Alaskan fiber artist & quilter

I believe my interest in fabric & fiber, started when I was a little child in my crib. I can remember running my fingers across the fabric of the Bowtie blocks of my crib quilt, as I searched for the single pink gingham bow, which was my favorite. My surrogate grandmother, Hilda Luetjen, had made that quilt.
Grandma Luetjen had boxes of scraps in her basement, & on rainy days my friend Evelyn (her granddaughter) & I would play with the scraps of fabric.We would cut odd pieces & make funny clothes for our dolls.

At age 8, our neighbor Ola Schoonfield, took me into her house, & taught me how to sew on her sewing machine, by having me make from begining to end, a Barbie Doll dress. Believe me, if you can make a Barbie doll dress, you can make just about anything.

The quilt shown here won Best Of Show in the Husqvarna Viking International "Feel Free" contest. See the "link" on my links page. It was debuted in Barcelona, Spain 2002, then traveled around the world for nearly 3 years, to such venues as the Quilt Nihon Show in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Great Britain, & stopped for a time at the Anchorage Museum of Arts here. It made the pages of at least 6 international magazines.

Oh! to Dance With a Dolphin!

51"X 51"

"You can't dance",

my big sister once said to me,

and she was right, I was awkward,

'til I took to the sea.

"Like a Mermaid!", they said.

"She swims like a fish!"

In time with the music, a water dance,

and yet,my wish,

Oh! to dance with a dolphin!

(Poem by Debra Jo Hardman is freemotion stitched on the back of this quilt.)

The inspiration for this quilt came from my background in Syncronized swimming, & a wish to swim with a dolphin

I have to credit many teachers with the technical ability to be able to put this together, but foremost would be Caryl Bryer Fallert. It was a class on color & her sharing of simple construction methods that made this achievable. I constructed it all on my home sewing machines, including the beading.If you would like to buy this quilt, the price is $10,000.00

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