material: Batik fabric

(2025) This is a baby quilt for my nephew’s newborn, called Finn. My newphew and his wife chose the colors and pattern, but I added my own twist by including nine diamond shapes and quilting dog-related figures into those spaces. Finn will be born into a family with three dogs so I figure he’s going to love his canine friends.

Merriam-Webster says finesse means “refinement or delicacy of workmanship, structure, or texture.” Although this quilt isn’t my most intricate or refined, I figure the name is appropriate enough for a boy called Finn.

Size: 30” x 40”

Materials: Batik fabric in front, flannel on the back

(2020) I made this baby quilt for my niece’s son Zachary, the first child of his generation in our family. It is a variation on the pattern I used in Time Passages. I hope it contributes to a bright and colorful childhood for Zach.

Size: 36” x 24”

Material: Batik fabric on the front, flannel on the back

(2018) I made this queen-size bedspread for my nephew, whose favorite color is forest green. It took some time and a lot of patience for the design to emerge, and while I’m not sure how well it works, there is no shortage of love sewn into it. I used some of the initial attempts to make the pillow shams.

Size: 86” x 86”

Material: Batik fabric

(2014) I made this baby quilt for a friend's newborn. We had worked on a data visualization project together and had used a stacked bar graph in our solution, so I riffed off of that to create this design. We were designing a system that helps you track your coverage as you explore a large document collection to discover new information, so we coined the term Discoverage.

Size: 56" x 30"

Material: Batik fabric

(2016) I made this baby quilt for a long-time friend's newly arrived baby boy. If it's true that babies like looking at bright colors then he should be fully engaged with this one!

Size: 56" x 30" 

Material: Batik fabric (outside), flannel (inside)

(2017) I made this set of eight placemats for my sister. I had originally thought they would all be the same, but I didn't make enough of the accent strips. So instead of making more I improvised and made each placemat different, and now I think it's more interesting that way. I love how limitations so often lead to more creative outcomes.